Freedom251 › Open Educational Resource Platforms

Wikibooks

Free plan APISelf-hostedWeb

What Wikibooks is

Wikibooks is a free, open-content collection of e-books that anyone can edit. Its resources include textbooks, annotated texts, instructional guides, and manuals across computing, engineering, humanities, languages, mathematics, science, and social sciences. Reading requires no account, and most pages can be edited without logging in, subject to exceptions. Readers can monitor changes to pages, linked pages, selected page groups, or edits by a particular user. Collections can be downloaded as PDF or OpenDocument files, and selected pages can be exported as XML; the entire English site is available as an XML dump. Collections can also 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. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, with possible additional terms. Unregistered edits publicly show the editor’s IP address. The project began in 2003 and provides a Reading room for community questions.

Who it suits

It suits readers seeking free textbooks and guides, and contributors who want to edit or adapt open educational material. Developers can use the MediaWiki APIs to work with wiki content.

What it does well

Free access to textbooks and guides
Broad range of academic subjects
Most pages editable without account
PDF, ODT, and XML export
Action and REST APIs available

What to know first

Unregistered edits expose IP addresses
Some pages have editing exceptions
API queries have result and rate limits
Additional license terms may apply

Limits

Regular-user API list and property queries cannot exceed 500 results, and per-user rate limits apply from 2026. Some page-editing situations have account requirements.

Getting started

Open https://en.wikibooks.org/ in a web browser
Read books without creating an account
Edit eligible pages using wiki markup
Create or select a collection for PDF or ODT export
Use Special:Export for XML page downloads
Connect through MediaWiki Action or REST APIs

Verdict

Wikibooks offers openly editable learning resources with multiple export formats and API access. Review licensing and privacy implications before contributing without an account.

Questions

Does Wikibooks cost anything?

No. Wikibooks provides free access to its textbooks and other e-book resources.

What subjects are covered?

Its books include computing, engineering, humanities, languages, mathematics, science, and social sciences.

Can I edit without logging in?

Most pages can be edited without an account, but some exceptions apply. Unregistered edits publicly show the editor’s IP address.

Can Wikibooks content be exported?

Collections can be downloaded as PDF or OpenDocument files. Selected pages can be exported as XML, and the entire English site has an XML dump.

What license does Wikibooks use?

The main page states that its text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, with additional terms potentially applying.

Facts from Wikibooks's own pages

Account access: Logging in is not required to read Wikibooks or to edit most pages, although some exceptions apply. · en.wikibooks.org, 30 Sept 2026
API: MediaWiki provides Action and REST APIs for accessing wiki content and functionality, including searching, retrieving, transforming, and editing pages. · mediawiki.org, 30 Sept 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. · mediawiki.org, 30 Sept 2026
Book formats: Collections can be downloaded as PDF or ODT files. · en.wikibooks.org, 30 Sept 2026
Change tracking: Readers can monitor changes to pages, linked pages, selected lists of pages, or pages edited by a particular user. · en.wikibooks.org, 30 Sept 2026
Community support: The Wikibooks Reading room is a place to raise and answer questions about technical issues, policies, and other project concerns. · en.wikibooks.org, 30 Sept 2026
Content: The Wikimedia Foundation describes Wikibooks as a collection of free e-book resources, including textbooks, annotated texts, instructional guides, and manuals. · wikimediafoundation.org, 30 Sept 2026
Content scope: The project aims to provide free e-book resources including textbooks, annotated texts, instructional guides, and manuals. · wikimediafoundation.org, 30 Sept 2026
Cost: Anyone can access Wikibooks textbooks at no cost. · en.wikibooks.org, 30 Sept 2026
Downloads: Users can download an XML dump of the entire English Wikibooks site or export selected pages. · en.wikibooks.org, 30 Sept 2026
Editing: Wikibooks allows users anywhere in the world to modify pages and add new content. · en.wikibooks.org, 30 Sept 2026
Export: Collections of Wikibooks pages can be downloaded in PDF or OpenDocument format, or ordered as printed books through PediaPress. · en.wikibooks.org, 30 Sept 2026
Founded: 2003 · en.wikibooks.org, 28 Sept 2026
Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States · en.wikibooks.org, 28 Sept 2026
History: The Wikibooks project started in 2003. · en.wikibooks.org, 30 Sept 2026
Licensing: The main page says its text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, with additional terms potentially applying. · en.wikibooks.org, 30 Sept 2026
Markup: Wikibooks uses simple wiki markup based on UseModWiki. · en.wikibooks.org, 30 Sept 2026
Page export: Special:Export allows users to download one or more Wikibooks pages as XML. · en.wikibooks.org, 30 Sept 2026
Print formats: Wikibooks help describes creating print versions of books and making PDF versions. · en.wikibooks.org, 30 Sept 2026
Print integration: Collections can be sent to PediaPress for print-on-demand delivery. · en.wikibooks.org, 30 Sept 2026
Privacy: The Wikimedia Foundation says it collects very little personal information and does not rent or sell it to third parties. · foundation.wikimedia.org, 30 Sept 2026
Purpose: Wikibooks is an open-content collection of textbooks that anyone can edit. · en.wikibooks.org, 30 Sept 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. · foundation.wikimedia.org, 30 Sept 2026
Software: Wikibooks runs on MediaWiki, a PHP application that stores pages in a MySQL database. · en.wikibooks.org, 30 Sept 2026

Where Wikibooks stands on Freedom251

Open Educational Resource Platforms#25 of 27