Best Free Ebook Reader Apps for Android: 6 Compared

Updated August 2026 · Ads, price and rating re-read on Google Play for ReadEra, Google Play Books and Moon+ Reader on 26 August 2026 · every other figure checked 18 August 2026

Six free readers for the books you own as loose files, each read against its own store listing and its developer's own format list. Two things that used to be flatly true have moved this year, and both are set out at the end: what a Kindle purchase can and cannot leave, and how library loans reach an Android phone. If most of your library is fixed-page, our roundup of PDF reader apps for Android is the better starting point.

Almost everyone

4.9 stars from 1,569,638 reviews · 50M+ installs · free to install · no in-app purchases · no ads · by READERA LLC · listing updated 22 May 2026 · checked 18 August 2026 · Play listing

The highest rated reader here, and the only one that is free of both advertising and in-app purchases while still opening most of what you own. Its developer states the position as a policy rather than a current state, which is worth more than a feature list.

• Good: Its developer says the terms plainly: ReadEra "allows you to read books for free, without ads and without registration" (developer site).
• Good: The developer treats it as a standing commitment rather than a phase: "Every day we are offered to place advertisements. Our answer: Ideas are born in silence!"
• Good: The format list the developer names covers most private libraries: Epub, MOBI, AZW3, Fb2, PDF, Djvu, DOC, DOCX, RTF, ODT, TXT, CBR and CBZ, before adding "and others".
• Con: The developer's list ends with "and others", so anything not named on it, including CHM and HTML, is unstated rather than confirmed.
• Con: A free app with nothing sold and no advertising has no visible business model on the page, which is worth knowing even when the result suits you.
• Con: The listing was last updated on 22 May 2026.

Skip it if you need a format the developer does not name, because the list stops at "and others". Choose it over Moon+ Reader unless you specifically need a format only Moon+ names, since ReadEra carries no ads and Moon+ does.

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Uploading your own files

4.7 stars from 3,201,075 reviews · 1B+ installs · free to install · in-app purchases $0.01 to $9,999.90 per item · no ads · by Google LLC · listing updated 3 August 2026 · checked 18 August 2026 · Play listing

Already on most Android phones, and the reason to keep it is not the store: Google documents uploading your own PDF and EPUB files and reading them on any device you sign in to.

• Good: Google documents the upload route itself on its own help page: "When you upload PDF and EPUB files to Play Books, you can read them on any device you sign in to."
• Good: Annotations travel with you: Google says bookmarks, highlights and notes work with PDF and EPUB documents across your devices.
• Good: Nothing to install, no advertising, and its listing shows more than a billion installs.
• Con: The PDF annotation support has a hard cut-off and is not retroactive. Google states these functions "work with PDF documents uploaded after January 20, 2026", so an older upload does not gain them.
• Con: Only two formats are accepted for personal uploads, PDF and EPUB, so MOBI and AZW3 files have to be converted first.
• Con: On Android the upload needs a setting turned on first, which the desktop route does not ask for.

Skip it if your library is full of MOBI, AZW3 or comic archives, because those are not accepted uploads. Choose it over everything if your files are PDF and EPUB and you read on more than one device, since Google documents reading your uploads on any device you sign in to.

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A messy folder of formats

3.5 stars from 269,450 reviews · 10M+ installs · free to install · in-app purchases $0.99 per item · carries ads · by Moon+ · listing updated 22 July 2026 · checked 18 August 2026 · Play listing

The reader to reach for when the folder is a mess, because the developer names more formats than anything else here. It is also the lowest rated app on this page, and the free build carries advertising.

• Good: The developer site names the widest format list of any reader here, including azw3, fb2, chm, cbr, cbz, umd, mht and even rar and zip archives.
• Good: The same developer page names OPDS among its supported sources, so it can pull from an online catalogue rather than only local files.
• Good: 10M+ installs and 269,450 reviews, so problems with it are well documented by other people.
• Con: It carries advertising, and the developer sells Ad-free as a Pro feature rather than describing where the ads appear.
• Con: 3.5 stars from 269,450 reviews, the lowest score on this page, and 1.4 stars below ReadEra.
• Con: The developer site is served over plain http, which is a poor look for the place you are told to check the format list.

Skip it if ReadEra already opens what you own, because you would be accepting ads for formats you do not need. Choose it over ReadEra only when you actually hold a format ReadEra does not name, such as chm or a rar archive.

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Folder scanning and open source

4.1 stars from 137,253 reviews · 10M+ installs · free to install · no in-app purchases · carries ads · by Librera · listing updated 21 July 2026 · checked 18 August 2026 · Play listing

Worth knowing as two different products rather than one. The free Play build carries advertising and declares third-party sharing; the F-Droid build is a different package under GPL-3.0 that the project says ships without Google services at all.

• Good: The developer offers the free build openly as a way in: "You can start with Free, ad-supported one first, and decide for yourselves."
• Good: There is a genuine open source route. F-Droid lists Librera Reader under GNU General Public License v3.0 or later, at 9.4.21-fdroid added on 26 July 2026 (F-Droid listing).
• Good: The project states that its F-Droid build is produced without a google-services.json and without Google services, while its other builds carry Firebase.
• Con: The free Play build carries ads, and its data safety section declares that it may share data with third parties.
• Con: The two editions are easy to confuse. The package F-Droid carries is the one Play sells as the paid PRO edition, so the id alone will not tell you which you are getting.
• Con: The PRO listing carries only 6,784 reviews, against 137,253 for the free build.

Skip it if you want one obvious download, because this is the entry where you have to choose a build first. Choose it over Moon+ Reader if you want an open source route, since the F-Droid build is GPL licensed and Moon+ offers nothing equivalent.

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A calm EPUB-only shelf

3.9 stars from 39,575 reviews · 5M+ installs · free to install · no in-app purchases · no ads · by FaultException · listing updated 28 January 2025 · checked 18 August 2026 · Play listing

The minimalist pick, and the one to think twice about. Its listing shows no advertising and nothing sold, which is genuinely rare, but it has not been updated in nineteen months and the developer's own website no longer resolves.

• Good: No advertising and no in-app purchases on the listing, which only ReadEra also manages here.
• Good: 5M+ installs and 39,575 reviews, so it was widely used while it was current.
• Good: A deliberately narrow reader is easier to live with than a deep one if all you keep is EPUB files.
• Con: The listing has not been updated since 28 January 2025, nineteen months before this check, and Android has moved twice in that time.
• Con: The developer web presence is gone: faultexception.com no longer resolves in DNS, so there is nowhere to read what the app claims or to ask for help.
• Con: It is not on F-Droid either, so there is no maintained alternative build to fall back on.

Skip it if you want an app that is still being maintained, because nothing here suggests it is. Choose it over ReadEra only if you want the narrowest possible reader and accept an app that has been still since January 2025.

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People who buy from Kobo

4.5 stars from 305,762 reviews · 10M+ installs · free to install · in-app purchases $0.05 to $999.99 per item · no ads · by Kobo Books · listing updated 5 August 2026 · checked 18 August 2026 · Play listing

A bookstore first and a reader second, and unusually clear about what it will not do. Kobo publishes its import limits in three flat sentences.

• Good: Kobo documents the import route for your own files rather than leaving you guessing: you can copy non-protected ePub files from an Android phone to your Kobo Library.
• Good: No advertising on the listing, and 4.5 stars from 305,762 reviews.
• Good: If you buy from Kobo, your purchases and your own EPUB files sit in one library.
• Con: Kobo states the biggest limit in four words on its own import help article: "PDF files cannot be imported."
• Con: Imported books do not travel. Kobo says "Your content will only appear on the device that you used to import the content", and that even after syncing you will not see it on other eReaders or apps.
• Con: Its data safety section declares that it may share data with third parties.

Skip it if your library is PDFs, because Kobo says outright that it will not take them. Choose it over Play Books only if you buy from the Kobo store, since for pure file reading Play Books accepts PDFs and Kobo does not.

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What changed this year

Two limits used to be simple, and one of them stopped being simple this year. Both are worth reading before you go looking for a workaround.

Kindle is no longer a flat no. This page used to say that books bought from Amazon open only in the Kindle app. Amazon's own KDP help topic on Digital Rights Management, read 18 August 2026, now opens with this: "Effective January 20, 2026, verified purchasers can download the EPUB and PDF files of your confirmed DRM-free books." DRM is a per title choice the publisher makes, and Amazon says "You have full control over your DRM settings and can change them at any time". Its own comparison table marks "Download book as EPUB/PDF files" and "Use book on any e-reader" as available for DRM-free titles and unavailable for DRM-applied ones.

Read the conditions with it, because they are what decide whether this reaches your shelf. Amazon states that "Applying DRM limits reader access to Kindle apps and devices only", so a DRM-applied title is still locked. The download is for verified purchasers of confirmed DRM-free books, and Amazon adds that for books published before 9 December 2025 where the publisher did not apply DRM, it will not apply the change automatically. So the honest answer is no longer "never": it is that it depends on a setting the author or publisher controls, and most readers will still meet titles that stay inside the Kindle app.

Library borrowing is the steadier of the two. OverDrive says on its own Libby page, read 18 August 2026, that "Over 90% of public libraries in North America have OverDrive, and Libby can be found in 78 countries worldwide", and that "All you need is a valid library card from your library". Note the shape of that claim: it is OverDrive describing its own reach, and it is a large majority rather than all, so a library outside it will use something else. A borrowed book stays inside Libby rather than appearing in the readers above, and it returns itself when the loan ends. Depending on the library, the same card also reaches newspapers and magazines, which our guide to reading news without ads or paywalls on Android sets out.

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Which one to install

Four questions, and the first one settles it for most people.

• Want the least friction? ReadEra. No ads, nothing sold, the highest rating here, and it opens most of what a private library contains.
• Read on more than one device? Google Play Books, because uploading your PDF and EPUB files is documented by Google and the position syncs without you arranging it.
• Holding an awkward format? Moon+ Reader for chm, rar, umd and the rest, accepting the ads and the 3.5 rating that come with it.
• Want open source? Librera from F-Droid, which the project says is built without Google services, rather than the ad-supported Play build.

Keep the Kindle app for Amazon purchases that carry DRM, and Libby for library loans. Between those two and one of the readers above, there is nothing left to pay for. For a wider view of reading and study apps, the books, news and education hub collects the rest.

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Checked 18 August 2026: this page named six readers and linked none of them, so every app now carries its own store link and its own dated figures. The corrections that change advice: Moon+ Reader, presented here as the format omnivore, rates 3.5 from 269,450 reviews and carries advertising, neither of which the page said; Lithium has not been updated since 28 January 2025, nineteen months ago, and its developer's website no longer resolves in DNS, so it is now described as the risk it is rather than as a current pick; and Librera is two products, a free Play build that carries ads and declares third-party sharing, and an F-Droid build under GPL-3.0 that the project says ships without Google services, where the page treated them as one. The Kindle section has been rewritten rather than trimmed: Amazon's own KDP help topic states that from 20 January 2026 verified purchasers can download EPUB and PDF files of confirmed DRM-free books, that DRM is a per title setting the publisher can change at any time, and that titles published before 9 December 2025 are not converted automatically, so the old flat claim that Kindle purchases open only in the Kindle app no longer holds. The library sentence is now attributed rather than universal, using OverDrive's own figure of over 90 percent of North American public libraries. The Play Books annotation date is corrected from a vague "as of January 2026" to Google's actual wording, that the functions work with PDF documents uploaded after 20 January 2026, which is not retroactive. Kobo's limits are now quoted from Kobo. A decision table, an "Our answer" capsule, a dated verification box and this changelog are new.

Checked 26 August 2026: the ReadEra, Google Play Books and Moon+ Reader listings were read again on Google Play, and their ads labels, prices, in-app purchase ranges and ratings are unchanged; Google Play Books has since refreshed its own listing, on 21 August 2026, later than the 3 August date recorded above. Every other figure on this page, including all review counts and the Librera, Lithium and Kobo lines, keeps its 18 August 2026 reading, and nothing sourced to a developer site or a help page was read again. Three claims are withdrawn as wrong: ReadEra's 22 May listing date was called the second oldest of the maintained readers when it is the oldest; the gap between Moon+ Reader and ReadEra is 1.4 stars, not a star and a half; and Kobo was described as the only reader here that declares third-party sharing, which the free Librera build declares too. The answer capsule now states the ads and the $0.99 purchase that come with Moon+ Reader, which it did not before.