NetGalley Shelf vs OBC Reader
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.
OBC Reader
Access a library of ePub2 books, download free titles from a community collection, and enjoy private books for members. Features include copy-paste, bookmarking, and text search for an enhanced reading experience.
- Read ePub2 books
- Download free books
- Community library access
- Private member books
- Copy-paste text
- Bookmarks
- Text search
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You can read books, download free books from the community library, and private books for Online Book Club members. This first version supports ePub2 format books in English. The e-reader allows copy-paste, bookmarks, and text search.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: OBC Reader at 78% against NetGalley Shelf's 20%. OBC Reader also leads on rating (2.8 vs 2.1) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 6 months). NetGalley Shelf's advantage is chart position (#179 vs unranked) and ratings volume (82 vs 10). 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
OBC Reader holds the better App Store score, 2.8 against 2.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: NetGalley Shelf has 82 ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 20% of NetGalley Shelf's written reviews are positive against 78% of OBC Reader's.
NetGalley Shelf ships an update every 6 months, OBC Reader every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and June 2, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | NetGalley Shelf | OBC Reader |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.1 (82 ratings) | 2.8 (10 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 20.0% of reviews | 77.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 82 — better | 10 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | #179 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 24 MB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | NetGalley, LLC | OnlineBookClub.org LLC |
Customer experience
NetGalley Shelf
OBC Reader
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
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- Add highlighting and note-taking features
- Improve organization and sorting of books
OBC Reader
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
NetGalley Shelf
No in-app purchases
OBC Reader
No in-app purchases
