30 Legit Places to Get Free College Textbooks (Online & Near You)

Looking for free textbooks?

You’re not alone. College is expensive!

In fact, the average cost of college in the United States is $38,270 per student per year, including books, supplies, and daily living expenses.

You can soften some of the financial blow by getting some of your textbooks for free.

Textbooks can be really expensive. The cost of them has ballooned over the years, but more students are using eBooks, which can be 50% less expensive than their hardcopy version.

The average college student spends $174 on new, printed textbooks for the year, and they pay $285 for course materials in one academic year. 65% of college students skipped buying textbooks because they were too expensive.

Thankfully, there are tons of places and ways to get free college textbooks helping you to save money on your education.

You just need to know where to look!

Whether you need a physical textbook or an eBook, we’ll tell you exactly where to get textbooks that won’t cost you a penny!

Where to Get Free Textbooks Online

Textbooks can be a big expense, but they don’t have to break the bank. There are numerous resources out there where you can get textbooks for free.

In this article, we’ve compiled a list of legit ways and places to score textbooks for free.

This is perfect whether you’re a college student looking to save some money or someone who’s just looking to brush up on a subject.

Check out this list of places to get free textbooks.

1. OpenStax

OpenStax provides high-quality, openly licensed college textbooks. You can get these for free online. It also offers printed versions at a low price.

2. BookBoon

On BookBoon, you can get access to hundreds of free textbooks all in one online eBook platform. These free textbooks are written by professors from the world’s top universities.

3. Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg is an excellent platform for sourcing free books. It’s a library of more than 75,000 free eBooks. You can choose from free EPUB and Kindle eBooks and download them or read them online.

The platform features textbooks in lots of different subjects, such as geography, art, and biology.

4. Google Books

Google Books is Google’s digital library. Basically, you search it to find the books that you want. It offers a large collection of books, and some of them are free to read and download.

Sometimes Google Books offers full or preview access to textbooks for free. Not all textbooks in its collection are available for free though.

5. Open Textbook Library

Get textbooks at no cost from the Open Textbook Library. The Open Textbook Library offers more than 1,600 open textbooks.

Open textbooks are licensed by authors and publishers to be freely used and adapted. They can be downloaded, edited, and distributed at no cost.

You can find textbooks on lots of different subjects, like law, humanities, computer science, social sciences, and business.

6. OER Commons

OER Commons is a public digital library of open educational resources. On there, you can find a bunch of free textbooks on various subjects from applied science, to arts and humanities, to business and communication.

7. LibreTexts Commons

Find a bunch of textbooks at no cost at LibreTexts Commons. The site hosts curated Open Educational Resources from all sixteen Libraries in the LibreVerse, in one location.

You can use the search bar on the site to search the platform’s catalog and find the textbooks you want.

8. CK-12 Foundation

CK-12 features a library of free online textbooks, videos, exercises, and flash cards. Check it out if you’re a student who’s looking to get textbooks for free.

9. MIT OpenCourseWare

MIT OpenCourseWare is part of MIT Open Learning. It provides a free collection of materials from thousands of MIT courses, which span the entire curriculum.

You can find lots of educational materials on there, including textbooks, for free.

10. Merlot

Merlot provides a bunch of different educational materials, such as free learning modules, free online courses, free online journals, and, of course, free online textbooks.

On there, you can find open textbooks, which are typically authored by faculty and published on the web with the support of universities or new commercial companies.

11. Free-eBooks.net

Free-eBooks.net is an excellent source for free eBook downloads. The platform has a category just for textbooks. Be sure to check it out and save yourself some money on your education.

12. Internet Archive

The Internet Archive is a digital library of free and borrowable texts. It’s an American non-profit organization that was founded back in 1996 – so it’s well-established.

You can browse the library to find the textbooks you need.

13. E-Books Directory

E-Books Directory is a categorized index of freely available online books. The platform is updated daily with new links to free eBooks and short reviews.

You can find free textbooks and educational resources on E-Books Directory. It features more than 10,000 free eBooks in 709 categories.

There are lots of different categories featured on the site, such as arts and photography, business and investing, and computers and internet.

It’s a great place to find links to freely accessible eBooks, documents, and lecture notes.

14. Open Culture

Open Culture features 200 free textbooks. This is another good site to check out if you’re a student who’s looking to save some money.

It also features other educational resources, like 1,700 free online courses from top universities.

15. Freeditorial

On Freeditorial, you can download free books in PDF and EPUB format. There are more than 50,000 books available to download on your Kindle, tablet, IPAD, PC or mobile. You can find some textbooks on Freeditorial.

16. IntechOpen

IntechOpen allows you to read, share, and download more than 7,400 peer-reviewed open access books. It focuses on science subjects.

Find books in categories, such as physical sciences, engineering and technology, life sciences, health sciences, and social sciences and humanities there.

17. Wikibooks

Wikibooks is an excellent resource offering a ton of free textbooks in multiple languages. Textbooks are available in lots of different subjects.

Everything on there can be accessed for free. Just use the search bar on the site to find the textbook that you’re looking for.

Just be aware that WikiBooks is an open resource where anyone can edit the material. So, if you’re doing research, you might want to use literature from official sources.

18. The Assayer

The Assayer is a catalog of books that have been made free by their authors. The site has been around since 2001! So, it’s another well-established platform. It’s open source.

Just browse the “Subjects” tab on the site to find a range of books across a variety of subjects.

Some of the subjects featured on the site include American history, law, and political science. Overall, the Assayer is a good resource for free textbooks.

19. FreeTechBooks

FreeTechBooks is a site that lists free online computer science, engineering, and programming books, textbooks, and lecture notes. These are all legally and freely available over the internet.

Books listed on FreeTechBooks are freely available because they are hosted on websites that belong to the authors or the publishers.

20. Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB)

The Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) features more than 93,000 academic peer-reviewed books.

You can find books on there on multiple subjects, such as education, politics and government, and literature and literary studies.

The DOAB is a community-driven discovery service that indexes and provides access to scholarly, peer-reviewed open access books and helps users find trusted open access book publishers.

All of the site’s services are free of charge and all data is freely available.

21. AMSER (Applied Math and Science Education Repository)

AMSER (Applied Math and Science Education Repository) is a digital repository that offers a bunch of different educational resources, including textbooks.

You can find textbooks on math, science, and technology there.

22. Open Research Library

The Open Research Library (ORL) offers Open Access book content. You can find books on a variety of subjects, like art and architecture.

You can use the site to search for Open Access books that are peer-reviewed and available for free.

It’s a good resource for finding free textbooks. It also hosts free chapters from textbooks.

23. r/FreeTextBook

Reddit is one of the lesser-known places to find free textbooks. But it’s a great choice.

The subreddit r/FreeTextBook is a community for sharing free textbooks. So, it’s a good resource to check out.

Just be sure to check that the books people are sharing are legit and can be obtained legally.

Other Ways to Get Free Textbooks Near You

The places above are all great for finding free textbooks. They’re not your only options though. Here are a few other ways to get free textbooks.

24. Browse your college or university library

Going to your college or university library can be a good way to get free physical copies of textbooks.

Sometimes professors or teachers will even put course-specific textbooks on reserve. So, their students have priority when it comes to borrowing these reserved textbooks.

You can search your library’s catalog online or in person to see if they have the textbook that you need.

Also, if your college or university library doesn’t have a particular book, but another branch does, then try to request it through your library’s interlibrary loan service.

When using this method to get free textbooks, be sure to get to the library as soon as you can before the semester begins – otherwise, other students may have already borrowed the books that you want.

Also, keep in mind that because you’ve borrowed these textbooks from the library, you won’t be able to highlight them or make notes on them.

25. Check out local libraries

Another option that you can try if you want to get your hands on some no-cost textbooks is your local library. Some libraries have a great selection of textbooks available for you to borrow.

Local libraries can be good if you are looking for physical copies of textbooks. Just visit a branch of your local library in person or go on their website to see if they have the particular textbook that you’re looking for.

Just be sure to apply for a library card if you don’t already have one so that you’re able to check out books.

The library may have the textbook that you’re interested in, or they may be able to request it from another branch.

26. Ask friends or graduating seniors

Another option is to ask friends or graduating seniors if you can borrow or have their old textbooks.

You may have a friend who has taken the same class as you have before. Just ask them if you can borrow or have their old textbooks. This can be such a simple way to get old textbooks.

Most people want to get rid of their college textbooks when they’re done with them anyway, so they’ll likely be happy for you to take their old books off their hands.

Also, some universities will host book drives at the end of the year where graduating students can donate their old books to students in lower grades.

You can reuse the books, saving yourself some money and the graduating students get to offload their unwanted books. It’s a win-win!

27. Talk to your professor or school dean if you are struggling to afford textbooks

Sometimes, we’re just short on cash. It’s that simple. And you’ll often find that simply reaching out to your school for help paying for textbooks is one of your best options.

Talk to your professor or school dean and let them know that you’re struggling to afford textbooks – they’re expensive after all, and college comes with a lot of expenses that can leave you short financially.

Your professor or school dean may be able to direct you to resources or grants that you can apply for that can cover the cost of books or just help you with the cost of education in general. They may be able to provide you with other resources and methods for getting free textbooks as well.

You may also want to ask your professor for permission to use an older edition of the textbook than the one they assigned because they’re often cheaper.

28. Sell your stuff

A simple solution for a lack of cash is to sell some of your stuff.

Whether it’s books, furniture, old phones, or any other item that you no longer have much use for, consider selling it.

You can use the cash you make to cover the cost of your college textbooks. And you get to declutter in the process!

29. Pick up some freelance work

Having a side hustle as a college student can do wonders for your finances. And freelance work can be the perfect fit.

You can do everything from writing to editing to data entry work to customer service work – and get paid for it. Freelance work is flexible, allowing you to work when you want to. And you can work online too.

Use the money that you make from doing freelance work to cover the cost of textbooks and other expenses.

You can find freelance work on sites like Upwork and PeoplePerHour.

30. Do some local gig work

Gig work can be an excellent way for college students to make money on the side.

Here are some options that you may want to consider:

• Drive for a rideshare company like Uber or Lyft: Rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft allow you to make money giving people lifts to the places they need to go.
• Deliver food with DoorDash and Grubhub: Companies like DoorDash and Grubhub pay you to deliver food from restaurants to customers’ homes.
• Deliver groceries with Instacart or Shipt: These companies pay you to deliver groceries to customers’ homes.
• Deliver packages with Amazon Flex and Spark: These companies pay you to deliver packages to customers’ homes.

Gig work is flexible, so you can work when it suits you. You can use the money you make from gig work to cover the cost of textbooks and other expenses.

Getting College Textbooks for Free: Conclusion

Finding free textbooks is easier than ever thanks to these 30 legitimate sources.

Whether you’re looking for eBooks, PDFs, or physical textbooks, there are countless opportunities to save money while ensuring you have the resources you need for your studies.

Be sure to give these places and methods for getting free textbooks a try and find the books that you need!

Just be sure to make sure that the source you’re using is legal and respects copyright laws.

We’ve made every effort to only include legit sites and tips. However, we can’t guarantee that every textbook on a site or every link to a textbook on a site is legal and abiding by copyright laws. So, do your own due diligence.

Get your free textbooks using our tips and enjoy studying while saving money in the process!