MapleRead CX vs iCalibre
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
MapleRead CX
This app offers a unique audio-visual reading experience for EPUB ebooks. Customize book styles, generate pseudo audiobooks with various voices, and enjoy immersive reading with synchronized audio and text. It also functions as a powerful library management tool with extensive customization options.
- Audio-visual EPUB reader
- Pseudo audiobook generation
- Immersion reading (sync audio/text)
- Customizable book styles and themes
- Word lookup and translation
- Library management and organization
- User-defined fonts and highlight colors
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MapleRead is dedicated to enable unique audio-visual reading experience for everyone. ------------ Our MapleRead app family has 3 members, namely SE, CE and CX. - SE is our flagship product with all features. - CE is SE without PDF reader and built-in Library Server. - CX is CE with some limitation. Free to try. - No recurring subscription fees. No ads. Just buy it once. Gratuity optional. - Moreover, SE and CE can be run side-by-side via split-view multitasking. - Recommend SE for use on multiple devices with easy and fast book sharing via Library Server. - Recommend the SE-CE bundle for the best value. ------------ MapleRead includes a superb audio-visual EPUB e-book reader. - It lets you easily modify publisher's original book style to better suit your aesthetic taste. - It lets you instantly generate pseudo audiobooks with a choice of narrator voices over 40 languages. - It enables immersion reading so that you may read and listen to the same book in sync. - Background listening works well too. Compatible with Lock Screen Music Player and CarPlay. MapleRead UI is friendly to users of all ages. - Books can be read in regular and large print. - A choice of UI text sizes makes reading in non-book views much more comfortable. MapleRead is a great learning tool. - It lets you look up words, translate sentences, search text, highlight text and write notes. - It helps you collect vocabulary and organize notes with various priorities. - It provides hooks to user-defined dictionaries, translators, and other tools. - Immersion reading improves your comprehension, especially of foreign-language books. MapleRead is an effective and fast library management tool. - It is designed for you, a book lover, who may own a huge and/or growing book collection. - It lets you keep all your books in one place and well-organized automatically. - It lets you display your books elegantly in style. - It lets you easily repair individual book metadata. - If supports multiple book sets and multiple tags. - It offers multiple ways to import and export books, and works well with Calibre. MapleRead offers unprecedented user-defined customization options. - They include unlimited user-defined fonts, book themes, cover images and library scenes. - Each book theme includes various types of user-defined highlight colors. - Each book can have its own theme, and each EPUB book can have its own style. [For more technical details, screenshots, FAQ and reviews, please visit our website.]
iCalibre
Access your Calibre ebook library from any device via iCloud. Search, open, and read books directly within the app, with features like stored queries and cover image viewing. Keep your entire library synchronized across your iPhone, iPad, and PC.
- iCloud library synchronization
- Open books directly in reader
- Stored queries and autosuggest search
- View cover images and descriptions
- Search Google for book information
- Mark books for easy searching
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Keep your Calibre libraries on the iCloud and open them on your iPhone iPad and Mac or Windows pc. Open your library anywhere on the world, search and open books. As many libraries as you like. Open the books directly in the reader, no need for iTunes. Stored querys. Create your own (complex) query. Autosuggest for the search. View the cover image and read the description. Search google for more information without leaving the app. Mark books for easy search in Calibre. Everything is in the cloud, so all devices have the same information. And everything is availaballe in the whole world.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: MapleRead CX at Free against iCalibre's $4.99. MapleRead CX also leads on rating (3.4 vs 1.0) and review sentiment (62% vs 25%). iCalibre's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and iOS requirement (12.4 vs 15.0). On ads, monetization model and device support 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
MapleRead CX is free to download; iCalibre costs $4.99 up front. MapleRead CX sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. iCalibre asks for nothing beyond the download.
MapleRead CX holds the better App Store score, 3.4 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: MapleRead CX has 24 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 62% of MapleRead CX's written reviews are positive against 25% of iCalibre's.
MapleRead CX ships an update every 5 weeks, iCalibre every 50 months. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | MapleRead CX | iCalibre |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $4.99 |
| Rating | 3.4 (24 ratings) — better | 1.0 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 61.5% of reviews — better | 25.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 24 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks — better | Every 50 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 12.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 26 MB | 97 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Maplepop LLC | Harmen Reichert |
Customer experience
MapleRead CX
iCalibre
In-app purchases
MapleRead CX
- Pro Upgrade$6.99
iCalibre
No in-app purchases









