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17 Best Sites to Download Free Books in 2024

Love to read? Open Library, ManyBooks, and Librivox are just a few of the many places to find free books online

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Free books on nearly any subject you can think of are all over the internet, ready to be downloaded, read, and shared. These are the best sites with free books covering a wide variety of subjects.

A huge quantity of books previously unavailable to the public was released starting in 2019 thanks to the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998. Because of an amendment to that act, works published between 1923 and 1977 can enter the public domain 95 years after their creation. Many of the sites listed below give access to the tens of thousands of books (plus movies, songs, and cartoons) available under this act. Downloads should be free and without retribution under U.S. copyright law.

Selection includes more than just classics and Creative Commons books.

Great categorization makes finding what you love easier.

Variety of download formats.

A few areas of the site hardly ever receive updates.

Some books do cost money.

ManyBooks is one of the best resources on the web for free books in a variety of download formats. There are hundreds of titles here in all sorts of interesting genres, and they're completely free. Not all the books are classics, so if you're into other genres, this site is a good alternative to others in this list.

Unlike some sites, this one lets you browse free books by language. You can also search by author and genre. The ManyBooks Articles page is another handy way to browse their collection, with articles such as "Books Like A Match Made in Venice" and reviews.

Downloading books requires a free user account unless there's a link to Amazon, in which case you can grab it with your Amazon account. There are often several download options, like EPUB, PDF, AZW3, and FB2. They're also readable online through the site's built-in book reader.

Project Gutenberg

Over 70,000 titles.

Wide variety of formats.

Top 100 list aids discoverability.

Majority of books are in English only.

Books may not be free outside the U.S.

Project Gutenberg   is one of the largest and oldest sources for free books on the web, with over 70,000 downloadable titles available in a wide variety of formats. The vast majority are released in English, but there are other languages available.

If you already know what you're looking for, search the database by author name, title, language, or subject. You can also check out the top 100 list to see what other people are downloading .

Open Library

Good alternative if Internet Archive is too confusing.

Multiple formats available.

Just pulls results from Internet Archive.

Some books can only be borrowed.

Open Library is a search tool that pulls data from Internet Archive. You might use it if that site (listed above) isn't helping you find the right book. You can search hundreds of thousands of books here, and most are in multiple formats such as PDF, ePub, and Daisy.

I particularly like the Library Explorer section because it feels like I'm looking through real bookshelves!

You can search for ebooks specifically by checking the Ebooks option after running a search.

Google Play Books

Saves books in your online account.

Read from the website or the mobile app.

Requires a Google account.

If you like to read ebooks through Google Books, you'll be pleased to know that there's a full page of just free titles.

Google lists the top several dozen free books available on Google Play through the link below. There are history and religious books as well as titles in categories like Fantasy and Health, mind & body .

Books you "download" through this site appear in your Google Play Books account , where they're readable online, through the mobile app, and offline if you decide to export the book to a file.

Free audiobooks.

Audiobooks are available in multiple languages.

Large collection of children's audiobooks.

Books are read by volunteers, which means performances can be hit or miss.

Many listed authors have zero books available.

If you've been looking for a great place to find free audiobooks , visiting Librivox is a good start. The site has many volunteers who work to release quality recordings of classic books. All the titles here are free, which is good news for those of us who've had to pony up ridiculously high fees for substandard audiobooks.

I like to use the New Releases RSS feed with a feed reader service to stay on top of new additions.

Internet Archive

Books across a wide variety of interests.

You can sort by view count or popularity.

Several downloading options.

It can be difficult finding exactly what you want from numerous search results.

Site can be slow to respond.

Internet Archive has a digital library full of fiction, popular books, children's books, historical texts, and academic books. The free books on this site span every possible interest.

You can sort these books by view count to see the most popular ones and sort by title or date published. Another way I like to scour the millions of books on this site is through collections such as California Digital Library , Getty Research Institute , and Boston Public Library .

There are usually several download options if you don't want to read the book online, such as PDF, EPUB, and Kindle.

Easily readable format.

You can read right in the browser.

No account necessary.

Bare bones website.

Lacks books in foreign languages (except some German).

Lacks advanced search features.

Authorama offers a good selection of current and classic books from a variety of authors. They're organized alphabetically by the author’s last name and are written in HTML and XHTML, which means they're in an easily readable format. Most books here are featured in English, but there are quite a few German language texts as well.

This site offers a good selection of high-quality, free books you can read in your browser. These are in the public domain, which means they're freely accessible and allowed to be distributed. In other words, you don't need to worry if you're looking at something illegal.

The website is really simple to use, maybe too simple. The search box is basic and the only other way to find books is by scrolling through the author list. But, you don't need a user account to read these titles online, and they're all formatted nicely.

Hundreds of thousands of pieces of content available to read.

Audio available for certain texts.

User-submitted content could vary in quality.

Technically, there are no books on this site.

Wikisource is an online library of user-submitted and maintained content. While you won't technically find books on this site, there are still hundreds of thousands of pieces of content available to read, and some are in ebook form.

Wikisource:Index is a good place to start.

Wikijunior offers books for children 12 and under.

Offers community features like a forum.

Mostly just textbooks.

Small collection.

Not all of the books are completed.

​Wikibooks   is an open collection of mostly textbooks. Subjects range from computer and engineering to science, humanities, languages, and more. Every book has a list of contents and other information to give you a solid idea of what it's about.

The Featured Books and Stacks/Departments pages are good places to start if you're not sure what to browse for.

Free-eBooks.net

Diverse selection.

Also offers audiobooks.

Large number of categories.

You can only download five free books a month.

Free-eBooks.net offers a wonderfully diverse variety of free books, ranging from fiction and non-fiction to textbooks, academic text, classics, and more. Some of the subcategories include advertising, parenting, humor, science, engineering, self-teaching, sci-fi classics, and poems.

You have to register for a free user account to use this site, but only five books are free, so choose wisely.

The Online Books Page

Boasts over three million books.

Dozens of different formats.

Offers partial searches.

Updates often.

Extremely basic site.

Links to downloads on other websites.

The Online Books Page, maintained by the University of Pennsylvania, lists over three million free books available for download in dozens of different formats. The site itself is pretty boring, but the long list of titles might make you a repeat visitor.

You can browse these free book downloads by new listings, author, title, subject, or serial. There's also a search tool where you can find books by running a partial author or title search.

Hundreds of free books.

Download or view online in your browser.

Must go through a "checkout" process even though they're free.

Some books need special software for offline reading.

eBooks.com has a couple of ways to find free books. Use the link below to access a list of a few hundred completely free eBooks that you can read online or download as an ACSM file —those are DRM-protected files that work with Adobe Digital Editions (directions are available on the download page).

The other way is to browse their DRM-free eBooks . Some of these aren't free to download, but the ones that are can be saved and opened like any EPUB file.

You can filter these books by subject, like computers or religion, or by a number of fiction and non-fiction subcategories. There's also a format (PDF or EPUB), release date, and language filter.

International Children's Digital Library

Large collection of international children's books.

Interesting ways to browse the titles.

The books are actually just images of scanned pages.

Some pages are too large to read comfortably.

Browse over 4,000 high-quality free books for children at International Children's Digital Library (ICDL). These are scans of physical books, so each page is a separate image you can scroll through and read.

On the home page are helpful links so you can browse the library by language, character, shape, format, genre, and more.

Offers a wide range of reading materials, including sheet music and magazines.

One of the internet's largest sources of published content.

Mobile app available.

Free only for 30 days.

Costs $11.99/month.

Everand (previously Scribd) offers a fascinating collection of all kinds of reading materials: books, audiobooks, documents, sheet music, magazines, and more. This is one of the web’s largest sources of published content, with literally millions of documents published every month and organized by category.

However, the site is only free for 30 days. Unlike other sites on this list, you have to pay every month after the trial to continue using it. The membership grants you access to the site's entire database.

Free Computer Books

Extensive collection of computer books.

Includes lecture notes.

Dated site design.

Everything on the site is just hyperlinks to other sites.

Lacks file format variety.

Every computer subject and programming language you can think of is represented at Free Computer Books. There are free textbooks, extensive lecture notes, and more.

Some of the genres include computer and programming languages, computer science, data science, computer engineering, Java, and networking and communications. There are also many subgenres, giving you an easy way to find the book you're after.

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Choose among free epub and Kindle eBooks, download them or read them online. You will find the world’s great literature here, with focus on older works for which U.S. copyright has expired. Thousands of volunteers digitized and diligently proofread the eBooks, for you to enjoy.

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Top 15 Free Textbook Resources According to Reddit

Textbook prices can be extremely high and make access difficult for some people. This article lists the top free textbook resources according to Reddit.

Jun 23, 2021

1.  Library Genesis  

Library Genesis, also known as LibGen and Genesis Library, is the classic Reddit recommendation to find textbooks, articles, journals, books, images, magazines, comics, general-interest books, you name it, online. It’s one of the larger online library websites and usually will have what you’re looking for. It has easy download options and tends to be a top choice for most people seeking online books from Reddit.

2.  Z-Library

Z-Library, or zlib, is a great source for books and scholarly articles. This site was originally created on the basis of being a shadow library for peer-reviewed journals, but it’s content eventually expanded to several other areas. Now, a lot of newer, popular reads are usually on this site. 

3.  Project Gutenberg

This site is a really well known source for books that have been released under United States copyright law and fallen under public domain. Everything on this site is distributed with permission. Not every book is on this site, but it’s a great resource for older texts and easy download. Lots of professors and librarians tend to recommend Project Gutenberg since it is the oldest digital library.

4.  Sci-Hub

Moving towards more precise content, Sci-Hub is a great resource for science focused articles, peer reviewed journals, and anything science related you may be searching for. This is a more specific resource but really has a lot of content that may not be found elsewhere. It includes mostly books and research papers.

5.  The Wayback Machine

The Wayback Machine, also known as internet archive, is a service that preserves archived content from the internet, including pdfs, ebooks, and sites that are no longer live. Internet Archive has millions of ebooks that are used from public libraries digital inventories. It has books, movies, software, music,  websites, and pretty much any media that could be uploaded on the internet. 

6.  The Assayer

The Assayer is a large database of content that authors have released for free use. The library likely doesn’t have the most current materials, but is great for content that doesn’t change year to year. Users can also leave reviews and engage in book discussions with other people on the platform.

7.   PDF Drive

PDF drive is a great resource for popular reading choices. They have most of the newer books and even recommend different titles each week. Sometimes there may be a wait to download certain titles based on how requested they are. There is a premium option available to avoid this issue, but most users do not. 

8.  Open Library

This site operates most like an actual library and is connected to The Wayback Machine/Internet Archive. You are able to borrow a book and then give back access. It has a large art section and has almost all of the classic books. The site is translatable to several languages.

9.  PDF Magazine

This site is catered towards magazines and has over 565,000 available for PDF download. Every kind of print magazine is in digital format on this platform. You can also browse by language and they currently offer issues in 40 different languages.

10.  Every Poet

Similar to PDF Magazine and Sci-Hub, Every Poet focuses specifically on poetry. This site would be very helpful for anyone taking an English class. Beyond classics like Robert Frost and Sylvia Platt, you can also submit your own poetry and read submissions from other users. 

11.  Ocean of PDF

This site has a very extensive category list so you should be able to find what you’re looking for in specific subjects. The site also has the option to request they add a book if it is not already available, which could be helpful for tricky titles. 

12.  bioRxiv

This site is another source focused on science. It offers a great breakdown of different subjects like epidemiology, ecology, cancer research, etc. You can also subscribe to the site using RSS feed so you have a constant refresh of new articles and information. They also tweet when papers in certain subjects are published to the site.

13.  Cite Seer X

This site works well for content published before 2000 and created by Penn State University. You can search by author and title, but you should know what you’re looking for since there isn’t a browsing tab. They also have premade citations for the content you use.

14.  Mobilism

Mobilism offers apps, games, and reviews on top of books. This site acts as a community of resources with lots of guidance and different areas. Individual users upload content to this site so there’s more variance. 

15.  Bookshare

This site has a lot of lesser-known titles and different genres to choose from including topics like cooking, graphic novels, and literary criticism. The site also has SAT, LSAT, MCAT, and GRE prep books that tend to be updated with recent versions.

Other Ways to Find Cheap Textbooks

• Sometimes professors have textbooks donated by previous students, don’t be afraid to reach out and ask.
• Renting is a great way to save some money, especially if you don’t intend to continue studying a subject after a class. Amazon and student stores usually have this option for most textbooks.
• Buy used! Used textbooks are another fantastic option because they have the same content you need but can sometimes be hundreds of dollars cheaper.

Finding ways to save money in college is necessary for a lot of people. Saving on textbooks is a great way to start but not a foolproof solution. Financial aid, including grants, scholarships, and loans are a nice start to cover all of your expenses in college.

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Join Juno today to find out more about your options for affordable private student loans to help fund your degree.

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14 Websites To Find Free Audiobooks Online

Nikki VanRy

Nikki VanRy is a proud resident of Arizona, where she gets to indulge her love of tacos, desert storms, and tank tops. She also writes for the Tucson Festival of Books, loves anything sci-fi/fantasy/historical, drinks too much chai, and will spend all day in bed reading thankyouverymuch. Follow her on Instagram @nikki.vanry .

View All posts by Nikki VanRy

We love audiobooks on Book Riot. We love listening to ’em on our commutes. While we’re cleaning the house. While we’re running. Or, even while we’re cooking. It’s a lot of time for audiobook listening. Thankfully, these websites offer thousands and thousands of free audiobooks online, with many that you can access any time and anywhere. Thousands and thousands. That’s a lot of books. Get to listening.

Where to find free audiobooks online

We’ll discuss each in more details, but the best places to find free audiobooks online include:

Important note! These are all free audiobook options, but they’re legal. Sure, you can get illegal copies I’m sure somewhere on the internet, but that doesn’t help the authors or publishers you know and love. Instead, check out these free resources and then make sure to leave reviews for these books on GoodReads, Amazon, and other review sites.

1.  Librivox

Librivox is a non-profit initiative to record public domain books and release them as free audiobooks. The site boasts over 10,000 projects , with a diverse set of titles ranging from  War and Peace to  Leaves of Grass   to  The Dream of the Red Chamber   to   Anne of Green Gables .  

You can even  volunteer to read sections for books-in-progress!

Lit2Go offers audiobooks, plays, short stories, and poems that have been tailored for use in classrooms. Along with each free audiobook, you’ll get citation information, play time, and word count. Some, like Shakespeare’s  Hamlet ,  have an accompanying PDF that can be used to read-along with the text.

3.  Loyal Books

Loyal Books shares free audiobooks from titles in the public domain. You’ll find options like John Milton’s  Paradise Lost   and Sir Author Conan Doyle’s  The Return of Sherlock Holmes ,  among others.

You can also submit reviews and read what others have had to say about each of the titles.

4.  Mind Webs

As I wrote about previously, Mind Webs  was a perfectly-executed, haunting old-time radio dramatization of over 150 of the most classic science fiction short stories.

You’ll find free science fiction stories from Ursula K. Le Guin, Kurt Vonnegut, and H.G. Wells, among others.

5.  Open Culture

Open Culture has combed through the same audiobooks offered other places online, and compiled them into one list to browse. While you’ll still find many of the same classics offered elsewhere, like Frank L. Baum’s  The Wizard of Oz   audiobooks, you’ll also find stories by James Baldwin, Ray Bradbury, and Virginia Woolf. Or poetry by Maya Angelou and Charles Bukowski.

Or, even a video of Neil Gaiman reading  Coraline . 

Related: Where to Find Free Audiobooks Using Free Apps

6.  OverDrive

The Libby app by OverDrive provides access to the most ebook and audiobook content you’ll find on this list, by pairing with local libraries.

They have over two million books and videos, and partner with more than 30,000 libraries. You’ll find the newest audiobook releases through OverDrive, and they’re all free.

That means the free bestselling audiobooks you’ve been dying to read (or more likely re-read)? You can probably find them through your awesome local library’s Overdrive access.

Scribl is a great option for newer releases, with many of the books read by the authors themselves. These free audiobooks are provided in a serialized form, so you can listen to small chunks that fit into your commute.

8.  Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg, of course, is the classic site for free books that are in the public domain. And now, their section on human-read free audiobooks offers an even wider collection of books. Stand-outs include Marion Zimmer Bradley’s  The Colors of Space ,  Charlotte Brontë’s  Jane Eyre ,  and  The Book of Tea   by Kakuzo Okakura.

Project Gutenberg also offers computer-read audiobooks, but imagine Siri reading you  Moby Dick   (thankfully, you do have a human-read option here) . 

9.  Spotify

Check out Spotify’s “Audiobooks” playlist for a list of audiobooks that are always being added to by the service. Spotify is free to listen, or you can go premium if you don’t want the ads.

Spotify’s list currently features  The Great Gatsby   audiobook, as well as  1984   and  Pride and Prejudice .

10.  Storynory

Storynory offers free audiobooks for kids, with a mix of classics, fairy tales, and original stories.

They’re meant for kids, of course, but they’re really for anybody who wants to hear Brothers Grimm folk tales , Aesop’s fables , or stories from 1,001 Nights  again.

Every summer, teens (or adults!) looking for YA audiobooks can head over to SYNC, a free summer audiobook program for teens, sponsored by AudioFile Magazine and delivered by OverDrive.

2020 books included Tiffany D. Jackson’s  Monday’s Not Coming  and  Serpent & Dove  by Shelby Mahourin.

Even more free audiobook Websites

Since this post originally went up, I’ve found out about a few more sites for audiobooks. Some of these aren’t as user-friendly as others, but with a bit of work, you can get your free listening on at these sites as well.

But, even better, we’ve created genre-specific guides for different types of audiobooks. Find recommendations for kids at “ 29 Free Audiobooks for Kids And Anyone Else .” For romance recs, check out “ 6 Places To Find Free Romance Audiobooks .”

Not free, but cheap audiobooks online

If you can’t find the audiobook you want for free, you can always look at other services for cheaper options. Audible now has a sharing service where you can send a free book to anyone you want. Downpour allows you to rent audiobooks for a fraction of the cost. Chirp Audiobooks is another discount audiobook retailer. You can read our full Chirp review here .

Or, you can always sign up for Book Riot’s Deal of the Day newsletter, where our team occasionally features cheap audiobooks on sale.

And, just for Book Riot readers: sign up for an Audible account , and get two free audiobooks! If you love their monthly subscription, you’ll get one audiobook a month for just a few bucks.

How can I download audiobooks on my iPhone or Android?

One thing you’ll notice, and quickly, when using these sites to find free audiobooks is that, well, they’re often difficult to connect to your phone (or whatever device you’re listening to your audiobooks on).

Other Rioters swear by the Bound app , which downloads your audiobooks directly from a DropBox account onto your Bound app. It also allows you to use bookmarks and can remember where you paused your book. And it’s simply prettier and easier to use.

The Audiobooks app is another place to find free audiobooks, with a much easier-to-use interface.

Finally, if you don’t want audiobooks, you can find so, so many free ebooks online for your reading pleasure.

Read Next: 25 Great Free Amazon Prime Audiobooks

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Blog – Posted on Wednesday, Mar 10

The 20+ best places to find free audiobooks online.

It’s not hard to see why audiobooks have recently grown in popularity: there’s something uniquely magnetic about stories brought to life by professional actors who can add texture to various personalities. If you want to absorb stories while you walk, do your chores, or lie down with your eyes closed, audiobooks are your portable friends.

While audiobooks are generally more expensive than ebooks or print books, we can help you minimize your spending (and maximize your library) — start by browsing through this list of the best websites to find free audiobooks online!

This music streaming giant hosts a number of audiobooks on their service , and have even entered the game by producing their own series of high-quality, professional audiobooks . Both of these lists feature public domain works, meaning their 95 year copyright has expired and they’ll be fairly old classics — so put your sophisticated hat on, and get ready to start checking books off your ‘ books to read before you die ’ list. 

Spotify also houses a large number of short story podcasts featuring works from around the world, so it’s worth searching for the authors or stories you’re interested in on Spotify’s search bar. A great starting point is the 1001 Classic Short Stories and Tales podcast. Just remember that you’ll need a (free) Spotify account to listen to any Spotify content.

2. LibriVox

LibriVox ’s recordings are all made by volunteers, so audio quality can vary, and certain voices or accents can be a little difficult to understand if English isn’t your native language. That said, this nonprofit service provides a vast trove of free audiobooks with the mission of making audiobooks more accessible online, and was a pioneer in recording public domain books for the general public. If you have any trouble navigating their website, they also upload their recordings to YouTube — you can check out their channel here . And hey, if you’re feeling grateful, you can even volunteer to read a book yourself!

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Okay, we get that not everyone feels like reading the classics. If you’re looking for contemporary audiobooks, or you’re after a specific title that isn’t in the public domain, Amazon’s Audible offers a massive number of professionally narrated books. Though it’s ordinarily a paid service, you can sign up for a 30-day trial that comes with a free audiobook and access to a bunch of perks like Audible’s fiction podcasts (we recommend Sour Hall , based on a story by Naomi Booth) and a further selection of free audiobooks for Alexa users .

Lit2Go is a free collection of public domain books, offered by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology at USF. Lit2Go’s collection includes some wonderful classic children’s books like The Secret Garden , The Story of Doctor Dolittle , Little Women , and Peter Pan . Adults are spoiled for choice, too, with some of the best books of all time : to give you a glimpse, you’ll find classics like Great Expectations , Moby Dick , Dracula , and Wuthering Heights in their library. 

5. Audiobooks.com

Audiobooks.com is another service you ordinarily have to pay for, but their generous trial offer includes 3 free audiobooks. Like Audible, this is ideal if you’re after specific contemporary releases, or don’t particularly fancy the classics. Their professional-quality audiobooks are narrated by experienced voice actors, so it’s hard to go wrong no matter what you select. Audiobooks for your next road trip , anyone?

6. BBC Sounds

BBC Sounds is a free new app by the BBC. It’s now the home of its radio channels, hosting a wide variety of radio shows, podcasts, and even audiobooks. The BBC has a long history of working with the most prolific actors in the UK to provide dramatizations for radio, and it’s now branching out to free abridged audiobooks . As long as you don’t mind listening to abridged editions, you’re guaranteed some absolutely top-quality listening. 

7. Rakuten Kobo

Operating similarly to other subscription services, Kobo’s audiobook list is quite extensive, so you’re probably going to find whatever it is you’re looking for here. Like Audible, it’s normally a paid service, but a free trial can get you a high-quality complimentary audiobook, so it’s worth a try! Just remember to cancel your subscription before you’re charged (and the same goes for all other trial periods mentioned in this post).

8. Open Culture

Open Culture has done all the compiling for you, and rounded up a long list of free audiobooks available on the web. For that reason, you’ll see some overlap with the public domains books found on the rest of this list — but their list is so incredibly handy that you’ll get over it. 

9. Learn Out Loud

Learn Out Loud ’s mission is to offer free multimedia for educational purposes, and they’ve been doing a great job of it since 2005. Their website features over 3,000 free audiobooks for you to expand your horizons, and if you’re feeling flexible with your listening habits, you can also check out their broader directory of audio and video content : in addition to audiobooks, it lists lectures, courses, speeches, and so much more. 

10. All You Can Books

Think buffet, but books. Like Audible, Kobo, and Audiobooks.com, this is a paid service. However, signing up for a free 30-day trial with All You Can Books means that you are free to consume as many audiobooks as you can within that period of time — and yes, that’s a challenge! 

🚨We do have to note two things, though:

• Despite the fact that this service provides more than just public domain books, its 40,000 audiobooks don’t tend to include hot new releases, which may be a significant drawback for many readers. 
• Many of this service’s online reviewers say they had trouble cancelling their trial, or had difficulty getting through to customer service when they’ve subsequently been charged for failing to cancel, so be careful. Don’t leave cancelling to the last day of your trial!

11. OverDrive

OverDrive is a distributor of digital content to libraries. If you’re a member of your local public library, you may have access to OverDrive through your online account — that’s something to ask your librarian about. They’ve also launched an app called Libby to help facilitate a smoother reading experience for their users. This is an excellent, professional-quality resource that includes old classics and contemporary releases alike. And most important of all, you’ll make your librarian happy!

12. Scribl 

Scribl is an online retailer of ebooks and audiobooks — but over half of their listed audiobooks are available to download for free, so their site is well worth a browse. Many of the books they list are by indie authors , so if you do listen to their offerings, make sure to leave a review. Reviews mean the world to indie authors! 

🎁 If free books in exchange for a review sound like your kind of thing, why not sign up to be a Reedsy Discovery reviewer ? There’s a whole bunch of ebooks to choose from.

13. Free Classic Audiobooks

Still hungering for the classics? Free Classic Audiobooks is a straightforward website that’s just what it says on the tin: it allows you to download MP3 or M4B files of classic works. Sure, it’s just another option for public domain books, but the great thing about having so many options is that you can really take your pick of narrator if you hate someone’s voice. The web is spoiling you. Appreciate it.

14. Storynory

Educational content, fairy tales, full-length audiobooks: Storynory has your child’s audiobook needs covered. From Oscar Wilde’s tales to Greek, Indian, or Norse mythology, little readers are bound to find something they’re happy with in this wonderful collection. In fact, we might catch up on some mythology ourselves. It’s never too late.

15. Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg is the world’s oldest digital library, and run by volunteers. Like many of the services above, it provides exclusively public domain works, but it stands out because of its linguistic diversity — the site provides audiobooks in 50+ languages . Do check that the audiobook you select is narrated by a human, though, as this website also lists computer-generated recordings that are nothing if not a bizarre experience. (Okay, you’re probably curious, so here’s a computer-read version of Middlemarch by George Eliot . Enjoy!🤖)

16. Mind Webs

Mind Webs used to be a dramatized radio programme hosted by Michael Hanson. Its archive of over 100 speculative and sci-fi short stories is now available online, and it makes for magnificent listening. These high-quality half-hour shows are guaranteed to transport fans of sci-fi audiobooks into different worlds.

Sync is an annual summer reading marathon for teens, held by AudioFile Magazine in collaboration with OverDrive. (Don't worry, it doesn’t really have to be a marathon: you can simply choose to read some books and not others.) You can learn more about how it works on Sync’s FAQ page , but the gist of it is that participants gain free access to two thematically linked audiobooks every week over the course of the summer.

18. World Book Day 

You'd be wrong if you assumed that World Book Day only offers audiobooks for a single day. Instead, they provide a selection of free listens for children for six months, starting mid-February (with the exception of books published by Penguin and Hachette, which only stay up for one month). From picture books to options for teens, they cover a wide age range — and all of them are professional recordings.

19. Digitalbook 

You may remember Digitalbook from the old days when it was called Librophile — it’s a website that operates as a search engine for free audiobooks in the public domain. Through their site, you can find specific titles from the various sites listed here, as well as retailer sites like Amazon. With its focus on simplicity, Digitalbook really helps streamline the process of locating specific books. 

20. RBDigital 

RBDigital operates in the same way that OverDrive does: it works with local libraries, providing access to a large collection of professional-standard audiobooks. You’ll probably find that your library is subscribed to either RBDigital or OverDrive. Both boast excellent lists of reputable titles, so don’t worry, your library will have you covered whichever they choose!

21. Chirp Books

If you've heard of popular retailer of discount ebooks Bookbub , you'll be excited to know they also have a platform for discounted audiobooks. It's called Chirp Books , and you can sign up to it for free. If you're based in the US or Canada, you'll have access to their catalog of free titles, which at the time of writing includes books by Walt Whitman, John Grisham, and Carmen Maria Machado. The rest of the audiobooks on their platform are available to buy at steep discounts (up to 95%), so there's plenty of options to browse. In fact, the folks over at Chirp have sent us a discount code for any Reedsy readers to claim a discount on their first purchase, so you can use the code REEDSY30 for 30% off.

We hope these resources lead you to some amazing reads — do check out our lists of free Kindle books and the best places to find free books online if you’re looking for more freebies, and happy reading!

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