A good e-reader deserves a good library — and you don’t have to spend a cent to build one. Here is a comprehensive directory of legal free ebook sites, organized by category, all compatible with Kindle, Kobo, Boox, and PocketBook.
Classic Literature & Public Domain
These sites specialize in books that have entered the public domain — typically works published before 1929 (in the US).
| Site | What You’ll Find | Best For |
|---|
| Project Gutenberg | 70,000+ free ebooks in EPUB, Kindle, and HTML formats | The largest single collection. Start here. |
| Standard Ebooks | ~1,000 classics with professional typesetting and cover art | Beautifully formatted editions. Better than raw Gutenberg. |
| Internet Archive | 20+ million texts, including scanned historical books | Rare and out-of-print works. Also has audiobooks. |
| Google Books (free filter) | Millions of public domain works scanned from libraries | Huge selection, but format quality varies. |
| HathiTrust | 17+ million digitized books from academic libraries | Academic depth. University press editions. |
| Open Library | Borrowable ebooks (like a digital library) | Modern books you can “check out” for 2 weeks. |
| ManyBooks | 50,000+ free ebooks with nice covers | Curated selections. Good discovery. |
For the best reading experience on an e-reader, Standard Ebooks is your first stop. Their editions are hand-crafted with proper typography, clean HTML, and public domain cover art.
Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Site | What You’ll Find |
|---|
| Baen Free Library | Free first-in-series ebooks from Baen’s published authors |
| Tor.com eBook Club | Monthly free ebook from Tor’s catalog (requires newsletter signup) |
| SF Signal | Aggregator of free sci-fi ebook deals |
Contemporary Freebies & Deals
These sites aggregate temporarily free ebooks — mostly self-published authors using giveaways to build readership. Quality varies wildly, but you can find hidden gems.
| Site | What You’ll Find |
|---|
| BookBub | Curated daily deals and freebies. Quality filter is decent. |
| Freebooksy | Daily list of free Kindle ebooks by genre |
| eReaderIQ | Price tracking for Kindle books. Set alerts for free drops. |
| Riffle | Free and discounted ebooks with community recommendations |
Academic & Technical
Comics & Graphic Novels
Audiobooks
| Site | What You’ll Find |
|---|
| LibriVox | Volunteer-narrated public domain audiobooks |
| Lit2Go | Public domain audiobooks with transcripts (educational focus) |
| PodioBooks | Free serialized audiobooks by indie authors |
How to Get These on Your E-Reader
- Kindle: Download EPUB and use Send to Kindle. Calibre can auto-convert to AZW3.
- Kobo: Download EPUB and copy via USB. Calibre with Kobo Utilities plugin handles auto-conversion and metadata.
- Boox: Download directly on the device via browser, or use Google Play apps for Kindle/Kobo/Libby.
- PocketBook: USB transfer, Dropbox sync, or email-to-device. PocketBook reads almost every format natively.
For more free ebook sources, see our 15 best legal free ebook sites guide. Start with Standard Ebooks for quality, Project Gutenberg for quantity, and BookBub for discovering new authors.
Inksky