Ebook readers: Find and download free ebooks

If you've already bought, or are considering buying, an ebook reader the next question will undoubtedly be: 'how much do ebooks cost and where can I find them?'

While many ebooks cost the same, if not more than, their paper counterparts, there are also vast collections of free ebooks available to download. The majority of free ebooks, however, do tend to be out-of-copyright classics, so don't expect to download all the current bestsellers without paying.

Regardless of whether you've chosen an Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader, another ebook reader or an app on your Android smartphone or Apple iPad, you will no doubt be wanting to take advantage of the huge storage capacity of your device. With space for thousands of ebooks, it's possible to carry around a whole library of classic titles in your pocket.

Need help choosing an ebook reader? Our ebook reader reviews have everything you need to know

The Amazon Kindle store lists bestselling free ebooks

Does Amazon have free ebooks?

Due to the popularity of its own ebook readers - the Kindle family - Amazon is likely to be the first website many new ebook reader owners visit hunting for free ebooks. 

Amazon's ebook store is comprehensive, with a wide variety of titles available. The Amazon website lists both the top 100 paid and top 100 free ebooks by popularity, so this is a good starting point if you have mainstream literary tastes. The paid-for bestsellers list varies in price considerably - at the time of writing these ranged from a handful costing just 49p, right up to £8.99 for the latest Jodi Picault novel.

Amazon's top free Kindle book titles are more predictable. Classics such as Pride and Prejudice, Dracula, Homer's Iliad and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland feature highly on this list, and are available free because their copyright has expired and they can be distributed openly.

There's also quite a wide variety of other free Kindle books available on Amazon. These range from vampire fiction to Alan Sugar's 'The CV'. What these free ebooks often have in common is that they are offered as a free sample of an author's work to encourage new readers. This can either be in the form of an entirely free book, the first in a series, for example, or in the case of 'CV', simply Sir Alan's CV bundled with some extracts from his full autobiography.

The Apple iBooks app lists both free and paid ebooks

As the Amazon Kindle store's ebooks are available in Amazon's proprietary AZW format, they aren't readable on devices that don't support AZW files. If you're looking for free ebooks in other formats, such as PDF or ePub, you'll need to look at websites other than Amazon.

Want to buy the latest ebooks? See who sells the cheapest ebooks.

Finding free ebooks in Apple iBooks

Users of Apple iBooks on iPads and iPhones also have access to around 30,000 free ebooks, largely those offered by Project Gutenberg (see below). Bestselling free ebooks are listed in the iBooks app, in a similar way to those on the Amazon website, 

Cheap ebooks from other UK booksellers

Waterstones.com doesn't list free ebooks, but does have a range of 'ebook bargains' which are usually priced around £1. All ebooks are in ePub or PDF format, secured with Adobe Adept DRM (digital rights management). Try our interactive ebook reader tool for explanation of ebook DRM.

The WHSmith website has ebook listings divided into fiction and non-fiction categories. It doesn't list free ebooks, but has a list of ebooks costing less than £2, with 15,000 titles listed, some for as little as 1p. 

WHSmith ebooks are available in ePub or PDF formats. Rather confusingly, you'll need a separate account if you use the WHSmith Mobile eBooks app on a iPad, iPhone or Samsung Galaxy Tab. For all other compatible devices, ebooks are downloaded via the standard WHSmith ebooks website. There's more information in the WHSmith ebooks FAQs. 

What other free ebook websites are there?

There are a multitude of other sites offering free ebooks, as a quick Google search will reveal! Some of the most notable sites are:

Project Gutenberg

The 'first producer of free ebooks', Project Gutenberg boasts more than 33,000 free ebooks, available in ePub, Kindle, HTML and simple text formats. On the Gutenberg website there are author and title search facilities, to help users find their desired ebook from the collection of mostly English-language novels, poetry, short stories, non-fiction and reference books. Project Gutenberg also offers approximately 30,000 free ebooks on one DVD - effectively giving an instant free library. Instructions for creating or obtaining the DVD are available via Gutenberg's CD and DVD project.  

Google ebookstore

The main Google ebookstore, which offers more than 3 million titles, is currently US-only, but could launch in the UK in 2011. Google does offer free classic ebooks online via Google Books.

ManyBooks.net 

ManyBooks offers 29,000 free ebooks and can be filtered by author, title, genre and language, as well as being categorised in to new and recommended titles. 

Feedbooks

Feedbooks is an ebook store offering both free and paid ebooks. Free ebooks are categorised into Free Public Domain books and Free Original Books.

Baen Free Library

Baen is a publisher which offers a small selection of free, mainly sci-fi and fantasy ebooks, including titles from David Drake.

MobileRead.com

MobileRead is a website devoted to ebooks, and includes active ebook forums. Useful topics include updated listings of Amazon's free ebooks, helpfully organised by category - e.g. thriller, fantasy and sci-fi, romance, non-fiction, textbooks, religion, games, erotica and UK-only.

LoveReading.co.uk

LoveReading is billed as a 'one-stop' shop for ebooks, and claims to be the world's first online retailer to offer all three most popular formats of ebooks: Kindle, ePub and Apple iBooks. This also allows readers to compare prices across the formats before buying ebooks.

What formats do free ebooks come in?

Ebooks come in different formats, including Adobe PDF, Amazon AZW, BbeB/LRF and ePub. You'll need to check which formats your chosen ebook reader or ebook app can support, as different devices have their own copyright and sharing restrictions (DRM).  Publisher restrictions also mean that certain ebooks may only be sold, or available for free download in certain countries.

There's more information on ebooks in our ebook reader FAQs section

Can I borrow free ebooks from my library?

To borrow and read free ebooks from many libraries you'll need to use the Overdrive Media Console

Yes, many libraries offer ebook lending facilities, although the loan period varies. The Overdrive network handles distribution and lending of ebooks and audiobooks on behalf of many UK city and county library services. There are 58 of these UK partners listed on the Overdrive website, although half of these are in Greater London. If your local library offers ebook borrowing via Overdrive, you'll need to log into its own website.

To read ebooks you've borrowed from your local library, you'll need to download a free application - the Overdrive Media Console. The service is compatible with most ebook reader devices, including iPhone, iPad, BlackBerrys, Android smartphones and computers.

Libraries do, however, artificially restrict the number of copies of each ebook for loan, and most have a loan period of between 7 and 14 days.

Where can I compare ebook prices?

Price comparison of ebooks is not as simple as for paper publications, as not all ebooks have a unique ISBN, and rather than being available in hardback and paperback, ebooks are available in many different formats. One of the most comprehensive ebook search sites is Luzme.

Can I lend or share ebooks?

Generally it is not easy to share ebooks with friends, due to restrictions imposed by publishers. US Kindle users can lend some ebooks once, for a two-week period to friends, but there is no service currently available in the UK.

Find an ebook reader with the features you need - use the Which? interactive ebook reader tool