16 Ways To Get Cheap & Free Textbooks In The UK

11 Sep 2024, by Evie Howarth, min. read

Have every book you need without blowing through your student loan.

So, your student loan has hit your bank account and you’re trying to budget your money. One thing you may not have thought about on top of rent, bills and your weekly food shop is just how much your uni textbooks will likely cost.

We’ll not beat around the bush, buying uni textbooks new will likely cost you a lot more than you can afford, unless you’re digging into the bank of mum and dad to help you out. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to get your hands on cheap and free books to get you through your uni course.

Read on to find out all the places you can score free, online and cheap textbooks so you can keep on top of your reading and ace your exams.

two women studying in a library at night with textbooks

Do you need to buy textbooks for university?

The short answer is, most likely, yes. While you can definitely save loads of money if you’re smart about where and how you buy them, you will definitely need textbooks to get you through university. However, plenty will be available for free in your university library for short-term loan and there are plenty of free online options that will work in certain cases too — we’ve listed these below for you to try.

How much do university textbooks cost?

How much a book for your university course costs can differ greatly. While you might be able to pick up a copy of Hamlet for your Literature course for a couple of pounds, course textbooks can range from anywhere between £10 and £50-60 depending on the book. That’s why we really recommend checking out our advice on how to get the cheapest textbooks below.

Where to get cheap and free textbooks and academic books

Does your course have a Facebook group or a Student Room forum? Make a post and ask if students from previous years have textbooks to sell. While with some courses the materials may be updated every year, for many such as English or medicine, the course materials will be the same for many years.

2. Head to the library

This might be our biggest tip for saving money on books. Whether it’s your uni library or your local town or city library, you can pick up textbooks and other books for free. While you won’t be able to keep them for the entire term, if you’re using a book for a couple of weeks for a module, then you should be picking it up from your library.

Most course books will be in your university library and if you’re organised, you can snag it before your other coursemates do. Equally, if you miss out, you can see who has taken the book out and see if you can share or have it after them.

3. Visit local charity shops

Charity shops close to campus may have course textbooks for cheap thanks so last year’s students. If your course is particularly big, then you might just hit the jackpot by visiting charity shops near to your university.

You can usually pick up books for one to two pounds in your local charity shop making this one of the most cost-effective ways to buy second-hand academic books.

Are you already in touch with your coursemates? Sharing textbooks could be the answer to your money woes. If you love working with your friends in the library, or regularly sit together in lectures, then sitting with a textbook between you while you take notes or revise topics can work a treat.

You’ll most likely need multiple textbooks for your course through the year so splitting the cost with coursemates will really lighten the load. With this, you’ll have to both agree to buy textbooks but you could still save by incorporating some of our other money-saving tips.

5. Haggle on your books

If you’re buying a few books in bulk from an independent bookshop, you may be able to work out a deal. While the bigger bookshops will have set prices, smaller bookshops may be willing to help you out if you’re buying a few books in one go.

Equally, if you’re feeling a bit cheeky, you could try returning your books if you’ve finished with them in pristine condition. We’re talking no cracked spines or folded pages and you’ll need to check the bookshop’s return policy before you try this.

6. Check out second-hand online bookshops

From Blackwell’s to second-hand editions on Amazon and eBay, there are loads of online marketplaces that sell second-hand books or older editions meaning you could pick up a great deal.

Some of our favourite second-hand book marketplaces include:

7. Buy books with your student discount

We would hope that you’re armed and ready with your student discount for every purchase by now, but just in case you forget, you can claim student discount to save you money on a whole host of academic books.

Use your student discount with Routledge to save money on textbooks and a whole host of other booksellers with your student email. You can save anything from 10-25% off the cost of your academic books by using a student discount.

Many book shops, such as Waterstones, run their own reward schemes where you can save money by registering with your student discount as well as receiving free books after spending a certain amount.

If you enjoy a trip to the bookshop and love free things then this book deal is definitely for you. While you’re at it, check out all the other places you can grab a discount on books too.

9. Download eBooks to your laptop or Kindle

Buying an eBook over a real book is a sure and fast way to save you money. Anyone who’s had a kindle will tell you that eBooks are usually cheaper than a physical book. If you’re not downloading to a kindle, you should still be able to purchase eBooks to read on your laptop or phone, hopefully saving you money as well as space in your bag.

eBooks also allow you to search for specific topics or keywords meaning you’ll save time when it comes to reading up on specific topics or sourcing quotes for your essay.

10. Read textbooks for free online

This one can be tricky as you may not be able to access the whole textbook, but if you’re looking for a specific section, then it may just work for you. All you have to do is look up the textbook you need on sites like Google Scholar or Google Books and search for the section you need.

This is a great way to not only save you time (no more trekking to the bookshop or library) as well as money on hunting down textbooks. Some of our other favourite sites include:

And if you need help referencing online journals, we’ve got your need to know on how to reference.

11. Try Perlego for a cheap textbook subscription

Perlego is a subscription service that grants you access to thousands of texbooks for as little as 26p per day. With cancellation at any time, you can pay for weekly, monthly or annual subscriptions and get access to their entire library.

If your course books for the year come in at over £100, then a year’s subscription to Perlego with access to over 1 million textbooks that you can read over and over again looks pretty sweet at just £96 for the year.

If that’s not good enough, you can get a further 25% off your first 4 months of Perlego with Student Beans.

If you’ve not already claimed your free six months of Amazon Prime Student then what are you waiting for?! All you have to do is sign up with your student email to access free Prime Video, fast delivery, Prime Music and did we mention exclusive student offers?

One of those exclusive offers just happens to be 10% off thousands of textbooks. Dreamy. If you’ve already used up your six months, then Amazon Prime is just £4.49 a month for students — that’s 50% off and a pretty good deal if you ask us.

13. Get free online access through your university

Many universities have free access to sites like JSTOR or similar where you’ll be able to access thousands of free journals and textbooks that you can use. Check out your university website or head into your campus library to ask about free resources to help you with your studying.

14. Swap your textbooks online

If you’re heading into your second or third year, you might have some books that other students are after. Post them on a local site or a specific book swapping site like Bookswap, BookMooch or BookCrossing and then search out the books that you’re after too.

This is a great free way to get new academic textbooks while finding homes for your old uni books too, so sign up and get swapping!

15. Buy older editions

Some of the big textbooks for larger courses have been re-relaeased tens, if not hundreds of times over, often with little change to the material. If a brand-new textbook is out of your reach, then check with your course tutor to see if an older edition of the same textbook will do.

While some courses change every year to keep up with advances in research, some will be repeating the same material over and over again, so save yourself some money and buy the older edition which has probably gone down in price since the newer one was released.

16. Sell old textbooks you no longer need

If you’re wondering what to do with your old university textbooks, then there are tons of options available that will get you a little money back. First of all you can try marketplaces like Facebook, Vinted and eBay where you’ll be selling and posting them yourself to the new buyer.

You can also try sites like WeBuyBooks.com, Amazon and Abe Books who will buy your books from you and often cover shipping costs too, however they may pay you less than other marketplace sites as they often take a fee or have a minimum price of book that they will buy.

If you bought the books second hand, you could also take them to a charity shop or check in course Facebook groups to see if next year’s students will buy them from you.

Make sure you don’t forget a single thing for uni by checking out our uni checklist and check out all the places you can claim book discounts.