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).

09-09-2025, 08:45 AM	#1
cld01k Member Posts: 10 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: 80,197 Karma: 148951761 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: 10 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: 14,525 Karma: 108666825 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).