Social Proof

Read any book online

Speechify is the #1 audio reader in the world. Get through books, docs, articles, PDFs, emails - anything you read - faster.

Featured In

forbes logocbs logotime magazine logonew york times logowall street logo
Listen to this article with Speechify!
Speechify

Dozens of platforms let you read any book online. Read on to learn which books you can find online and on which websites and apps.

Read any book online

Many people want to read books but don’t have enough time to browse the titles at their local library. Fortunately, there’s an alternative: e-books. Thanks to e-books, you can enjoy excellent books without going to the library. These days, numerous services and platforms offer access to e-books. Here, we’ll tell you which books you can read online and where to find free e-books.

Which books can you read online?

Apps like Kindle, Amazon, Wattpad, Google Books, Smashwords, NOOK, OverDrive, and many others give you access to millions of great books. From thrillers and new books to short stories and children’s books, the internet lets book lovers access every book imaginable. However, not every service offers the same options. The most notable difference is that some services require you to pay a fee or a subscription if you want to add a particular title to your digital bookshelf. Of course, this isn’t the case with all services. Many let you explore public domain titles, young adult books, non-fiction work, and much more completely free. Moreover, every service differs in its collection. Some titles may be available on only one platform, while others are accessible on multiple websites. Finally, it’s important to mention that not every service is available on every platform. You can stumble upon services available only on e-readers, computers, or mobile phones.

Where to find free books to read online

Here’s a list of services and websites where you can explore free books:

Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg was founded in 1971, and it represents the oldest e-book collection on the internet. It’s the result of a volunteer effort to digitize cultural work. Today, Project Gutenberg offers more than 60,000 titles, including some of the best books ever written. Here, users can explore bestsellers by famous authors like Jane Austen, George Orwell, Franz Kafka, William Shakespeare, and many others. The digital library is completely free and doesn’t require you to create an account to access the titles.

Open Library

Open Library is a project by a non-profit organization called the Internet Archive. It intends to create a web page for every book ever published. At the time of writing, this open, editable catalog offers more than 3 million titles. Users can explore free online books like The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, The Beer Trials, Aroma, Flavours and Fragrances, and many others. Keep in mind that you’ll need to create an account to access the service’s library, but setting up an account is free. If you want to support the platform’s work, you can make a one-time or monthly donation.

ManyBooks

ManyBooks is home to more than 50,000 titles belonging to different genres. It offers an impressive selection of popular and classic books in various formats. The website features a simple interface and a variety of filters you can use to refine your search and get to your favorite books much faster. You can search the titles based on their genre, language, author, etc. While you can explore the collection without an account, you’ll need to create one to download a title. Moreover, remember that not all titles on this platform are free. Some require a one-time payment.

BookBub

BookBub represents a book discovery service created to help users find excellent reads. This service also offers thousands of free e-books, great recommendations, articles, and updates from authors. BookBub is available to use on computers and mobile phones. Regardless of your platform, you’ll need to create an account to explore the service’s benefits. Creating an account is free. Other platforms that offer free books to read online are archive.org, BookRix, and Goodreads.

Listen to online content with Speechify

Want to enhance how you consume online content, beyond just e-books? The answer is text to speech and Speechify. Speechify is one of the top text to speech apps that lets you transform any digital text into an audio file. It uses cutting-edge technology that converts texts to natural-sounding language. You can choose from over 20 languages and 30 voices, including one from Gwyneth Paltrow, the famous actress. What’s more, you can even select the desired accent of the narrator voice. The platform also offers convenient options like note-taking, bookmarking, and highlighting, you’ll have no problem following the text. And thanks to optical character recognition (OCR) technology, you can scan physical pieces of text and hear them in audio format. One of the best things about Speechify is that it’s not limited to a particular operating system. Computer users can enjoy the platform’s benefits on Mac and Windows, and Android and iOS (iPhone and iPad) users can install the Speechify app and enjoy its features on the go for mobile devices. If you know you won’t have an internet connection, Speechify even lets you download your audio files and listen to them when offline. Try Speechify now and see why millions of people worldwide use it daily.

FAQ

How long does it take to read a book online?

It’s impossible to answer this question because it depends on the length and complexity of the book and your reading speed.

How many books are available to read online?

You can find millions of books in various formats (PDF, MOBI, EPUB, DOCX, etc.) online.

What are the advantages of reading a book online?

Besides expanding your knowledge and improving your language skills, reading a book online is convenient. Most e-book platforms offer great features that make reading much easier, like bookmarking or note-taking. Plus, e-books are portable, so you can take them anywhere.

Cliff Weitzman

Cliff Weitzman

Cliff Weitzman is a dyslexia advocate and the CEO and founder of Speechify, the #1 text-to-speech app in the world, totaling over 100,000 5-star reviews and ranking first place in the App Store for the News & Magazines category. In 2017, Weitzman was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list for his work making the internet more accessible to people with learning disabilities. Cliff Weitzman has been featured in EdSurge, Inc., PC Mag, Entrepreneur, Mashable, among other leading outlets.