Success
You have a reader app on your iPhone or iPad and now you need something to read in it. The good news is that thousands of excellent EPUB books are free and completely legal to download, no shady torrent sites required. The catch is knowing which sources are trustworthy and which ones will hand you a malware-laced .zip pretending to be a novel.
This is a curated list of legal sources for free EPUB books, sorted roughly by how useful they are for a normal reader. After the list, there is a short walkthrough on getting a downloaded book into justRead so you can actually start reading on your phone, no computer in the loop.
What makes a free EPUB source trustworthy?
There are two kinds of legitimately free EPUBs. The first is public domain: books whose copyright has expired, which means anyone can copy and distribute them. Most works published before 1929 fall here, so the classics shelf is enormous. The second is explicitly licensed free content, usually Creative Commons, where the author has chosen to give the book away.
Everything in this list is one of those two. If a site is offering a recent bestseller as a "free EPUB download," it is almost certainly pirated, and beyond the legal problem, those files are a common vector for malware and broken formatting. Stick to the sources below and you never have to worry about it.
One more thing worth knowing up front: some free books come wrapped in DRM (a copy-protection lock). DRM-locked files only open in the app they were issued for. justRead reads plain, DRM-free EPUBs, so the sources here are chosen with that in mind, and I flag the one exception (library lending) clearly.
The best sources for free EPUB books
Project Gutenberg
The original and still the biggest. Project Gutenberg has more than 70,000 public-domain titles, all DRM-free, covering basically every classic you can name. The site is plain and a little dated, but the catalog is gold.
The convenient part for justRead users: Project Gutenberg is built directly into the app's OPDS browser, so you can search it and download a book without ever leaving justRead or opening Safari. More on that below, and the OPDS reader page explains how that browsing works.
Standard Ebooks
If Project Gutenberg's no-frills text bothers you, Standard Ebooks is the answer. It is a volunteer project that takes public-domain works and carefully reformats them: proper typography, consistent styling, hand-checked text, real cover art. The result reads like a professionally produced ebook rather than a scanned file.
The catalog is smaller (a few thousand titles) because every book is hand-polished, but the quality is the best you will find for free classics. Standard Ebooks also publishes an OPDS feed, so you can add it as a custom server in justRead and browse it the same way you browse Gutenberg.
Open Library / Internet Archive
Open Library, run by the Internet Archive, is part free download and part lending library. Many older titles are downloadable as EPUB outright. Others are available to "borrow" for a set period with a free account, similar to a physical library loan.
Be aware: the borrowed books are usually DRM-protected and will not open in justRead. The freely downloadable public-domain titles will. When you find a book, check whether it offers a direct EPUB download versus a borrow-only loan.
ManyBooks
ManyBooks pulls together public-domain works (a lot of it sourced from Project Gutenberg) plus a rotating selection of Creative Commons and indie titles that authors have chosen to give away. It is a good place to browse by genre when you are not hunting for a specific book. Downloads are DRM-free EPUB, ready to drop into justRead.
Feedbooks Public Domain
Feedbooks keeps a clean public-domain section with thousands of free classics. The reason it earns a spot here over a dozen similar sites is that it publishes a proper OPDS feed. Add that feed to justRead as a custom OPDS server and you can browse and download Feedbooks classics in-app, exactly like Project Gutenberg.
Your local library via Libby
Your library card is probably the most underused free-book source you own. Libby (from OverDrive) lets you borrow current ebooks for free, including plenty of recent releases that are never legally free anywhere else.
The honest caveat: Libby's EPUBs are DRM-locked and read inside the Libby app or sent to a Kindle, so they will not open in justRead. I include Libby anyway because for reading new releases for free, it is unbeatable, and you can run it alongside justRead. Use justRead for your owned, DRM-free library and Libby for borrowed bestsellers.
Author websites and free first-in-series offers
Plenty of independent authors give away a book, often the first in a series, directly from their own site or newsletter. These are almost always DRM-free EPUBs you can download and open anywhere. If you find an author you like through one of the sources above, check their website; a free starter book is a common offer.
Quick comparison
| Source | Type | OPDS feed | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Project Gutenberg | Public domain | Yes (built into justRead) | 70,000+ classics, DRM-free |
| Standard Ebooks | Public domain | Yes (add as custom server) | Beautifully reformatted, smaller catalog |
| Open Library / Internet Archive | Public domain + lending | No | Free downloads DRM-free; borrows are DRM-locked |
| ManyBooks | Public domain + Creative Commons | No | Good genre browsing |
| Feedbooks Public Domain | Public domain | Yes (add as custom server) | Clean classics catalog |
| Libby (your library) | Licensed lending | No | DRM-locked, will not open in justRead |
| Author sites | Creative Commons / free | Sometimes | DRM-free, often first-in-series |
How to get a downloaded EPUB into justRead
Once you have a DRM-free EPUB, there are two main ways to read it in justRead. You do not need a computer or a cable for either.
Method 1: Download to Files, then open in justRead
This works for any site that gives you a direct EPUB download (Standard Ebooks, ManyBooks, Open Library's free titles, author sites).
- In Safari, tap the EPUB download link. iOS will ask where to save it, or save it to your Downloads folder automatically.
- Open the Files app and find the .epub file.
- Tap and hold the file, choose Share, then pick justRead from the share sheet. (You can also open the file and use the share icon to "Open in" justRead.)
- The book imports into your library and is ready to read.
If your downloads pile up in iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive, you can also point justRead at that cloud folder so it reads the files in place instead of duplicating them. That keeps a single copy of each book and saves storage.
Method 2: Browse and download inside justRead via OPDS
This is the smoothest path for the sources that offer an OPDS feed. OPDS is a standard that lets a reader app browse a book catalog directly, like a built-in bookstore for free books.
- Open justRead and go to the OPDS browser.
- Project Gutenberg is already there. Tap it, search for a title or author, and download straight into your library.
- To add Standard Ebooks or Feedbooks, enter their OPDS feed URL as a custom server, then browse them the same way.
No Safari, no Files app, no transfers. You find the book and it lands in your library. If you want to go deeper on setting up catalogs, the OPDS reader page covers it, and our roundup of the best free OPDS catalogs in 2026 lists more feeds worth adding.
Either way, once a book is in justRead it joins your ebook library with covers, series grouping, tags, and progress tracking, so a hundred free downloads stay organized instead of becoming a junk drawer.
FAQ
Are these sites legal?
Yes. Every recommended source distributes either public-domain works (copyright expired) or content the rights holder has explicitly licensed for free, usually under Creative Commons. None of them host pirated copies of in-copyright bestsellers. That is the line: free because it is allowed to be free, not free because someone uploaded a stolen file.
Can I open these EPUBs directly in justRead without a computer?
Yes. Two ways. For OPDS-enabled sources (Project Gutenberg is built in, Standard Ebooks and Feedbooks can be added), you browse and download inside justRead with no other app involved. For any direct download, save the EPUB to the Files app in Safari, then share it into justRead. Neither needs a Mac, a cable, or iTunes.
Does justRead sync with Dropbox or Google Drive?
Yes. justRead syncs across your devices with iCloud, and you can also point it at any cloud folder it can reach, including Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive, to read books stored there. Calibre Content Server and OPDS are two more ways to get books in. You are not locked into one method.
What about DRM-protected EPUB files?
justRead reads DRM-free EPUBs and does not strip DRM from protected files. That is why library loans from Libby and "borrow" titles from Open Library will not open in it; those files are locked to their own apps. Stick to the DRM-free sources in this list (Project Gutenberg, Standard Ebooks, ManyBooks, Feedbooks, free Open Library titles, author sites) and every download will open without a hitch.
How many free books can I actually get this way?
Between Project Gutenberg's 70,000-plus titles and the others, you could read free for the rest of your life and never run out. The public domain alone covers most of the literary canon. If you mainly want classics, you may never need to pay for a book again.
Start filling your library
You do not need a paid subscription or a credit card to build a serious reading library on your iPhone or iPad. Pick a source above, grab a book, and open it in justRead, a reader built for owning your own EPUB and PDF files rather than renting them from a store. Project Gutenberg is one tap away inside the app, so you can be reading a classic in the next minute.
For the smoothest in-app downloads, set up the OPDS reader and skim the best free OPDS catalogs in 2026; then let your ebook library keep all of it organized.
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