NetGalley Shelf vs Comics Plus
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
NetGalley Shelf
Access and review digital books and audiobooks provided by publishers and authors. Discover new titles, download them for offline reading, or stream audiobooks directly within the app. This platform is designed for book advocates and industry professionals to provide valuable feedback.
- Access digital review copies
- Listen to audiobooks
- Download books for offline reading
- Stream audiobooks
- Discover new titles
- Request and review books
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NetGalley Shelf is a reading and listening app for NetGalley members. NetGalley helps publishers and authors promote digital review copies and audiobooks to book advocates and industry professionals. Publishers make digital review copies and audiobooks available for the NetGalley community to discover, request, read, and review. NetGalley does not sell any content, including books or audiobooks. Each book on NetGalley is provided to specific members by the publisher directly, at no cost to the NetGalley member. Books on the NetGalley site are used for review and promotional purposes only. Users of the NetGalley Shelf app will need to register as NetGalley members on NetGalley.com or NetGalley.co.uk, then all your approved NetGalley books and audiobooks will automatically appear in this app. No need to press Download on the NetGalley website! Reading is easy and convenient using the NetGalley Shelf app. Download approved books for access on the go, or start listening right away with streaming for audiobooks.
Comics Plus
Access thousands of digital comics, graphic novels, manga, and picture books from numerous publishers. Enjoy unlimited reading without wait lists or late fees, and manage your progress across devices. Stream titles online or download them for offline enjoyment.
- Unlimited digital comic access
- No wait lists or borrowing limits
- Cross-device reading progress
- Online streaming and offline downloads
- Diverse publisher selection
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Comics Plus from LibraryPass gives you unlimited access to thousands of digital comics, graphic novels, manga, and picture books from dozens of publishers — exclusively through your school or library. Don’t see your school or library listed? Ask your librarian about #ReadAllTheComics! No wait lists; no borrowing limits; no late fees Manage your shelf and reading progress across devices Maintain your reading progress across devices Stream titles online without using storage space Download titles for offline reading Explore a diverse selection from publishers like ABDO, Andrews McMeel, BOOM! Studios, Capstone, Cherry Lake, Dark Horse, Europe Comics, Fantagraphics, Humanoids, Image Comics, Kodansha, Lerner, Manga Classics, Oni Press, Papercutz, Tokyopop, TOON Books, UDON Entertainment, Yen Press, and dozens more. Comics Plus is created by Joyful Reading Co, where we're dedicated to nurturing a lifelong love of reading through engagement, access, and data-driven insights. Learn more at https://comicsplusapp.com/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Comics Plus at 2.5 against NetGalley Shelf's 2.1. Comics Plus also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 6 months). NetGalley Shelf's advantage is chart position (#153 vs unranked). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and ads 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Comics Plus holds the better App Store score, 2.5 against 2.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 84 and 103 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 20% and 20% positive.
NetGalley Shelf ships an update every 6 months, Comics Plus every 2 months. Both last shipped on October 20, 2026.
| Parameter | NetGalley Shelf | Comics Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.1 (84 ratings) | 2.5 (103 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 19.9% of reviews | 20.4% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 84 | 103 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | #153 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 24 MB | 40 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | NetGalley, LLC | Library Pass, Inc. |
Customer experience
NetGalley Shelf
Comics Plus
User reviews
NetGalley Shelf
From 84 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Works fine for some users
- 👍 Keeps user logged in
- 👍 Audiobooks work well
- 🚀 Able to read ebooks
Room to improve
- 🐛 Narration speed issues
- 🐛 Confusing interface
- 🔒 Login issues
- 🐛 Bookmarks and positions don't sync
- 🐛 No built-in dictionary
Comics Plus
From 103 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 📚 Massive collection of comics and manga
- 💰 Free access with library card
- ✅ Legal and legitimate reading platform
- 🎨 Wide variety of publishers and genres
- 📖 Ability to store unlimited books on shelf
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and force quits
- ⏳ Extremely slow loading times
- 🔍 Search function broken or non-functional
- 📖 Pages fail to load or display correctly
- ⚫ Black screen issues when opening books
Bugs and requests
NetGalley Shelf
Reported bugs
5 issues- Login issues
- Downloading issues with audiobooks
- Books disappearing from shelf
- Inability to remove expired books
- Inconsistent behavior when opening books
Requested features
7 requests- Add ability to write reviews within the app
- Improve audiobook playback controls
- Add font size adjustment
- Implement dark mode
- Sync reading progress across devices
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Add highlighting and note-taking features
- Improve organization and sorting of books
Comics Plus
Reported bugs
25 issues- Login screen stuck on library selection
- Search returns blank page with no loading indicator
- Shelf fails to load
- Pages crop off at bottom
- Black screen when opening downloaded books
Show 20 moreShow fewer
- App crashes when opening new comics
- Pages display out of sync in horizontal mode
- Duplicate pages appearing consecutively
- Pages loop back to beginning after certain number
- Thumbnail not showing for resume position
- Dialog boxes cut off or positioned incorrectly
- App forgets reading position when resuming
- Vertical view does not work
- iCloud backup size inflates dramatically
- Screen goes black periodically during reading
- Network error despite active connection
- Download progress bar hangs
- Orientation change causes reading position reset
- App switches to different manga unexpectedly
- Popular page items don't load or unavailable
- Shelf deletion when launching from cloud library
- Zoom functionality unresponsive
- Page turning causes visual flash and blur
- Inconsistent page display in 2-page mode
- Home bar overlay obscures content on iPad
Requested features
18 requests- Favorites/bookmarking system with notifications
- Auto-download while using other apps
- Auto-mark books as finished
- Better search with pagination and page jumping
- Dark mode option
Show 13 moreShow fewer
- Right-to-left reading for manga
- Folder organization for shelf
- Reading history tracking
- Series completion indicators
- Next book in series recommendations
- Auto zoom feature for reading
- Smooth page transition animations
- Ability to manually move books to completion status
- App status/server status page
- Better content filtering and sorting options
- Rating system for comics
- Chapter bookmarks
- Customizable reading settings
In-app purchases
NetGalley Shelf
No in-app purchases
Comics Plus
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is NetGalley Shelf free?
Is Comics Plus free?
Which has better reviews, NetGalley Shelf or Comics Plus?
Do NetGalley Shelf or Comics Plus have ads?
Which is updated more often, NetGalley Shelf or Comics Plus?
Other comparisons
