If you've just gotten an e-reader or want to fill your Kindle, iPad, Android tablet, or phone with novels and essays without breaking the bank, you've come to the right place. These days, it's perfectly possible to read a lot, comfortably and completely legally, without having to pay for each title.
Thanks to public initiatives, digital libraries, public domain projects, and certain online stores , there are plenty of sites to download free ebooks . Let's explore them one by one, explaining what each platform offers, what formats it supports, and what kind of works you'll find.
Websites and stores to download free and legal ebooks
The first group of resources consists of websites and online bookstores with free download sections . Some are large, well-known stores with sections dedicated to free books, while others are projects created specifically to promote free reading material.
Amazon.es is practically a must-visit if you own a Kindle . In the Spanish Kindle store, in addition to thousands of paid titles, there's a good selection of free books. To find them, the easiest way is to type "Free Books" into the search bar and filter by the Kindle eBooks category. You'll find mostly classics and public domain works, along with some current titles that their authors are offering free of charge as a limited-time promotion.
Casa del Libro also offers a catalog of free ebooks. This Spanish online bookstore allows you to download many of its titles for free, usually in ePub format . Keep in mind that some of these files contain DRM , which limits reading to their official devices or applications. However, another portion of the free collection can be downloaded with a user account and read on third-party e-readers, significantly expanding the possibilities.
The self-publishing platform Bubok is another option to consider. It's a site where any writer can upload and sell their work, both in print-on-demand and digital formats. Amidst its extensive paid catalog, there are also free books selected by their authors , who offer them at no cost either as a promotional tool or simply to share their work. It's a great way to discover new voices and less common genres.
Literanda combines an independent online publisher and bookstore with a unique approach: on the one hand, it makes public domain classics available to the public in electronic format free of charge; on the other, it facilitates self-publishing for contemporary authors. Its aim is to disseminate high-quality, accessible, and well-edited literature, so its ebooks are typically polished and ready to read on various devices.
OpenLibra is geared more towards those seeking technical texts and specialized manuals. It's a free online library with a vast collection of books on computer science, programming, science, design, and technology . All works can be downloaded for free, and while most are in Spanish, you'll also find some titles in other languages. If you're interested in self-directed learning about technology, it's a goldmine.
The eReader Cafe and Pixel of Ink work similarly: they are websites dedicated to tracking temporary offers of free and discounted ebooks on Amazon . They publish daily selections of titles that can be obtained at no cost for a limited time, usually on the US Amazon.com store. This means that their catalog is focused on works in English and that, occasionally, some promotions do not apply to the Spanish store, but they are still very useful if you read in that language.
Book Lending offers a different model: peer-to-peer lending of ebooks. Once registered, you can lend your compatible ebooks and borrow those of other users for a specific period. The idea is to replicate the exchange of physical books, but in digital form, always within the options that Amazon allows with certain titles available for lending in its Kindle ecosystem.
ManyBooks.net is another great repository of English-language books, featuring a wealth of classics and public domain titles. It offers downloads in various formats (ePub, Kindle, PDF, etc.) and adds extra value with its own review and rating system . This allows you to filter by rating, genre, or popularity to see what the community thinks and make better reading choices.
Large public domain repositories
Beyond the shops, there's a whole universe of projects dedicated to collecting, digitizing, and distributing works whose copyright has expired , or that the creators themselves publish under open licenses. This is where you'll find the vast majority of universal classics without paying a single euro.
The idea behind Gutenberg is simple: once copyright expires in a country, those works enter the public domain and anyone can distribute them. Volunteers from all over the world collaborate to digitize and proofread the texts so they are available in the best possible quality. Thanks to this, you can read on your e-reader or computer the works of authors who shaped eras, free of charge and without legal complications.
ElejandrÃa is a carefully curated Spanish version of that same concept. This project focuses on public domain books in Spanish , by Spanish, Latin American, and other authors. Its catalog includes novels, poetry, plays, essays, and religious texts, with a special emphasis on the great classics. All titles are offered in PDF, ePub, and MOBI formats, so you can easily read them on Kindle and other e-readers and apps.
The entries for each book on ElejandrÃa typically include a brief explanation of the work's context, interesting facts, and links to other titles by the same author . Among the most popular downloads are such well-known works as Crime and Punishment , The Divine Comedy , The Book of Enoch , The Little Prince , and Frankenstein . It's a real treat for those who enjoy classic literature and want to have it readily available in digital format.
Wikisource is part of the Wikimedia Foundation ecosystem, the same organization behind Wikipedia. While Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, Wikisource functions as a vast library of public domain or freely licensed texts. Its Spanish version contains over 88.000 texts grouped by genre (novels, plays, poetry, short stories, essays, etc.), country, and period, making it much easier to locate works from a specific time or by a particular author.
All the content on Wikisource can be read directly online, and although it's not always in reader-readable formats, you can copy or save the texts to convert them later with tools like Calibre. There you'll find both well-known works and short texts that had been forgotten for years, recovering part of the literary heritage of the Spanish language.
Public Domain is a unique project that goes beyond books. This website brings together cultural materials that are in the public domain or offered for free by their authors through their official channels. Its catalog includes books, comics, TV series, films, music, video games, and even old textbooks used in primary and secondary education.
Browsing Public Domain, you'll not only find literary classics, but also a wealth of content that will evoke childhood or teenage memories , from comics to school textbooks. Most of the material is in Spanish, although there are some pieces in English. Everything can be viewed without registration and downloaded completely legally.
Libraries and public digital lending services
If you live in Spain and have a library card, you have access to one of the largest sources of free ebooks and books available today. Public institutions have stepped up their game and offer extensive digital catalogs with free loans.
eBiblio is the name of the digital lending service linked to the Spanish public library network. Through this platform, anyone with a valid library card can borrow ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, newspapers, and other multimedia materials from the comfort of their own home. The service is available as a website and through apps for iOS, iPadOS, and Android , so all you need is a mobile phone or tablet to start reading.
To use eBiblio, you need your library to grant you digital access, either when you register or by requesting it later. Your library card number is usually the same one you'll use on the platform , although each autonomous community may have slight variations in the procedure. If you live in Catalonia or the Basque Country, there are specific access links for your respective digital lending portals, which are also integrated into the public network.
At eBiblio, just like in a physical library, there's a maximum number of simultaneous loans and a time limit for each one . However, you can always place holds, create wish lists, and, in some cases, participate in book clubs organized by your community library. The great advantage of this service over other free resources is that it includes current works and recent releases , not just classics or older books.
The National Library of Spain (BNE) has also made a significant effort in digitization. Through its BNE Digital portal, you can consult thousands of works from all periods and genres without having to visit its headquarters . The aim is to make the bibliographic and documentary heritage held by the institution available to the public, from manuscripts to contemporary books published in Spain, of which it maintains digital copies.
Within the National Library of Spain (BNE Digital) you'll find audiobooks, ePubs, modern books, historical collections, and all kinds of documents . In addition, there's its Digital Newspaper Archive, a collection of historical Spanish press with tens of thousands of issues of newspapers and magazines. It began with 143 titles but has grown over time, facilitating historical research and allowing anyone curious to delve into publications from other eras.
The Hispanic Digital Library , part of the National Library of Spain (BNE), brings together a selection of high-quality digitized public domain books and documents. There you can find everything from important literary works to maps, engravings, musical scores, photographs, and graphic material of great historical value. Although they are not always in native eBook formats, the quality of the digitizations makes them very pleasant to consult , especially on large screens or tablets.
Another key institution is the National Library of Spain , which, in addition to BNE Digital, offers specific resources and complementary collections for free consultation. Thus, the combination of its platforms allows you to access a vast array of textual and audiovisual materials without complex registration, always with the backing of a leading cultural institution.
Other sources and bookstores with free books
In addition to the major platforms already mentioned, there are other international projects and libraries that also deserve to be on your radar if you are looking to bolster your digital library with free reading material.
Open Library is an ambitious initiative that aims to create a page for every published book . This virtual library boasts hundreds of thousands of titles, many of which are available for download or streaming. Its catalog primarily includes classic and public domain works, but it also offers digital lending options for more recent books, depending on agreements with publishers and libraries.
Open Library lets you search by author, title, genre, or year , and its filtering tools help you quickly find what you need. Many older books are offered in various formats, including ePub and PDF, and a good number can be read directly in your browser with a built-in reader. It's especially interesting if you're comfortable with English, although there are also works in other languages.
Open Culture takes a slightly different approach: it doesn't store books directly, but rather functions as an index of free cultural resources . In its ebooks section, it has compiled around 800 free works, linking to the original sites where they are hosted. This includes novels, essays, poetry, philosophical texts, and more, in various languages, although English titles predominate.
The advantage of Open Culture is that it saves you search time by selecting and grouping links to reliable and legal materials in one place. In addition to books, the website also offers online courses, audiobooks, classic films, and other free cultural content, making it a very useful starting point if you're interested in self-directed learning.
On the other hand, we mustn't forget the official bookstores linked to the major manufacturers of reading devices: Amazon's Kindle store, Apple Books, and Google Play Books. Although they are primarily designed as paid retailers, they all include sections of free or heavily discounted books, especially public domain works and titles that the authors themselves choose to offer for free temporarily.
In the case of Amazon's Kindle store , a simple search will allow you to find sections dedicated to free ebooks, many of which are compatible with any device where you install the Kindle app. Apple Books also displays listings of free books that you can download to your iPhone or iPad , while Google Play Books lets you filter by price to quickly see which titles are available for free. However, in all three cases, you'll need to use their respective apps or associated devices to read them.
How to convert and transfer ebooks to your Kindle or other readers
Although many of the platforms mentioned above offer files in formats compatible with Kindle, Kobo, or other readers, in many cases you'll download ebooks in various formats that your device might not initially understand . That's where an essential tool for any digital reader comes in: Calibre.
Installing Calibre is very simple. After downloading it from its official website and launching it for the first time, the program will ask you which e-reader model you usually use . Specifying this isn't mandatory, but it helps the program optimize format conversions for your particular device. It will also ask you to choose an empty folder where it will save and organize all the books you add to the application's catalog.
To convert a file, simply click the "Add Book" button and select the ebook you want to add from your computer. Once it appears in your library list, select it and choose the "Convert Books" option . In the window that opens, you can choose the output format; if you're using a Kindle, it's usually a good idea to select AZW3 , Amazon's format that works well with their latest devices.
When you want to transfer the converted book to your e-reader, connect the device to your computer via USB with Calibre open. The program will detect it and display new transfer options. Simply select the title you want to transfer and click the "Send to Device" button . In a few seconds, the ebook will appear on your Kindle or other e-reader, ready to enjoy anywhere.
This process is especially useful when downloading books from sites like the Miguel de Cervantes Virtual Library, Wikisource, or certain sections of the National Library, where the texts may be in HTML, scans, or formats that are not very user-friendly . With Calibre, you can convert them to a well-formatted ePub or AZW3 file and have your own comfortable edition for extended reading.
All these platforms, from eBiblio to Project Gutenberg, including Alexandria, Public Domain, and the major digital stores, form a vast ecosystem of books, comics, magazines, and other content accessible for free and legally . If you combine several of these resources with tools like Calibre and your library's digital lending service, you can read for years without exhausting your options or budget, enjoying both timeless classics and the latest releases.
