Comparison

Book Tracker vs Hardcover.app

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

Head to head
About

Book Tracker

Capture, organize, and revisit key passages from your books with advanced text recognition. Create collections, add tags and notes, and easily export your highlights. Stop forgetting what you read and make your reading more impactful.

Highlights
  • Text recognition
  • Book collections
  • Tags and notes
  • Highlight export
  • Page number detection
  • Search functionality
  • Photo highlighting
Features
Read full description

Remember more of what you read. Turn the passages that matter into a personal library you can search, revisit, and share. Point your camera at a book page, select the text, and save it with your notes, tags, and page number. Keep your books organized, return to favorite ideas with reminders and widgets, and recap a book’s core ideas from your own highlights with Apple Intelligence. CAPTURE • Capture text with your camera or from photos in your library • Select sentences and paragraphs with smart text recognition • Automatically select text you’ve highlighted or underlined in a book • Save multiple highlights from a page at once • Detect page numbers and scan ISBN barcodes to add books • Import highlights from Kindle or CSV files • Import your book library from Goodreads or other CSV files • Drag and drop images to capture highlights on iPad ORGANIZE • Build your personal bookshelf with collections and reading status • Group highlights into chapters and browse them in reading order • Add notes, tags, page numbers, and favorites • Add emphasis with bold, italics, underline, and strikethrough • Find relevant tags faster with smart suggestions • Search your highlights and filter by book, collection, or tag REVISIT • Recap a book’s core ideas from your highlights with Apple Intelligence • Rediscover saved passages with recurring highlight reminders • Keep highlights on your Home Screen with widgets • Start highlighting with Siri Shortcuts • Capture and browse your highlights offline SHARE & EXPORT • Share highlights as beautiful quote cards • Publish a book’s highlights as a web page anyone can read • Export one book or your whole library • Choose PDF, Markdown, CSV, RTF, or plain text • Include notes, tags, and page numbers in your exports FREE TO START Capture and organize unlimited books and highlights for free. Highlighted+ adds automatic selection of marked text, Apple Intelligence recaps, Kindle and CSV highlight import, whole-library export, custom reminders, and more. Apple Intelligence features depend on device, language, and system availability. Selected as Apple’s App of the Day 6 times. Trusted by 160,000+ readers. ABOUT ME I'm Damir, an independent creator from Europe who loves to read. Say hello at damir.stuhec@gmail.com Privacy Policy: https://highlighted-app.webflow.io/terms-and-policies#privacy-policy-heading Terms: https://highlighted-app.webflow.io/terms-and-policies#terms-of-service-heading

About

Hardcover.app

This app helps you organize and discover books. Track what you've read, create custom lists, and see what friends are reading. Set reading goals and share your thoughts on books.

Highlights
  • Track read and to-read books
  • Organize with lists and tags
  • See friends' reading activity
  • Discover trending books
  • Rate and review books
  • Set reading goals
  • Track reading statistics
Features
Read full description

Hardcover is a book tracking app with a social side, built for readers, not algorithms. Add books you’ve read or want to read. Keep your library tidy with lists and tags. See what your friends are reading, explore trending picks, and discover hidden gems through curated lists. Rate, review, and share your thoughts. Make your profile public, private, or friends-only—your reading, your rules. Set goals, track your stats, and find your reading rhythm. We use Apple's standard Terms of Service (EULA). https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Book Tracker4 screens
Hardcover.app4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Book Tracker at 4.9 against Hardcover.app's 4.2. Book Tracker also leads on review sentiment (93% vs 52%) and update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 6 months). Hardcover.app's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.4). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Book Tracker sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Hardcover.app sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Book Tracker holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Book Tracker has 750 ratings behind it against 66, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 93% of Book Tracker's written reviews are positive against 52% of Hardcover.app's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Book Tracker ships an update every 5 weeks, Hardcover.app every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Book Tracker versus Hardcover.app: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBook TrackerHardcover.app
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (750 ratings) — better4.2 (66 ratings)
Positive reviews92.8% of reviews — better52.2% of reviews
Number of ratings750 — better66
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeks — betterEvery 6 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.415.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size72 MB6 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperDamir StuhecHardcover LLC

Customer experience

Book Tracker

All ratings748 ratings
Positive96.7%
Neutral1.7%
Negative1.6%
Written reviews361 reviews
Positive92.8%
Neutral3.9%
Negative3.3%

Hardcover.app

All ratings66 ratings
Positive72.7%
Neutral15.2%
Negative12.1%
Written reviews46 reviews
Positive52.2%
Neutral21.7%
Negative26.1%

Bugs and requests

Book Tracker

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Occasional crashes or freezes
  • Issues with recognizing text from curved pages
  • Problems with losing previously saved highlights

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add ability to highlight and annotate PDFs
  • Integrate with ebook readers like Kindle
  • Implement cloud sync and backup
  • Add more customization options for highlights
  • Improve search and filtering functionality

Hardcover.app

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Book Tracker

Subscriptions3
  • Highlighted Club Monthly$2.991 Month
  • plus weekly$4.997 Days
  • plus yearly3 Days trial$44.991 Year
One-time3
  • Small tip$9.00
  • Medium tip$25.00
  • Large tip$49.00
2 purchases

Hardcover.app

Subscriptions2
  • Supporter - Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Supporter - Yearly$49.991 Year

Questions

Is Book Tracker free?
Book Tracker is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Hardcover.app free?
Hardcover.app is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Book Tracker or Hardcover.app?
Book Tracker is rated higher. Book Tracker averages 4.9 out of 5 from 750 ratings, while Hardcover.app averages 4.2 from 66 ratings.
Do Book Tracker or Hardcover.app have ads?
Neither Book Tracker nor Hardcover.app shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Book Tracker or Hardcover.app?
Book Tracker ships an update every 5 weeks, and Hardcover.app every 6 months. Most recently, Book Tracker was updated on November 2, 2026 and Hardcover.app on October 30, 2026.

Other comparisons