Given their high cost, many students no longer buy textbooks for all of their courses, impacting their learning and performance in these courses. This is especially prevalent at community colleges. Open (digitally free) textbooks constitute one solution to this problem, but the latest national survey of college faculty found that 66% were not aware of open textbooks and 15% only somewhat aware. Because introductory psychology is psychology's most popular course with 1-2 million students enrolled annually and almost 50% are community college students, we addressed this unawareness problem by providing analytical discussions of the viability of the open introductory textbooks presently available. We conclude that traditional textbooks are higher in quality, but open textbooks meet a specific market need.