I built eBookRadar, a tool to find free and discounted ebooks. Thoughts?

cld01k · 09-09-2025, 08:45 AM

Hey everyone,

I read a lot and got tired of jumping between sites to find free and discounted ebooks, so I built eBookRadar.net. The tool scans multiple legal platforms and surfaces free and cheap ebooks in one place. You can filter by currency and language, which should help international readers too.

I know Calibre offers something similar, but I wanted a lightweight, browser-based solution (and I nerded out building it). It’s still in beta and evolving, just a side project by an amateur developer, but I hope others find it useful.

Would love your feedback:

Is this something you'd use?
Any features you'd want added?

Mods: if this post belongs somewhere else, I’m happy to move it.

Thanks!

JSWolf · 09-09-2025, 10:02 AM

Where are the results from Amazon?

cld01k · 09-09-2025, 10:12 AM

Very fair question.

I'm currently covering ebooks.com, Google Play Books, Kobo, Project Gutenberg and Standard Ebooks, using their native APIs. I'm planning to further expand to other platforms, including Amazon.

PeterT · 09-11-2025, 02:42 PM

Not sure what Kobo API you are using but... searching for "Charles Dickens" returns

Quote:

41 free eBooks: Project Gutenberg (32), Standard Ebooks (8), Google Play Books (1).

2 paid eBooks: Google Play Books (2).

Going directly to the Kobo Canada website shows 29 books....

Quoth · 09-11-2025, 03:11 PM

Searching direct on Gutenberg is a start as all their titles are free and it's about 70000 ebooks.

I've not searched on Standard Ebooks or Global Grey lately, but those are all free.

Kobo search more or less works direct. Amazon is now so broken that searching Amazon on Qwant works better.

Also Amazon, Kobo, ebooks.com & Google are regonalised. Results vary with Marketplace (Amazon), Country selected (Kobo) or IP address (Google).

cld01k · 09-14-2025, 04:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PeterT

Going directly to the Kobo Canada website shows 29 books....

Thanks for bringing this to my attention, I'll look into it. I suspect this is due to the Kobo API. Searching for Charles Dickens along with a title (e.g., Copperfield) returns 16 ebooks from Kobo. And as pointed out by Quoth, results vary by region.

It's interesting (and a bit ironic) that open platforms like Project Gutenberg often provide more robust and flexible APIs than some major commercial stores...

Quoth · 09-14-2025, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cld01k

It's interesting (and a bit ironic) that open platforms like Project Gutenberg often provide more robust and flexible APIs than some major commercial stores...

No irony at all. The major commercial stores only want to sell. Most only provide an API to major suppliers and don't want the public to use an API at all. Gutenberg even explains how to mirror the entire site. They have a different goal to any retailer. Totally to be expected.

Leonatus · 09-16-2025, 09:30 AM

For italian books especially, Liber, liber is an address (https://liberliber.it/)
Don't know, however, if they provide API.
And what about spanish and portuguese books?

cld01k · 09-20-2025, 01:37 AM

Thank you, PeterT, for noticing that issue with Kobo results. This was indeed caused by a feature (bug?) of their API. I found an easy fix to this, and also improved results from searches on Standard Ebooks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leonatus

For italian books especially, Liber, liber is an address (https://liberliber.it/)
Don't know, however, if they provide API.
And what about spanish and portuguese books?

I'm exploring the possibility of integrating other platforms, including Liber Liber (Italian), Projekt Gutenberg-DE (German), and possibly the Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes (Spanish). These, however, don't have an API. I'll need to explore alternatives to capture information.

Any other recommendations on platforms I should include?

cld01k · 09-23-2025, 11:22 AM

... And I found a way! The platform now also queries Liber Liber. Any recommendations on other websites with free ebooks I should include?

Leonatus · 09-25-2025, 09:24 AM

Great! Thank you!

Leonatus · 09-26-2025, 09:41 AM

As far as I know, Projekt Gutenberg-DE doesn't offer any ebook download, except the complete collection of all publications in HTML format, but payable.

rantanplan · 09-29-2025, 07:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leonatus

As far as I know, Projekt Gutenberg-DE doesn't offer any ebook download, except the complete collection of all publications in HTML format, but payable.

Projekt Gutenberg-DE is not affiliated with the public domain project. PG-DE actually claims to have some copyright because they edited the books. In short, they're a bunch of dicks.

rantanplan · 09-29-2025, 07:55 AM

Your crawler seems to get confused with DRM if Kobo is offering multiple editions of the same book.

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cld01k · 10-03-2025, 09:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rantanplan

Your crawler seems to get confused with DRM if Kobo is offering multiple editions of the same book.

Thanks for flagging this. I’ll spare you the technical details, but the script should now be able to correctly detect DRM-free status for most books.

09-09-2025, 08:45 AM	#1
cld01k Member Posts: 19 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2025 Device: Kindle Voyage	I built eBookRadar, a tool to find free and discounted ebooks. Thoughts? Hey everyone, I read a lot and got tired of jumping between sites to find free and discounted ebooks, so I built eBookRadar.net. The tool scans multiple legal platforms and surfaces free and cheap ebooks in one place. You can filter by currency and language, which should help international readers too. I know Calibre offers something similar, but I wanted a lightweight, browser-based solution (and I nerded out building it). It’s still in beta and evolving, just a side project by an amateur developer, but I hope others find it useful. Would love your feedback: Is this something you'd use? Any features you'd want added? Mods: if this post belongs somewhere else, I’m happy to move it. Thanks! Last edited by cld01k; 09-09-2025 at 08:47 AM.

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09-09-2025, 10:02 AM	#2
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 80,475 Karma: 150249619 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Where are the results from Amazon?

09-09-2025, 10:12 AM	#3
cld01k Member Posts: 19 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2025 Device: Kindle Voyage	Very fair question. I'm currently covering ebooks.com, Google Play Books, Kobo, Project Gutenberg and Standard Ebooks, using their native APIs. I'm planning to further expand to other platforms, including Amazon.

09-11-2025, 03:11 PM	#5
Quoth Still reading Posts: 14,806 Karma: 110486575 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	Searching direct on Gutenberg is a start as all their titles are free and it's about 70000 ebooks. I've not searched on Standard Ebooks or Global Grey lately, but those are all free. Kobo search more or less works direct. Amazon is now so broken that searching Amazon on Qwant works better. Also Amazon, Kobo, ebooks.com & Google are regonalised. Results vary with Marketplace (Amazon), Country selected (Kobo) or IP address (Google).

09-16-2025, 09:30 AM	#8
Leonatus Wizard Posts: 1,071 Karma: 11391183 Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Guben, Brandenburg, Germany Device: Kobo Clara 2E, Tolino Shine 3	For italian books especially, Liber, liber is an address (https://liberliber.it/) Don't know, however, if they provide API. And what about spanish and portuguese books?

09-23-2025, 11:22 AM	#10
cld01k Member Posts: 19 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2025 Device: Kindle Voyage	... And I found a way! The platform now also queries Liber Liber. Any recommendations on other websites with free ebooks I should include?

09-25-2025, 09:24 AM	#11
Leonatus Wizard Posts: 1,071 Karma: 11391183 Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Guben, Brandenburg, Germany Device: Kobo Clara 2E, Tolino Shine 3	Great! Thank you!

09-26-2025, 09:41 AM	#12
Leonatus Wizard Posts: 1,071 Karma: 11391183 Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Guben, Brandenburg, Germany Device: Kobo Clara 2E, Tolino Shine 3	As far as I know, Projekt Gutenberg-DE doesn't offer any ebook download, except the complete collection of all publications in HTML format, but payable.

09-29-2025, 07:55 AM	#14
rantanplan Weirdo Posts: 896 Karma: 11659320 Join Date: Nov 2019 Location: Wuppertal, Germany Device: Kobo Sage, Kobo Libra 2, Boox Note Air 2+	Your crawler seems to get confused with DRM if Kobo is offering multiple editions of the same book.