22 Websites For Finding Free College Textbooks

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Plus other legal options for borrowing & downloading textbooks
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Buying textbooks can be a big expense. Thankfully, you can get some textbooks online for free. If your course uses textbooks that are in the public domain, have an open license, or are part of a digital library, you can legally download them from the Internet. (This is not the same as downloading a copyrighted textbook without paying for it, which is illegal.) Below, learn the top free textbook websites for college students, as well as other ways to get free or cheap textbooks.

Best Free Textbook Websites

  • Browse millions of free textbooks at The Internet Archive’s Open Library site.
  • Download or read classic books and textbooks from Project Gutenberg.
  • Find free open educational resources, including textbooks, on the OER Commons website.
  • Filter by “Full view only” to see free, openly licensed textbooks on Google Books.
Section 1 of 3:

22 Free Textbook Websites for Students

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  1. Step 1 Internet Archive Open Library (Archive.org)
    The Internet Archive hosts over 40 million books and texts. Browse their Open Library to find the textbooks you need. Some books are available to read on-demand, while others require you to make a free Internet Archive account and borrow them—just like you would at an in-person library.[1]
    • Some Internet Archive titles can only be borrowed and read by one user at a time. If a book is marked “on loan,” try to borrow it later.
  2. Step 2 Project Gutenberg
    The online Project Gutenberg library offers over 75,000 free eBooks. Most of the books are available to download or read online, whichever format you prefer. Use this site when you’re looking for classic books or textbooks that are over 95 years old. The site doesn’t host books that have active copyright protections.[2]
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  3. Step 3 Google Books
    While Google Books is a helpful resource for searching for a book, few people realize it hosts full versions of some copyright-free books. Search for textbooks by name, then open the “Advanced Book Search” feature. Next to the “Search:” heading, toggle “Full view only.” Then, click “Google Search” to see if your textbook is available.
    • Google Books primarily has full versions of older books, which are in the public domain or otherwise not copyrighted. You won’t find full versions of copyrighted textbooks.
  4. Step 4 MIT OpenCourseWare
    MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) offers free open educational resources (OER) from MIT. The website features textbooks and other course resources that cover MIT’s entire curriculum.[3] If your course has assigned an MIT OER textbook, or you’re looking for a textbook for self-guided learning, browse the digital library to find and download it for free.
  5. Step 5 Open Textbook Library
    Scroll through Open Textbook Library’s 1,590 textbooks to find the one you need for your high school or college class. The textbooks are free to download, and some were copyrighted as recently as 2025. Users, primarily educators, leave reviews of textbooks, so you get a sense of their quality.[4]
  6. Step 6 Digital Public Library of America
    The Digital Public Library of America is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that hosts a variety of educational content, including textbooks, primary source documents, and banned books. Like most legal free textbook websites, the DPLA mostly features older works that are no longer copyrighted.[5]
  7. Step 7 HathiTrust Digital Library
    Search HathiTrust’s digital library of over 18 million items to find textbooks and educational materials. Note that the HathiTrust Digital Library Collection requires a membership to view and download its entire library. Memberships aren’t for individuals, but for institutions like research libraries and community colleges who pay annual dues.[6]
  8. Step 8 Freeditorial
    Freeditorial is a better source for assigned course readings than for academic textbooks. The site offers free books that are in the public domain or that are, for other reasons, uncopyrighted. It also hosts self-published books by independent authors—though not all of these are free.[7]
  9. Step 9 E-Books Directory
    Check E-Books Directory to find over 10,000 textbook eBooks, technical papers, and other educational resources. The site features textbooks on a range of topics, such as engineering, mathematics, physics, and computer programming. A benefit of this free textbook website is that it’s accessible on mobile devices with small screens, like your phone.
  10. Step 10 Open Culture
    Open Culture is a resource for copyright-free courses, movies, eBooks, textbooks, and more. They host free textbooks that are openly licensed, meaning the author(s) and publisher(s) allow anyone to use them at no cost. Search through Open Culture’s 200 free textbooks covering subjects like business, mathematics, and philosophy to see if they have what you need for your course.
  11. Step 11 OER Commons
    Browse over 7,000 free textbooks on the Open Educational Resources (OER) Commons website. These textbooks are openly licensed, meaning anyone is free to access and download them.[8] Search by keyword to find the right books for your course.
  12. Step 12 Open Research Library
    Use the Open Research Library (ORL) to search for Open Access books that are peer-reviewed and available for free. Their offerings include books from major textbook publishers like Taylor & Francis. Besides free textbooks, the site also hosts free chapters from textbooks.[9]
  13. Step 13 PDF Books World
    Search PDF Books World for classic books and older academic texts in the public domain that are commonly assigned in various college courses. Examples from their digital library include Plato’s The Republic and de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America.[10]
  14. Step 14 B.C. Open Collection
    B.C. Open Collection is a resource for educators and students looking for openly licensed textbooks. The website has a modern, easy-to-use design and hosts recently published textbooks in a variety of subjects. While oriented toward Canadian educators and classrooms, the resources are available globally.[11]
  15. Step 15 OpenStax.org
    Run by Rice University, OpenStax is the largest publisher of open education resources (OER). Their textbooks are featured on many free textbook websites. If your professor or teacher has assigned an OER textbook, search for it on OpenStax to download as a PDF or view online.[12]
  16. Step 16 Libre Texts
    LibreTexts hosts open educational resources (OER) that can be customized and distributed for free. The website was founded by the University of California, Davis.[13] Sort by specific subjects to find the right free textbook for your course of the over 3,000 available.
  17. Step 17 MERLOT
    Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT) hosts over 10,000 open-access textbooks on subjects ranging from statistics to nursing and more. The website is one of the oldest resources for open-access educational materials, run by the California State University.[14]
  18. Step 18 Directory of Open Access Books
    The Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) hosts over 80,000 open-access books, including textbooks from a variety of university presses and other academic publishers. What sets them apart from other sites is that some of their materials are available in languages other than English, such as French.[15]
  19. Step 19 The Assayer
    The Assayer is a straightforward online catalog that links to eBooks and digital textbooks that have been made free to read via an open license. Search by subject, author, or keyword to find the textbook you need for your course.
  20. Step 20 MIT Press Direct
    If your professor assigned a textbook from MIT Press, check if it’s available on the MIT Press Direct website. The site features over 4,000 books published by MIT Press. Create a free account connected to your academic institution’s library to gain access to the site’s eBooks.[16]
  21. Step 21 Bookboon
    Bookboon is a website that offers textbooks written by professors and other authors specifically for the platform. If your course uses Bookboon, you can create an account to download eBook editions of Bookboon textbooks during a 30-day free trial. However, Bookboon requires a monthly subscription for continued use.[17]
    • If you’re a self-guided learner, consider if Bookboon textbooks’ content and quality are worth the subscription price compared to other online resources that are free.
  22. Step 22 Bookshare
    Bookshare is a unique eBook library that includes over 1 million books for people with print disabilities, 10,000 of which are free. Qualifying conditions include learning disabilities like dyslexia, visual impairments like blindness, or physical disabilities that make print reading difficult.[18] The library has a mix of books, textbooks, and other educational materials.[19]
    • To create a Bookshare account, you’ll need a professional to confirm you have a qualifying condition.
    • Not all Bookshare titles are free to read, but those in the public domain are. If you don’t have a print disability, you can access public domain books for free on most other websites on this list.
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Section 2 of 3:

Other Ways to Get Free or Cheap Textbooks

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  1. 1
    Check your school or university’s library. Search your library’s catalogue online or in-person to see if they have the textbook you need. Sometimes, professors or teachers put course-specific textbooks on reserve. Their students have priority in borrowing these reserved textbooks.
    • If your institution’s library doesn’t have a book, but another branch does, try to request it through your library’s interlibrary loan service.
  2. 2
    Check your local library. Visit a branch of your local library in-person or visit their website to see if they have the textbook you need. Apply for a library card if you don’t already have one so you’re able to check out books. They may have the textbook you need—or be able to request it from another branch.
  3. 3
    Ask friends or graduating seniors to borrow old books. If you know a friend who has taken your class before, ask them if you can borrow their old textbook. Additionally, some universities host book drives at the end of the year where graduating students can donate their old books to be re-used by the lower grades.
  4. 4
    Talk to your professor or school dean if you can’t afford textbooks. They can direct you to resources or grants you can apply for to cover the cost of books. Some professors will let you borrow a copy of the textbook to scan assigned readings at the library. They can also connect you with a peer who can share their textbook with you.
    • If possible, ask your professor for permission to use an older edition of the textbook that’s cheaper than the one they assigned.
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Section 3 of 3:

Is it legal to download textbooks for free?

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  1. It is illegal to download copyrighted textbooks for free. While some websites offer free textbooks for download and distribution, unless the books are in the public domain or openly licensed, they are breaking the law. If you download a copyrighted textbook, this is a form of piracy, which is a crime. You could be subject to legal action for downloading and sharing the file.[20]
    • Downloading textbooks illegally through piracy websites puts you at risk of downloading viruses and exposing personal data such as usernames and passwords.[21]

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Tips

  • If you’re looking for free research papers, use open-access websites like CiteSeerX or bioRxiv. Alternatively, see what academic journal databases you have access to through your educational institution.
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Warnings

  • It is illegal to download free textbooks from shadow libraries like Library Genesis. These sites enable digital piracy, which is a crime.[22]
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References

  1. ↑ https://archive.org/about/
  2. ↑ https://www.gutenberg.org/help/faq.html#what-books-does-project-gutenberg-publish
  3. ↑ https://ocw.mit.edu/about/
  4. ↑ https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/faq
  5. ↑ https://dp.la/about
  6. ↑ https://www.hathitrust.org/join/
  7. ↑ https://freeditorial.com/en/locale/statics/about-us
  8. ↑ https://oercommons.org/about
  9. ↑ https://knowledgeunlatched.org/openresearchlibrary/
  1. ↑ https://www.pdfbooksworld.com/about-us
  2. ↑ https://collection.bccampus.ca/about
  3. ↑ https://openstax.org/about
  4. ↑ https://libretexts.org/
  5. ↑ https://info.merlot.org/merlothelp/topic.htm#t=Who_We_Are.htm
  6. ↑ https://www.doabooks.org/en/doab/purpose-of-doab
  7. ↑ https://direct.mit.edu/pages/about
  8. ↑ https://bookboon.com/en/about-us
  9. ↑ https://www.bookshare.org/help-and-learning-articles/who-qualifies-for-bookshare
  10. ↑ https://www.bookshare.org/who-we-are
  11. ↑ https://security.calpoly.edu/content/copyright/heoa
  12. ↑ https://www.nacs.org/massive-data-theft-underscores-threats-to-students-from-downloading-illegal-ebooks
  13. ↑ https://www.interpol.int/en/Crimes/Illicit-goods/Shop-safely/Digital-piracy

About This Article

Daron Cam
Co-authored by:
Daron Cam
Academic Tutor
This article was co-authored by Daron Cam and by wikiHow staff writer, Bailey Bujnosek, BA. Daron Cam is an Academic Tutor and the Founder of Bay Area Tutors, Inc., a San Francisco Bay Area-based tutoring service that provides tutoring in mathematics, science, and overall academic confidence building. Daron has over eight years of teaching math in classrooms and over nine years of one-on-one tutoring experience. He teaches all levels of math including calculus, pre-algebra, algebra I, geometry, and SAT/ACT math prep. Daron holds a BA from the University of California, Berkeley and a math teaching credential from St. Mary's College. This article has been viewed 6,539 times.
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Co-authors: 3
Updated: February 22, 2025
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Categories: Textbooks
Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 6,539 times.

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