Comparison

Literal vs Bookworm Reads

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

Head to head
About

Literal

This app transforms reading into an engaging group chat experience. It presents books with profile pictures and speech bubbles, making it easy to follow conversations. Users can read alone or invite friends to discuss books in real-time.

Highlights
  • Group chat reading format
  • Interactive book discussions
  • Invite friends to read together
  • Track reading progress
  • Access classic and modern titles
  • Suitable for educators
Features
Read full description

Wish you read more books? Literal is what would happen if your favorite messaging app and ebook app had a baby. We make the books you love even more addictive. Literal lets you read the world's best content (Books) in the world's most engaging format (Group Chat). Read for Free or upgrade to access even more books! Read like you chat and Never get lost or confused in a story again. Literal adds profile pictures and speech bubbles to an author’s original text. This makes it super simple to understand who is speaking and what they said. Even if you're an excellent reader. Literal delivers books in a format that will keep you more engaged throughout the entire book! Start a book group and read together. Invite your friends to join a book with you the same way that you would invite them to a group chat. See where everyone is in the story, chat, laugh, and comment. Together. Browse or binge – the choice is yours. No time to read? No problem. At home or on the go, Literal makes it easy. Browse or binge through our library of titles whenever and wherever you want. Unlike other chat fiction apps, Literal lets you read real books. This makes it ideal for English teachers, ELA instructors and literacy educators to provide an alternative reading format to students who need a modern way to read. Read classics like Shakespeare, pride and Prejudice and Alice in Wonderland. Or Enjoy modern tiles from our publishing partners.

About

Bookworm Reads

Track your reading, connect with friends, and join a vibrant community of book lovers. Organize your library, discover new titles, and participate in reading challenges. Customize your unique worm avatar and share your literary journey.

Highlights
  • Track and categorize books
  • Create custom bookshelves
  • See friends' reading activity
  • Rate, review, and discuss books
  • Create and join book clubs
  • Participate in reading challenges
  • Customize worm avatar
Features
Read full description

Bookworm Reads is a book tracker & joyful community app. On Bookworm, you can track your books, see what your friends are reading, rate, review, and discuss books, create and join book clubs, and be a part of a vibrant digital community of readers. We're like Goodreads but for the girls, gays, and theys. Plus, you get to be a worm. Discover new books to save to your library, create your own customizable bookshelves, send and receive book recommendations from friends, and join community reading challenges. The best part of all: dress up your wormy avatar from a variety of outfits, hats, accessories, and more! Import your Goodreads data: Say goodbye to Amazon-owned Goodreads, and keep your bookshelves just as you left them. Import from Goodreads and start using Bookworm. Simple, beautiful, book tracking. Track & categorize your books into bookshelves: books you want to read, have read, are currently reading. Plus, create your own custom bookshelves. Your 5-star club, books you DNF (did not finish), abandoned, repeat reads; whatever your heart desires. Add as many shelves as you want--no power-tools required. Join community reading challenges. Set a reading goal for yourself and let your friends cheer you on. The number of books you set as your goal is only visible to you. Upon joining, you get the option to give your wormy a badge to show you're participating in the community challenge. And, you can edit your goal number as the challenge continues. Share book recommendations. Send recommendations to friends and get them in return. Get notified whenever someone starts reading the book you recommended, and check out their review when they finish. All books recommended to you get saved to a bookshelf so you'll never lose them. Create, organize, and join book clubs. Find like-minded readers and host discussions in the app. You can create collaborative shelves, where everyone in the club can add to your shared to-read shelf, or you can do the choosing and let readers to follow along. Get started by joining Thee Bookworm Book Club--the Bookworm-wide club. Dress up your wormy avatar. Hands down the best feature on Bookworm Reads: dress up your wormy avatar! Choose from outfits, wigs, accessories, and more to keep your wormy as fresh as you are. Get creative, and change your outfit as much as you want! You can also buy a real life bookworm bookmark + sticker pack to keep your books adorned with Bookworm swag. Social sharing included. Share books to your instagram story with pre-made, gorgeous backgrounds. You can tweet, text, email, or whatever kind of sharing you'd like with everything on Bookworm. From books, to posts, to your wormy's outfit, share on whatever platform is your favorite. Features: • track & categorize your books into bookshelves: books you want to read, have read, are currently reading • plus, create your own custom book categories. for example, create a bookshelf for books you couldn't finish, or your favorite books you want everyone to read • join reading challenges: set a goal for yourself and get that lil dopamine hit every time you finish a book • recommend books to friends and get notified when they read your suggestion • organize your book club: set your books, your next meeting info, and host discussion in your club • discover new clubs: join one of the many public book clubs to find new reading buddies • design your wormy's outfit • share all of this to social media • import from Goodreads, Storygraph, Libib, or wherever you track your books. No need to start over! Bring your Goodreads/Storygraph data right into Bookworm. Download Bookworm Reads, create your wormy, and join the community!

Screenshots

Literal4 screens
Bookworm Reads4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Literal at none against Bookworm Reads's 2. Literal also leads on review sentiment (94% vs 77%) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.1). Bookworm Reads's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 20 months) and ratings volume (1.1K vs 33). On price, rating, ads 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. Bookworm Reads sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Literal asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Literal against 4.8 for Bookworm Reads. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bookworm Reads has 1.1K ratings behind it against 33, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 94% of Literal's written reviews are positive against 77% of Bookworm Reads's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Literal ships an update every 20 months, Bookworm Reads every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Literal versus Bookworm Reads: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLiteralBookworm Reads
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (33 ratings) — better4.8 (1.1K ratings)
Positive reviews94.1% of reviews — better77.3% of reviews
Number of ratings331.1K — better
Update frequencyEvery 20 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size9 MB59 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperLiteral LLCBookworm Reads CLUB

Customer experience

Literal

All ratings32 ratings
Positive96.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative3.1%
Written reviews17 reviews
Positive94.1%
Neutral0.0%
Negative5.9%

Bookworm Reads

All ratings1,061 ratings
Positive95.3%
Neutral2.6%
Negative2.1%
Written reviews88 reviews
Positive77.3%
Neutral9.1%
Negative13.6%

Bugs and requests

Literal

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Bookworm Reads

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Inability to permanently delete user profiles
  • Signup process issues with 'Accept' button not working
  • Inconsistent display of book covers and information
  • Frequent crashes and app freezes
  • Syncing issues with imported book data

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add ability to track reading progress
  • Improve accessibility for visually impaired users
  • Introduce more customization options for user profiles
  • Expand search capabilities to include more book details
  • Integrate with other popular book platforms

In-app purchases

None

Literal

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Bookworm Reads

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Subscription14 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Yearly subscription14 Days trial$49.991 Year

Questions

Is Literal free?
Literal is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Bookworm Reads free?
Bookworm Reads is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Literal or Bookworm Reads?
Literal is rated higher. Literal averages 4.8 out of 5 from 33 ratings, while Bookworm Reads averages 4.8 from 1.1K ratings.
Do Literal or Bookworm Reads have ads?
Neither Literal nor Bookworm Reads shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Literal or Bookworm Reads?
Literal ships an update every 20 months, and Bookworm Reads every 3 weeks. Most recently, Literal was updated on October 26, 2026 and Bookworm Reads on October 25, 2026.

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