📚 Reading apps and reading coaches
Project Gutenberg
By Project Gutenberg (volunteers). Visit Project Gutenberg
Desk research from the maker's own pages. Not yet tried by us. Checked 2026-10-24.
Project Gutenberg is a free library of about 79,700 ebooks, mostly older works whose US copyright has ended. Volunteers digitize and proofread them. Families can read online or download books for Kindle and other e-readers with no account. A Children & Young Adult category holds older children's classics for reading aloud or independent reading. The site also links a few hundred human-read audiobooks and an Open Audiobook Collection of almost 5,000 computer-voiced titles.
Our take: Best for parents and older kids who want free classics; younger children need an adult to choose books, as the terms suggest.
Checked in a browser
A browser check on 2026-10-25: what loads, the ads and trackers we saw, and what a child meets first. Not a hands-on test.
| Child safety: 4 out of 5 | No ads or chat; links out to partner sites and social media, and the full catalog includes adult literature a child can reach by search. |
|---|---|
| Data: 5 out of 5 | No third-party hosts were contacted at all. |
| Ease: 3 out of 5 | A plain text library: small links and category lists made for adult readers; a child would need help to find a children's book. |
| Cost honesty: 4 out of 5 | Free with no registration; a Donate button is shown. |
What we found
- 0 third-party hosts and 0 cookies on the first visit
- No ad frames; a Donate button and 'Your donations are what keep us going' panel
- The page lists 79,674 free eBooks and says 'No fees, no registration, completely free'
- Outbound links go to LibriVox, Distributed Proofreaders, Bluesky, Mastodon and Facebook
From the test: Completely free and loads no trackers at all, but it is a general library for adults, so a parent should pick the children's classics.
| Ages it suits | older readers; children's classics for reading aloud |
|---|---|
| What its terms say about age | Terms say the target audience is US persons over 13; visitors who are minors should be accompanied by an adult, and some content may not suit readers of any age. (terms) |
| Price | Free. Free, no account needed (Oct 2026). |
| Works on | Web |
| Account | No account needed |
| Ads | None |
| In-app purchases | None |
| The AI in it | The ebooks involve no AI; almost 5,000 audiobooks in its Open Audiobook Collection use computer-generated voices. |
What's good
- No account, no ads, no trackers
- Huge public-domain catalog
- Downloads work offline on e-readers
- Children & Young Adult category
Watch for
- Old books can carry outdated or offensive views
- Terms aim at users over 13
- No reading levels or kid-friendly browsing
- Most audiobooks use computer voices
Data and privacy
The privacy policy says no personal information is collected except IP addresses, kept in access logs that are deleted within 60 days. It says the site uses no Google Analytics or web trackers of any kind; cookies and captchas are used only to block bots. Read the privacy policy.
Does it work?
No study found; it is a text archive.
In the Big Index
Alternatives to Project Gutenberg
Desk researchPaidNo ads
ABCmouse
Age of Learning, Inc. · ages about 2-6 (preschool to kindergarten)
A full preschool program for families who want one paid app; cancel carefully and watch the reward loop.
Desk researchFree, with paid extras
ABCya
ABCya.com LLC (a division of IXL Learning) · ages about 4-12 (pre-K to grade 6+)
Handy for quick grade-level practice in class or at home; skip if you want an ad-free experience without paying.
Desk researchPaidNo ads
Adventure Academy
Age of Learning, Inc. · ages grades 3-8 (about 8-13)
Good for kids who love online games and need a nudge toward school subjects; families wanting no social contact should set chat to off or choose a solo app.
Desk researchPaidNo ads
Amazon Kids+ and Parent Dashboard
Amazon · ages 3-12
A good-value bundle for families already on Amazon devices with kids 3-12; skip it if your child mostly uses an iPad or a phone.
Desk researchFreeNo ads
AmblesideOnline
AmblesideOnline (volunteer advisory) · ages about 5-18 (Year 0 to Year 12)
A strong free plan for homeschool families drawn to Charlotte Mason and literature-rich learning; secular families or those wanting an interactive program should look elsewhere.
Desk researchThrough schoolsNo ads
Amira Learning
Amira Learning · ages about 5-14 (school product; listed studies run from kindergarten to middle school)
Worth asking about if your child's school uses it; parents cannot buy it, so home users should look at family apps instead.
Where these facts come from
- https://www.gutenberg.org/
- https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/terms_of_use.html
- https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/privacy_policy.html
- https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/categories.html
Prices, terms and features change. Nobody paid to be listed, nothing here is an affiliate link, and Peabody never rates itself. Where we and the maker disagree, the maker's own pages are the ones to trust.