Comparison

Bookshelf vs Personal Library

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

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

About

Personal Library

Features
Read full description

Your whole book collection, finally organized — including Romanian editions other apps can't find. Personal Library turns your phone into an ISBN scanner for your bookshelf. Scan a book's barcode and it's cataloged in seconds: cover, title, author, publisher, translator and page count filled in automatically. No more duplicate purchases, no more "do I already own this?" SCAN YOUR HOME LIBRARY IN MINUTES Point the camera at the barcode and the book is on your shelf. Cataloging hundreds of books has never been this fast. FINDS THE BOOKS OTHERS MISS Details come from several sources, including Romanian publishers and bookshops, so Romanian and hard-to-find editions are filled in too. One button fills the gaps across your whole library. AI LOOKUP WHEN THE CATALOGS COME UP EMPTY When a book isn't in any catalog, AI lookup searches bookshop websites and fills in the details, the cover, a description and the author's biography — only from pages it can cite. Turn it on automatically in Settings; each search uses one AI credit. BRING YOUR LIBRARY WITH YOU Already use Goodreads or StoryGraph? Import your export file: shelves become lists, and your ratings and reviews come along. You can export your full library at any time. ORGANIZE THE WAY YOU THINK Shelves, lists and series. Mark what you own, track what you've read, what you're reading and what's next. AI SUMMARIES Ask for a recap with the ending, or a spoiler-free overview, in English or Romanian. SHARE WITH ANYONE Send a shelf, a list or a series as a link. It opens in any browser, no account needed. ALWAYS IN SYNC Your library is backed up and synced across your phone, tablet and the web. PLANS Personal Library is free to start. Plus and Pro unlock larger libraries and more features, and AI credit packs power the AI searches and summaries. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the period; manage them in your App Store account settings. Great for collectors cataloging a home library, readers tracking their TBR, and anyone who wants an ISBN scanner and book catalog in one.

Screenshots

Bookshelf4 screens
Personal Library4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Personal Library at none against Bookshelf's 4. Personal Library also leads on ads (none vs shown). Bookshelf's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 3 months) and chart position (#142 vs unranked). On price 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. Bookshelf sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Personal Library asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Bookshelf ships an update every 2 weeks, Personal Library every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Bookshelf versus Personal Library: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBookshelfPersonal Library
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (3.1K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews93.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings3.1K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 3 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
Best chart rank#142 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.1 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size80 MB26 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperSquidBit d.o.o.Inadcod SRL

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

Personal Library

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Bookshelf

Subscriptions2
  • Bookshelf (1 Month)7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Bookshelf (1 Year)7 Days trial$19.991 Year
One-time2
  • Bookshelf (Lifetime)$59.99
  • Bookshelf (Lifetime)$79.99
None

Personal Library

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Bookshelf free?
Bookshelf is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Personal Library free?
Personal Library is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Bookshelf or Personal Library have ads?
Bookshelf shows ads; Personal Library does not.
Which is updated more often, Bookshelf or Personal Library?
Bookshelf ships an update every 2 weeks, and Personal Library every 3 months. Most recently, Bookshelf was updated on October 29, 2026 and Personal Library on October 24, 2026.

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