Comparison

Sofa vs Researchist

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

Head to head
About

Sofa

Organize all aspects of your downtime, from tracking media progress to planning trips. Create custom lists for books, movies, games, and more, with integrated podcast playback and event planning tools.

Highlights
  • Organize with unlimited lists and groups
  • Track progress for shows, books, and games
  • Integrated podcast player
  • Event planner for trips and tasks
  • Logbook and stats dashboard
  • Customizable lists and smart filters
Features
Read full description

Featured by Apple as “App of the Day” 9to5Mac: “I've found Sofa to be a delight to use.” MacStories: “My favorite app to manage my media watchlist.” iMore: “A great way to organize everything from your games to your books.” ———————— Sofa helps you enjoy your downtime by tracking your shows episode by episode, playing your podcasts, planning your trips, and a bunch of other stuff. All in one app. ORGANIZE WITH LISTS AND GROUPS Add unlimited lists and groups for categorizing all your stuff: books, games, movies, shows, podcasts, and more. A HIGHLY FLEXIBLE PROGRESS TRACKING EXPERIENCE A show you started last month. A book on your nightstand. A game you keep meaning to get back to. Sofa helps you keep track of all of it. Progress rings show up on covers so you can see where you stand at a glance. A FULL-FEATURED PODCAST PLAYER Track podcasts and listen to them in the same app. Save a show, queue up episodes, and hit play without switching apps. A PLANNER FOR TRIPS, TASKS, AND YOUR TV SCHEDULE TOO The hotel confirmation is in your email. The restaurant list is in Notes. The flight info is in a screenshot somewhere. The Planner puts all of that in one event with day-by-day itineraries, budget scenarios, live weather, and file attachments. • Tasks with due dates, priorities, and reminders. • Sticky notes for ideas without a date. • TV episodes and release dates appear on the timeline automatically. RIDICULOUSLY POWERFUL LISTS • Todo Lists or Collection Lists. Hide completed items or keep everything visible. • Group by genre, author, platform, release year, or custom fields. • Data Cards show ratings, runtimes, and metadata right on the item. • Multi-select to move, pin, complete, or remove items in bulk. • Smart Lists with dozens of filters that auto-populate based on your library. • Custom fields called Ingredients for your own ratings, tags, and filters. YOUR DOWNTIME HISTORY The Logbook catches everything you finish. A Stats dashboard shows activity timelines, genre breakdowns, and year-over-year comparisons. PLUS WIDGETS, UNIFIED SEARCH, SHORTCUTS ACTIONS, AND MORE • Widgets with progress rings on your Home and Lock Screen. • Unified Search across your library and new content. • Dozens of Shortcuts actions. • A customizable tab bar that lets you hide what you don't use. ———————— ALL THE WONDERFUL THINGS YOU CAN DO WITH SOFA STANDARD FEATURES (FREE) • Unlimited Groups & Lists • Add Basically Anything (movies, TV, books, games, music, podcasts, apps) • Podcast Player • Planner (events, tasks, notes, upcoming releases) • Logbook • Basic Details (release dates, descriptions, metadata) • Custom Categories • iCloud Syncing SUPER SOFA FEATURES (PAID) • Progress Tracking (TV episodes, book checkpoints, game progress) • Event Planning Tools (weather, budgets, attachments) • Smart Lists (auto-populate based on filters) • Custom Ingredients (custom ratings, dates, tags) • Pinned Items & Lists • List Customization (cover images, large titles, descriptions, layouts) • Enhanced Podcast Player (chapters, per-show settings) • Enhanced Details (streaming/music service links) • Logbook Stats • Reminders (episodes, events, tasks, notes) • Sticky Notes • 100+ Themes & App Icons • Family Sharing (up to 5 people) ———————— Payment will be charged to your Apple ID account at the confirmation of purchase. The subscription automatically renews unless it is canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage and cancel your subscriptions by going to your App Store account settings after purchase. Cancellation of the current active subscription period is not allowed. Terms of Use: https://www.sofahq.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://www.sofahq.com/privacy

About

Researchist

Features
Read full description

Researchist is the PDF reader designed for academic reading. Import a paper and it becomes more than a static document: references turn into links, every section gets an outline you can jump through,, and figures and tables are one tap away. READ WITHOUT FRICTION • A focused reading experience built for research papers • Open papers in tabs, or side by side in multiple windows • Highlight with Apple Pencil and attach notes • See all your highlights and notes together in one place, ready to review and share PAPER INTELLIGENCE (BETA) Researchist analyzes each paper using Apple Intelligence • Automatic table of contents, even for PDFs without one • A detailed outline under every heading: one line for what each passage does, linking straight back to it • Figures and tables extracted with their captions for quick reference • Title, authors, and metadata found automatically FOLLOW THE CITATION TRAIL • References and in-text citations are extracted and linked • Tap any citation to see the full reference without losing your place • See how often each work is cited throughout the paper • Jump from a reference to the linked paper with a single tap BUILD YOUR RESEARCH LIBRARY • Organize papers into collections • Personalize your library with color themes and cover styles • Import your existing library from Zotero • Find any paper or note from Spotlight • Create and manage notes with Shortcuts and Apple Intelligence via App Intents WORKS WITH ESSAYIST Researchist and Essayist share the same reference library through iCloud. Papers you add on one device or in either app are automatically available everywhere you work. PRIVATE BY DESIGN All AI analysis runs entirely on your device — your documents never leave it. Researchist collects no analytics by default and never uploads your papers. Network access is used only for public metadata lookup, downloading linked papers, and optional Zotero import. FREE AND PRO
Reading, highlighting, and notes are free. Researchist Pro unlocks Paper Intelligence, collections, quick access to linked articles, and color themes & cover styles. Paper Intelligence (Beta) requires an Apple Intelligence compatible device. Start your personal research knowledge base today. Terms of Use: https://www.essayist.app/terms Privacy Policy: https://www.essayist.app/privacy

Screenshots

Sofa4 screens
Researchist4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Sofa at 18.0 against Researchist's 27.0. On price, update cadence, ads 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. Sofa sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month and Researchist sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $39.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Sofa ships an update weekly, Researchist fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Sofa versus Researchist: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSofaResearchist
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (3.1K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews60.1% of reviews—
Number of ratings3.1K — better—
Update frequencyWeekly — betterFortnightly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS18.0 — better27.0
Further details — not scored
Size250 MB113 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperAstrio, LLCEssayist Software Inc.

Bugs and requests

Sofa

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Inconsistent sync and data loss across devices
  • Search not working for some media types
  • Crashes when trying to add custom items to lists
  • Review prompts not working properly

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add ability to add notes, ratings, and reminders for media
  • Integrate with streaming services to track availability
  • Allow custom categories and manual list reordering
  • Implement share/import functionality from other apps
  • Provide a one-time purchase option instead of subscription

Researchist

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Sofa

Subscriptions4
  • Super Sofa Monthly$5.991 Month
  • Family Monthly Subscription$5.991 Month
  • Super Sofa Yearly$49.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Family Yearly Subscription$49.991 Year
One-time6
  • Dark Blizzard$0.99
  • Cozy Cabin$0.99
  • Gingerbread$0.99
Show 3 more
  • Ugly Sweater$0.99
  • North Pole$0.99
  • Super Sofa Lifetime$249.99
1 purchases

Researchist

Subscriptions1
  • Researchist Pro (Yearly)7 Days trial$39.991 Year

Questions

Is Sofa free?
Sofa is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Researchist free?
Researchist is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Sofa or Researchist have ads?
Neither Sofa nor Researchist shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Sofa or Researchist?
Sofa ships an update weekly, and Researchist fortnightly. Most recently, Sofa was updated on November 11, 2026 and Researchist on November 8, 2026.

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