With the advance in digital technology, more and more people are choosing ebooks and audiobooks over printed books. Amazon alone offers millions of ebooks in every category you could think of. Some are free, while others come with a hefty price tag.

The good news is that you can always head over to a digital library to get the information you need when you need it. You just have to know what to look for, and these digital libraries are a great place to start if you want free ebooks, audiobooks, and other online resources.

1. Open Library

open library

You can use Open Library to borrow and read millions of ebooks for free. All you need to do is to sign up for an account and browse away. You can even add new books to its collection.

With a quick search, you'll find ebooks in every genre, from art and sci-fi to medicine. And luckily, you can also filter results by subject, author, and other criteria.

If you're looking for a particular book, all you have to do is enter its name in the search bar. Or you can click on random ebooks to preview and "borrow" them for free. Registered users can also create custom lists of ebooks, such as Want to Read or Have Read.

Some people prefer audiobooks to physical books, but you won't have to choose since this platform offers both.

2. Project Gutenberg

project gutenberg

Project Gutenberg features over 60,000 free ebooks, which you can download or read online. The best part is that you don't need a PDF or ebook reader for your computer to access the titles in its collection.

With Project Gutenberg, you can access "bookshelves" for specific content. So if, you want to learn more about the Spanish American War, you can go directly to that bookshelf instead of browsing through thousands of titles.

You can also narrow your search by title, popularity, author, language, and file type or search by subject or category, like audiobooks, pictures, or music.

If you prefer Kindle to physical books, you'll love using Project Gutenberg. When you select an ebook, you can read it online, in plain text, or in Kindle format.

3. Internet Archive

internet archive

Featuring over 36 million ebooks, the Internet Archive is possibly the largest digital library ever created. In addition to free ebooks, its catalog includes over 778 billion web pages and millions of videos, concerts, audio files, and software programs.

Think of the Internet Archive as a digital time machine. Some items in its collection date back to the '90s and are not available anywhere else.

The ebooks are organized by category, but you can also search by collection, author, topic, or year of publishing. Users have the option to rate and review the books they read. So, if you find a book that looks interesting, click on it to see what others have to say.

After registration, you can upload ebooks and other media files from your personal collection.

4. Wiley Online Library

Wiley Online Library

Whether you're doing research for an essay, white paper, or science project, it can be difficult to find trustworthy sources. That's where the Wiley Online Library comes in handy.

This digital library offers over 20,000 online books, 1,600 journals, and hundreds of reference works. Most resources are science-focused, covering all topics.

The Business & Management collection, for example, includes hundreds of ebooks and articles on consumer behavior, management, and business technology.

If you're ready to learn a new programming language, head over to the Information Technology section. Narrow down your search by publication date, subject, author, or publisher.

Not all ebooks are free to read and download, but you can browse them or access specific chapters. Look for the Free Access icon to see which books are free.

5. World Digital Library

World Digital Library

The World Digital Library's selection of rare books, manuscripts, and other materials dates back to 8,000 BC. The collection includes more than 19,000 publications from over 190 countries.

This project was developed by the U.S. Library of Congress and UNESCO to make culture available to everyone. It features thousands of books, photos, and maps that were once only available in certain galleries, so it's just like visiting virtual museums from home.

You can search by place, topic, time period, language, or institution and download the books for free.

6. Free Ebooks

Free Ebooks

Free Ebooks lets you access a trove of ebooks from every category, each of which you can find in a dedicated section—Fiction, Non-Fiction, Academic, Textbooks, Classics, and Others. Its digital library is pretty well stacked, and every title is neatly classified, so whatever you're looking for, you're bound to find it quickly and easily.

Free Ebooks is a great place to download unique ebooks for free, but it comes with a caveat. You can create a free account that lets you access free ebooks, but only five times a month and only in a PDF format.

After your five downloads for the month, you have to wait until the next one rolls around to continue downloading. If that doesn't work for you, the platform does offer a V.I.P. level account that starts at $7.95/month and lends you unlimited downloads in multiple formats besides PDF.

7. Bookbub

Bookbub

Bookbub has a dedicated free ebooks section that takes you to an extensive digital library full of free titles you can download. Its selection is ever-changing, so you're sure to find something fresh to read every time you browse.

Once you visit the free ebooks tab, you can further filter out the titles Bookbub shows you. You can choose the category, limiting it to one or several, as well as the retailer and collections.

Bookbub's ebooks are available to read on all the prominent devices in the respective supported formats: Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, Apple Books, Google Play, and Kobo. Plus, there's no limit to how many ebooks you can download, so you can go wild.

8. Baen Free Library

Baen Free Library

Baen Free Library is a bit more niche since its digital library focuses on science fiction and fantasy titles. So, if that's right up your alley, look no further.

The digital library offers an array of ebooks you can read online or download for free. You can get the ebooks in the standard formats, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, or any device-specific ones for your eReader of choice. You can also email the ebook to an address of your choice.

The website looks a bit outdated when you first land on it, but don't let that stop you from using it.

9. ManyBooks

ManyBooks

ManyBooks does indeed have a lot of ebooks to offer. The digital library offers over 50,000 ebooks to explore, all of which come from every category and genre you can imagine. When looking through the online library, you can select your preferred genre, language, and rating to hone your search.

The digital library doesn't have a dedicated free section, so all the titles are mixed together. When you click on one, you can see whether it's free to download and read online or not. Each ebook comes with an extensive description of the story and the author, as well as a book excerpt and summary to understand the book you're considering.

ManyBooks helps you find many known classics and discover new titles to tackle.

10. Smashwords

Smashwords

Whereas other digital libraries ensure you have access to timeless classics, Smashwords goes the opposite direction. So, rather than finding Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne, you'd discover Around the World in 80 Pages by Sharon E. Cathcart on the platform.

Smashwords is considered an indie author hub where you can look for newly released titles. You can choose whether to read the ebooks online or download them. You can usually download each ebook in a variety of formats, including the most popular ones: PDF and EPUB.

You can refine your search when exploring the online library by ticking the Free box and your preferred book length—under 20K words or over 20K, 50K, and 100K words.

At the time of writing, the platform boasts over 98,000 free ebooks, so there's much to explore.

Expand Your Horizons and Keep Learning

Though there's always room for growth, that doesn't mean you have to spend a fortune on books and courses. Whether you want to learn a new language, develop skills, or start a project, you can find everything you need online.

For starters, you can visit these digital libraries. Even if you don't use them for research or personal growth, you can always just use them for entertainment.