shouldiuse.io

VERDICT

Should I use Pressbooks?

Pressbooks empowers authors, educators and organizations to create, publish and share digital books and open educational resources (OER) - pressbooks.com

Depends. Buy it if you're an educator, library, or institution publishing open textbooks — it's the category standard for OER. Solo authors who just need a formatted ebook should try cheaper, simpler tools first.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~15 public sources; many review snippets truncated, limiting quote depth.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support qualityNo usable evidence in sources
  • Security posture

Pricing

See site (per-book plans)

Self-Publisher plans

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Enterprise networksCustom quote

Best for

  • Educators publishing open textbooks (OER)
  • University libraries and consortia
  • Nonfiction authors needing EPUB/PDF/web output
  • Institutions running campus-wide publishing networks

Not for

  • Solo fiction authors who only need fast EPUB/print formatting
  • Authors wanting built-in retail distribution and marketing
  • Buyers wanting a validated vendor track record — near-zero public reviews
  • Casual projects — a Google Doc or blog post suffices

Gotchas - check before you buy

medium

Custom enterprise pricing means budget clarity requires a sales conversation.

medium

Watermark and user restrictions on lower tiers per community discussion.

medium

Self-hosters report feature gaps versus hosted plans.

medium

Stored-XSS CVE-2021-3271 hit v5.17.3; stay current on releases.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • WordPress-based writing and book formatting
  • Open source and self-hostable
  • Widely adopted by universities and libraries for OER
  • Called easy to use in press and library guides

Cons

  • Only one Trustpilot review; hard to vet third-party
  • Enterprise pricing custom-quoted, no public numbers
  • Watermark and user restrictions debated by users
  • Self-hosting feature gaps discussed in community forum

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/25/2026 - 10 sources - One medium stored-XSS CVE from 2021; active patch releases since (including a WordPress 7 support + security fix release).

official x4review x4security x1news x1
  • CVE-2021-3271 — stored cross-site scripting, Medium-severity stored XSS in Pressbooks 5.17.3, disclosed February 2021.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 4/5

    Rating

  • See site (per-book plans)

    Starting price

  • 10

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 4/5. Open-source core; enterprise pricing custom-quoted
  • Ease of use: 4/5. Library guides and press call it easy
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Full lifecycle: write, format, publish, share books
  • Support quality. No usable evidence in sources
  • Security posture: 3/5. One 2021 XSS CVE; regular patch releases since
  • 1 review Trustpilot Near-zero third-party feedback
  • Yes Free trial Advertised via Open Education Network partnership
  • Open source License Self-hostable WordPress plugin
  • 1 (2021) Known CVEs Medium stored-XSS in v5.17.3

Pricing

Self-Publisher plans

See site (per-book plans)

  • Book creation for authors and creators
  • Free trial advertised

Enterprise networks

Not disclosed

  • Campus-wide OER platforms
  • Support and results programs

Security

One medium stored-XSS CVE from 2021; active patch releases since (including a WordPress 7 support + security fix release).

  • CVE-2021-3271 — stored cross-site scriptingMedium-severity stored XSS in Pressbooks 5.17.3, disclosed February 2021.⁹

Companies that use it

  • Virginia Tech⁷
  • University of Illinois
  • University of Washington
  • Maricopa Community Colleges
  • BCcampus
Full analysis

Based on ~15 public sources; many review snippets truncated, limiting quote depth.

Open-source book & OER publishing standard loved by universities; thin public reviews, and solo authors may find simpler tools.

Methodology

Based on ~15 public sources; many review snippets truncated, limiting quote depth.

Sources

  1. Pressbooks Self-Publisherpressbooks.com
    official
  2. Self-Publishing Plans & Pricingpressbooks.com
    official
  3. Enterprise Networks: Plans and Pricingpressbooks.com
    official
  4. Trustpilot reviews of pressbooks.comtrustpilot.com
    review
  5. PressBooks goes open source — Redditreddit.com
    review
  6. Pressbooks: Gamechanger in Open Access Publishing? — AACEaace.org
    news
  7. VT Libraries on Pressbookslib.vt.edu
    official
  8. Comparing Inkling vs. Pressbooksopenbox9.com
    review
  9. CVE-2021-3271 advisorygithub.com
    security
  10. Watermarks and User restrictions — community threadpressbooks.community
    review

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