Comparison

MapleRead CX vs Hedgehog reader

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Read full description

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.]

About

Hedgehog reader

This app allows you to read a wide variety of e-book and audiobook formats, organize your personal library, and even translate text offline. It offers features like full-text search, typo correction, and text-to-speech functionality.

Highlights
  • Supports multiple e-book and audiobook formats
  • Organize library with shelves, search, and filtering
  • Offline text translation
  • Full-text search and notes
  • Typo correction
  • Text-to-speech with adjustable speed
  • Import from local devices and cloud storage
Features
Read full description

An app for reading books and organizing a personal library. The supported formats are FB2, MOBI, EPUB, DOCX, CBZ, CHM, RTF, HTML, MHTML, WebArchive, PDF, MD, TXT, and MP3, M4A, M4B for audiobooks. Import from local devices, iCloud, and Dropbox, as a single book and as a batch. An ability to create an internal shelves structure with search and filtering by genre, keywords, languages, series, and ratings. An ability to translate (even when there is no Internet connection) selected words and phrases to the chosen language, by presetting the list of languages to translate from. An ability to perform a full-text search throughout the entire library and the notes added to books. An ability to quickly correct typos in a book. Reading the text aloud (even when there is no Internet connection) with different variants of speed and operating from the music control. Bookmarks and notes with the ability to upload the latter as a file. An ability to directly download books from servers that support OPDS. Automatic synchronization of library content (and reading progress) across multiple devices.

Screenshots

MapleRead CX4 screens
Hedgehog reader4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Hedgehog reader at 4.9 against MapleRead CX's 3.4. Hedgehog reader also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 5 weeks) and monetization model (free with in-app purchases vs paid). MapleRead CX's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.7). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. MapleRead CX sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Hedgehog reader sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Hedgehog reader holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 3.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 24 and 17 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 62% of MapleRead CX's written reviews are positive against 67% of Hedgehog reader's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

MapleRead CX ships an update every 5 weeks, Hedgehog reader fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
MapleRead CX versus Hedgehog reader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMapleRead CXHedgehog reader
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.4 (24 ratings)4.9 (17 ratings) — better
Positive reviews61.5% of reviews66.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings24 — better17
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better18.7
Further details — not scored
Size26 MB59 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperMaplepop LLCAnna Diubina

Customer experience

MapleRead CX

All ratings24 ratings
Positive58.3%
Neutral8.3%
Negative33.3%
Written reviews39 reviews
Positive61.5%
Neutral10.3%
Negative28.2%

Hedgehog reader

All ratings17 ratings
Positive94.1%
Neutral5.9%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews12 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral16.7%
Negative16.7%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

MapleRead CX

One-time1
  • Pro Upgrade$6.99
2 purchases

Hedgehog reader

One-time2
  • Advertisement free mode$5.99
  • Book export$14.99

Questions

Is MapleRead CX free?
MapleRead CX is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Hedgehog reader free?
Hedgehog reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, MapleRead CX or Hedgehog reader?
Hedgehog reader is rated higher. MapleRead CX averages 3.4 out of 5 from 24 ratings, while Hedgehog reader averages 4.9 from 17 ratings.
Do MapleRead CX or Hedgehog reader have ads?
Hedgehog reader shows ads; MapleRead CX does not.
Which is updated more often, MapleRead CX or Hedgehog reader?
MapleRead CX ships an update every 5 weeks, and Hedgehog reader fortnightly. Most recently, MapleRead CX was updated on October 13, 2026 and Hedgehog reader on October 21, 2026.

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