Chegg popularized textbook rental, but it is one option among several — and for many books, renting is not the cheapest structure at all.
Direct rental alternatives
Amazon rents a large share of current-edition textbooks with predictable shipping and returns. Barnes & Noble offers rentals both online and through campus stores, which helps when you need the book immediately. Many campus bookstores run their own rental programs that are competitive on required course texts, particularly bundles.
The alternative that is usually cheaper: buy used and resell
Rental pricing is set against the new-book price, not the used-book price. Once you compare a used purchase minus its buyback value against the rental fee, buying frequently wins — and you avoid due dates, damage policies and return shipping. ThriftBooks, AbeBooks, eBay and Better World Books are where that used copy comes from.
What to check before renting anything
Return deadlines usually fall in finals week. Damage policies may treat highlighting as damage. Extension fees add up quickly, and a rental you fail to return converts to a purchase at close to full price. None of these are hidden, but all of them are easy to forget in December.
When Chegg-style rental is genuinely right
Expensive current-edition texts for courses outside your major, books about to be replaced by a new edition (which will crater their resale value), and situations where you want the ebook immediately rather than waiting on shipping.
A note on homework help
Chegg also sells a study subscription, which is a separate product from rentals. If solution access is what you are actually after, that is a different comparison — and worth checking against your institution's academic integrity policy before you rely on it.