Freedom251 › Open Educational Resource Platforms
Pressbooks
What Pressbooks is
Pressbooks helps authors and educational institutions create, adapt, and share accessible digital books and learning materials. Books can be exported in PDF, EPUB, HTML, XML, XHTML, and Common Cartridge formats, and subscribers can publish WCAG 2.2 compliant digital books with accessible EPUB and PDF exports. The Collaboration plan adds quizzes and other interactive activities through H5P. Pressbooks Results can send student scores from H5P activities to an LMS gradebook when an active LTI integration is in place; Enterprise LTI integration works with Canvas, Moodle, D2L Brightspace, and Blackboard. Individual creators can use self-publisher plans, while institutions and consortia can choose network plans. The trial is free for seven days and includes one author and 100MB of media storage. Single Author starts at $12 a month, billed or $120 / year, with 250MB of storage. Collaboration costs $40 a month, billed or $400 / year, and includes unlimited collaborators and 1GB of storage. Pressbooks has no built-in monetization options, but authors may sell exported books elsewhere without paying Pressbooks royalties or a sales share.
Who it suits
Pressbooks suits independent creators, authors, educational institutions, consortia, and presses that need tools to create and distribute digital books. Its H5P activities and LMS integrations may also suit educational teams using interactive learning materials.
What it does well
- Exports to six listed digital and learning formats
- Accessible book and EPUB/PDF publishing options
- H5P quizzes and interactive activities on Collaboration
- Enterprise LTI integration with four named LMSs
What to know first
- No free plan; subscription required after trial
- Self-publisher media storage is capped by plan
- No built-in book monetization options
- Editing open licensed books requires an active subscription
Plans
| Plan | Billed and limits | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Free Trial | 7 days · 1 book · 1 author · 100MB media storage · exports available during trial | Free |
| Single Author | $12 / month · 1 author · 250MB media storage · EPUB and PDF exports · 20+ themes | $12 a month |
| Single Author | $120 / year · 1 author · 250MB media storage · EPUB and PDF exports · 20+ themes | $120 a year |
| Shared Network | From $15,999 / year · 2+ institutions · up to 45 books · unlimited author seats · up to 5 network managers | $15,999 a year |
| Collaboration | $40 / month · Unlimited collaborators · 1GB media storage · interactive educational materials | $40 a month |
| Collaboration | $400 / year · Unlimited collaborators · 1GB media storage · interactive educational materials | $400 a year |
| Institutional Network | From $5,999 / year · 1 institution · up to 10 books · unlimited author seats · up to 3 network managers | $5,999 a year |
As pressbooks.com lists them, read 15 Oct 2026. The maker's own page has the final word.
Verdict
Pressbooks combines book creation and accessible exports with interactive learning features on its Collaboration plan. Check the storage caps, plan costs, and lack of built-in monetization against your publishing needs.
Facts from Pressbooks's own pages
- Accessibility
- Pressbooks says its platform helps creators meet accessibility standards and its paid plans can produce WCAG 2.2 compliant books. · pressbooks.com, 15 Oct 2026
- API schema
- API schemas are self-describing through OPTIONS requests, and a full schema can be requested with context=help. · pressbooks.org, 15 Oct 2026
- Audience
- Its platform serves individual creators, educational institutions, consortia, independent and university presses, and DIY creators. · pressbooks.com, 7 Oct 2026
- Backup policy
- Its platform terms say daily system backups are performed but do not guarantee that user data or ebooks will never be lost. · pressbooks.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Company founding
- LinkedIn lists Pressbooks as founded in 2011 and headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. · ca.linkedin.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Company size
- LinkedIn lists Pressbooks as a privately held book and periodical publishing company with 11–50 employees. · ca.linkedin.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Content collaboration
- The hosted product lets multiple authors collaborate on interactive digital content. · pressbooks.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Developer documentation
- Official developer guides cover local setup, PHPStorm, branching, coding standards, unit testing, theme development and REST API use. · pressbooks.org, 15 Oct 2026
- Discovery integrations
- Published books can be listed in Pressbooks Directory and distributed to discovery services including EBSCO, Ex Libris and OER Commons. · pressbooks.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Enterprise LMS integration
- Enterprise networks connect to learning-management systems through Pressbooks Results and an IMS Global certified LTI integration. · pressbooks.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Export formats
- The software can produce web, EPUB, PDF and multiple XML outputs, with webbook and EPUB/PDF styling driven by HTML and CSS. · github.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Founded
- 2011 · pressbooks.com, 28 Sept 2026
- GitHub release
- The public repository identifies stable tag 6.45.7 for the plugin. · github.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Grade passback
- Pressbooks Results sends student scores from interactive H5P activities to an LMS gradebook and requires an active LTI integration. · pressbooks.com, 7 Oct 2026
- Headquarters
- Montreal, Quebec, Canada · pressbooks.com, 28 Sept 2026
- Integrations
- Pressbooks Enterprise LTI integration works with Canvas, Moodle, D2L Brightspace, and Blackboard. · guide.pressbooks.com, 7 Oct 2026
- Interactive content
- Pressbooks supports multimedia, YouTube videos, H5P quizzes and Hypothesis social annotation. · pressbooks.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: design customization
- Top Ten Publishers reports that template customization is more limited than professional design software such as InDesign. · toptenpublishers.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: distribution
- Top Ten Publishers notes that Pressbooks does not distribute books to retailers, so authors must upload exported files themselves. · toptenpublishers.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: importing content
- An independent Pressbooks workshop reports that URL scraping can produce formatting errors and that some pasted images fail to transfer correctly. · pressbooks.pub, 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: linear structure
- An independent review describes Pressbooks as strongly organized around parts and chapters, making immersive or free-form exhibit layouts difficult. · ocaduinclusivedesign.wordpress.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Limits
- Self-publisher media storage is limited to 100MB in the trial, 250MB on Single Author, and 1GB on Collaboration. · pressbooks.com, 7 Oct 2026
- Limit: subscription cost
- Top Ten Publishers says subscription pricing can become expensive for authors publishing only one book. · toptenpublishers.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: Trustpilot complaint
- The sole Trustpilot reviewer reported being unable to export after subscription expiration, export errors and inadequate support. · trustpilot.com, 15 Oct 2026
Where Pressbooks stands on Freedom251
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