Is Blurb or Pressbooks better?

Neither clearly leads. Blurb starts at $3.99/unit and Pressbooks at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Blurb or Pressbooks?

Pressbooks has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $3.99/unit for Blurb and Free for Pressbooks.

Does Blurb or Pressbooks run on more platforms?

Blurb runs on Web. Pressbooks runs on Web, Self-hosted.

Can I use Pressbooks for free?

Yes. Pressbooks has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Blurb starts at $3.99/unit.

What is Blurb best used for?

Blurb is most often used for self-publishing, print marketing materials. Of those, self-publishing and print marketing materials are not what Pressbooks is typically brought in for.

What can Blurb do that Pressbooks cannot?

Pressbooks covers Single source, three outputs, Cloning and adaptation, H5P interactive content, LMS integration.

Publishing · head to head

Blurb vs Pressbooks

Blurb

Publishing

Visual storytelling through print-on-demand books and wall art

From: $3.99/unit
Rated: -

Full review Website

Pressbooks

Publishing

Open source book production built on WordPress, and the default tool for open textbooks

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Pressbooks has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Blurb print-on-demand model; no subscription plans or seat limits; Pressbooks self-hosting is free in licence terms only; it requires WordPress multisite administration, upgrades and backups, which is a real staff cost most institutions underestimate.
Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Blurb and Pressbooks actually diverge.

Attributes where Blurb and Pressbooks differ
Attribute	Blurb	Pressbooks
Starting price	$3.99/unit	Free
Pricing model	usage-based	Open source, no licence fee
Free tier	No	Yes
Platforms	Web	Web, Self-hosted

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Publishing).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Blurb

Nothing recorded that Pressbooks does not also cover.

Only in Pressbooks

Single source, three outputs
Cloning and adaptation
H5P interactive content
LMS integration
Open source under the GPL
Accessibility tooling

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Blurb

Self-publishingnot Pressbooks
Print marketing materialsnot Pressbooks

Pressbooks

A university library replacing a commercial textbook by adapting an existing open textbook rather than commissioning a new onenot Blurb
A course team that wants readings delivered inside Canvas or Moodle with embedded exercises rather than as a static PDFnot Blurb
A research institute publishing reports that must exist as a web page, an EPUB and a printable document without maintaining three filesnot Blurb
A consortium standardising open textbook production across several institutions with a shared catalogue of adaptable titlesnot Blurb

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Blurb

Print-on-demand model; no subscription plans or seat limits
Per-page costs add $0.04-$3.50 depending on product type
Volume discounts require minimum orders

Pressbooks

Self-hosting is free in licence terms only; it requires WordPress multisite administration, upgrades and backups, which is a real staff cost most institutions underestimate.
Professional print PDF output depends on a commercial rendering engine that is licensed separately, so the genuinely free self-hosted route produces web and EPUB output but not press-quality print.
Design control is limited to the supplied themes unless someone writes custom CSS, so books tend to look recognisably like Pressbooks books.
There is no distribution, no ISBN service and no retail channel, so it produces files and web pages but plays no part in selling anything.
The editing experience inherits WordPress conventions, and authors working on long or heavily structured manuscripts find it slower than a dedicated writing application.

Pricing, plan by plan

Blurb

$3.99/unit

Paperback$3.99/unit
Photo Books$12/unit
Notebooks$12/unit
Wall Art$65/unit

Pressbooks

Free

PressbooksFree
- GPL licensed, self-hostable with no software fee
- WordPress multisite administration is your responsibility
- Print PDF export depends on a separately licensed rendering engine

Which should you pick?

Choose Blurb if

Nothing in the data separates Blurb from Pressbooks on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Blurb review

Choose Pressbooks if

You need single source, three outputs.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Web, Self-hosted.
You also want cloning and adaptation.

Pressbooks review

Questions people ask

Is Blurb or Pressbooks better?: Neither clearly leads. Blurb starts at $3.99/unit and Pressbooks at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Blurb or Pressbooks?: Pressbooks has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $3.99/unit for Blurb and Free for Pressbooks.
Does Blurb or Pressbooks run on more platforms?: Blurb runs on Web. Pressbooks runs on Web, Self-hosted.
Can I use Pressbooks for free?: Yes. Pressbooks has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Blurb starts at $3.99/unit.
What is Blurb best used for?: Blurb is most often used for self-publishing, print marketing materials. Of those, self-publishing and print marketing materials are not what Pressbooks is typically brought in for.
What can Blurb do that Pressbooks cannot?: Pressbooks covers Single source, three outputs, Cloning and adaptation, H5P interactive content, LMS integration.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Blurb: What is Blurb's starting price for printed books?

Blurb's paperback books start at $3.99 for a 5x8-inch book with economy color paper, with prices increasing based on size and binding style.

Source

Pressbooks: Is Pressbooks really free?

The software is GPL licensed and free to self-host. The hosted service is priced, and professional print PDF output requires a commercially licensed renderer, so budget accordingly.

Blurb: Does Blurb offer volume discounts?

Blurb provides volume discounts: 10-20% for 10-19 copies, 15-20% for 20-49 copies, and 20-25% for 50+ copies depending on product type.

Source

Pressbooks: Can I sell a book made in Pressbooks?

You can sell the EPUB or the printed book through any distributor, but Pressbooks itself provides no ISBN, no storefront and no distribution.

Blurb: What does Blurb charge for photo book printing?

Blurb's photo books start at $12 and can cost up to $159 depending on size (6 sizes available), paper quality, and cover binding option.

Source

Pressbooks: Why do universities use it for open textbooks?

Because an openly licensed book can be cloned into another institution network and adapted for a different course, which turns a finished textbook into a starting point rather than a fixed artefact.

Blurb vs Pressbooks

Blurb

Pressbooks

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Blurb

Only in Pressbooks

What people use each for

Blurb

Pressbooks

Where each one falls short

Blurb

Pressbooks

Pricing, plan by plan

Blurb

Pressbooks

Which should you pick?

Choose Blurb if

Choose Pressbooks if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Blurb

More on Pressbooks

Keep looking

Other head to heads