Bookshelf vs Bookjournal.app
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Bookshelf
Organize your book collection with virtual shelves and tags. Track reading progress, set goals, and manage your TBR list. Discover new books, share recommendations, and connect with friends' reading journeys.
- Virtual bookshelves and tags
- ISBN barcode scanner
- Reading progress tracking
- TBR wishlist management
- Social reading profiles
- Book statistics and insights
- OCR text scanning for quotes
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Organize book collection by creating virtual shelves and tags. Track your reading progress and set reading goals to stay motivated. Manage a wishlist of books that you want to read (TBR). Discover great new reads: rate, review and share book recommendations. Create your own social profile and allow friends to follow your reading journey. ORGANIZE YOUR BOOKS - Catalog books using fast and easy to use ISBN barcode scanner - Batch scanner option allows to rapidly scan multiple books at once - Books can be added using search functionality (title/author/ISBN) - Old and rare books can be added manually - Import books from a CSV file generated by other popular book apps - Import books from Goodreads CREATE SHELVES AND TAGS - Organize books by creating virtual bookshelves and tags - Use search functionality to quickly find books on your shelves - Sort your books by title, author, number of pages, publication date, etc. - Use filters to display books matching your criteria - Track your lent and borrowed books - Add information about your book purchases - Organize books by series and volumes - Create personal notes or add other useful information - Add quotes by simply scanning the text with our OCR reader - Multiple book selection; apply batch operations - Grid view available - Dark theme available SET CUSTOM READING GOALS - Create annual reading goals to stay motivated - Define custom date range goals and share them with your friends TRACK YOUR READING - Log how many pages you have read so far and when did you start and finished reading a book - You can record multiple readings for each book SEE WHAT YOUR FRIENDS ARE READING - Create your own reading social profile - Allow your followers to see your last read books, wishlist and reading goals DISCOVER NEW BOOKS - Discover bestselling books in different categories - Share your favorite books with your friends on social media VIEW YOUR STATISTICS - Rich statistics about your books, purchase, reading progress, ratings, top authors, top categories etc. MANAGE YOUR WISHLIST - Maintain a wishlist of books that you want to read - Book price tracking and price alerts available in some countries RATE AND REVIEW - Help others to discover great books and find books for yourself - Rate books with 5 star rating (half-star ratings available) - Read book reviews from others and leave your own opinion NEVER LOSE YOUR DATA - Your data is securely stored on our servers and it's linked to your account - If you change your device/platform, you just need to log back in with your username - You can export data to a CSV file to create your own backup - You can export your data as HTML web page for easy printing with cover images BOOKSHELF PRO PLANS - Bookshelf is free to download and use for up to 100 books - Bookshelf Pro removes the 100-book limit and unlocks other advanced features - Bookshelf Pro includes a 7-day free trial period after which you can choose between monthly, annual or lifetime plans OTHER NOTES - This is an app to organize your books and to track your reading - Reading is not available within this app FOLLOW US Stay in touch for new features and improvements - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bookshelfconcept/ - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookshelfapp/ FEEDBACK AND SUGGESTIONS bookshelf.concept@gmail.com https://www.bookshelfapp.info * Privacy policy: https://www.bookshelfapp.info/privacy-policy.html * Terms of service: https://www.bookshelfapp.info/terms-of-use.html
Bookjournal.app
Easily log books you've read, record ratings, thoughts, and notes. Enhance your entries with stickers and share your favorite reads with others. This app offers a convenient digital alternative to traditional reading journals.
- Track read books
- Record ratings and notes
- Add stickers to entries
- Share favorite books
- Digital reading journal
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Keep track of all the books you've read, capture your ratings, thoughts and notes, add stickers and more. Share your favorite books with family, friends and colleagues. As avid readers, we craved a seamless way to journal, track, and share our literary experiences. Traditional journaling, though enjoyable, can be tedious and time-consuming. We wanted our journals accessible anytime, anywhere - from waiting rooms to school pick-ups. That's why we built BookJournal.app. Join us for an effortless and enjoyable reading journey! Link to our End User License Agreement: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Bookshelf at 94% against Bookjournal.app's 45%. Bookshelf also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.5) and ratings volume (3.1K vs 250). Bookjournal.app's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (weekly vs every 2 weeks). On price, in-app purchases, 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
Both are free to download. Bookshelf sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Bookjournal.app sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Bookshelf holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bookshelf has 3.1K ratings behind it against 250, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 94% of Bookshelf's written reviews are positive against 45% of Bookjournal.app's.
Bookshelf ships an update every 2 weeks, Bookjournal.app weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Bookshelf | Bookjournal.app |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (3.1K ratings) — better | 4.5 (250 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 93.7% of reviews — better | 44.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 3.1K — better | 250 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Weekly — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #152 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 80 MB | 36 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | SquidBit d.o.o. | Rowan Trollope |
Customer experience
Bookshelf
Bookjournal.app
User reviews
Bookshelf
From 3.1K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use
- 🚀 Batch scanning feature
- 📚 Excellent for organizing book collections
- 💰 Free app with no limits
- 🔍 Helpful for avoiding book duplicates
Room to improve
- 🔍 Search function could be improved
- 🔢 Inability to add multiple copies of the same book
- 📷 Limited cover image options for some books
Bookjournal.app
From 250 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 User-friendly interface
- 💡 Half-star rating option
- 📚 Good for tracking reading progress
- ✨ Customizable features
- 📖 Great for organizing books
Room to improve
- 🐛 Deleted books reappear
- 🐛 Goodreads import issues
- 🐛 Incorrect book info
- 🐛 App crashes frequently
- 🐛 App won't open/stay open
Bugs and requests
Bookshelf
Reported bugs
2 issues- Occasional issues with scanning barcodes
- Trouble accessing app after account creation
Requested features
4 requests- Ability to organize books by author and series
- Option to filter statistics by bookshelf
- Manual page count entry
- Borrowing/lending tracking system
Bookjournal.app
Reported bugs
18 issues- Deleted books reappear
- Goodreads import does not work
- Incorrect book titles/covers after import
- Duplicate books
- App crashes
Show 13 moreShow fewer
- App won't open or stay open
- Error message when trying to cancel
- Messages marked as undeliverable on Discord
- Journal entries not saving or updating
- App refuses to open since update
- Books disappear after adding
- App not working after transfer
- Cannot add and save books read
- Reading goal reverts to 50
- No connection on home screen
- No results for searches
- App crashes immediately on opening
- Unable to access rating and date options
Requested features
13 requests- Connect with friends
- Add timer for reading tracking
- More information like a timer
- Audiobooks as a selection
- Add friends
Show 8 moreShow fewer
- Integrate Goodreads list without re-adding
- Fix journal saving/updating
- Fix series organization
- One-time payment option for premium
- More premium features for the price
- Dark mode option
- Improve search functionality
- Fix connection issues
In-app purchases
Bookshelf
- Bookshelf (1 Month)7 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Bookshelf (1 Year)7 Days trial$19.991 Year
- Bookshelf (Lifetime)$59.99
- Bookshelf (Lifetime)$79.99
Bookjournal.app
- Monthly$4.991 Month
- Yearly$49.991 Year
