Comparison

Beanstack Tracker vs First Book Community

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

Head to head
About

Beanstack Tracker

This app encourages reading for all ages through engaging challenges and easy progress tracking. It allows family profiles, individual logging, and offers features like barcode scanning and reading timers. It prioritizes user privacy by not selling data or showing ads.

Highlights
  • Motivating reading challenges
  • Easy reading progress tracking
  • Barcode scanner for titles
  • Reading timer and logging
  • Streaks and badges
  • Reading recommendations
  • Friend leaderboards
  • Reading fundraisers
Features
Read full description

Beanstack helps schools, libraries, and families bring the fun back to reading with reading challenges, easy tracking, and insightful data. We invite students, families, and readers of all ages to a world of reading inspiration and motivation. You can create profiles for everyone in your family within a single library or Beanstack Go account, or you can use SSO to sign in to any of your students’ school accounts and swiftly toggle between them. Beanstack helps you grow your reading habits together, while also logging and tracking reading progress individually. We never sell your data or use it to show you ads, so Beanstack is safe for everyone. Features: - Join motivating reading challenges created by librarians, educators, and reading specialists. Our ever-growing reading challenge collection features seasonal challenges like summer reading, yearlong literacy initiatives, and diverse custom challenges for all ages, levels, and communities. - Track reading progress and create an all-time reading log. - Use a barcode scanner to quickly and easily find titles. - Record reading sessions with a reading timer or log an entire book with a click. - Achieve streaks for reading multiple days in a row and badges for reaching reading goals. - Complete fun enrichment activities and leave book reviews. - Access reading recommendations and resources. - Add friends from your organization to see what they’re reading and compete on leaderboards. - View reading stats, including totals and averages of time spent reading and titles read. - Participate in reading fundraisers: Raise money for your organization with reading! With Beanstack’s reading fundraisers, you can earn badges while collecting donations to fund important priorities at your school or library. Beanstack is created by Joyful Reading Co, where we're dedicated to nurturing a lifelong love of reading through engagement, access, and data-driven insights.

About

First Book Community

Access free educational resources, professional development, and funding opportunities. Connect with a community of educators and professionals dedicated to improving education for children and teens in low-income communities.

Highlights
  • Free book recommendations
  • Virtual field trips and events
  • Professional development for educators
  • Research and toolkits
  • Giveaways and funding opportunities
  • Community collaboration and discussion
Features
Read full description

Level the Educational Playing Field with First Book Educators: feel equipped and energized as a member of the First Book Community! Access tons of quality free resources (for your learners of all ages – and yourself) and connect with other educators, program staff, professionals, and volunteers who are passionate about eliminating barriers to a quality education for children and teens in low-income communities. The First Book Community offers FREE: + Book recommendations on relevant topics to inspire lifelong readers + Virtual field trips, streamed arts performances, author talks, and interactive events for your learners + Professional development and best practices from industry-leading partners for educators in many community settings and learning environments + Research and peer-informed toolkits, videos, and discussion guides from the First Book Accelerator + Giveaways and funding opportunities for books, activities, supplies, and more! Join our powerful community to collaborate with like-minded educators and community leaders working in a variety of educational settings across the US. Share your challenges, wins, and best practices while staying updated on new resources, funding opportunities, and book recommendations from First Book and our partners. Engage with resources, discussions, and events on in-demand themes like STEM, SEL, literacy, choosing titles to encourage a love of reading, family engagement, and early childhood. Who should join: Anyone and everyone working with kids or teens ages 0-18 in low-income communities across the US! Teachers, librarians, school administrators, social workers, and staff or volunteers at: faith-based community programs, afterschool programs, shelters, early childhood centers, and any community organization supporting families in need. The First Book Community is your hub for resources and collaboration to grow as a caring adult in the lives of students in need. Together, we’re ensuring every child has the tools they deserve to learn and thrive.

Screenshots

Beanstack Tracker4 screens
First Book Community4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: First Book Community at free against Beanstack Tracker's free with in-app purchases. First Book Community also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.8) and update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks). Beanstack Tracker's advantage is ratings volume (103K vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

First Book Community holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Beanstack Tracker has 103K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Beanstack Tracker ships an update every 3 weeks, First Book Community weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Beanstack Tracker versus First Book Community: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBeanstack TrackerFirst Book Community
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (103K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews66.5% of reviews—
Number of ratings103K — better1
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS16.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size60 MB130 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperZoobean, Inc.First book

Customer experience

Beanstack Tracker

All ratings101,897 ratings
Positive94.5%
Neutral3.1%
Negative2.4%
Written reviews684 reviews
Positive66.5%
Neutral13.2%
Negative20.3%

First Book Community

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Beanstack Tracker

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Incorrect logging of reading sessions and progress
  • Inability to edit or remove previously logged books
  • Compatibility issues on tablets and iPads
  • Timezone-related bugs causing lost reading streaks

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to backdate reading sessions
  • Calendar view to easily see monthly reading progress
  • Option to log quantity of books read instead of just time
  • Personalized book recommendations based on reading history
  • Improved syncing and data management across devices

First Book Community

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Beanstack Tracker

No in-app purchases

None

First Book Community

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Beanstack Tracker free?
Beanstack Tracker is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is First Book Community free?
First Book Community is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Beanstack Tracker or First Book Community?
First Book Community is rated higher. Beanstack Tracker averages 4.8 out of 5 from 103K ratings, while First Book Community averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Beanstack Tracker or First Book Community have ads?
Neither Beanstack Tracker nor First Book Community shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Beanstack Tracker or First Book Community?
Beanstack Tracker ships an update every 3 weeks, and First Book Community weekly. Most recently, Beanstack Tracker was updated on November 2, 2026 and First Book Community on October 30, 2026.

Other comparisons