ebooks.com
Ranked 5 of 6 online bookstores by recommenders
Online ebook store with a DRM-free section, so purchased epubs can be moved into Calibre and owned rather than locked to one app.
Online ebook store with a DRM-free section, so purchased epubs can be moved into Calibre and owned rather than locked to one app.
6 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
DRM-free ebooks you own
“there are many vendors that sell epubs with weak DRM and presumably give money to publishers”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “What does Jeff Bezos think is going to happen?” “We also do the same at ebooks.com, there's a DRM free section too”
Comment from 29 Jun 2026 in “Show HN: DRM-Free Books” “Tired of not owning what I buy.”
Comment from 20 Apr 2026 in “Got an Old Kindle? It Might Not Work Anymore” Epubs importable into Calibre
“I ended up migrating to ebooks.com and importing them into Calibre”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “What does Jeff Bezos think is going to happen?”
Other online bookstores people recommend
The four most recommended other online bookstores, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| O'Reilly subscription | 24 | 16 | 60% | 4 | 11.75 yrs3 owners | — |
| Bookshop.org | 15 | 2 | 88% | 5 | — | Approved |
| Kobo Store | 11 | 3 | 79% | 5 | — | Approved |
| AbeBooks | 8 | 1 | 89% | 4 | — | — |
| ebooks.comThis page | 6 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
4 of the 6 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“there are many vendors that sell epubs with weak DRM and presumably give money to publishers”
“I ended up migrating to ebooks.com and importing them into Calibre”
“We also do the same at ebooks.com, there's a DRM free section too”
“Tired of not owning what I buy.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.