How to Download Ebooks for Free: Top 10 Trusted Sites in 2025

Are you fed up with expensive e-books emptying your wallet? You're not alone. Many students, researchers, and avid readers are frustrated by rising ebook prices, subscription paywalls, and the lack of reliable sources for free digital books. This guide will show you how to download ebooks for free from 10 reputable websites that offer EPUB, PDF, and MOBI formats—without shady links, hidden fees, or malware risks.

How to Download Ebooks for Free: Quick Overview

Before detailing each platform, we've compiled a comparison table based on test results and feedback from forum users. This quick overview will help you evaluate the best sites based on file formats, genre coverage, download limitations, and more.

Top 10 Websites to Download Ebooks for Free

Free-eBooks.net

Free-eBooks is a very practical website, especially for those who like to explore independent published works and popular novels.

Features:

• Many novels, science fiction, thrillers, romance and non-fiction.
• It brings together a large number of independent authors and classic books, and users can easily access free ebook resources to enrich their digital library.
• Provides ebook downloads in PDF, EPUB and other formats, users can choose the appropriate format according to their preferences. Some books can be read or downloaded without registration.

How to download ebooks with Free-eBooks.net?

Step 1: Visit Free-Ebooks.net and log in or register.

Step 2: Search for books by title, author, or category.

Step 3: Select a book and click "Download" to choose your preferred format (PDF, ePub, Kindle).

Step 4: Free users can download 1 book/month; upgrade to VIP for unlimited downloads.

Step 5: Open files using Adobe Reader (PDF) or Calibre (ePub).

Smashwords

Smashwords is an ebook retailer serving readers around the globe. Smashwords is especially good for those who want to read independently published original stories and find niche books. It is also an important platform for writers to publish their work and react directly to readers.

Features:

• One-stop service for publishing and selling e-books, catering to independent writers and small publishers.
• Readers can download any format compatible with their devices, like EPUB, MOBI, PDF, and other e-book formats.
• Smashwords not only has a huge amount of free e-books, but also offers affordable book options that are friendly to readers with different budgets.

How to download ebooks with Smashwords?

Step 1: Visit www.smashwords.com and log in or register for free.

Step 2: Search for books by title, author, or keywords; explore categories or filter by price (e.g., free eBooks).

Step 3: Select a book, ensure it supports your preferred format, and click "Buy" (free books show $0.00).

Step 4: After checkout, go to your Library and download the eBook in your desired format (ePub, MOBI, PDF).

Step 5: Read using apps like Calibre, Kindle, or Adobe Reader.

Open Library

Every book ever published will eventually have its own online page thanks to Open Library, an editable and open library catalog. The ultimate goal of the Open Library is to make all of humanity's published works available to everyone in the entire world.

Features:

• Open Library has collected millions of books, covering publication date, author introduction, edition details and other rich content.
• Users can borrow up to 10 books simultaneously for a period of 1 hour (browsing only) or 14 days (full loan).
• A loan mechanism, facilitating the acquisition of knowledge for those who can't walk into physical libraries.
• Open Library provides a detailed content table of books to help users quickly find the content of interest.

BookBoon

Bookboon is an online platform focused on providing free and high quality e-books for students and professionals, founded in 2005 and headquartered in Denmark.

Features:

• Providing PDF format and textbooks in the fields of information technology, engineering, business, education, and career development.
• BookBoon's business model is ad-supported, with free ebooks with a small amount of advertising built in, supporting authors and the platform through AD revenue.

PDF Drive

PDF Drive is an online platform that offers free ebook downloads in PDF format, with more than 75 million books of a wide range of topics and areas.

Features:

• Users can search and download books without registration, in academic, novels, technical manuals, and professional books.
• The platform has a simple interface and powerful search function, users can quickly find what they need through keywords.
• Although PDF Drive claims to have no download limit, users have reported that the daily download limit is 5 books.
• Advanced Filtering: PDF files can be filtered and sorted by popularity, file size, publication date, and/or page number.

Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg is a library of over 75,000 free eBooks and aims to make public domain literature available online for download. Project Gutenberg is a must-visit website for readers who appreciate great literature and the philosophy of history. All of these resources are instantly available for users to access and download.

Features:

• The preservation and distribution of historic literary works in digital formats, as well as the sharing of information.
• More than 60,000 free e-books available in a wide range of areas, including science, philosophy, history, and fiction.
• All books are proofread by volunteers to ensure the quality of the books.
• No special apps needed to read, just the regular Web browsers or eBook readers that are included with computers and mobile devices. 

ManyBooks

ManyBooks was founded in 2004 with the goal of offering a vast collection of books in digital format for free online. There are a lot of classics on the site because many of the early eBooks are from the Project Gutenberg archives.

Features:

• Vast book resources and easy-to-use design.
• It provides free e-book downloads and online reading support.
• Multiple language books, suitable for different language learners and culture lovers.
• Over 50,000 e-books in a number of categories, including science fiction, biography, history, and more.

LibriVox

LibriVox is a non-commercial, non-profit and ad-free project, providing free audiobooks in public domain and disseminating classic literary works. You can listen to classic literature and easily access audio versions of classics like Jane Eyre and War and Peace.

Features:

• A pure listening experience without any advertising or distractions.
• More than 15,000 free audio books of literary and historical works are currently available on LibriVox.
• The audio book is available for free download or online listening in MP3 format.
• Volunteers from around the world participated in the recording, providing a multilingual audio book version.

Internet Archive

Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free texts, movies, software, music, websites, and more.

Features:

• With over 20 million titles, the platform's extensive book collection includes everything from contemporary releases to classics in the public domain.
• Anyone can contribute digital content to the platform by uploading works in the public or private domain
• All resources are free to read, download, and distribute.

Google Books

Google Books is a digital platform launched by Google, which is one of the largest electronic libraries in the world, integrating book search, online reading, purchase and download functions.

Features:

• Google Books offers more than 10 million free e-books, ranging from contemporary bestsellers to public domain classics.
• Users can read their saved books on any device and at any time by virtue of Google Books' cloud storage.

Essential Tips for Downloading Free Ebooks Safely

This section aims to help you avoid dubious websites, unreadable formats, and even copyright infringement, and the following tips will ensure that your eBook experience is safe and device-friendly:

Verify Copyright Status

Not all free books can be legally shared. Please ensure that the book is in the public domain or is officially offered for free by the author or publisher before downloading. We recommend using platforms such as Project Gutenberg or Open Library, which clearly indicate copyright status.

Choose the Right Format

Readers should pay attention to the compatibility of common e-book formats (such as EPUB, PDF, MOBI) with reading devices.

• PDF: General readers and browsers
• EPUB: Kobo, Apple Books, Google Play Books
• MOBI / AZW: Kindle

Beware of Clickbait & Malware

Some sites advertise free eBooks but redirect you to spam, fake logins or unsafe downloads. Please do not download executable files (.exe) disguised as eBooks. An eBook should be an .epub, .pdf or .mobi file.

Conclusion

The free eBook download platforms introduced in this article offer a rich variety of resources and support a wide range of formats such as PDF, EPUB and MOBI. Furthermore, when exploring how to download books for free, stay copyright and security conscious. Choosing a reputable source not only protects your device, but also ensures that you are accessing legitimate and high-quality content.