Free Books: 100 Sites for Thrifty Bookworms to Download & Read Books Online

How much did you pay last time you bought a book?
Books are expensive!
And doesn’t it seem like every time you go to buy a new book, the prices have gone up?
You’re not imagining it!
Just like college text books, book prices have been going up steadily for the past few decades, maybe not as much as college text books have (a whopping 1041% price increase since 1977!) but they have been going up.
And if you’re a bookworm, buying a few books a month can put a serious dent in your budget.
But thanks to the internet, you can download and read hundreds of thousands of books – from classics and fiction to non-fictions, biographies and everything in between – without paying a dime.
Here at MoneyPantry, we like saving money and we love free stuff.
So I went on a hunt to find a few places where you can download free books and ebooks.
And being the perfectionist that I am, finding “a few places” led me to spend a whole week trying to find as many websites as I could.
I hope it was worth it.
With that said, here is a massive list of places where you can download 100% free books and ebooks in any genre you can imagine.

1. Open Culture

Open Culture is more academic in nature, thus there are more excellent reading materials for students.
The collection is not huge, with approximately over 700 titles, which are slanted towards students.
There is also an internal committee to scrutinize all books before being published.

Even the fiction genre is restricted to classical works from William Shakespeare and Mark Twain for example.

2. Google eBookstore

Google eBookstore’s free section (just search for “free” on the search bar at the top of the page) is a gold mine for free eBook seekers.
It certainly has a good mix; from history to fiction, and modern science to classical stuff.

3. Project Gutenberg

Unlike Google eBookstore, this one does not have a corporation behind it.
The website is run by a bunch of enthusiasts, who regularly encourage new users in the e-books’ creation and sharing experience.
To attract critical mass, the books here are available in multiple formats: HTML, Kindle, ePub and good old-fashioned text formats.

Project Gutenberg amasses a collection of over 45,000 free e-books.

4. Open Library

Open Library is one of the many initiatives under the umbrella of Internet Archive.
It has an open concept and it encourages online community to actively contribute books.
With over one million titles to look for, you will be thankful that a very efficient and effective search function is embedded on their website, making it easier to navigate among the subjects, authors and titles here.

5. Amazon Free Kindle Books

If you are on Amazon Kindle, this free library will certainly be an interesting proposition.
As with the main Amazon site, downloading is a hassle free process. You still need your usual account to log in.
Once inside, choose a book of your liking (your selection can be based on genre, author or title).
Of course, Amazon offers an interesting mix, from classics to romance, DNA study to great engineering feats.

6. Internet Archive

This is probably not the place to look for contemporary titles.
If what you have in mind are old books that publishers have stopped printing, especially those in foreign language prints, then this could be for you.
They are especially great on books that are educational or historical in nature.

7. BookBoon

Want to learn more about business practice or educational stuff?
This website is dedicated to that. BookBoon boasts over 1000 e-books, all arranged nicely in appropriate categories.
You can start to download straightaway, as no registration is required.

8. ManyBooks.net

ManyBooks.net lets visitors browse among their 29,000 free e-books.

There is quite a diverse range here.
The website also sets up a popular book chart, so you can pick up the e-books that are in demand if you’re so inclined.
Alternatively, just use the search function to look for what appeals to you.
Their books can be served across a number of devices, iPad (and also Android-based pads) Nooks, Kindles and most e-readers.

9. Free-eBooks

This is a great place if you fancy drama; from the most gruesome murder to unstinting romance.
If you like a good story, this website will not disappoint you.
There are also ratings and reviews published to help you find the right book.
I am not particularly stuck to a certain kind of genre so I like coming here to browse all types of books.

10. Free Book Centre

There are loads of computer related e-books over here.
It is helpful if you are thinking of getting some sort of certifications on IT stuff, as the website is loaded with instructions on web design, programming, database tuning, etc.

11. Free Book Spot

This is one website that talks about their free e-books in term of computer storage.
All in all, their 4485 e-books occupy some 71.97 GB on their hard disk, and they spread across 96 categories.
They tend to focus on technology stuff so don’t come here if you feel like getting a romantic read. Again, no registration required.

12. Free Computer Books

This is another technology-laden website so expect everything technical (engineering, scientific, mathematics… you get the idea!).
The website owner takes it upon himself to make sure everybody finds what he or she wants.
Users can zoom in from 12 topics right into more than 150 subcategories.

13. Ebooks3000

This provides a directory service for loads of e-books available online.
You just follow the download links to get to the e-books that you want.

14. Ebook Lobby

The organization here is almost similar to that of the local library.
Everything is organized neatly and you just browse the individual sections that appeal to you; these are organized into art, business, education, IT and more.

15. E-library

Another library like website with books neatly organized to make your downloading easy.

16. Free e-books

Free e-books require membership before you can access their facilities.
Upon registration, which is free, you are entitled to the massive collection of resources like e-books and authors reference.
There are also free e-magazines and you can also upload your own e-books.

17. Free Tech Books

As the name implies, this website is dedicated to engineering or IT related e-books.
One thing that stands out here is that the site actually bothers to secure the legal right to its materials on distribution. So your download would be an entirely legitimate exercise, not to mention a free one as well.
The website does not have a specific name for e-books, they are used interchangeably with descriptions like lecture notes, monogram, text, document, etc.

18. Get Free Books

GetFreeEBooks is another legit e-books website. Just as well, these e-books are all free.

19. Online Programming Books

More than the implied computing related stuff, this site also has e-books related to science, physics, mathematics, marketing and business.
Of course, web technology, inter-networking, database, programming content is given.

20. PDF-geni

PDFGeni is more like a search directory that covers specifically PDF version of documents, forms, sheets and e-books.

21. SlideShare

This is actually a subscription-based site where they offer an amazing array of e-books and slides even for non-subscript users.

22. ManyBooks

ManyBooks has strong programming team that makes the free content appear seamlessly in your PDA, iPod or eBook Reader.
Here you pick your ebook based on popularity, users recommendations, or reviews.
With 21,282 choices you can find here, you seldom go wrong!

23. Book Gold Mine

A website dedicated to knowledge discovery, with content focused on lectures notes, educational books and other kinds of insights, free to users.

24. Bartleby

When it comes to non-fiction content, not many websites are bigger than this.

25. Banned Books

Come to this website to access previously or currently banned books.

26. Scribd

Scribd caters to mainstream users and the content is more than just the usual PDF format.
You can also find materials that are created in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint as well, which immediately boost the number of contents over here.

27. MysteryNet

I come here in my spare time between meetings as the short mystery stories found on this site really intrigue me.

28. Planet eBook

The collection is concentrated on classic literature. Free download and free sharing.

29. SnipFiles

Most of the e-books and software being exhibited here are PLR material.
Some others have re-seller or master distribution rights.

30. BookYards

BookYards serves as entry point to all who clamor for knowledge.
You can find books, education materials, information, and content so long as you have decent internet bandwidth.

31. Baen Free Library

Come here if science fiction is your thing.

32. CHM PDF

This one captures everything under the sun with a slight slant towards technical stuff.

33. Issuu

The website list all variety of web publications. And you can share them if you find them interesting!

34. Loyal Books

You can find both free e-books and audio books on this website. Best of all, they are all PLR so there is no worry of copyright infringement.

35. MobiPocket

At first glance, it is difficult to pick fault with MobiPocket, who boasts more than 11,000 free ebooks.
Furthermore, it has a friendly MOBI format, which in turn is supported by Kindles.
But that is exactly my beef with them…
Wouldn’t it be easier to standardized on just one single “Kindle” format?

36. DailyLit

eBooks are served to you via email sent daily or you can choose to receive RSS feed.

37. Wikibooks

This takes the cue from Wikipedia so everybody is able to edit the content as they see fit.

38. Adobe Free eBooks

Sponsored by Adobe Inc, you expect everything you read would be just PDF format only.
But it is great as you can read both on mobile devices and PCs.

39. eReaderIQ.com

In a sense, eReaderIQ is really doing public service for free.
Their work is related to Amazon Kindle books. So if there is a price drop on any content, they will publish it on their website.
You can also look out for the titles you have been waiting for, as there is a separate section that displays the new additions to Amazon library.
The site also shows e-books that have been made free by Amazon, which may or may not be publicized by the company.
There is also a service for subscribers to be notified of the free publications.

40. Classic Bookshelf

The focus on this site is timeless work from distinguished authors, names like William Shakespeare and
Charles Dickens for example.

41. BookBoon

This website helps students with their studies. But they have other stuff that anyone can benefit from.
Available in PDF format and free. Anybody can access.

42. Free Ebook Download Links

Free Ebook Download Links consolidate all free written work available on the web (the authors here have consented to free downloading and also free printing if used non-commercially).
The links on the website would lead to a good variety of e-books.

43. EbooksMD

This one has a noble cause. It is founded with the desire to group together Medical Students and Doctors, with the objective to share and collaborate the information/ideas among them, especially with regards to medical books.

44. Alive & Free

They dedicate their website to authors who are still producing work and giving their work away free.
You connect to these books through links embedded on the web page, and access is free!

45. Read Easily

One ebook website who attempt to educate the public on adaptive reading habits!

46.Baen

Baen is decent but I think the collection is too small for my liking. Both fiction and non-fiction books are available here.

47. Hundred Zeros

The subject area of these books is diverse, cutting across many genres.
To download, you still need to use the Kindle reader app, but you can choose to enjoy these free e-books on your PC, mobile or tablets.

48. eBookLobby

eBookLobby has plenty of interesting stuff.
Navigate to the business, art, computing and education categories to find what you fancy. It is intuitive and it is fun.

49. PlanetPDF

Good classic novels are all the rage here.
They choose to publish in PDF so you don’t have to worry about format.

50. Classic Reader

This website has a collection of interesting novels, including both classical as well as contemporary.

51. Read Print

This is one of my favorites, as I know they only stock the best classic books.
Whenever I feel the urge to savor the fine work of George Orwell or George Eliot, this is where I head to.

52. Bartleby

You can find at Bartleby the usual crowd pleasers and classic novels.
But the thing that makes this website famous is its good collection of anthologies books.

53. The WWW Virtual Library for Theatre and Drama

They gather the transcripts on all the popular plays in the public domain and distribute it free on text versions online.

ProPlay

The collection mostly consists of kids’ books, comedy stories, engaging fictions and music archives.

54. Kobo

Kobo boasts of a collection of more than 4 million eBooks and magazines.
Credit goes to the curators of the site as I find this lot makes an interesting read.
Armed with your Kobo eReaders, the excellent reading materials are now available to you anywhere, anytime!

55. Internet eBook and Texts Archive

The Internet Archive eBook and Text Archive boasts of a fine collection – ranging from the interesting ones to the really dry ones, captivating novels to students’ educational reading.
All content is free for Internet users.

56. FreeScience.info

If mathematics, physics, and technical stuff are your thing, you are bound to have plenty of fun here.

57. Free Tech Books

This is probably one of the greatest websites to find help on IT stuff, from general programming to database administration.

58. Freebooksy

Freebooksy has a habit of posting at least one free eBook a day. That said eBooks would remain available for download on that same day.
Sometimes the website is generous enough to make the book available for a few more days down the road.
The team behind Freebooksy has good taste and mixed interests.
You can chance upon a really good read regardless of the sorts of genres you prefer.

59. Page by Page Books

Here is quite a mixed bag. You can find excellent work from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and H.G. Wells.
At the same time, you can listen to a short burst of speeches from our ex-Presidents, like Mr. George W. Bush.

60. Fiction.us

You guessed it right. Almost all significant and famous writers are represented here at Fiction.us.
No matter if you are looking for gripping detective story or hilarious romantic comedy, you will not be disappointed on this website.

61. Free Classic Literature

For people with a soft spot for British literature, this website full of amazing British writers will certainly impress them.

62. Bibliomania

With a strong collections of over 2,000 free e-books, this website is certainly a good online reference site to find study guides and classic novels.

63. Literature.org

Come here to appreciate full and unabridged classic work ever documented.
You can find famous work of Bronte sisters, Mark Twain and more.

64. FullBooks.com

FullBooks.com claims they have free e-books in the thousands, most of which are slanted to scientific research and journals.

65. Classic Literature Library

I think this particular website qualifies for the most comprehensive collection of classical materials.

66. Obooko

Another site that prides itself in bringing us a mind-boggling mix of genres and topics.

67. Free E-Books Lounge

Not exactly prominent, but you can find an interesting story to read once in a while.

68. byGosh

The website is full of kids picture books and illustrated stories. All are free to download.

69. International Children’s Digital Library

This has a more organized way to help users to locate their books.
Books are categorized into age groups and split among fantasy and real-life stories.
There is also a small section of pictorial books. Some of the books here have previously claimed great international awards.

70. The Divine Life Society

If you are a yoga buff, this is your port of call.
The collection here also extends to those related to religion and philosophy.

71. e-Library

Numerous ebooks, all free to download.

72. ReadBookOnline.net

The site features both prominent and obscure work of famous writers like Chekhov, Thomas Hardy, Ben Jonson, Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe and others.

73. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

MIT has compiled and aggregated Shakespeare’s entire amazing story telling skills.
They range from historical depiction to human tragedies, and also the really funny stuff.

74. Free Online Novels

The mainstay on this website is Christian themed story books, but including a fair share of modern novels.

75. Foxglove

This website based in England offers free novels, short stories and satires type.

76. Most Popular History Books

Not all e-books are free but I found these two: Seven Days and Seven Nights by Alexander Szegedy and Autobiography of a Female Slave by Martha G. Browne, turned out to be good reads.

77. Books-On-Line

Obviously with the mainstream audience in mind, with books catering to kitchen help, food preparation, movie scripts, and fashion & lifestyle books, with the obligatory contemporary novels.

78. TopMystery.com

For a regular feed of mysterious stories, check out this website.
They have books from big names like Edgar Allan Poe, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and GK Chesterton.

79. Poem Hunter

As the name suggests, a great site for poem lovers, the site also features song lyrics and popular quotes from great men and women alike.

80. Business Book Mall

Come here and equip yourself with the basics required to setting a business.
Topics range from accounting to economics, and they also oblige with general business management classes.

81. Online-Literature

The ebooks site caters more for the educational sector.
Students and teachers would be delighted to find more than the 1,900 eBooks, 3,000 short stories and impressive array of poems.
They also set up shops for author biographies and quizzes sections.

82. Questia

I like this place not because of the mostly classic works among the over 5,000 free ebooks.
The draw for me here is actually the rare works that you don’t find often.

83. Public Literature

Public Literature tends to focus their collection on poems and theatrical plays – for both classic and contemporary fans.

84. Foboko

A great mix of genres you can find here.

85. Public Bookshelf

Get your mix of drama, mysteries, love stories and more.

86. The Internet Book Database of Fiction

Think middle kingdom, Harry Potter, mighty Thor, Scooby Doo, laser boy, yeah that’s right, those are on offer here.

87. Feedbooks

Feedbooks does not require registration. The collection of books here tends to focus on fiction work.
You can count on them if you are a fan of trusted names like Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, and Jules Verne.
There are lots of titles available in PDF, EPUB and MOBI, which is a good decision as that means your content can go into virtually any device.
The website design is quite ergonomic and I find it a breeze to look for my e-book, either through the navigation on the left side of page or simply enter using the search box.

88. Girlebooks

Obviously dedicated to works from female authors only.

89. Library of Congress

Pertaining to all important aspects with regards to the congress of USA.

90. Chest of Books

Another website that targets the mass users base.
Free books on offer tend to focus on personal hobbies, like gardening and gourmet cooking, home remodeling, craftwork and art books, and some more.

91. All Romance

Desperate for an engaging love story? This site could be the last ebook site you go to.
There are some 1300 titles to choose from. All are free but they still require you register.
The default format is MOBI (Kindle-compatible) though other formats are also available.

92. LibriVox

Get used to listening to stories rather than reading them! LibriVox has taken the pain to translate written work into audiobooks.
These audiobooks are free and cover great achieves and books that are out-of-print.

93. Mystery Books

If you like Sue Grafton’s work, you would be glad that she is the main attraction here.

94. Book Stacks

You can’t deny that the collection at Book Stacks is massive.
They also adopt all contents to be of PDF format to encourage mass adoption.

95. Smashwords

Users are advised to register when they first access this website, to ensure full privilege to download a full ebook.
They manage to keep a really up to date catalog but take notice that not all downloads are free. Some will cost you money.

96. Adelaide University

Courtesy of Adelaide University, you find ebooks on travel & adventure, classic masterpiece, science and philosophy, historical achieved and more.

97. Authorama

They feature completely free books from a variety of different authors.

98. Online-Literature

This is a searchable database of literature for the student, educator, or enthusiast.
They currently have over 3500 full books and over 4400 short stories and poems by over 260 authors.

99. 2020ok

Huge list of books in every genre imaginable.

100. Old.Bored.com

You can find books in almost any genre you can think of.
With over 10,000 free books, this site is a must for downloading and reading free books online.

Final thoughts

As you can see, there is no shortage of websites that let you download and read books online for free.
Now you can get your book fix for free and save thousands of dollars.
Be sure to bookmark this page as I will be adding new sites to the list.
Also, if you know of any free book/ebook site that is not mentioned in this list, please leave a comment below and I will add it to the list.