Here are 175+ free online literary journals

A few journals that publish fiction or poetry online.

Recently, I’ve been exploring the world of online literary journals, reviews, and webzines.

The breadth, depth, and bounty of this sector is impressive. Quality may vary wildly, but there is quality here. There is a fair share of talented professionals blazing away. Opportunities abound in this sector for independent writers.

Just in the past few months, I’ve gotten three of my short stories accepted by two of these online journals. And I’m impressed enough by their other published works that I’m honored.

I want to know more within this sector. I want to do more. I went looking for a good list of online journals and webzines. But I couldn’t find one.

There are thousands of literary journals. Most have some sort of website. The key question is: Does the journal post poetry and/or fiction on its website with free, open access, for anyone to read? Or is the website a marketing tool to lead readers to pay to get the print magazine or content behind a paywall? Nothing wrong with the latter; that’s the old model, and it works fine.

But that’s not what I’m talking about here. I’m looking for literary journals that post poetry and/or fiction online with free, open access, for anyone to read. There must be hundreds of them, at least.

I found some nice listicles—usually someone’s idea of a top-10 or a top-20—but nothing pulling together a big list of free online literary journals.

So I dug. And here, following, dear reader, I present the fruit of my research: 175+ online literary journals that appear to post poetry and/or fiction online with free access, for anyone to read. I’m not claiming this is even an attempt to be comprehensive; yet it’s the longest list I’ve seen.

Now, most of these journals don’t pay. So, dear reader, if you’re submitting your poetry or short stories to pay rent or get rich, this list won’t do you much good. I also can’t offer any measurements of their readerships by quantity or quality. Can’t say who, if anyone, will read the work there.

Some of these entities are decades old; some are months old. Some are offshoots of long-established print magazines. Some come and go like mushrooms. Some offer easy-reading text online; some have readers download whole digital magazines. Some are hybrids. Some are genre-specific. Some are mission-driven. Besides poetry and fiction, many also publish reviews, essays, nonfiction stories, photographs, visual arts, comics, or other creative content.

Some look amazing. Some look like crap, yet might still contain great writings.

I’ve not vetted them—except to make sure they’re publishing free and open access literature, and that they have been active at least recently (as of Oct. 9, 2025.) I don’t attempt to rate, judge, characterize, categorize, explain, or recommend for or against any. There obviously are full spectrums of quality and focus. I leave that to you, dear reader, to assess.

Most of what I found came from the following sources. Some of these sources did attempt to rate, judge, and characterize the journals, so dear reader you might find useful information from their links: Book Riot, Columbia College Chicago, The Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (clmp.org), EveryWriter, John Fox, Independent Book Review, Miami University Libraries, New Pages, New York Public Library, University of Arizona Library, University of Nebraska at Omaha Criss Library (UNOmaha), and Wikipedia.

Without further ado, here is my list of more than 175 literary journals that publish poetry or fiction online: 

10 By 10 Flash

100 Word Story

101 Words

2River View 

3:AM Magazine

32 Poems

50-Word Stories

7th Circle Pyrite

Able Muse

Abyss & Apex

The Account

Action, Spectacle

The Adroit Journal 

After Dinner Conversation 

AGNI 

alt-X 

A-Minor 

Annalemma 

Apocalypse Confidential

Apogee Journal 

Apparition Literary Magazine

Apple Valley Review

Ascent 

Asian Outlook

Atlas + Alice

Backchannels

Baffling Magazine

The Barcelona Review

Beneath Ceaseless Skies

Blackbird

Blood Orange Review

The Blotter

Bourbon Penn

Breath & Shadow

Brevity 

Brilliant Flash Fiction 

The Cafe Irreal 

California Literary Review

Carve Magazine 

Catapult 

Cave Wall

Ciberletras

Cicada

ClarkesWorld

CLCWeb

Cleaver Magazine

Contrary

Cortland Review

Cosmorama

Craft

The Daily Drunk

Danse Macabre

The Deadlands

Del Sol Review

Diagram

Discretionary Love

Double Change

The Ear

Electica 

Electric Lit

Electric Spec

Emerge Magazine

Eurozine

Evergreen Review 

Every Day Fiction

failbetter 

The Fantastic Other

Fatal Flaw

Feathertale

Five South

Flash Fiction Online

Flash Phantoms

Fiction Week 

Fools Magazine

Frigg

Fwriction 

Gambling the Aisle

Ghost Parachute

Gigantic Tentacles

Gone Lawn

Guernica 

Gulf Stream Magazine

Gutter Magazine

Heartwood

Hex

Hobart 

Hobo Camp Review

The Horror Zine 

HyperText Magazine

Hyphen Punk

Identity Theory

Immigration Diaries

Inglenook Lit

Jacket Magazine

J Journal

Jokes Review

Kaleidotrope

Kelp Journal

The Kenyon Review

khōréō

Kweli Journal

Lamp Lit

Latin American Literature Today

Literary Hub

The Literary Underground

Loggernaut 

LOLWE

The Margins

Marrow Magazine

The Masters Review

McSweeney’s

Memorious

Mermaids Monthly

Midnight & Indigo

Milk Candy Review

The Millions

Mississippi Review

MonkeyBicycle

Mudlark

Muse India 

Mystery Tribune

N+1

Narrative Magazine

Necessary Fiction

Necksnap

New Flash Fiction Review

New Limestone Review

OffCourse

The Offing

oranges journal

Outskirts Literary Journal

Pank Magazine 

Paper Dragon

Pigeon Pages

penumbric

A Public Space

Qu

Quarterly West 

The Quiet Reader

Rind Online Literary Magazine

Rogue Agent

R U Joking?

The Rumpus

The Saartjie Journal

Silly Goose Press

sixthfinch

Slope

SmokeLong Quarterly

SNReview

The SportScribe 

Stirring

Story Magazine

Strange Horizons

SWWIM

Tangled Locks Journal

Third Wednesday Magazine

Tupelo Quarterly

Ultramarine Lit Review

Uncanny

Uncharted

Unlikely Stories

Vagabond City

Virginia Quarterly Review

Volney Road Review

War, Literature & the Arts

Waxwing

Web Del Sol

Weird Horror

Wilderness House Literary Review 

Wildness

Words Without Borders

X-R-A-Y

The Yale Review

Young Ravens Literary Review

The Zinnia Anthology

Zone 3 Press

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