Comparison

Listy vs Backlog

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

Head to head
About

Listy

Organize and share your favorite movies, books, games, and more. Personalize your lists with custom styles and track what you've consumed. Discover new recommendations from others and keep your personal collections private by default.

Highlights
  • Save and track movies, books, games, and more
  • Personalize lists with custom icons and colors
  • Share lists with others
  • Follow lists from other users
  • Mark items as finished
  • Sync across devices with iCloud
Features
Read full description

Save what you want to watch, read, play or visit. Give every list your own style and share your favorite discoveries whenever you want. Keep movies, TV shows, books, video games, restaurants and links together. Track what you have finished and find your next choice among the things you have saved. YOUR LISTS, YOUR STYLE Personalize your collections with new Listy+ icons and colors. Recognize each list at a glance and make it your own. SHARE YOUR DISCOVERIES Publish the lists you want to share and follow lists from other people. Keep their recommendations close for whenever you need inspiration. SAVE NOW, ENJOY LATER Search by title or add content from other apps. Explore its details, add your own notes and use filters to find what you feel like enjoying next. KEEP TRACK OF WHAT IS NEXT Mark movies as watched, books as read and games as completed. Organize your saved collections and sort them your way. PRIVATE BY DEFAULT Start organizing your personal collections without creating an account. Sync them across your devices with iCloud. You decide which lists to publish; published lists are shared online. Sign in to publish and follow lists. Listy includes free features and additional features with Listy+. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Backlog

Organize all your media, games, and books in one place. This app provides a clean, distraction-free interface to track what you want to watch, play, or read, helping you decide what to tackle next without feeling overwhelmed.

Highlights
  • Organize backlog across categories
  • Quick item addition
  • Track progress (next, completed, on hold)
  • Minimalist interface
  • Distraction-free design
Features
Read full description

One list for the movies, TV shows, games and books you mean to get to. Add anything in a couple of taps, mark it Backlog, In progress or Done, and pick up where you left off. TV THAT KEEPS YOUR PLACE • Season and episode progress for every show • Tap +1 on an episode, or mark a whole season watched • A notification at 6pm your time when a show you watch has a new episode or season RATE AND REVIEW • Rate anything from half a star to five • Write a short review, up to 500 characters, public or private • Spoiler warnings, likes, and the option to report or block FIND SOMETHING NEW • Trending movies and TV, popular games, the most played and best new games on Steam, and New York Times bestsellers • Title pages with cast, trailers, seasons and where to watch in the UK MADE FOR iPHONE • Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets, including Up Next • Siri and Shortcuts • Add from Safari, IMDb or Letterboxd links with the Share sheet • Light and dark mode, with your choice of either or the system setting YOUR LIBRARY, YOUR DATA • Import your Letterboxd or Goodreads export, or any CSV • Export your whole Backlog as JSON or CSV • Stats, a yearly goal and ranks as you finish things • An optional public profile to share your reviews and your watch/play/read history • Your library syncs with usebacklog.app on the web Backlog is completely free. No ads, no tracking, no data harvesting. Absolutely 100% free - No limitations/restrictions/etc/etc/etc Movie and TV data from TMDB. Game data from RAWG and Steam. Book data from Open Library, Google Books and The New York Times.

Screenshots

Listy4 screens
Backlog4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Backlog at 5.0 against Listy's 4.6. Listy's advantage is ratings volume (485 vs 2) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months). 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. Listy sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Backlog sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Backlog holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Listy has 485 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Listy ships an update every 2 weeks, Backlog every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Listy versus Backlog: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterListyBacklog
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (485 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews60.1% of reviews—
Number of ratings485 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.626.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size174 MB13 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperIsmael Gonzalez-Nicolas y CanalCURTIS TAYLOR

Customer experience

Listy

All ratings485 ratings
Positive89.5%
Neutral4.1%
Negative6.4%
Written reviews178 reviews
Positive60.1%
Neutral14.6%
Negative25.3%

Backlog

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Listy

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Inability to add items to lists
  • Disappearing list data after updates
  • Unresponsive UI elements
  • Incorrect metadata display
  • Sync issues between devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to create custom lists
  • Improved sorting and filtering options
  • Collaborative list sharing
  • Reminders and notifications
  • More customization options

Backlog

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Listy

Subscriptions7
  • Pay monthly$1.991 Month
  • Pay weekly$1.997 Days
  • Pay monthly1 Month trial$2.991 Month
Show 4 more
  • Listy+ Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Pay yearly1 Month trial$9.991 Year
  • Pay yearly$10.991 Year
  • Listy+ Yearly$24.991 Year
One-time3
  • Lifetime 50%$14.99
  • Lifetime$39.99
  • Listy+ Lifetime$79.99
4 purchases

Backlog

One-time4
  • Small Tip$0.99
  • Medium Tip!$2.99
  • Large Tip$4.99
Show 1 more
  • Huge Tip$9.99

Questions

Is Listy free?
Listy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Backlog free?
Backlog is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Listy or Backlog?
Backlog is rated higher. Listy averages 4.6 out of 5 from 485 ratings, while Backlog averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Listy or Backlog have ads?
Neither Listy nor Backlog shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Listy or Backlog?
Listy ships an update every 2 weeks, and Backlog every 2 months. Most recently, Listy was updated on November 7, 2026 and Backlog on October 31, 2026.

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