OpenStax
Worth it
Confidence: Medium
Buy if OpenStax lists a title for your course . free, peer-reviewed textbooks from a Rice University nonprofit with major foundation backing.
Comparison
OpenStax vs Discover | LibreStudio
OpenStax and Discover | LibreStudio both land on Worth it.
Discover | LibreStudio
Worth it
Confidence: Low
Evidence is thin, but for educators and OER creators wanting free H5P authoring and community content there is no cost to trying it.
| Compare | OpenStax | Discover | LibreStudio |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Worth it | Worth it |
| Best for | Students avoiding $200+ textbooks | Educators building interactive H5P content |
| Who it's not for | Upper-level or niche subjects . catalog skews intro | Institutions needing vendor SLAs or support contracts |
| Privacy | No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.⁴ | No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.14 |
| Support quality | Help center exists; no quality evidence | No support evidence either way |
| Public sentiment | Reddit professors and learners are broadly positive on value and self-study usefulness, while some instructors flag inconsistent accuracy.⁸ | Public user feedback is scarce . a single 2024 Open Education Global forum thread discusses the tool. |
| Biggest gotcha | OpenStax Assignable . LMS assignments and grading . is a paid institutional product⁵ | No published security page . assess compliance yourself before using with student data.14 |
Pick OpenStax when
- Students avoiding $200+ textbooks
- Intro course instructors adopting OER
- Self-learners in math and science
- Cost-cutting departments
When OpenStax is not a fit
- Upper-level or niche subjects . catalog skews intro
- Courses needing rich interactive homework . that costs extra via Assignable
- Teams wanting white-glove publisher service like McGraw Hill
Pick Discover | LibreStudio when
- Educators building interactive H5P content
- Open education (OER) communities
- Zero-budget classrooms
- Existing LibreTexts users
When Discover | LibreStudio is not a fit
- Institutions needing vendor SLAs or support contracts
- Teams handling student data under strict compliance rules
- Buyers who require security documentation before adopting
Sources
- OpenStax homepageopenstax.orgofficial
- Order Low-Cost Print Textbooksopenstax.orgofficial
- About OpenStax . Rice University nonprofitopenstax.orgofficial
- Product security pageopenstax.orgsecurity
- OpenStax Institutional Sales for Assignablehelp.openstax.orgofficial
- Rice's OpenStax awarded $90M by NSFnews.rice.edunews
news
review
review
news
- OpenStax vs. FlatWorld pricing breakdownflatworld.comreview
- Discover | LibreStudiostudio.libretexts.orgofficial
- Security pagestudio.libretexts.orgsecurity
- Hubs & Communities | LibreStudiostudio.libretexts.orgofficial
- Discover | LibreStudio - LibreTextsstudio.libretexts.orgofficial