Learning requires a lot of resources for students however, most textbooks are expensive.
Fortunately for students, the internet is home to unlimited learning resources like free textbook websites. These websites contain digital versions of books that students can access and read for free on their laptops, tablets, or mobile phones.
Several advantages of free textbook websites are that students don’t have to pay a dime, and this benefits those who can’t afford their course books. Second, textbook websites cover a wide range of subjects and this offers students ample variety which increases their range.
But most importantly, students don’t have to carry heavy books around with them. As long as they have a portable device that can access the internet, they can read what they want anywhere at any time.
Are you looking to see the best free textbook websites to use for your next research paper or assignment? Then read this to the end.
Best Free Textbook Websites for Every Student
1. Saylor Academy
Saylor.org has over 1.7 million students and that number keeps rising. This shows you how resourceful the website is to students.
It has a simple user interface that any student can navigate with ease. For example, when you open the landing page, you are given options like “Learn New Skills”, “Finish My Degree”, or “Partner With Saylor Academy”. All these options come with large libraries of books that you can access for free.
All you need to do is to sign up so you have unfiltered access to the free digital books and a very resourceful blog written by some of the top academic minds.
2. Bookboon
Bookboon allows you to learn business skills, personal development, communication and presentation, and a host of other vital skills without spending a single dollar.
The website is a one-stop shop for all learning materials for university students.
Users can also download ebooks without limitations with full access to a blog that provides constant updates of the most recent book additions, among other things.
Bookboon has a clean design that combines orange, black, and subtle gray backgrounds making it easy to read and navigate.
3. OpenStax
OpenStax caters to both students and instructors, providing both groups with countless online textbooks covering a wide range of subjects.
The site is run by Rice University and it was created for the sole purpose of providing educational resources to all levels of learning without charging anything.
The student section allows digital downloads in multiple formats as well as providing free online access that’s optimized for all devices.
Instructors are not left behind either. They can access valuable teaching materials they can use to further improve their lessons and impart their students with more knowledge.
4. Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg is home to over 70,000 free eBooks that can be downloaded on any device. It’s particularly known for offering access to epub and Kindle books that you would otherwise have to pay significant money for on other sites.
The books available on Project Gutenberg go as far back as 1971. Some of the genres you can find here include self-help books, novels, science books, and history literature, among many others.
As for navigating the website, it may not be the cleanest on this list, but you won’t get lost when looking for what you need. There’s even a search bar that makes your work easier for you.
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5. Open Textbook Library
Open Textbook Library is a hub for higher learning, spanning all subjects you can think of. Supported by Open Education Network, you can search for specific books based on their subjects using a very reliable search function.
Users are also allowed to submit textbooks to the site if they own the rights and feel like it may help students in any capacity. The website is also well designed with attractive colors and fonts that stand out against a white backdrop.
Open Textbook Library even has a section that provides information about incoming new book additions and that’s something most of the other options on this list don’t have.
6. Library Genesis
Library Genesis, fondly known as LibGen among students who frequently use it, is a website that stocks a wide range of textbooks, covering anything from humanities to social sciences to fiction.
It also features STEM courses like physics, chemistry, and arithmetic and it’s an amazing resource for university students. The user interface is quite simple and you can even find detailed guides on how to download books from the site.
Users can get research papers and textbooks for free on Library Genesis and this makes it a lifesaver for students operating on a tight budget.
7. FreeBookSpot
FreeBookSpot may not have the best-looking website here but when it comes to variety, very few websites on this list come close.
Anything you can think of is available here. The website provides a detailed list on one side showing all the academic disciplines including agriculture, engineering, astronomy, archeology, and biology, among many others.
Even students of literature can find adult novels of all kinds that they can peruse on their own time. You can search content on FreeBookSpot using different parameters like book title, the author’s name, language, or the ISBN code.
8. IntechOpen
IntechOpen is another amazing website that mostly focuses on tech-related learning materials. But it also stands out for its emphasis on academic publications in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
The site also has an impressive list of well-known academicians who make regular contributions like editing and proofreading submitted works as well as penning amazing journals that help students worldwide.
IntechOpen also has one of the best user interfaces and makes artistic use of reds for both the background and fonts.
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9. Archive.org
Archive.org has no peer when it comes to the size of its library of free books. It’s like an aggregator site that puts all learning resources into one place for easy access.
The site is run by a non-profit organization and is home to millions of free books and other media like movies, audio, and software. At the time of writing this, the official data on the website showed a vast collection of over 39 million ebooks and this includes audiobooks too.
Owing to how vast the collection of books is on Archive.org, the site has broken down everything into smaller categories to make it easy for people to find what they need. Alternatively, there’s a clean search function that’s even faster.
10. Mobilism
Mobilism offers eBooks for free and students can download them in different formats across all devices.
The user interface is a little confusing as it squeezes a lot of elements into one page. But after a while, I got used to how things were arranged. Once I located the eBooks section, everything else was a breeze.
A unique thing about Mobilism is how it arranges books based on arrival. So the first results you see are the most recent uploads and you can even see the exact time they were uploaded as well as details on the people behind them.
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11. Digital Book Index
Digital Book Index makes searching for student textbooks easy. It has one of the simplest website designs on this list with all the key elements arranged in a neat line near the top for easy access.
You can find what you want based on the author, title, subject, publisher, or genre. There’s also a main menu tab that directs you to another page with expanded options and this also includes helpful guides that show students how to download eBooks directly to their devices.
One thing that also stood out for me on Digital Book Index is how it displays images of historical scholars at the top, thus keeping history alive and educating anyone who opens the site.
12. PDF Grab
PDF Grab is another great place to access different kinds of books in PDF format.
The site is a one-stop shop for a variety of free textbooks, including those in physics, biology, literature, and history. It has a vast selection of textbooks that cover different disciplines and grade levels, making it an ideal book hub for both college and high school students.
PDF Grab features a menu that showcases different categories based on subjects. You simply click on any and it directs you to a list of digital books that you can download to your device or read them online.
Furthermore, you can search for books and journals using parameters like titles, author names, and ISBN codes.
13. Google Books
Most people don’t know that Google has a special section called Google Books that focuses on searches related to learning materials.
When you open the site, you’re met with a white page with the usual Google search bar. However, this doesn’t direct you to the ordinary search results page.
You simply type the specific subject you want, like science, and you’re shown thousands of search results featuring all types of science books.
This is a much better resource than the regular Google search because it narrows things down to only relevant results. So you don’t have to waste time sifting through unhelpful pages of text.
14. Wikibooks
Wikibooks is almost similar to Google Books, but it refines results better. For example, the first thing you see when you open the site is different lists of books arranged in groups based on the languages they’re written in.
There are over 96,000 pages of English textbooks alone, for instance. When you click on any of the categories, you’re led to another page that’s further segmented into smaller and more specific categories. This includes things like computing, humanities, sciences, mathematics, and literature, just to mention a few.
The further you go, the more specific the books get until you find the one you need and download it for free. There’s a search function where you can type the specific name of the resource you’re looking for.
15. Free-eBooks.net
Free-eBooks.net has a collection of books from thousands of authors spanning different genres and topics that are helpful to students who need to prepare for their exams or research papers.
The user interface is a little cluttered but once you figure out where everything is located, browsing through the impressive catalog of books becomes easy.
The site groups books based on genres and time of upload. There’s a section dedicated to novels which is further broken down to novels based on genres like true stories, fairy tales, and sports, among many others.
In a nutshell, Free-eBooks.net is perfect for literature students who want to expand their reading tastes without paying a single dollar.
16. ScholarWorks
ScholarWorks was created for university students, especially those who are wrapping up their important thesis papers just before graduation.
It is a rich trove of dissertations and theses, faculty publications, research data, and open educational resources that every scholar around the world would give up anything to get their hands on.
The site has an attractive design that gives it a professional look, which is not surprising considering the nature of the content you can find there.
Searching for the resources you want isn’t hard either. ScholarWorks even provides an option to look up textbooks and journals by campus. Based on data displayed on the website, there are over 107,000 submitted scholarly works.
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17. bioRxiv
bioRxiv is heaven for college Biology students. It features the latest research materials, journals, and textbooks from some of the top schools worldwide and this is the kind of learning material that could save anyone who may be struggling with funds.
When you open the website, you’re met with a long list of biological subjects to choose from. This ranges from Biochemistry, Biophysics, Cell Biology, Ecology, Physiology, and a host of other major disciplines.
You can also search for books based on the time they were uploaded. But the best thing about bioRxiv is that you can download anything you want in PDF format across all devices.
18. Smashwords
Navigating Smashwords wasn’t as easy as most of the other options we’ve covered so far, but it makes up for that with detailed information about what the website contains.
For instance, it displays the exact number of books published, which currently stands at 815,935 out of which 101,600 are free. This is very impressive and a lot more than other bigger websites that offer the same services.
When you scroll further down, you’re presented with a long list of textbook genres to choose from like novels, biographies, history, and fantasy, among others.
There’s also a non-fiction section for scholarly works around law, technology, science, philosophy, and engineering, just to mention a few.
You can either download the books in PDF or ePub.
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19. LibreTexts
LibreTexts is a famous textbook website that provides free learning materials for students, instructors, and institutions alike.
It features a very clean website setup with beautifully animated slides with detailed information on the types of books available. Based on data displayed on the site, LibreTexts is home to over 2,200 textbooks and text maps that have served over 223 million students so far.
The resources here are accessible to anyone anywhere as long as they have access to the internet. The search function is also one of the best I’ve seen so far and it allows you to find what you want with a single click of the mouse.
20. Every Poet
Every Poet was designed for literature majors, especially those pursuing a degree in poetry.
As someone who loves poems, I was shocked by the sheer size of the poetry collection available on this site.
The user interface may not look that impressive but when you start digging through the archives is when you realize how resourceful Every Poet can be to students who can’t afford poetry books.
You can find revered classics from as far back as the 1600s to modern masterpieces by great creators like Maya Angelou. There’s a search function that works alongside a glossary that displays the names of all popular poets from different parts of the world.
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21. OceanofPDF
OceanofPDF provides all types of educational material in the form of PDFs and it has one of the easiest download processes on this list.
The website itself has a very minimal design. You get a search bar for looking up the books you want or you can click on the menu bar that groups the books based on genres, authors, languages, and magazines, among many others.
If a student doesn’t find what they want, there’s a button for sending in book requests which are made available as fast as possible. But while the website is free, students who can afford it can donate something to the creators in order to keep it running.
22. Textbooksfree
Textbooksfree.org is all about providing free books to the people who most need them, so if you focus too much on the website design you may not be too happy. Their use of luminous yellow as the background makes the site pop out way too much.
But when it comes to free textbooks, all the key bases are well covered. Some of the notable subjects covered include arts, science, economics, politics, and many more. It’s the kind of place where students can find research books for their assignments on short notice.
You can download books directly from Textbooksfree.org in various formats like PDF and ePub. All you need is a stable internet connection and a portable device.
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23. PDF Drive
PDF Drive is another hub of amazing free textbooks that you can download in PDF format. The site isn’t complicated. The first thing you see when you open it is a list of the most popular books, complete with vital information like the year of publishing and the number of pages.
When you scroll down, there’s a detailed menu that separates all of the books based on the subject. It even goes a step further by providing educational videos and audiobooks for students who struggle to read books on a screen.
According to the data on PDF Drive, there are over 84 million eBooks you can download for free. That’s more than most of the other options here.
24. Sci-Hub
Sci-Hub is for science students and nerds and has an impressive collection of amazing peer-reviewed research journals and books that would make any college student happy.
I opened the database link and I stumbled on fascinating information. The site is home to over 88 million research documents and I don’t think there’s any other site with these kinds of numbers as far as science material is concerned.
In total, Sci-Hub has over 100 TB worth of free textbooks, journals, and research papers and all can be downloaded by anyone anywhere.
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25. Manybooks
Manybooks wraps up our list of the best free textbook websites for students, offering a wide variety of downloadable books derived from different subjects.
The site is well structured with all book categories neatly arranged on the landing page for easy access.
A majority of the books on Manybooks are literary and include romance novels, mystery and thrillers, biographies, and historical fiction – the kind of content that literature students would benefit from.
You can also use the search function to locate the book you want right away.
Final Word
These are the best 25 free textbook websites that every student in high school and college student should know about.
Some like Archive.org provide a one-stop shop for every kind of subject while others like Sci-Hub are more specific.
The bottom line is that there’s something for everyone. So if you’re a student who can’t afford textbooks, go through them all and find the books you need.
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