Before I get into the nitty gritty of textbook rental, let me say this:

If I were writing this article a few years ago, I would definitely say Chegg as your number one source for rented textbooks, but now Amazon has really become the most popular among all college students. There are reasons to use either, depending on what you need.

Comparing Chegg and Amazon

Chegg services has a few benefits that keeps it popular among pre-meds These include:

• Free ebook of the textbook you need while you’re waiting for the physical copy to arrive.
• Guided Solutions gives help based on the textbooks you rented or purchased.
• Offers other services in tutoring and career opportunities.

The bottom line: Chegg is great for students that need that physical textbooks quickly while not spending too much money. Not to mention, signing up is really quick!

On the other hand, Amazon textbook rentals has become more popular as students move to more digital formats, and it also offers good rates for the “dead tree” version of your textbooks, too.

• Free two-day shipping for college students but only with Amazon Student or Prime
• Annotate Kindle books and keep these annotations even after your rental expires.
• Flexible due date for rented textbooks with extensions available

The bottom line: Amazon has by far the best electronic options along with excellent flexibility. Their services work very well with Amazon Kindle. Also, if you’re not interested in renting, they have some of the cheapest used books.

How Do I Know I Am Getting the Best Rental Price?

Currently, textbook search engines like CheapTextbooks.com and Bigwords.com have become incredibly popular because they compare rental prices to ensure you find the cheapest prices on the internet. They’re both really comprehensive and I can’t recommend them highly enough — you might even find prices that are cheaper than Amazon or Chegg using these sources.

Need a quick and easy answer? No problem. Go to this article on the Amazon textbook rental program and follow the instructions. Bam!