The Comic Book Reader vs BookSavr Comic & Manga Reader
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
The Comic Book Reader
Organize and read your digital comic book collection with custom-designed bookshelves. Import comics and other items, then arrange them freely with a drag-and-drop system. Customize the appearance of your shelves and individual items for a personalized reading experience.
- Custom digital bookshelves
- Drag-and-drop item placement
- Template editor for customization
- Supports PDF, CBZ, ZIP files
- Organize with built-in file browser
- Import via Drag&Drop or iTunes
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Don't just read your comic books. Create your own digital comic bookshelves. Take your collection out of their folders and place them inside your own, uniquely designed racks to gape and read them. This app is perfect for you if you want to read comic books and/or have a place to visibly store all your digital comic books. The Comic Book Reader lets you freely design your own bookshelves and customize them down to the last detail. Main Features • Comic book reader • Create your own digital bookshelves and fill them with your imported comic books or other types of things • Custom-made drag and drop system that allows you to freely move and place items and rows where ever you want • There are many types of items you can place inside your rack (more will come) •• Create titles, color blocks, notes items, separators, etc. •• You can even put a rack inside a rack to play Inception • Every item can be customized • Template editor: Create and assign templates to your items that change their looks • Every comic book can be placed in as many racks as you want (each comic book item inside a rack has its own reading progress) • Set page ranges on your comic book items to only include the pages you want •• e.g. you can break a volume into their underlying issues • Supports PDF, CBZ, and ZIP comic book files (more will come) • Import all your comic books via Drag&Drop or iTunes File Sharing • Organize your collection using the app's built-in file browser The app is continuously being improved and there are many more things to come in the future! If you have any questions, ideas or if you have found bugs or glitches, please contact me: d3mueller@me.com!
BookSavr Comic & Manga Reader
Manage your personal comic, manga, and book collection with this self-hosted library hub. Stream your media instantly from your Windows Server to native client apps on Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Enjoy a customizable reader with features like double-page spreads and multi-color bookmarking.
- Self-hosted library hub
- Stream media from Windows Server
- Native client apps for Mac, iPhone, iPad
- Customizable reader engine
- Double-page spread support
- Multi-color bookmarking
- Local network streaming
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The Ultimate Free, Self-Hosted Reading Sanctuary. Meet BookSavr—A client hub that puts your entire comic, manga, and book library at your fingertips. Stream terabytes of your favorite media instantly from your own home server to native, polished client apps on Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Why BookSavr? 100% Free & Private: No subscriptions, no cloud space limits, and zero data collection. Flexible Formats: Support for CBZ/CBR comic archives, PDFs, e-books, and even PDF sheet music. Customizable Reader: Tailored for double-page spreads, vertical scroll mode, custom color UI, and advanced bookmarking. Read & Write Sync: Easily sync reading progress, collection updates, and bookmarks back to your server. Easy Server Setup: Host your own library server on Windows, Mac, or Linux using our lightweight Electron app. Set it up in minutes on your local network or connect remotely via VPN/Tailscale.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: BookSavr Comic & Manga Reader at 5.0 against The Comic Book Reader's 1.0. BookSavr Comic & Manga Reader also leads on device support (3 vs 1). The Comic Book Reader's advantage is iOS requirement (11.0 vs 26.5). On price, ratings volume, 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
BookSavr Comic & Manga Reader holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 1.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 1 respectively.
The Comic Book Reader ships an update every 2 weeks, BookSavr Comic & Manga Reader every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | The Comic Book Reader | BookSavr Comic & Manga Reader |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 1.0 (2 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 2 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Every 11 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 26.5 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 40 MB | 44 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Dennis Mueller | James Locker |
Customer experience
The Comic Book Reader
BookSavr Comic & Manga Reader
In-app purchases
The Comic Book Reader
No in-app purchases
BookSavr Comic & Manga Reader
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is The Comic Book Reader free?
Is BookSavr Comic & Manga Reader free?
Which has better reviews, The Comic Book Reader or BookSavr Comic & Manga Reader?
Do The Comic Book Reader or BookSavr Comic & Manga Reader have ads?
Which is updated more often, The Comic Book Reader or BookSavr Comic & Manga Reader?
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