Free Alternatives to Stewart's Calculus
Stewart's Calculus is assigned in more first-year calculus courses than almost any other textbook, and current editions regularly list above $250. The subject matter — limits, derivatives, integrals, series — is completely standard across institutions, which means free alternatives cover essentially identical ground.
Full free textbooks
Calculus (OpenStax)
by OpenStax contributors
A complete, free, peer-reviewed calculus sequence (Volumes 1-3) covering single and multivariable calculus at the same depth and rigor as Stewart, with a similar problem-set structure.
Calculus (Gilbert Strang, MIT OpenCourseWare)
by Gilbert Strang
MIT's freely released calculus textbook, written by a widely respected mathematics educator — a genuinely good text on its own merits, not just a free substitute.
If you specifically need practice problems
MIT OpenCourseWare's 18.01 (Single Variable Calculus) and 18.02 (Multivariable Calculus) courses include full problem sets with solutions, which is often the actual gap when using a free textbook instead of an assigned one — the concepts transfer easily, but matching problem-set difficulty and style takes a bit more searching.
Matching a Stewart-based course to a free text
Stewart's chapter order (limits → derivatives → applications → integrals → series) is close to universal in American calculus education, and OpenStax follows nearly the same sequence, which makes it easy to read the free chapter alongside your assigned Stewart chapter number for number.
Calculus notation and conventions are extremely standardized — unlike some subjects, there's very little risk of a free alternative teaching a genuinely different approach that conflicts with your course.
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