NetGalley Shelf vs Tome Player
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.
Tome Player
Listen to audiobooks with this application that connects to your existing library. It also offers an optional book club feature to share reading experiences with friends.
- Audiobook listening
- Integrates with audio book shelf
- Optional book club feature
- Social sharing for friends
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Fun app for listening to audio books. Integrates with audio book shelf and has an optional book club feature for friends.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Tome Player at 100% against NetGalley Shelf's 20%. Tome Player also leads on rating (3.7 vs 2.1) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 6 months). NetGalley Shelf's advantage is ratings volume (87 vs 3) and chart position (#166 vs unranked). 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.
Tome Player holds the better App Store score, 3.7 against 2.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: NetGalley Shelf has 87 ratings behind it against 3, 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 100% of Tome Player's.
NetGalley Shelf ships an update every 6 months, Tome Player fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | NetGalley Shelf | Tome Player |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.1 (87 ratings) | 3.7 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 19.9% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 87 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | #166 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 24 MB | 13 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | NetGalley, LLC | Brella Health LLC |
Customer experience
NetGalley Shelf
Tome Player
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
Tome Player
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
NetGalley Shelf
No in-app purchases
Tome Player
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is NetGalley Shelf free?
Is Tome Player free?
Which has better reviews, NetGalley Shelf or Tome Player?
Do NetGalley Shelf or Tome Player have ads?
Which is updated more often, NetGalley Shelf or Tome Player?
Other comparisons
