Best reader software

The best free ebook reader 2022: enjoy books on your PC or Mac

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The best free ebook readers improve your reading experience on PC or Mac.

Best free ebook readers

1. Kindle for PC

2. Freda

3. Calibre

4. Sumatra PDF

5. Icecream Ebook Reader

The best free ebook reader software is great for when you need to get serious reading done. We like to read casually on a Kindle, but often we need more. We need tools at hand for taking notes. We need a bigger display and power to search. When we need more for reading, we turn to an ebook reader on our computer. 

Thankfully, some of the best software for reading ebooks is free. When we look for ebook software, we look for good organization, easy note taking, and synchronization across devices. We can find all of that in our top picks.  

If you're reading on a computer, you are probably dealing with ePub and PDF files. These are the most common free file types for ebooks. An Amazon Kindle cannot handle ePub files, but there are software options below that help you convert to Amazon's format if you want to send your ebook to your Kindle. 

You can find free ebooks from plenty of web sites, and most of our top picks also include a library or catalogue to find more. Your local public library probably has an ebook lending service in place, and these free ebook readers will help you read the titles you borrow. 

Except for Amazon's own Kindle ebook reader site, none of the other ebook readers can display a protected Amazon title, for obvious reasons. There is nothing superior about Amazon files, however, and Amazon even asks authors to submit books in ePub format before it wraps them with copy protection. If you have a large Kindle library, that's the only reason to prefer the Kindle ebook. 

• Thinking of buying a Kindle? Our guide to the best Kindles

1.

An open source ebook reader that’s a great choice for students

Today's Best Deals

Reasons to buy

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Choice of reading modes

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Metadata can be edited manually

Reasons to avoid

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Can't read protected Kindle ebooks

Calibre is an open source ebook reader and manager that’s lightweight and lightning-fast. Unlike many free ebook readers, Calibre supports Amazon’s AWZ format (though it won’t open DRM-protected files) as well as all the other popular ebook file types, and if any metadata is missing (such as genre or cover art), you can add it yourself using the bookshelf’s options menu.

One of Calibre’s best features is Reference Mode, which displays the current chapter and paragraph number in the top left – ideal if you need to cite references in an essay. We also like Flow Mode, where text is shown as a continuous scrolling stream without page breaks; not as pleasant as simulated page-turning for recreational reading, but a handy time-saver to avoid flicking backwards and forwards through a textbook.  

• Read our full Calibre review .

2. Freda

Premium features for free – Freda is a real rival to Amazon’s crown

Today's Best Deals

Reasons to buy

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Connects to Project Gutenberg

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Bookmarks and annotations

Reasons to avoid

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Can't read protected Kindle books

Freda (from the delightfully-named Turnipsoft) is a superb ebook reader that integrates with Project Gutenberg, giving you access to thousands of free ebooks, and Smashwords, where you can find works from independent authors and publishers. Importing your own ebooks is a piece of cake too, with support for all the most popular formats. You can even connect Freda to your Dropbox account enabling you to access books from multiple devices.

Freda supports bookmarks, annotations and highlighting, making it a good choice for students. There’s also text-to-speech for anyone who has trouble with text on screens, as well as auto-scroll and speed-read – a tool that works much like Spritz , displaying words in quick succession so you can read without moving your eyes. 

Freda is funded by ads, but these are discreet and are only visible on the bookshelf screen; they won’t interrupt your reading.

3.Kindle for PC

The best free ebook reader, whether you use Amazon or not

Today's Best Deals

Reasons to buy

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Compatible with all ebook formats

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Automatic syncing

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Cross-platform

Amazon’s official Kindle app for Windows (as well as Mac and mobile devices) is smart and stylish, and although it tempts you with reading suggestions from the Kindle store, the sales pitch isn’t too in-your-face.

There’s no setup necessary if you already have an Amazon account. Just log in with your usual username and password and your virtual shelves will be populated automatically (though you’ll have to click a book’s cover to download it, so bear this in mind if you’re planning some offline reading). Notes and bookmarks are synced across devices automatically, as are flashcards – an extremely useful addition for students using digital textbooks for revision.

Kindle for Windows also includes text-to-speech function, and changing font sizes and color schemes is as simple as clicking or tapping a button.

• Read our full Kindle for PC review.

4. Sumatra PDF

A PDF, ebook and comic reader that's ideal for multiple PCs

Today's Best Deals

Reasons to buy

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Reads PDFs, ebooks and comics

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No need to install to your PC

Reasons to avoid

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No GUI for some interface options

Despite its name, Sumatra PDF is a great little ebook reader, capable of displaying books in EPUB and MOBI format, as well as comic books in CBZ and CBR comic books.

Sumatra PDF is a portable app, so you can save it to a USB stick or cloud storage service and use it on any PC. You can save your ebooks in the same place too, eliminating the need to sync your library.

It’s easy to adjust basic settings like font size, but Sumatra PDF’s advanced options can only be edited by opening a text file and typing in new values. If you want to change the page color, for example, you’ll need to find the hex code for your preferred shade and enter it on the appropriate line. It’s not difficult, but we’d prefer a graphical interface.

There’s no way to add notes or highlights, but the convenience of carrying your ebook library and reader anywhere might outweigh those drawbacks for you.

• Read our full Sumatra PDF review.

5. Icecream Ebook Reader

A stylish free ebook reader, but lacking advanced features

Today's Best Deals

Reasons to buy

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Archives and exports ebooks

Reasons to avoid

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Can't read Kindle books

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No annotations or highlighting

Icecream specializes in smart, no-frills software, and Icecream Ebook Reader is no exception. It supports EPUB, MOBI, PDF and FB2 ebook formats, and once you’ve imported your books they’re arranged in a neat bookshelf with a choice of viewing options. One particularly handy feature is the ability to archive and export your ebooks; ideal if you use more than one PC and don’t want the hassle of importing your books twice. There’s no cloud syncing though.

The reader itself is similar to the Kindle app in appearance, with one-click (or tap) buttons for changing font size, color theme (day, night, or sepia), and viewing the table of contents.

Unfortunately, some of the options you can see in the menus are only available if you pay for the Pro version. Premium features include importing multiple ebooks simultaneously, adding notes, editing metadata, and copying text.

The free version of Icecream Ebook Reader is quick and very easy to use, but only really suitable for recreational reading. Students will find the lack of note-taking and copying frustrating.

• Read our full Icecream Ebook Reader review.

• Want to write your own ebook? Check out the best free software for writers.

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Phil Berne is a preeminent voice in consumer electronics reviews, having reviewed his first device (the Sony D-EJ01 Discman) more than 20 years ago for eTown.com. He has been writing about phones and mobile technology, since before the iPhone, for a variety of sites including PCMag, infoSync, PhoneScoop, and Slashgear. He holds an M.A. in Cultural Theory from Carnegie Mellon University. 

Phil was the internal reviewer for Samsung Mobile, writing opinions and review predictions about top secret new devices months before launch. He left in 2017. He worked at an Apple Store near Boston, MA, at the height of iPod popularity. He has been a High School English teacher at Title I schools, and is a certified Lifeguard. His passion is smartphones and wearables, and he is sure that the next big thing will be phones we wear on our faces.

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13 BEST Free ePUB Readers for Windows PC (eBook Reader)

EPUB file reader is a file viewer software that allows you to view the ebooks stored in EPUB format. The software interface consists of two parts. The left part will display the document chapter, and right is a browser to show document content.

Following is a handpicked list of Top ePUB Viewers, with their popular features and links to download ePUB reader for Windows 10, Mac and Android.

The list contains both open source (free) and commercial software with ePub reader download links.

Top Pick

Icecream EPUB Reader

Icecream Ebook Reader is easy to use the tool. It helps you to track your reading progress, add notes, translate text, use bookmarks, and more. The tool allows you to read e-books in EPUB, MOBI, CBR, and other readable file formats.

Visit Icecream App

#1) Icecream EPUB Reader

Icecream Ebook Reader is easy to use the tool. It helps you to track your reading progress, add notes, translate text, use bookmarks, and more. The tool allows you to read e-books in EPUB, MOBI, CBR, and other readable file formats.

#1 Top Pick

Icecream EPUB Reader

5.0

File Formats: EPUB, MOBI, PDF, FB2, CBR, CBZ, TXT and ZIP

Full-screen mode: Yes

Reading progress tracking: Yes

Free Trial: Lifetime Free Basic Plan

Visit Icecream

Features:

• It allows you many check how many pages are left to read and allows you to continue from where you left off.
• You can transfer your e-book collection from one Windows PC to another.
• It helps you to find a book base on the author’s name or title.
• This tool enables the use of navigation scrollbar to browse pages faster.
• Select eBook text to copy, translate in Google search result.
• Offers multiple language like Afrikaans, Arabic, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Bosnian, Czech, Danish, German, and more
• Support multiple file formats like EPUB, MOBI, PDF, FB2, CBR, CBZ, TXT and ZIP
• Provides single and double view to read ebooks
• Offers Highlighting for Text
• Provides customization option for font size and line space
• Easily Export ebooks in PDF
• Provides Full-screen mode, Reading progress tracking, and Multi-lingual
• Offers Text to speech, Dark reading mode, Search in eBooks and Copy, Translate, Google Search
• It provides customer support via Contact Form
• Supported Platforms: Android, iOS and Windows
• Price: Plans start at $19.95 a one time purchase.
• Free Trial: Lifetime Free Basic Plan

Visit Icecream App >>

Lifetime Free Basic Plan

#2) Adobe Digital Editions

Adobe Digital Editions is an easy to use eReader. The tool also allows you to download and purchase digital content, which can be read both online and offline mode. It allows you to search for keywords across all chapters in your eBook.

#2

Adobe Digital Editions

4.9

File Formats: EPUB, EPUB3 and PDF

Full-screen mode: Yes

Reading progress tracking: No

Price: Free Download

Visit Adobe

Features:

• Allows you to borrow eBooks from many public libraries for use with Digital Editions
• Helps you to organize your digital publications and manage devices with Adobe Digital Editions
• Offers multiple language like English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, and more
• Support multiple file formats like EPUB, EPUB3 and PDF
• Provides Single view to read ebooks
• Offers Highlighting for Text
• Easily Export ebooks in EPUB
• Provides Full-screen mode, Multi-lingual, and Edit metadata
• Offers Printing, Bookmarking, Highlights & Notes, Multi-lingual, Borrowing eBooks, Multiple File formats and Accessibility
• It provides customer support via Chat
• Supported Platforms: Android and iOS
• Price: Free Download

Visit Adobe eReader >>

Free Download

#3) Epubor Reader

Epubor Reader is software that enables you to read eBooks on Mac or Windows. It also allows you to change font size and background colors.

#3

Epubor

4.8

File Formats: EPUB, MOBI, AZW, AZW3, PRC, TXT and HTMLZ

Full-screen mode: Yes

Reading progress tracking: Yes

Free Trial: 30 Days Free Trial

Visit Epubor

Features:

• Helps you to switch between vertical and horizontal reading modes.
• Table of content features allows you to jump to any chapter in the ebook.
• Offers multiple language like English
• Support multiple file formats like EPUB, MOBI, AZW, AZW3, PRC, TXT and HTMLZ
• Provides Single, Double and Catalogue view to read ebooks
• Offers Highlighting features like notes and bookmark
• Provides customization option for font size and background colors
• Easily Export ebooks in PDF
• Provides Full-screen mode, Reading progress tracking, Multi-lingual, and Edit metadata
• Offers User-friendly Interface, Fully Customizable Reading Experience, Advanced Library Management, and Auto detect connected Kindle device
• It provides customer support via Ticket, Chat and Email
• Supported Platforms: Windows, Mac and Linux
• Price: Plans start at $4. 99 a year
• Free Trial: 30 Days Free Trial

Visit Epubor >>

30 Days Free Trial

#4) Calibre

Calibre is an easy to use open-source e-book manager and reader. This ePub reader for Windows 10 allows you to change the font size, margins, and metadata, and by adding an auto-generated table of contents. It is one of the best ePUB reader for Windows that helps you to save time to manage your e-book collection.

Features:

• Highly comprehensive e-book viewer
• Download news/magazines from the web
• This ePub reader for PC allows you to share and backup your library easily.
• Edit the books in your collection
• Satisfy every e-book need and get support
• Offers multiple language like Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, French, Italian, Japanese, and more
• Support multiple file formats like AZW, AZW3, AZW4, CBZ, CBR, CB7, CBC, CHM, DJVU, DOCX, EPUB
• Provides Single view to read ebooks
• Offers Highlighting features like underlines and strikethrough
• Easily Export ebooks in AZW3, EPUB, DOCX, FB2, HTMLZ, OEB, LIT, LRF, MOBI
• Provides Full-screen mode, Reading progress tracking, Multi-lingual, and Edit metadata
• Offers Save time on managing your e-book collection, Use it everywhere with anything, and Comprehensive e-book viewer
• It provides customer support via Community, FAQs, Tutorial
• Supported Platforms: Android, iOS and Windows
• Price: Free Download

Link: https://calibre-ebook. com/

#5) Freda

Freda is a software for reading electronic books. It is an universal ebook app, which means it runs equally well on your desktop PC or tablet PC. It is one of the best ePUB reader which works on any phone or tablet running Jellybean, Kitkat, or any more recent version of the Android operating system.

Features:

• You can connect this application with your OneDrive or DropBox accounts for downloading books.
• Links to your Calibre book library
• This ePub viewer Windows synchronizes your reading experience across all your devices
• Includes dyslexia-friendly settings to assist reading for people affected by Dyslexia
• Offers multiple language like Chinese and English
• Support multiple file formats like MOBI, EPUB, FB2, HTML and TXT
• Provides single and double view to read ebooks
• Offers Highlighting for Fonts
• Seamlessly integrates with Feedbooks, Smashwords and Gutenberg
• Provides customization option for fonts and colours
• Easily Export ebooks in TXT
• Provides Full-screen mode, Reading progress tracking, Multi-lingual, and Edit metadata
• Offers Touch screen interface, Works with all screen dimensions and orientations, Dictionary lookup, Bookmarks and annotations
• It provides customer support via Email
• Supported Platforms: Android and Windows
• Price: Free Download

Link: http://www. turnipsoft.co.uk/

#6) Librera Reader

Librera Reader (a.k.a. Lirbi Reader, PDF Reader) is a customizable and feature-rich application. It allows you to read e-books in PDF, EPUB, MOBI, DjVu, FB2, TXT, RTF, AZW, AZW3, HTML, CBZ, CBR formats.

Feature:

• Provide support for clouds and online catalogs
• Configurable Day and Night modes
• Vertical-scroll lock
• Auto- and manual centering of documents
• Custom CSS code input
• Musician’s mode with configurable scroll speed
• Customizable TTS reading and built-in media player
• Multi-word text search
• Online document conversion
• Offers multiple language like English, Ukrainian, French, Deutsch, Italian, Portugal, Spanish, Arabic, Thai, Hebrew, and Chinese
• Support multiple file formats like PDF, EPUB, MOBI, DjVu, FB2, TXT, RTF, AZW, AZW3, HTML, CBZ and CBR
• Provides Single view to read ebooks
• Offers Highlighting for Text
• Seamlessly integrates with Text and Pictures
• Provides customization option for Font
• Easily Export ebooks in EPUB and PDF
• Provides Reading progress tracking, and Multi-lingual
• Offers Auto-Scan, Support for bookmarks, annotations, Support for clouds and online catalogs, Configurable Day and Night modes, and Vertical-scroll lock
• It provides customer support via Email
• Supported Platforms: Android
• Price: Free Download

Link: http://librera. mobi/

#7) ReadEra

ReadEra is an ebook-reader that allows reading books for free, offline in PDF, EPUB, DOC, DOCX, RTF, MOBI, TXT, ODT, and CHM formats.

Features:

• Enables margin cropping for pdf files in pdf viewer.
• Auto-saving the current reading page.
• This ePUB reader for free helps you to economized memory usage
• This ePUB opener allows reading several books and documents at the same time.
• Offers multiple language like English, Russian, French, Spanish, and more
• Support multiple file formats like PDF, EPUB, DOC, DOCX, RTF, MOBI, AZW3, DJVU, FB2, TXT, ODT and CHM
• Provides Double view to read ebooks
• Offers Highlighting for Text
• Provides customization option for Font size
• Easily Export ebooks in PDF
• Provides Reading progress tracking, and Multi-lingual
• Offers Data safety
• It provides customer support via Email
• Supported Platforms: Android and Windows
• Price: Free Download

Link: https://play. google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.readera

#8) Sumatra

Sumatra PDF is a free PDF, EPUB, MobiDjVu, CHM, Comic Book (CBR, and CBZ) reader for Windows. This ePub reader for Windows 7, 8 & 10 is small, portable, and start speed is fast. This free ePUB reader for Windows empathizes on the simplicity of the user interface has a high priority.

Features:

• This ePub reader desktop has clean interface
• Favorite documents list
• Fupgraded core PDF parsing rendering to the latest version of mupdf.
• Faster, fewer bugs.
• Offers multiple language like Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Croatian, Dutch, English, French, German, and more
• Support multiple file formats like PDF, EPUB, MOBI, CBZ, CBR, DjVu, XPS and CHM
• Provides single and double view to read ebooks
• Offers Highlighting for Text
• Seamlessly integrates with LaTex
• Easily Export ebooks in PDF, JPG and PNG
• Provides Full-screen mode, and Multi-lingual
• Offers Editing annotations and Accessibility
• It provides customer support via Email
• Supported Platforms: Windows
• Price: Free Download

Link: https://www. sumatrapdfreader.org/

#9) Google Play Books

Google Play Books is an official google reader. It is the one app you need for purchasing audiobooks and e-books from Google Play. You can choose from millions of best-selling e-books, comics, textbooks, and audiobooks. This official Google reader software also allows you to buy audiobooks and e-books without any subscription.

Features:

• Preview free samples from millions of books
• Tap the page and helps you to watch your favorite comic book
• Allows you to take note with your Google Drive and share them with a group
• Use the Night setting to adjust the background color and brightness automatically.
• Offers multiple language like English, French, Chinese, German, Hindi, Russian, Spanish and Ukrainian
• Support multiple file formats like PDF, EPUB, JPEG, TIFF, PDF and ZIP
• Provides single view to read ebooks
• Offers Highlighting for Text
• Provides customization option for Font style and Line
• Easily Export ebooks in EPUB and PDF
• Provides Full-screen mode, Reading progress tracking, Multi-lingual, and Edit metadata
• Offers Bookmarks, notes and reading positions
• It provides customer support via Phone and Contact Form
• Supported Platforms: Android and iOS
• Price: Free Download

Link: https://play. google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.books&hl=en_IN

#10) EPUB EBook Reader

The EPUB reader is a fairly simple app for reading EPUB books on your Windows PC. It allows you to download books from preconfigured and personal sources. This tool helps you to manage your book library, track reading progress, etc.

Features:

• You can easily transfer your whole library onto either an SD Card or into OneDrive.
• Control of font sizes
• Automatic discovery of books
• Allows you to preserve unique aspects of the book
• Manage all your eBooks in all types of formats using a single library.
• Offers multiple language like English
• Support multiple file formats like PDF, PSD, CDR, DWG, DOCX, PPTX, EPUB, EPS, PNG, BMP, JPEG and JPG
• Provides single view to read ebooks
• Offers Highlighting for Text
• Provides Full-screen mode, Reading progress tracking, Multi-lingual, and Edit metadata
• Offers Search books, Small, clean interface, fast and reliable
• It provides customer support via Phone and Contact Form
• Supported Platforms: Android, iOS, Mac and Windows
• Price: Free Download

Link: https://play. google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.s2apps.reader

#11) Nook

Nook is another popular e-book reader software. It comes with customized reading options as well as support for books, comic books, and more. Nook also provide a feature of cross-device syncing.

Features:

• Allows you to search for books
• Control of font sizes and margins
• Synchronization
• Preserves unique aspects of the book
• Clean interface
• Automatic discovery of books
• Offers multiple language like Spanish, German, French, Italian, Chinese and Latin
• Support multiple file formats like ePub, PDF, PNG, JPG, GIF, and BMP
• Offers Highlighting for Text
• Provides customization option for size, font, margins, line spacing and color
• Easily Export ebooks in PDF
• Provides Reading progress tracking, Multi-lingual, and Edit metadata
• Offers Animation
• It provides customer support via Chat, Email and Phone
• Supported Platforms: Android, iOS, Mac and Windows
• Price: Request a Quote from Sales

Link: https://www. barnesandnoble.com/b/nook/_/N-1pbl

#12) Bookviser

Bookviser is an e-book reading to read and organize e-books on Windows devices. This ePub reader Windows 10 software is providing an ideal reading experience to the readers.

Features:

• Helps you to customize your reading
• Simple and clean interface
• This free ePub reader Windows 10 allows you to browse online catalogs that store thousands of free public domain titles
• Add custom catalogs using their OPDS addresses.
• Adjust the brightness of your display either in quick settings or with by using the slider in the menu.
• Offers multiple language like English
• Support multiple file formats like FB2, EPUB and TXT
• Provides single view to read ebooks
• Offers Highlighting for Notes
• Provides Reading progress tracking, and Multi-lingual
• Seamlessly integrates with Feedbooks, Project Gutenberg and Smashword
• Provides customization option for Font type & Size and Line spacing
• Offers Customization, Easy access to books, Library management, Sync & Backup, text to speech
• support, and Transparent tile support
• It provides customer support via Email
• Supported Platforms: Windows
• Price: Free Download

Link: https://www. microsoft.com/en-us/p/bookviser-preview/9nblggh519lb

#13) FBReader

FBReader is another older eReader app. It’s an excellent option for most basic use cases. This book reader provides support for AZW3, EPUB (up to EPUB3), fb2, RTF, HTML, and even plain text documents.

Features:

• Online storage for your electronic library.
• Store books in your Google Drive space.
• Synchronize book collection, reading positions, and bookmarks
• It allows you to use Google Drive cloud service to sync books between your devices.
• Offers multiple language like English and French
• Support multiple file formats like HTML, EPUB, FB2, FB2.ZIP, MOBI, RTF, MS DOC, PLAIN TEXT and CBZ
• Provides single and double view to read ebooks
• Offers Highlighting for Text
• Seamlessly integrates with Litres
• Easily Export ebooks in EPUB and FB2
• Provides Full-screen mode, Reading progress tracking, and Multi-lingual
• Offers Opens files in text formats, Reads metainfo from book file, FBReader rendering engine,
• Customizable text styles, and Text selection
• It provides customer support via Email
• Supported Platforms: Android, iOS, Windows, Mac and Linux
• Price: Free Download

Link: https://fbreader. org/

FAQs

Best Free ePUB Reader

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10 best free readers for computer

March 18, 2021 Likbez macOS

Reading e-books is convenient not only on smartphones and tablets.

1. Google Play Books

• Platforms: Web, Chrome.
• Supported formats: ePub, PDF.

On the website of the popular Google Play Books service, you can add and read texts online. At the same time, the project has an extension for the Google Chrome browser, which provides access to downloaded books on a computer even without connecting to the Web.

The plug-in interface almost completely repeats the design of the web version. You can open books from your library, view their content, search by text, customize fonts and layout. To read offline, you must first download the necessary books to your computer's memory. Bookmarks, reading positions and other data are synchronized between all devices connected to a Google account.

Google Play Books →

Download

Price: 0

2. iBooks 9 software0007

• Platform: macOS.
• Supported formats: ePub, PDF.

Mac users who love books are lucky to get one of the best desktop readers out of the box. iBooks looks stylish, supports data synchronization between iOS devices, and offers only the most necessary tools - for those who like to read, not dig into the settings.

On the other hand, iBooks does not work with the very popular FB*2 format, which may not suit some users. But you can always convert FB*2 to ePub.

3. Bookmate

• Platforms: Web, Windows.
• Supported formats: FB*2, ePub.

This service, like Google Play Books, offers computer owners to read works on the site. In addition, Windows users can install the Bookmate desktop client, which allows you to add texts to your personal library and open them offline.

In both versions of the program, you can customize the font, background, indents and other visual elements. Bookmarks, reading positions, and other metadata are synced across devices. The application can slow down a little, but in general it is comfortable to use.

Texts added to the service by you can be read for free. Bookmate also offers a paid subscription to books from its online library, but you can opt-out.

Bookmate →

Download

Price: Free

4. Caliber

• Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux.
• Supported formats: FB*2, ePub, DjVu, DOCX, HTML, AZW, AZW3, AZW4, CBZ, CBR, CBC, CHM, HTMLZ, LIT, LRF, MOBI, ODT, PDF, PRC, PDB, PML , RB, RTF, SNB, TCR, TXT, TXTZ.

Caliber is best known as a powerful free e-book editor. With it, you can edit metadata, text and other elements of book files, as well as convert documents from one format to another. But the program allows you to simply read the books added to it. The built-in reader has background settings, text, content viewer, search form and other tools for the user's convenience.

Caliber →

5. Sumatra PDF

• Platform: Windows.
• Supported formats: PDF, eBook, MOBI, XPS, DjVu, CHM, CBZ, CBR.

Despite its name, the program handles not only PDF files, but also a wide variety of ePub and MOBI books. And in addition - with comics CBZ and CBR. Sumatra PDF is able to work in portable mode, so you can save it to a USB flash drive and read different files anywhere.

Books open in tabs. This allows you to read several files in parallel, switching between them. Minimum settings: font size and page display. The rest of the application settings are controlled through a text INI file - this is complicated, but useful for advanced users.

Sumatra PDF →

6. STDU Viewer

• Platform: Windows.
• Supported formats: TIFF, PDF, DjVu, XPS, JBIG2, WWF, FB*2, TXT, CBR, CBZ, TCR, PDB, MOBI, AZW, ePub, DCX, BMP, PCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG , WMF, EMF, PSD.

One of the most polyformat programs can open not only books, but also images, and even Photoshop layouts. He is excellent at reading texts. There are a lot of settings and parameters that can satisfy even the most sophisticated user.

The program is optimized to work with both conventional computers and devices with touch screens. It can export individual pages as graphic files, search by text, change book page display options, and so on. At the same time, it consumes system resources very modestly.

STDU Viewer →

7. Freda

• Platform: Windows.
• Supported formats: ePub, MOBI, FB*2, HTML, TXT.

This program can be recommended to owners of Windows 10 tablets because its interface is most optimized for touch screens. For those who read from a laptop or desktop PC, it is better to look at other applications.

Freda integrates with online directories such as Feedbooks, Smashwords, and Project Gutenberg. It provides free access to over 50,000 public domain classics. Freda also easily opens any books you manually save and lets you sync your library with OneDrive, Dropbox or Caliber.

Download

Price: Free

8. Icecream Ebook Reader

• Platform: Windows.
• Supported formats: ePub, MOBI, PDF, FB*2.

An extremely popular reader that supports common electronic literature formats. An interesting feature of Icecream Ebook is the ability to import and export your library, saving not only books, but also the progress of reading them. This is useful when transferring information from computer to computer.

There are several page themes (day, night or sepia), font settings and a convenient table of contents. True, some features - adding notes, importing multiple e-books at the same time, editing file metadata and copying text - are only available in the Pro version of Icecream Ebook Reader.

Icecream Ebook Reader →

9. Foliate

• Platform: Linux.
• Supported formats: ePub, MOBI, AZW, TXT, CBR, CBZ, CBT, CB7, FB*2, AZW3.

A new e-book reader that provides all the functions the user needs, but also has a nice and modern interface. Many page design themes, and you can add your own. There is a built-in translator using Google Translate. Foliate works with laptop touchpads - you can scroll through pages by swiping with two fingers on the touchpad. And finally, here you can create notes by highlighting text in books and leaving your comments.

Foliate →

10. Okular

• Platform: Linux.
• Supported formats: G3, CHM, DDS, DjVu, DJV, EPS, EPSI, EPSF, EXR, FB*2, GIF, XCF, HDR, PIC, JPEG, JPG, JPE, JP2, JPG2, MNG, MOBI , PRC, ODT, OKULAR, PBM, PCX, PDF, PGM, PNG, PPM, PS, PSD, RGB, TGA, ICB, TPIC, VDA, VST, TIF, TIFF, DVI, WWF, BMP, DIB, ICO, XBM , XPM, OXPS, XPS, CBZ, CB7, CBR, CBT, ePub, DOC.

If you're using KDE, you don't need to install anything - the cool Okular reader is already on your computer. This program is used as a file viewer and opens not only all popular e-book formats, but also PDFs, images, and documents.

There are many settings for the appearance of pages, the ability to comment and highlight text fragments, several options for scrolling files and other functions. Okular can be installed in any graphical environment - the program is located in the repositories of most popular distributions.

Okular →

The text of the article was updated on March 17, 2021.

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10 reader apps with access to free books

In addition to many dedicated e-ink readers, long battery life and other conveniences, there are many apps that turn your tablet or smartphone into a reader. Often, the application that suits your friends is not right for you, and you have to go through program after program, looking for the one with which it will be comfortable to spend time reading. To make it easier to find the most convenient program, we decided to select ten of the most popular reading applications with built-in libraries of free books.

1. Bookmate

The first thing that attracts in Bookmate is synchronization between devices. Read on a tablet, continue on a smartphone or laptop from the same page where you left off on the previous device. To do this, of course, the device must have Internet access. But you need it only for quick synchronization, you can read books offline by turning off all communication modules to save money.

The second is the payment system. You do not need to buy a separate book, you pay for a subscription for a month or a year and read everything in the library, which is more than 500,000 books from 600 publishers for 9languages.

But that's not all. The Bookmate service is divided into two parts. The first of these is the application with which you actually read. The second is a web service at bookmate.com, where you can upload any of your books in epub or fb2 format to your library and read it using the application with exactly the same synchronization between devices.

If you do not have your own books and you are not yet ready to pay for licensed books, then you can choose one of the many free books of world classical literature. These, of course, are not hits and novelties, but were priceless masterpieces ever so accessible? Yes, even lovers of reading masterpieces in the original should not forget about the possibility of instant translation of any word by double tap.

The creators of the service have not forgotten about the social component. By connecting one of your social network accounts to the service, you can find your friends who also use Bookmate, follow what they read, and share your books and favorite quotes with them.

Well, the last bonus is the opportunity to give a subscription to your friend. Just pay for a gift subscription and get a code, by entering which your friend becomes another happy Bookmate user for a certain time.

Screenshots Bookmate

Screenshots Bookmate

Play Store | App Store | Windows

2. Moon+ Reader

Yes, of course, this is not an all-in-one service like Bookmate, it is an e-book reader designed for those who like to customize everything "for themselves". Many preinstalled themes, swipe animation effects, fine-grained display settings, day and night mode, the ability to customize actions using screen taps, swipe gestures or hardware buttons, synchronization via the cloud (though only for the paid version). But this application got into the review not for its beauty and convenience, but for the ability to read many free books: Moon + Reader supports OPDS catalogs, you don’t even have to delve into what it is, everything is already set up in the program by default and it’s enough to find in the application, the "Network" item, select the section of free books in Russian in the "Moon +" catalog and indulge in reading. After downloading the book to your device, it is available for reading without the Internet.

Yes, since this program is primarily a "reader", it will easily find your books that are already on the device. Supported formats: epub, fb2, pdf, mobi, chm, cbr, cbz, umd, txt, html, as well as the ability to read books directly from rar and zip archives. The program has fewer opportunities than the subscription service, but you don’t have to pay anything either.

Screenshots of Moon+ Reader

Screenshots of Moon+ Reader

Play Store

3.

Another decent reading app with good features. After registering your PrestigioID, you get access to the bookstore, where free books are highlighted in a separate column, and in addition, synchronization between your android devices with the same PrestigioID. You can also read books not from the app store, but downloaded to the device memory in epub, pdf, html, fb2, fb2.zip, rtf, txt, epub3, Adobe DRM epub formats. The application has all the necessary settings for reading, not as flexible as those of Moon + Reader, but they are quite enough for comfortable use of the program. It is very convenient that, unlike Bookmate, you do not need to look for free books - they are already conveniently collected in a separate section. There is only one minus of the application - it is only available on Android.

Screenshots eReader Prestigio

Screenshots eReader Prestigio

Play Store

4.

Quite an interesting application that allows you to read everything in the catalog for free. During registration, you will be asked to indicate your interests, this was done in order to make it easier to recommend books for you to read. Books written by Wattpad users themselves. You can follow the writing of books, read from chapter to chapter, immediately after the author publishes the next page. Moreover, you yourself can start writing for a wide audience, because Wattpad is a service for writers and readers, an opportunity to conduct a dialogue with the author. But this is precisely the feature of the application - the opportunity to read something new, to discover a new talent in literature. Or discover the literary talent in yourself, inspired by someone else's story. Definitely try this app if you like to experiment with book preferences or read something randomly.

There are not so many settings for the reader, but all the basics are present. Unfortunately, you can only read books from the catalog, the application does not support reading files from memory. Other than that, highly recommended if you want to try something new.

Screenshots Wattpad

Screenshots Wattpad

Play Store | App Store

5. MyBook

A relatively young Russian service that provides access to its own online library by subscription. Registration is required, after which a catalog of more than 63,000 books becomes available, 8,000 of which are free - mostly classics. The catalog itself contains a wide variety of books, divided by genre. Yes, this service is still far from Bookmate in terms of the number of books, but you can already use it comfortably now - there is synchronization between devices and a quite comfortable "reader" with basic background and font settings. Unfortunately, there is no way to read books not from the catalog.

Screenshots MyBook

Screenshots MyBook

Play Store | App Store

6.

The leading company in the sale of licensed books in the CIS countries has acquired its own application for reading and distributing electronic reading material. The LitRes catalog contains more than 750,000 books, making this online library the largest Russian-language library on the web. The application provides the possibility of free use of books for viewing ads. And you can even get used to this advertising in the bottom line, in exchange for a huge catalog of books, conveniently divided into categories. The application claims to synchronize bookmarks, notes and quotes. But I never managed to change the login, which is somehow assigned automatically. And synchronization is possible, which is logical, between applications with the same login. In general, the reading program is acceptable, and given the extensive library, it is more than suitable. It is spoiled only by strange synchronization (let's hope that they will finish it) and annoying ads, especially pop-up videos. However, ads can be turned off. Of course, for money.

Screenshots LitRes Read! Free

Screenshots LitRes Read! Free

Play Store | App Store

7. Home library

A simple application to access Russian classical literature for free. Minimum settings for maximum benefit. The app contains classic works by more than 700 writers, including Chekhov, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Gogol, Pushkin, Yesenin and many others. Everything that you once did not have time to read at school is now available for rethinking in electronic form.

Directly from the application, by clicking on the author's photo, you can go to his Wikipedia page and get acquainted with the biography. The rest of the functionality is concise to a minimum.

Screenshots Home Library

Screenshots Home Library

Play Store | App Store

8.

A small site with free literature did not begin to think about creating a single application for all genres, but released several clone applications. Do you like to read detective stories? Read only detectives. Do you want fantasy? Please. Love novels? Please. But each time you have to download a new application. Although, if you are an adherent of only one type of literature and are not going to change your taste preferences, that's it.

Recently, KuchaKnig.Ru has been thinking about licensing its library, previously collected from free sources, in connection with which it has acquired a partner in the person of LitRes, so it is not surprising that the settings of any application repeat the settings of the program for free reading from LitRes, and the desire to buy a book leads to the LitRes website, not KuchaKnig.Ru. This, in principle, for us, ordinary readers, does not matter at all, and such a division of genres into separate applications can be convenient if, as described above, you are an adherent of only one genre and you do not need to shovel through various catalogs in search of a new detective or a fresh book on esotericism.

Screenshots KuchaKnig.RU

Screenshots KuchaKnig.RU

Play Store

9. Free books - novels

Simple, convenient. Download and read.

Actually, everything is clear from the name of the application. The catalog contains a varied list of novels from science fiction to erotica. The program itself works nowhere easier - choose the right book, download and read. A couple of menu items can hardly be called settings, but for a simple "download and read" application, this is only a plus.

Screenshot Free books - novels

Play Store

10. Play Books

An application from Google itself, linked to the book store, with synchronization, with a nice interface and the ability to upload your own books in epub or pdf format. It is very convenient to upload your entire library to Google servers and have access to books from any device.

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