How To Get Free College Textbooks (2024): 20 Legit Ways

Are you looking for how to get free college textbooks as a student? If yes, this article will guide you on various ways you can get or download free college textbooks without spending much money. So continue reading to know more.

Nowadays, practically all books are available in electronic format, and many resources are online. Since students are looking for alternatives to avoid going broke while still getting good scores in their courses, it is now simple to find free college textbooks in PDF format. There are various ways to get free (or extremely cheap) access to college-level content, including PDFs and e-books, renting or borrowing materials, and using the library at your school.

Therefore, if you need help with what to do, stop searching because we have researched for you! Here are some resources for finding free or incredibly affordable college textbooks.

Are Free College Textbooks Websites Legit?

Any college textbook can be downloaded for free and legally from the Internet. The most pressing query is this.

Both yes and no, is the answer. While some websites are 100 percent trustworthy, some are dubious. Any website you consider utilizing should be thoroughly investigated, especially if you want to download things from it.

There are two issues with this:

You could end up downloading malware.

The bad news is that it may often be difficult to distinguish between legitimate websites and those that aren’t, so that you might be downloading pirated content.

The good news is that there are a lot of trustworthy websites that provide free college textbooks.

We advise against downloading copyrighted textbooks unless you are in an emergency because doing so is against the law. And even then, look for a legal means of getting the textbook.

How To Get Free College Textbooks in 2023: Legit Ways

You can skip paying for your college textbooks. Here are some great ways to find free college books online. Here are legit ways to get free college textbooks at little or no cost. 

#1. University Library

The most obvious place to start is sometimes the greatest. Thousands of books are kept in university libraries. According to Jon Lal, the creator of the money-saving website BeFrugal.com, what they don’t currently have in stock can frequently be ordered through interlibrary loan arrangements.

Search the online catalog of your school library for the books listed on your course syllabus, or ask your librarian for assistance. Lal asserts that the sooner, the better.

“As soon as classes begin, head to your college’s library armed with a list of the necessary textbooks. Have the authors’ names and publication dates on hand,” he advises. “If the library has it, see if you can check it out or if it’s only to be used in the library.”

Professors frequently place textbooks for classes on hold in the school library. These are normally offered for brief loans—sometimes only an hour or two—allowing students to finish the required reading. Plan beforehand because these books’ availability is frequently restricted.

Check out: 6 Ways to Spend Less on College Textbooks

#2. Book Swap

Book exchange at your institution can be an excellent way to find and share textbooks and make friends and develop networks if you love to interact with people and form groups. You can start a Facebook group or spread the news among your friends.

As soon as the semester is over, textbooks start to gather dust. Even though you might promise yourself, you won’t need that intermediate Spanish book again. So why give it to somebody else to use?

Student organizations at schools, including Georgia College and the University of Florida, set up online book exchanges. Students can list the books they have and need on these websites to find a match.

Create a book exchange if one still needs to be added to your campus. Engage a student organization to distribute posters and raise awareness during orientation because book exchanges only succeed if students participate.

#3. E-readers

Students enrolling in undergrad programs are still eligible for a free book. Members of Amazon’s Kindle Lending Library can borrow e-books for nothing. Students will find both well-known and classic titles. However, they won’t find their Introduction to Chemistry book.

However, there is a catch. Students must have the corresponding e-reader to access the Kindle library. Additionally, they must purchase an Amazon Prime membership, which costs $39 for students per year.

Textbook PDFs may also be available online for students to download, but doing so could put them in violation of copyright laws. Even yet, searches might turn up little.

Check also: 5 Best Websites to Buy College Textbooks

#4. Used Textbooks

A physical book you can hold, mark up, and take notes in is sometimes the best thing ever. Finding used books where this has yet to be done is the trick! But don’t worry—there are plenty of options. Remember that many students have already completed the courses you are taking and have read the required texts. They want to eliminate them to sell or donate them to other students like you. Here are a few approaches you could take.

#5. Facebook

Students can search, borrow, buy, and sell textbooks in various groupings. Search the groups at your college. You’ll undoubtedly locate at least one.

Our advice: Join all the Facebook student groups, especially those relevant to your field and institution. Almost every student uses it, and posts about buying and selling textbooks are frequent. You’re in buyer mode right now, but you might switch to seller mode after the course ends and no longer need the books. Who wouldn’t benefit from having more money?

#6. Online Marketplaces:

Free textbooks

 A tool designed specifically for students to locate, share, and buy the required supplies—including textbooks! Even the books you buy, sell, or deliver can earn you a commission. If you buy and sell books, why not profit from the transaction?

Student2student

 Another fantastic online marketplace. Textbooks can be purchased and sold directly from students on your campus. This is a fantastic alternative to dealing with shipping and credit cards!

#7. Asking classmates

Asking others you see in your courses or those nearby at school is sometimes the simplest option. Although the Internet is a very effective and practical tool, there is still the age-old practice of communicating with people in person. And it might be equally accessible.

#8. Renting Textbooks

It’s affordable to rent books; you can return them after you finish. Although you will have a rental period, you can usually extend it if you need more time. These websites are a great place to begin.

The Textbook Rental Store

An interesting choice is The Textbook Rental Store. You can use Amazon’s platform to rent books from their shop for a semester with the option to buy the book or extend your rental time. This choice is ideal if you don’t intend to keep the books after you finish them.

CampusBookRentals

A website where you may both buy and rent textbooks is called CampusBookRentals. They make it simple for you. You buy the book, they send it to you in a pre-paid mailer, and you return it by the due date specified in your rental agreement. It doesn’t get any simpler than that!

Read also: 10 Ways to Use the Library Besides Borrowing Books

22 Websites to Get Free College Textbooks

Textbooks are essential for college students who wish to excel academically. They help you learn the material, comprehend lectures, and ace examinations easily. However, due to their high costs, limited availability, and infrequent usage, purchasing these textbooks might be a problem.

Additionally, there are some textbooks that you won’t fully utilize because you only need to read a select few chapters, but no one will sell you a portion of a textbook. Fortunately, there are 20 places where you may download free college textbooks. Check it out, shall we?

1. Archive.org

Archive.org is a repository for all things online, as its name implies. You can find missing papers, erased YouTube videos, and other media you cannot find elsewhere. 

This website accomplishes more than you might expect. It provides a huge selection of media, including PDFs, documents, online books, and even older YouTube tutorials. 

Additionally, you can download these books in various formats depending on your interests. You can back up your digital books and documents with archive.org. It is a commitment to its name as a website and gives you access to exclusive media.

Students widely utilized this site to back up their digital textbooks. You can get papers from this site in a wide variety of formats without having to convert them yourself because of this.

2. Bookboon

Bookboon is an online publishing company offering free PDF textbooks for college students.

With Bookboon, you have access to not only free textbooks but also books that have been produced and published by the best professors at the best universities. You can choose from a selection of top-notch books regardless of the subject you’re taking in the business, economics, literature, science, or technology departments.

It may only suit some because it focuses mostly on engineering-related subjects. This website is ideal for you pursuing a degree in this area.

The website also provides you with a skill-learning program for personal growth.

3. BioRxiv

There is no need to search further if you’re looking for a website with free college textbooks and only science-related titles. A website devoted to science called bioRxiv has a library of books on subjects like dermatology, ecology, pharmacology, and more.

It’s a website that informs its users of new papers and articles when they are released by sending them notifications. You can follow them on Twitter to get updates as well.

4. Bookshare

It can be challenging to locate a website that gives free college textbooks for the less well-known subjects of study. Fortunately, Bookshare is your go-to resource for anything alternative. There is a book for every requirement, whether you’re interested in food, reading, or graphic design.

Also, Bookshare is the place to go if you need free college textbooks to study for the SAT, MCAT, LSAT, or GRE.

5. BCcampus OpenEd

Any website offering free college textbooks does so to provide public access to resources for advanced learning. Through its library of resources based on the most well-liked courses in British Columbia, OpenEd explicitly promotes that.

The books cover various topics, including technology, accounting, sociology, media, the arts, biology, and business. By using particular fields and keywords, the website is simple to find.

6. Cite Seer X

Cite Seer X is the website to download free college textbooks from the 20th and early 21st centuries. It offers a portal to the past and guarantees you’ll have a blast searching for the books you need, thanks to its extensive collection of books written before 2000 and produced by Penn University. Cite Seer X is a useful tool that also provides citations for the stuff you utilize.

7. Free-E-Books.net

On Free E-Books.net, students can also get free college textbooks to help with their studies. It offers a selection of books throughout all subject areas, strongly emphasizing literature. A drop-down menu listing all textbooks according to their subject of study is displayed when you visit the website. The availability of online articles and videos written by knowledgeable professionals in many academic subjects is another great advantage.

8. Digital Book Index

As its name implies, Digital Book Index provides access to links to a massive selection of digital books across all academic areas. These subjects include math, science, medicine, law, philosophy, and history. They also have laws and religions. You can get free access to tens of thousands of PDF books from authors, publishers, universities, and private websites at Digital Book Index.

9. Every Poet

Your online companion for all things poetry-related is Every Poet. You can access great classic poetry works by well-known authors like Sylvia Platt and Robert Frost. Additionally, you can view other publications from other Every Poet users and submit your works for evaluation. Every Poet is a website that facilitates your study of English and academic courses and serves as a center for poets looking for free college textbooks.

10. Project Gutenberg

For Humanities students, it was a dream come true. Project Gutenberg aims to spread valuable materials more widely, primarily cost-free college textbooks. This website’s enormous repository of fictional and cultural resources will enthrall humanities students. Finding the textbooks is simple, and downloading them is also a breeze.

11. Openstax 

Rice University, a nonprofit, developed a website called Openstax. It’s a service that offers free PDF downloads of college textbooks to enhance students’ access to educational resources. Both English and Spanish are available on the website as functional languages. The open textbooks cover many areas, including math, the sciences, business, economics, etc.

12. Open Textbook Library

The Open Educational Network established the Open Textbook Library as a free online resource for college textbooks. It was created to increase access to educational resources like free textbooks and help elevate the standard of higher education. They provide PDFs for various topics, including journalism, media arts, social sciences, history, math, and the arts. You may use these textbooks because the authors have granted permission for their usage.

13. Online Mathematics Textbooks 

Students can find a list of 77 books on the website for online mathematics textbooks that are categorically considered “must-have” texts in mathematics. For those who want to be math students or have a strong interest in arithmetic, a collection like this is a genuine discovery.

George Cain, a professor at Georgia Tech who is also one of the authors of several textbooks, has carefully outlined the book list and has included helpful resources written by other academics. The ability to download any book is offered for free.

14. Manybooks.net

It’s very clear how extensive this company’s collection is from the website’s name. College students can access more than 29,000 digital books through Manybooks.net, which has a vast library and a user-friendly interface that makes looking for books to download rewarding. However, the website offers free college textbooks in 46 languages, making it a popular destination worldwide.

15. Libre Texts

Libre Texts is a powerful player in the center of the digital book when it comes to a user-friendly design and a sizable digital library. Over 220 million students search the website for free college textbooks, which offer 398 titles. It’s also the type of website you use to look for PDFs that have already been examined and tested by other college students.

16. Lyryx

A website called Lyryx provides free college textbooks, but it goes more than that. With Lyryx, your learning process is advanced thanks to incorporating online tasks designed to keep your faculties sharp and advance your abilities. All college students can access free textbooks on the Lyryx website, specializing in business, economics, statistics, and mathematics.

 17. Library Genesis

A website called Library Genesis, also called LibGen provides free college textbooks to all students. You can download every free college textbook from the website as a PDF. The LibGen Library’s catalog may be readily searched using keywords, ISBNs, authors, extensions, and other criteria. Textbooks are a popular option all over the world because they can be downloaded in a variety of languages.

18. IntechOpen

Since 2004, IntechOpen has been a household name for all things relating to digital textbooks. In the subjects of computer science, robotics, and many STEM courses you’re interested in, it boasts over 2,000 published textbooks.

IntechOpen has gathered more than 60 million downloads on its websites, further proving its popularity and reliability. The website also provides periodicals for you to read that have been evaluated by professionals in your field of study.

19. Freeditorial

What happens when an online publishing business and an open digital library combine their features to create one website? As a result, Freeditorial, a hub for writers and publishers, is open to anyone. As you can see, Freeditorial gives you access to free college textbooks from every discipline. These works are additionally listed in an easy-to-access catalog in both English and Spanish. Writers can make their works public by publishing them.

20. Free Book spot

Free Book Spot is another gold mine for students looking for free college textbooks to download in PDF format. You can search digital books on various subjects, including agriculture, economics, astronomy, science, math, and archaeology.

You can use keywords, authors, ISBNs, and languages to search for digital books on the Free Book Spot website. Novels from literature are also available to you.

21. Sci-Hub

Science students can find free college textbooks on Sci-Hub relevant to their field of study. Despite its narrow focus, the website provides interesting information and offers access to digital books, journals, and research papers. Additionally, the website makes it simpler to access many science-related textbooks and holds materials that are difficult to discover.

22. Saylor Academy

You can get free college textbooks from Saylor Academy in PDF, Microsoft Word, and Epub formats. Additionally, you are permitted to complete a survey for each textbook to provide feedback for the publishers on their books and articles. Saylor Academy provides a variety of digital books in numerous subject areas, such as public speaking and online marketing.y.

FAQs

See also: 5 Affordable Places to Rent College Textbooks

Conclusions

The cost of education is rising in tandem with the expense of life. That expense is largely made up of textbooks. However, there are methods for reducing the cost of textbooks. You can acquire college textbooks for free by visiting one of the websites on our list.

There are other options besides free online textbooks. Consider renting, buying used, or using the library.