Getly
Search for a free ebook PDF and the first results are often sites that host books they have no right to share. Some of them are harmless copies. Many push fake download buttons, ask for your email "to verify you are human" or deliver an executable instead of a book. The good news is that there is a large legal supply of free books, and it is usually easier to use than the pirate kind. This guide covers where to find it, how to tell a legitimate free PDF from a risky one, and which format to pick for your device.
Legal sources of free ebooks
Public domain libraries
A book enters the public domain when its copyright expires. In the United States, as of January 2026 that covers works published in 1930 or earlier. In most of Europe the rule is the author's life plus 70 years. Public domain books are free to download, read, print and share.
- Project Gutenberg is the oldest digital library, with tens of thousands of titles as EPUB, Kindle files, plain text and HTML. Classics, philosophy, history, early science fiction.
- Standard Ebooks takes public domain texts and produces carefully formatted, proofread editions with clean typography. If you read classics on an e-reader, start here.
- Wikisource and the Internet Archive hold scans and transcriptions, including older editions you will not find elsewhere.
One caution: the same public domain text sometimes appears on marketplaces as a paid "edition" with a new cover. That is legal, and sometimes the formatting is genuinely better. Just know that the words themselves are free elsewhere.
Library lending
If you have a library card, apps such as Libby (OverDrive) and Hoopla let you borrow current ebooks and audiobooks at no cost. Availability depends on your library: popular titles have waiting lists, and the loan ends after a set period. This is the legal way to read new releases for free.
Author and publisher giveaways
- Free first books. Many authors of a series give the first book away to win readers. Retailers list these as permanently free.
- Newsletter magnets. Non-fiction authors often offer a short PDF guide in exchange for an email address. This is legal, but read what you are signing up for.
- Free samples. Most ebook stores let you read the first chapter or two before buying.
- Free listings on marketplaces. Sellers on digital marketplaces sometimes list a book for free or as pay what you want. These come straight from the author, so they are legal by construction.
How to spot a pirated or risky PDF
A free PDF of a book that was a bestseller last year, on a site you have never heard of, is almost certainly unauthorised. Beyond the legal side, these are the warning signs that the download itself can hurt you:
- The file is not a PDF. A download named
book.pdf.exe, a.zipcontaining a program, or anything that asks to "install a reader" is malware. A real ebook opens in your normal PDF or ebook app. - Several download buttons. When a page shows three green "Download" buttons, two are ads.
- Sign-up walls and "verification". Requests for your card details, a phone number or a survey before a free book are a scam.
- Odd file size. A novel as a text PDF is usually a few megabytes at most. A tiny file may be one page; a huge one may be a scan of poor quality.
- Scanned images instead of text. Pirated copies are often photographed pages. You cannot search, select or resize the text.
For comparison, we checked the PDFs sold on Getly's e-book shelves, measured October 2026: 87.3% carry a real text layer, so you can search and select the words, and only 0.1% are encrypted. That is what a file from the author looks like.
PDF or EPUB: which format for which device
| Format | Good for | Weak at |
|---|---|---|
| Workbooks, guides with tables and images, printing, tablets and laptops | Small phone screens: the page does not reflow, so you zoom and scroll | |
| EPUB | Novels and long reading on phones and e-readers: text reflows to the screen, font size is yours | Complex layouts, worksheets, anything meant to be printed |
Kindle readers: Amazon's Send to Kindle accepts both EPUB and PDF. EPUB files are converted so the text reflows; PDFs keep their fixed page layout. Older MOBI files are no longer accepted for sending.
Apple and Android: Apple Books opens both formats. On Android, Google Play Books accepts uploaded EPUB and PDF files.
On paid shelves PDF dominates. On Getly's e-book shelves 84.5% of listings deliver a PDF and only 1.9% an EPUB. The median PDF there is 18 pages; one in ten runs past 95 pages. Many of these are practical guides and workbooks rather than novels, which is where PDF is the better format anyway.
When a cheap ebook beats a free one
Free is not always the better deal. A short, current guide on a narrow topic often does not exist in the public domain, and library copies of niche non-fiction are rare. On Getly's e-book shelves (782 active listings, measured October 2026) 3.5% are free and 6.0% are pay what you want, where you can enter a low amount. The median paid price is $9.99, with the middle half between $4.99 and $12.99; about a quarter of listings cost more than zero but under $5.
Things to check before you pay for a cheap ebook:
- Page count and a look inside. A guide sold as "complete" with 12 pages is a leaflet. Many listings offer a preview of the first pages.
- Who wrote it. 16.4% of listings on these shelves mention AI or ChatGPT. Some use it as a topic, some as a writing tool. A description that names the author's own experience is a better sign than a list of buzzwords.
- Resell rights. About 1% mention PLR or resell rights. Those are for people who want to republish the text, not for readers, and the content is often generic.
- Refund terms. Getly purchases carry a refund window of at least 30 days.
A short checklist
- Is the book old enough to be public domain? Try Project Gutenberg or Standard Ebooks first.
- Is it a recent release? Check Libby or your library app.
- Is the file a real PDF or EPUB, not an installer?
- Pick EPUB for phones and e-readers, PDF for workbooks and printing.
- For a niche guide, a free or low-priced listing from the author is often the honest shortcut.
Free and paid books from independent authors are on the E-books and PDF Guides shelves, and the weekly giveaway is on Free this week.
