NetGalley Shelf vs COOL Catalog
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.
COOL Catalog
Access a shared library catalog to search for books, place holds, and renew loans. You can also access ebooks and eaudio. A library card from a participating member library is required to use the app.
- Search shared library catalog
- Place holds on books
- Renew loans
- Access ebooks
- Access eaudio
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Download the COOL Libraries app to search the shared library catalog of the Consortium of Ohio Libraries. Search books, place holds, renew loans, and access ebooks and eaudio. To use this app, you need a library card at a participating member library.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: COOL Catalog at 3.0 against NetGalley Shelf's 2.1. COOL Catalog also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 6 months). NetGalley Shelf's advantage is ratings volume (87 vs 1) and review sentiment (20% vs 0%). 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.
COOL Catalog holds the better App Store score, 3.0 against 2.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: NetGalley Shelf has 87 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 20% of NetGalley Shelf's written reviews are positive against 0% of COOL Catalog's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
NetGalley Shelf ships an update every 6 months, COOL Catalog every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | NetGalley Shelf | COOL Catalog |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.1 (87 ratings) | 3.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 19.9% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 87 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | #172 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 24 MB | 44 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | NetGalley, LLC | Equinox Open Library Initiative, Inc. |
Customer experience
NetGalley Shelf
COOL Catalog
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
COOL Catalog
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
NetGalley Shelf
No in-app purchases
COOL Catalog
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is NetGalley Shelf free?
Is COOL Catalog free?
Which has better reviews, NetGalley Shelf or COOL Catalog?
Do NetGalley Shelf or COOL Catalog have ads?
Which is updated more often, NetGalley Shelf or COOL Catalog?
Other comparisons
