Wikibooks
Wikibooks is a free, open-content collection of e-book resources that anyone can edit.
What Wikibooks is
Wikibooks is a free, open-content collection of e-book resources that anyone can edit. Its subjects include computing, engineering, humanities, languages, mathematics, science, and social sciences. The site provides textbooks, annotated texts, instructional guides, and manuals, with access available without charge and generally without an account. Contributors can edit pages, while readers can follow changes to individual pages, linked pages, selected page groups, or pages edited by a particular user. Collections can be exported as PDF or OpenDocument files, and selected pages can be downloaded as XML; the entire English site is also available as an XML dump. Collections may be sent to PediaPress for print-on-demand books. Wikibooks runs on MediaWiki and offers Action and REST APIs for searching, retrieving, transforming, and editing content. Its text uses Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike licensing, with possible additional terms. The project began in 2003.
Good
- Free access to textbooks and manuals
- Broad subject coverage
- Editable pages and remixing
- PDF, ODT, XML, and HTML exports
- Action and REST API access
Watch out
- Unregistered edits expose the editor's IP address
- API queries have result and rate limits
- Some pages have editing exceptions
Who it suits
Wikibooks suits readers seeking free educational books across many subjects and contributors who want to edit or adapt open content. It also serves users needing exports, APIs, or change tracking.
Verdict
Wikibooks combines free educational resources with community editing, exports, and developer access. Its open editing model and broad subjects make it useful for self-directed learning and adaptation, provided you understand the privacy and access limits.
The facts
Each one read from Wikibooks's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- Account access
- Logging in is not required to read Wikibooks or to edit most pages, although some exceptions apply.checked 30 Sep 2026
- API
- MediaWiki provides Action and REST APIs for accessing wiki content and functionality, including searching, retrieving, transforming, and editing pages.checked 30 Sep 2026
- API limits
- API query results for regular users cannot exceed 500 for list and property queries, and per-user rate limits apply from 2026.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Book formats
- Collections can be downloaded as PDF or ODT files.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Change tracking
- Readers can monitor changes to pages, linked pages, selected lists of pages, or pages edited by a particular user.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Community support
- The Wikibooks Reading room is a place to raise and answer questions about technical issues, policies, and other project concerns.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Content
- The Wikimedia Foundation describes Wikibooks as a collection of free e-book resources, including textbooks, annotated texts, instructional guides, and manuals.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Content scope
- The project aims to provide free e-book resources including textbooks, annotated texts, instructional guides, and manuals.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Downloads
- Users can download an XML dump of the entire English Wikibooks site or export selected pages.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Editing
- Wikibooks allows users anywhere in the world to modify pages and add new content.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Export
- Collections of Wikibooks pages can be downloaded in PDF or OpenDocument format, or ordered as printed books through PediaPress.checked 30 Sep 2026
- History
- The Wikibooks project started in 2003.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Licensing
- The main page says its text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, with additional terms potentially applying.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Markup
- Wikibooks uses simple wiki markup based on UseModWiki.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Page export
- Special:Export allows users to download one or more Wikibooks pages as XML.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Print formats
- Wikibooks help describes creating print versions of books and making PDF versions.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Print integration
- Collections can be sent to PediaPress for print-on-demand delivery.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Privacy
- The Wikimedia Foundation says it collects very little personal information and does not rent or sell it to third parties.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Purpose
- Wikibooks is an open-content collection of textbooks that anyone can edit.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Security
- The privacy policy describes access controls, network firewalls, and physical security measures, while stating that completely secure transmission or storage cannot be guaranteed.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Software
- Wikibooks runs on MediaWiki, a PHP application that stores pages in a MySQL database.checked 30 Sep 2026
Money
- Cost
- Anyone can access Wikibooks textbooks at no cost.checked 30 Sep 2026
The company
- Founded
- 2003checked 28 Sep 2026
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, California, United Stateschecked 28 Sep 2026
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