BookBub vs Softgoods
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
BookBub
Discover daily deals on bestselling and free ebooks across all genres. Track your wishlist and receive price alerts for your favorite titles, ensuring you never miss a sale on books you want to read.
- Daily ebook deals
- Hundreds of free ebooks
- Personalized recommendations
- Wishlist tracking
- Price alerts
- Genre and price filtering
Read full descriptionHide full description
Discover amazing deals on bestselling ebooks, plus hundreds of free ebooks. Track your wishlist and get alerts when your most wanted titles go on sale. BookBub helps millions of readers save money on ebooks they'll love. Our expert editors hand pick incredible ebook deals every day across all major genres — romance, mystery, thrillers, women's fiction, fantasy, contemporary fiction, nonfiction, and many more — from bestselling authors to hidden gems. WHY READERS LOVE BOOKBUB: THE BIGGEST EBOOKS, UP TO 95% OFF We feature limited-time ebook deals from all major retailers. Get huge savings on the biggest books and authors, including #1 New York Times bestsellers. HUNDREDS OF FREE EBOOKS Unlock a vast selection of free ebooks across 40+ genres, with new titles added each day YOUR PERSONAL BOOK TRACKER Build your reading wishlist and never miss a sale. Add any book you want to read, and we'll notify you when it's discounted. Track your TBR (to-be-read) list, sort by release date or author, and mark it as read when you're done. PERSONALIZED TO YOUR READING TASTE Our editorial team hand picks from thousands of ebooks to bring you only the best — from BookTok favorites to award-winning fiction. FEATURES: - Browse daily ebook deals personalized to your reading preferences - Track unlimited books on your wishlist - Get price alerts for specific titles or favorite authors - Discover popular titles to add to your list - Filter deals by genre and price - Buy from your favorite ebook store "When we say 'deal,' we mean it — many of BookBub's titles are free entirely, $0.99, or just a couple of bucks." — Lifehacker "Bargain-basement deals on ebooks." — The New York Times Join millions of happy readers saving money on ebooks every day. Questions? Visit bookbub.com/apphelp
Softgoods
Organize and journal your favorite fan fiction. Create custom shelves, add notes to stories, and track your reading habits. Share your discoveries and thoughts with friends.
- Store and bookmark fan fiction
- Create custom shelves
- Add notes to stories
- Track reading statistics
- Share shelves and notes publicly
- Tag stories for easy searching
Read full descriptionHide full description
What you can do with Softgoods: • Save and bookmark fics from anywhere on the web! Paste a link or use the share sheet • Build shelves by fandom, ship, trope, mood, or anything you want • Tag fics with warnings, characters, and freeform tags for instant search • Journal your thoughts on every fic and rate them with stars • Log reading sessions chapter by chapter for works in progress • Track stats: total fics read, monthly word count, authors followed, and how this month compares to last • Make shelves and notes public to share with friends or keep them private just for you • Export your data anytime For fic readers, by fic readers We built Softgoods because spreadsheets and browser bookmarks weren't cutting it. We're a small team and we ship updates often. Your feedback shapes what we build next. Got a feature request or hit a bug? Email contact@softgoods.app A real person reads every message. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://softgoods.app/privacy-policy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: BookBub at none against Softgoods's 2. BookBub also leads on rating (4.7 vs 4.4) and ratings volume (959 vs 71). Softgoods's advantage is review sentiment (74% vs 54%) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Softgoods sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. BookBub asks for nothing beyond the download.
BookBub holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: BookBub has 959 ratings behind it against 71, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 54% of BookBub's written reviews are positive against 74% of Softgoods's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
BookBub ships an update every 3 weeks, Softgoods fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and September 27, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | BookBub | Softgoods |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (959 ratings) — better | 4.4 (71 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 54.2% of reviews | 74.4% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 959 — better | 71 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #50 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 44 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Pubmark Inc. | Jordan Wagner |
Customer experience
BookBub
Softgoods
Bugs and requests
BookBub
Reported bugs
3 issues- App crashes or freezes during use
- Sign-up and login issues
- Incompatibility with certain devices or operating systems
Requested features
4 requests- Add support for Kindle and other ebook platforms
- Implement search and filtering options
- Allow users to manage their reading lists and leave reviews
- Improve email subscription management
Softgoods
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
BookBub
No in-app purchases
Softgoods
- Premium$1.991 Month
- Premium$19.991 Year
