Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Standard Ebooks VS Open Library

Compare Standard Ebooks VS Open Library and see what are their differences

Standard Ebooks logo Standard Ebooks

Online library of downloadable e-books that focuses on quality and modern standards in typography.

Open Library logo Open Library

The ultimate goal of the Open Library is to make all the published works of humankind available to...
  • Standard Ebooks Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-14
  • Open Library Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-26

Standard Ebooks features and specs

  • High-Quality Formatting
    Standard Ebooks takes great care in formatting their ebooks to ensure a high standard of readability and presentation. This includes well-organized text, proper typography, and consistent styling.
  • Public Domain Works
    All ebooks provided by Standard Ebooks are derived from works in the public domain, making them freely accessible to anyone without legal restrictions.
  • Open Source
    The project is open source, allowing contributions from volunteers and transparency in how ebooks are produced and maintained.
  • Multiple Formats
    Standard Ebooks offers their books in multiple formats including EPUB, which is compatible with most e-readers and devices.
  • Metadata and Covers
    Each ebook includes well-curated metadata and professionally designed covers, enhancing the overall reading experience and making it easier to catalog.

Possible disadvantages of Standard Ebooks

  • Limited Selection
    Since Standard Ebooks focuses on public domain works, the range of available titles is limited compared to other ebook providers that offer contemporary books.
  • Digital Only
    Standard Ebooks provides digital copies only, which means readers who prefer physical books won't find this service useful.
  • Volunteer Dependence
    The quality of the ebooks and the speed at which new titles are added can vary because the project relies heavily on volunteers.
  • No Audiobooks
    Standard Ebooks does not offer audiobooks, which might be a drawback for users who prefer listening to books.

Open Library features and specs

  • Accessibility
    Open Library provides access to a vast collection of books and resources that can be accessed for free online, making literature and educational material available to people globally.
  • User Contributions
    Users can contribute by adding books, editing information, and writing reviews, which helps in creating a more comprehensive and accurate library.
  • Variety of Formats
    Books are available in various formats, including PDFs, ePubs, and audiobooks, catering to different reader preferences and needs.
  • Advanced Search Filters
    Open Library offers advanced search options which allow users to find books by author, title, subject, and other criteria, facilitating efficient research and discovery.
  • Borrowing System
    The platform has a borrowing system where users can 'borrow' digital copies of books, mimicking the traditional library experience.

Possible disadvantages of Open Library

  • Copyright Restrictions
    Many modern books are unavailable due to copyright restrictions, limiting access to recent publications and popular titles.
  • Limited Availability
    Popular books may have limited digital copies available for borrowing, leading to wait times before users can access certain titles.
  • Quality and Usability
    Some scanned books might have poor image quality or OCR errors, making them difficult to read or search through.
  • Contributor Accuracy
    Since users can edit and contribute information, inaccuracies or incomplete data might be present, requiring additional verification by users.
  • Login Requirements
    Certain features, such as book borrowing, require users to create an account and log in, which might be a barrier for some users.

Standard Ebooks videos

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Open Library videos

Open Library Overview

More videos:

  • Review - Aaron Swartz on The Open Library
  • Review - The Open Library of Humanities

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Standard Ebooks and Open Library)
eBook Reader
42 42%
58% 58
Ebooks
48 48%
52% 52
Books & Reference
41 41%
59% 59
eBook Manager
55 55%
45% 45

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Standard Ebooks and Open Library

Standard Ebooks Reviews

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Open Library Reviews

15 Best LibGen Alternatives & Sites Like It in 2024
Open Library stands out by prioritizing accessibility for visually impaired readers, offering a diverse range of books in accessible formats, and reinforcing its commitment to inclusivity and equal access to information.
Source: earthweb.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Open Library might be a bit more popular than Standard Ebooks. We know about 267 links to it since March 2021 and only 237 links to Standard Ebooks. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Standard Ebooks mentions (237)

  • Ask HN: What would you preserve if the internet were to go down tomorrow?
    I produce books[1] for Standard Ebooks.[2] I’ve got a fifty-long list of books-to-do-at some point, so grabbing transcriptions from Gutenberg and scans from archive.org for each would keep me busy for a long time, presumably long enough for the internet to heal whatever state it’s got itself into. [1] https://www.robinwhittleton.com/books/ [2] https://standardebooks.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 7 months ago
  • Amazon refreshes its monochrome Kindle lineup, including a bigger Paperwhite
    A kobo loaded with standard e-books (https://standardebooks.org/) in the kobo format is glorious. I still have a paperwhite which is ok. My favorite device right now is a boox Go6, smallish, cheap, android. I don't use many apps on it other than the reader but threw a copy of Kiwix on there, and use it as a writing deck using a bluetooth keyboard, hits a lot of semi-offline use cases for me. - Source: Hacker News / 7 months ago
  • Best eBook Sites/Apps
    Depends on what you mean by best. Best for career development or learning? Or best for general/leisure reading. For the latter, I like Standard Ebooks (https://standardebooks.org). It's a great and growing collection of classic books, many of which I've been meaning to read for a long time. - Source: Hacker News / 7 months ago
  • An NFC Movie Library for My Kids
    My cousin has had success with Apple Watches for her middle school aged kids. The Watches now function independently from phones IIRC and allow her kids to be "reachable" in the way that is now socially expected/enforced, but the screen is so small and the selection of "apps" so limited that they don't disrupt daily life with addictive software. However, you have to be in the Apple walled garden for that to work.... - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago
  • Planet eBook: free literature for your device
    Looks similar to what standard ebooks[0] has done with public domain books. Anything different compared to them? [0]: https://standardebooks.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 10 months ago
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Open Library mentions (267)

  • Technische Universitat Chemnitz FTP Server
    Fwrite("https://openlibrary.org",1,23,yyout);. - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
  • Show HN: I built a modern Goodreads alternative
    - https://joinbookwyrm.com I was actually trying to determine the best free source of metadata for books. I was hoping for something like MusicBrainz. The best I could find seemed to be https://openlibrary.org. There is https://isbndb.com, but it is paid. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Getting to Two Million Users as a One Woman Dev Team
    OpenLibrary has a pretty solid API that I've been using for a bit now. It returns metadata as well as over images. https://openlibrary.org/ https://openlibrary.org/search.json?title=project%20hail%20mary. - Source: Hacker News / 5 months ago
  • Getting to Two Million Users as a One Woman Dev Team
    Https://openlibrary.org/ has a pretty good set of data and a decent API. You can mix and match too, since openlibraries covers kinda suck half the time. - Source: Hacker News / 5 months ago
  • MLIS books available digitally?
    Check out https://openlibrary.org. You can search ´library science’, librarian’, etc, and something should come up. Just select the ‘ebooks’ option to search for items within the collection. And you can narrow the search by subject, etc. Source: over 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Standard Ebooks and Open Library, you can also consider the following products

Archive.org - Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library offering free universal access to books, movies...

Gutenberg Books - Gutenberg Books is free to use Android, and iOS app with more than 50,000 titles from classic to top hits and features all the important books ever published in history.

Z-Lib - ZLibraryPart of Z-Library project. The world's largest ebook library.

calibre - Ebook manager, viewer & converter

ManyBooks.net - Thousands of free ebooks, pre-formatted for reading on your computer, smartphone, iPod, or e-reading device - ePUB, Kindle, eReader, PDF, Plucker, iSilo, Doc, RTF, Mobipocket, Newton Paperback, and zTXT ebooks ready to go!

PDF Magazine Download - PDF Magazine Download is the ultimate destination to download PDF magazine on almost every sort of topic.