A free book is the only item that can compare to a brand-new one. You don’t need to seek much further if you want to read free novels online. Having assisted millions of readers in saving money on books, we are adept at spotting a good deal when we see one. Here is our list of the top websites to read books online for free, both legally and conveniently.
Numerous websites provide free books to download to your e-reader or online without the need to download them. The salient points of each website’s contents are outlined here, along with extra elements that will enhance your reading experience.
Sites To Read Free Books

1. Project Gutenberg
The grandmother of all websites to read books online for free is Project Gutenberg. It all began in 1971 when Michael S. Hart produced the first eBook ever. You may read the “Declaration of Independence of the United States of America” on the tab that opens in your web browser right now. The titles developed and uploaded to Project Gutenberg are used by several websites that provide free eBooks in the public domain.
The catalog now contains more than 60,000 public domain books. The greatest place to seek excellent classic novels is Project Gutenberg. Every component of a book is visible while reading it online. Both the book’s original cover and its inside pictures will be visible to you. Additionally, you may simply traverse the book by clicking on hyperlinks inside the download or by utilizing the table of contents.
An additional advantage of opening an HTML file in a browser is this. You may search this file. You may look up terms within the book by using the find feature on your browser. Start your Project Gutenberg exploration from the list of most downloaded eBooks.
The most beloved and cherished books in the world are present here: Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Edgar Allan Poe’s Works, Mark Twain’s A Tale of Two Cities, Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, or Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. And that’s just the start! Simply choose “Read this book online: HTML” from the list of possible formats to start reading the book in your browser.
2. Internet Archive
A non-profit company, Internet Archive was established in 1996 and provides free access to digital or digitized information, such as books, photos, movies, and audio files.
Over 25,000,000 books and other text files are freely available in the catalog. From here, you may also begin perusing a library of 1.3 million modern eBooks, all of which are available for free loan when you create an account. You may access the eBook part at archive.org/details/texts.
To locate the book, use the search box in the upper right corner. The results list defaults to displaying collections from well-known libraries. The relevancy, views, title, and the date the item was added to the catalog may all be used to order the results. The list of results may be filtered by collection, media type, availability (free or to borrow), language, or creator using the tools on the left.
Simply click the arrows in the bottom bar of the picture of the open book to begin reading. By selecting the full-screen toggle located in the lower right corner, you may go into full-screen mode. Reading is enhanced by the presentation of the book’s scanned pages by the online viewer. The book’s content may be accessed in a variety of ways, such as one-page view and zooming.
One thing to remember is that you may search the whole book’s content—don’t be fooled by the scan. To locate a term, use the search box in the upper right corner. The progress bar at the bottom will indicate each case that has been located.
3. Open Library
The independent initiative of the Internet Archive, an open library devoted to gathering library records. Its aim is to produce a single webpage for each and every book ever released and is one of the best sites to read books. A single book may have all of its recorded editions on one page.
The Open Library website is easier to use and more user-friendly than the Internet Archive, with a larger collection and more sophisticated search options that enable you to locate the books you need much faster. There are approximately 3 million volumes in the Classic Volumes area that are “accessible,” meaning you may read them for free online or download them.
You will quickly be able to determine whether or not you can read the book online when you locate it. Simply search for the large, blue “Read” button. You may listen to the audio version by hovering over the headphones symbol. You will be sent to the Internet Archive website’s full-screen online reader after clicking the Read symbol.
4. Google Books
Google Books is a vast library of books that Google has scanned and converted into readable files. Actually, there’s nothing more on Google Books’ books.google.com homepage than a search box. You must key in anything, such as the name of your favorite classic author or a book title, to begin browsing this enormous collection of digital books. While not every book has an online full preview, you may filter search results to see just those that do.
Click “Any view” in the top bar to do that. To see just the books that may be read online from start to finish, choose “Free Google eBooks” from a drop-down menu. Additionally, Google Works offers the opportunity to see free previews of works that are not in the public domain. Choose the “Preview available” option from the “Any books” drop-down menu to display a list of these books.
It’s not necessary for the first section of a copyrighted book to have the free preview available on Google Books. Assume a publisher allocates 20% of a book for a free preview. You may now choose a chapter in the middle and read twenty percent of the book. You may also flip between pages if you’d like.
5. Smashwords
One of the top websites to read books online for free is Smashwords. Currently, self-published writers number over 500,000 out of a total of 100,000. You may see and download thousands of books for free on the internet. Although the exact amount varies, over 100,000 titles are typically accessible for free watching.
Smashwords writers may choose how long a free preview lasts. Many authors choose to provide an online book preview to readers. Visit Smashwords’ collection of free eBooks to find out which books are available for reading in your web browser at no cost. Next, switch the display mode of the entries from stacks to lists. Click the bullet list icon in the upper right corner to complete the task.
Look for the “Online Reader” button in the list view, which is adjacent to the blue buttons that indicate the formats of eBooks, at the bottom of each item. There are several choices for customization. Arial, Courier, Times, Verdana, Georgia, and other font faces are available for selection, along with four different sizes. Moreover, you may customize colors by choosing your backdrop and typeface.
To be honest, Smashwords’ reading interface isn’t the best feature of this fantastic website. For example, there is no full-screen view. Given how little the book content window is, it would be quite beneficial.
6. BookRix
BookRix is a portal that provides free books from the public domain together with books written by self-published writers. A list of free e-books is a vital component of the website. The most well-liked genres, such as literary fiction, fantasy, romance, thrillers, and young adult novels, are found at the top of lists.
Books are arranged in categories based on their level of popularity. You’ll see free novels by modern writers at the top. The BookRix list of free eBooks also includes several classic publications that are in the public domain. They are under the fiction heading.
Click the cover or title of the book you wish to read to open the book information page. Look for the “Read Book” button next to the cover to launch an online viewer.
7. ManyBooks
ManyBooks, one of the best sites to read books, provides free books with an easy-to-use interface. The website does include advertisements; however, they are generally not too intrusive and are shown toward the bottom of the browser window. The majority of books come from websites that sell books under a Creative Commons license or from Project Gutenberg.
There are more than fifty thousand books accessible, all of which have attractive covers. Additionally, every book is accessible in many download formats—far more than you’ll find anywhere else. Most significantly, you can read any book in the ManyBooks library right in your web browser. Despite taking a while to load—especially with a book cover—the reading experience is well-designed and elegant.
You may read books on your tablet in a browser as well since you can adjust the font size four times, and the website is responsive. Once you’ve located the book you wish to read, click the large “Read Online” button on the book’s information page.
8. Bookboon
Bookboon is an online resource for companies and students that offers both paid and free textbooks. The website sells textbooks authored by academics from the best institutions around the globe. You must register to get any of the more than 1,000 free books available. Select “Sign up for free eBooks” the first time you visit the website. You may use your Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn credentials to rapidly access the collection of books.
Several fascinating books in the following areas are available on Bookboon: engineering, IT & programming, economics & finance, study & career guidance, marketing, strategy & management, or languages. Every book is available for download in PDF format, and by selecting the “Start Reading” button, you may also access an online reading interface.
If you are a free member, advertisements will appear within the books you read. According to the firm, advertisements only make up 15% of the content. We should point out that Bookboon offers the best interface for reading books online. It doesn’t need full-screen mode and makes full use of the web browser window. It’s tidy and well-designed.
Disadvantages of Reading Books Online
Let’s find out more now that we know how several websites to read books online for free may assist you in giving yourself the greatest reading experience of your life. That is being aware of the drawbacks of reading books on the internet. We have included a few drawbacks of reading books online in the area below:
Health Consequences: It is a known truth that modern electronics, such as phones, tablets, and laptops, release radiation that is hazardous to human health. Furthermore, prolonged screen gazing might damage your eyes and cause blindness.
Technological Restrictions: Reading a suspenseful book can’t always be great when you’re not connected to the internet. In addition, there may be situations in which your battery runs out of life.
Minimum Happiness: Turning pages and losing oneself in the narrative is how most people enjoy reading books the old-fashioned way. However, unlike when reading conventional books, those who read online do not experience the same amount of satisfaction.
Distractions: It’s possible to get sidetracked from reading internet content by other apps, such as Instagram. Apart from that, reading a book the conventional way makes it much simpler to concentrate on its content.
Ownership Restrictions: Although customers may buy their preferred eBook, the question of who owns the book remains. Furthermore, the fact that certain eBooks are exclusive to particular platforms or gadgets may restrict readers’ accessibility.
FAQ
Q: Is it safe to read free books online?
A: Certain eBooks, unless they come from a reputable seller, could have harmful software that infects your computer with viruses, spyware, and malware. Distribute no more eBooks than the publisher or author permits. Copyrighted content distribution is illegal and known as piracy.
Q: Is reading books online a smart idea?
A: Numerous studies have shown that people’s comprehension of what they read is reduced while reading on a screen compared to when reading in print. Even worse, a lot of people don’t even know they’re having trouble. For instance, a thorough examination of 54 studies comparing digital and print reading was conducted by experts in Israel and Spain.
Q: Is it OK to read online?
A: Depending on the book, yes. The book is violated if it is copyrighted. It isn’t if the book is in the public domain. You are robbing someone else of their intellectual property when you film or broadcast yourself reading it.