15 Websites for Free College Textbooks PDF Download

Carrying bulky textbooks is really uncomfortable, but with the help of these free college textbooks PDF download you’ll drastically reduce the load and even easily access your textbooks. This is not to say hardcopy textbooks are not still important, they are, in fact, sometimes I enjoy reading them to PDF, but e-book gives you a lot of freedom.

These websites allow you to download any college textbook without paying any charges.

College is exciting but not the stress that comes with it and there are so many things that can stress you just lying around unless your classes are held online – even online classes have their own level of stress. Going to and from school and carrying textbooks around is just one of the many inconveniences that the traditional student goes through and trust me, you can’t avoid carrying textbooks as a college student.

Moreover, if you’re an aspiring Teacher, you can even take advantage of some free online books and if you have kids between 13 to 19 years old then this pool of books might be perfect for their growth.

Anyway, online students don’t have to go through this hassle as all their classes and learning are done virtually therefore won’t need to carry textbooks around. 

Also, you need to know where and how to download some other PDF books for free without breaking any law. Well, if you still want to try some illegal downloads, then these should fit your ambition, well, you should trade carefully.

Before we get started with this list, let’s first answer the question of whether you can download college books for free without breaking the law.

Can I Download College Textbooks for Free?

Yes, you can, and with a single search on the internet with the right keyword you’ll see how and where to download college pdf for free. Anyway, since you are already here you don’t need to look further anymore as I have compiled in this blog post the websites for free college textbooks pdf download.

Furthermore, these websites not only allow you to save money but PDFs are also environmentally friendly. I have recommended these free university PDF textbooks for download websites to get not just college textbooks but also your favorite books on a vast range of topics.

Free College Textbooks PDF Download

Here is a list of these websites for easy access.

  • Library Genesis
  • OpenStax
  • Open Textbook Library
  • ScholarWorks
  • Bookboon
  • PDF Search Engine
  • FreeBookSpot
  • FreeTechBooks
  • Project Gutenberg
  • Textbook Revolution
  • Bookyards
  • eBookLobby
  • PDF Grab
  • Stuvera
  • Digital Book Index

1.  Library Genesis

Library Genesis is an easy-to-use website, their user interface might not look so elegant, but it gets the job done with its library of college textbooks. On entering the website, you will see a search bar where you can search for any textbook you want. You can search by title, author, publisher, ISBN, tags, year, extension, or series.

Aside from being a great site for downloading textbooks, it provides academic journal articles, books on general interest, images, comics, and magazines and it is updated daily with various books. Other features of Library Genesis include a full range of books, and a simple interface, and it is perfect for reading on your iPad, Android, PC, and other e-reader devices.

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2.  OpenStax

OpenStax has a full range of free college textbooks at your disposal, waiting, and ready to be downloaded. The platform is an establishment of Rice University designed to be a nonprofit educational initiative. Textbooks on math, biology, physics, humanities, social science, business, and more are available at OpenStax.

OpenStax textbooks all match the normal scope and sequence standards, allowing them to be simply integrated into current courses. In addition to college textbooks, there are a few high school and K12 textbooks available. It is a great website for free college textbooks pdf download and college students will find it really useful.

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3.  Open Textbook Library

Open Textbook Library is a website for free college textbooks and PDF downloads with a diverse range of topics. More than 1,350 textbooks have been sponsored, published, and licensed to be freely used, and distributed through the Open Textbook Library. These books are available for free download or low-cost printing.

The platform is an initiative of the Open Education Network to transform higher education and student learning. You can search for textbooks by subject in the Open Textbook Library, which contains textbooks on twelve different subjects, such as business, education, and engineering. The website’s textbooks are mostly directed at college students.

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4.  ScholarWorks

ScholarWorks has a full range of college textbooks and different search methods for textbooks. You can search for any book across all repositories by author, title, citation information, keywords, etc., or you can browse through the Collections section and scroll through to look for the book of your choice. The website is an open-access repository managed by the GVSU (Grand Valley State University) Libraries that features and preserves the work of GVSU faculty.

ScholarWorks is your go-to place for free college textbooks PDF downloads giving you access to a wide range of topics spanning agriculture, creative writing, arts and sciences, mathematics, medicine, economics, engineering, and all kinds of research journals.

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5.  Bookboon

Bookboon is a website with a simple, friendly user interface for free college or textbooks focused on publishing student literature for engineering, IT, and business students. It is basically an online e-book library on soft skills and personal development to empower you to succeed academically and professionally.

The website also features audiobooks that are developed by industry-leading experts. However, the website isn’t completely free like the others discussed so far. Bookboon is only free for the first 30 days after which you will have to pay $5.99 per month to keep using it.

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6.  PDF Search Engine

This website is designed like the Google search bar, in fact, it is integrated with Google Custom search which allows you to search for any type of PDF title and gives you plenty of search results to select from. The search engine is simple and easy to use, it is just like using other search engines like Bing or Yahoo.

Simply type your search term into the text box and press enter or the search button. You will get a list of search results that are relevant to your query.

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7.  LibreTexts

LibreTexts is not just among the free college textbooks for PDF download but also claimed to be the world’s most popular online textbook platform. They currently have more than 2,200 Textbooks, Textmaps, and LibreTexts, in more than 150 courses like biology, business, chemistry, engineering, etc.

Their textbooks are legally completely free, always up to date, and have a huge community of readers that you can join to easily collaborate with others like you.

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8.  OnlineProgrammingBooks

If you’re a tech enthusiast, whether you love programming, enrolling in computer science, advancing in software engineering, or a newbie in AI, etc., then these eBook platform is exclusively for you. In fact, forget about other platforms’ websites and take advantage of the books here.

If you’re even looking for eBooks related to maths, physics, business, and marketing, you can still find some here.

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9.  Project Gutenberg

Hop in here my dear English literature lovers for here is a database of the world’s great literature textbooks that you can use in college. You can decide to read the literature book of your choice online or download them to your device, they are absolutely free.

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10.  Smashwords

One of the best places for free college textbooks PDF download is Textbook Smashwords. Their website is designed in such a way that you can decide to sort your textbooks for free, or any other price not more than $10, and also sort by the length of the book.

The best option is their bar, where you can categorize the books you want based on their genre, whether fictional, non-fictional, essay, plays, poetry, or screenplays.

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11.  Bookyards

Bookyards is one of the best websites for free university textbooks PDF download for those who enjoy reading and downloading books. It contains a variety of educational materials, documents, reference materials, and information. There is no charge for any of the content offered.

The site’s goal is to be the “World’s Library” by making free textbooks available to everyone, regardless of race, religion, or faith. It has a diverse selection of book categories, including art, audio, biography, computers, culture, language, law & legal, science, and many others.

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12.  eBookLobby

This website provides free e-books to download in a variety of genres. Business, education, art, and computers are among the categories available. 

There are some very useful textbooks that you can get for free here, especially if you are interested in computers; there are over 100 different books to select from, all of which are ready to download to your computer.

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13.  PDF Grab

You can use PDF Grab to look for free textbooks online by title or ISBN – which is the preferred way to search for books. If as a college student, your lecturer does not supply the ISBN for the textbook, Google it, and the ISBN will appear on any site where the book is available for purchase, such as Amazon. When you search for your textbook, the results will reveal the book’s cover as well as a summary.

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14.  Free-E-Books.net

Through Free-E-Books.net you’ll have access to 1000’s of New Authors in Hundreds of Categories whether fictional or non-fictional. Once you register, you’ll have access to download five free books every month.

Let’s be sincere, hardly any student finishes five books in a month, so with these, you can use their platform and download any book you want for free.

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15.  ManyBooks

Just like the name, you’ll have access to several college textbooks and fictional books that you can download to read offline for free. You can filter your search to only include textbooks under business, health, art, computer, cooking, language, philosophy, politics, science, etc.

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How do I find the PDF version of a textbook?

Using the Google, Yahoo, or Bing search bar with the keyword above can easily help you find the PDF version of a textbook. In this blog post, we have listed and discussed all of the websites where you find the PDF version of any college textbook.

How can I download college textbooks online for free?

The websites for free college textbooks pdf download are provided in this article, click on the website of your choice, look for the textbook you want, and download it onto your device.

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