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Publishing · head to head

Kobo Writing Life vs Pressbooks

Kobo Writing Life logo

Kobo Writing Life

Publishing

Rakuten Kobo self-publishing platform paying a 70% royalty with no delivery fee deduction and no upper price cap, a materially different structure from Amazon KDP

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Pressbooks logo

Pressbooks

Publishing

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Kobo Writing Life kobo overall market share is smaller than Amazon Kindle in the US specifically, so an author relying only on Kobo reaches a smaller US audience than KDP alone would.; 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.
  • They diverge on capability: Kobo Writing Life covers Free publishing, Pressbooks covers Single source, three outputs.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Kobo Writing Life and Pressbooks actually diverge.

Attributes where Kobo Writing Life and Pressbooks differ
AttributeKobo Writing LifePressbooks
Pricing modelFree to publish; Kobo earns a royalty share rather than a feeOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsWebWeb, Self-hosted

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 Kobo Writing Life

  • Free publishing
  • 70% royalty, no price ceiling
  • No delivery fee
  • Automatic price matching
  • International reach
  • Direct payment threshold

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.

Kobo Writing Life

  • An author with a long or image-heavy ebook wanting to avoid the delivery fee that would apply on KDP at the same pricenot Pressbooks
  • An author pricing a book above $9.99 who wants the 70% royalty without hitting the price ceiling that would apply on Amazon before its July 2026 expansionnot Pressbooks
  • A wide-distribution author targeting Canadian, UK or other international markets where Kobo has stronger relative reach than in the USnot Pressbooks
  • An author who wants to understand that price-matching to other retailers may automatically change their Kobo price without a manual updatenot Pressbooks

Pressbooks

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

Where each one falls short

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

Kobo Writing Life

  • Kobo overall market share is smaller than Amazon Kindle in the US specifically, so an author relying only on Kobo reaches a smaller US audience than KDP alone would.
  • Automatic price matching to other retailers means an author discounting on one platform can see their Kobo price change without a deliberate action, which requires active monitoring to avoid unintended royalty impact.
  • The requirement to price at least 20% below any physical edition to qualify for 70% is easy to overlook and can silently drop an author into the 45% tier if a print edition price changes without an ebook price adjustment.
  • Below the qualifying threshold, the fallback royalty is 45%, not the 35% floor on KDP, which sounds better but is a smaller total addressable audience given lower Kobo market share, so gross revenue comparison still favours evaluating both platforms together.
  • As with any single-retailer self-publishing tool, relying solely on Kobo concentrates risk in one platform policy and market position rather than spreading across a wide-distribution strategy.

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

Kobo Writing Life

Free
  • 70% royalty tierFree
    • Applies from $2.99 USD (or currency equivalent) with no upper price cap
    • No delivery fee deducted, full 70% kept
    • Ebook must be priced at least 20% below any physical edition list price
  • 45% royalty tierFree
    • Applies below the $2.99 threshold
    • No delivery fee deducted

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 Kobo Writing Life if

  • You need free publishing.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want 70% royalty, no price ceiling.
Kobo Writing Life 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 Kobo Writing Life or Pressbooks better?
Neither clearly leads. Kobo Writing Life starts at Free and Pressbooks at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Kobo Writing Life or Pressbooks?
Kobo Writing Life starts at Free and Pressbooks at Free.
Does Kobo Writing Life or Pressbooks run on more platforms?
Kobo Writing Life runs on Web. Pressbooks runs on Web, Self-hosted.
Can I use Kobo Writing Life for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Kobo Writing Life best used for?
Kobo Writing Life is most often used for an author with a long or image-heavy ebook wanting to avoid the delivery fee that would apply on kdp at the same price, an author pricing a book above $9.99 who wants the 70% royalty without hitting the price ceiling that would apply on amazon before its july 2026 expansion, a wide-distribution author targeting canadian, uk or other international markets where kobo has stronger relative reach than in the us, an author who wants to understand that price-matching to other retailers may automatically change their kobo price without a manual update. Of those, an author with a long or image-heavy ebook wanting to avoid the delivery fee that would apply on kdp at the same price and an author pricing a book above $9.99 who wants the 70% royalty without hitting the price ceiling that would apply on amazon before its july 2026 expansion are not what Pressbooks is typically brought in for.
What can Kobo Writing Life do that Pressbooks cannot?
Kobo Writing Life covers Free publishing, 70% royalty, no price ceiling, No delivery fee, Automatic price matching. Pressbooks covers Single source, three outputs, Cloning and adaptation, H5P interactive content, LMS integration.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Kobo Writing Life: Does Kobo Writing Life charge a fee?

No. Like KDP, it is free to publish; Kobo earns its share through the royalty percentage on each sale.

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.

Kobo Writing Life: Is there a price ceiling on the 70% royalty?

No. Unlike KDP, which caps the 70% band at $12.99 as of July 2026, Kobo 70% rate has no upper price limit, only the $2.99 lower threshold.

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.

Kobo Writing Life: Does Kobo deduct a delivery fee like Amazon?

No. Authors keep the full 70% regardless of file size; there is no per-megabyte delivery deduction.

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.

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