Comparison

CBETA電子佛典2(非官方) vs Zen

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

Head to head
About

CBETA電子佛典2(非官方)

Access and search a vast collection of Buddhist scriptures with features like offline browsing, text-to-speech, and customizable themes. This unofficial reader utilizes the CBETA API for easy scripture retrieval and offers advanced reading tools.

Highlights
  • Full-text search
  • Offline browsing
  • Voice playback (TTS)
  • Bookmark functionality
  • Customizable themes and fonts
  • Print scripture/copying book
Read full description

* 特色 搜尋目錄、全文檢索、書籤功能、網址分享、離線瀏覽、語音播放、佛學詞典、佈景主題切換、經文分頁、字型調整、楷書字型、直排文字、列印經文/抄經本、無廣告、開放原始碼。 * 介紹 * 可搜尋存取許多知名佛經,如金剛經、楞嚴經、藥師經、阿彌陀經。 * CBETA電子佛典閱讀器第2代(非官方),使用CBETA API存取電子佛經。 * 使用說明與開放原始碼 請參考 https://github.com/MrMYHuang/cbetar2

About

Zen

Features
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With gratitude to Zen teacher Lin Gu-fang for his guidance and teaching. To share the Dharma, all four books are free to read and to hear read aloud, forever, with free translation into English, Japanese, German, French, and Spanish, so that more people around the world may come to know Zen and the good it brings. One quiet shelf, four classics. The Heart Sutra — Xuanzang's Chinese, all 260 characters of it, in the seven sections of Fazang's Tang-dynasty outline. This one is free in full, including every editorial explanation and five-language translation. The Diamond Sutra — Kumārajīva's classical Chinese, 32 chapters, 129 passages. The Dhammapada — a verse anthology in its third-century Chinese translation, 39 chapters, 758 stanzas by the chapter headings' own count. The Platform Sutra — the recorded teaching of Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch of Chan, compiled by his disciple Fahai: the one work written in China that Chinese Buddhism honors with the title "sutra." All four set in a serif face on a quiet, paper-toned page. EDITORIAL EXPLANATIONS — INCLUDED, NOT GENERATED LIVE Every passage in all four books includes a fixed Traditional Chinese editorial text: a faithful rendering, a fluent modern version, and explanations of key Buddhist terms. Where more than one reading is reasonable, the principal reading is retained and the ambiguity is stated. Nothing is added merely to force a doctrinal conclusion. In English, the explanation panel shows the human-edited translation of the passage together with notes on its key terms, translated from the Chinese editorial text with AI assistance and then reviewed — and labeled as such. Everything is included in the app and works offline on any device. FIVE-LANGUAGE TRANSLATION — FREE AND UNLIMITED Read any passage in English, Japanese, German, French, or Spanish. All four books have fixed, human-edited translations — no network and no special device needed. Terms follow each book's own source — Sanskrit for the Diamond Sutra, Pali for the Dhammapada; the Platform Sutra's Chan vocabulary is rendered by sense, never by invented transliteration. EVERY EDITION, FULLY DOCUMENTED The Diamond Sutra's main text follows the Ming–Qing received edition, with all 58 variants against Jiang Weinong's collated edition marked passage by passage — editorial fact. The Dhammapada and the Platform Sutra are built from public-domain texts, proofread character by character. The Heart Sutra takes only the public-domain stream of characters — the punctuation and division are our own — and is checked against the full quotation in chapter 19 of Journey to the West: 260 characters each, differing in exactly one. Every source and every editorial judgment is laid out under About This Edition in each book. READ ALOUD Read one passage, or play a whole chapter or a whole book straight through; stop midway and it picks up where you left off. Uses the iOS system voices — pick yours under Reading Voice in the app's settings. Older devices welcome. DESIGNED WITH RESTRAINT · No ads, no account, no data collection · For iPhone and iPad · No live AI generation anywhere in the app; the origin of the translated term notes is stated on screen BOOK BY BOOK The Heart Sutra is free in full — nothing to buy. Each of the others is subscribed to or bought outright on its own — mix freely; canceling one never affects another. Or unlock all paid books at once. Unlocking a book gives access to all of its fixed editorial explanations; reading, listening, and five-language translation remain free. Each book’s complete explanations can be tried free for seven days from its first opening. Subscriptions are billed to your Apple Account, renew 24 hours before each period ends, and can be canceled anytime in Settings › Apple Account › Subscriptions. Terms of Use (standard EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy policy: https://sayhow.app/diamond May each reading be a moment of turning inward.

Screenshots

CBETA電子佛典2(非官方)4 screens
Zen4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: CBETA電子佛典2(非官方) at none against Zen's 10. CBETA電子佛典2(非官方) also leads on device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (14.5 vs 16.4). Zen's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 7 months). On price 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Zen sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $0.29 per month. CBETA電子佛典2(非官方) asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

CBETA電子佛典2(非官方) ships an update every 7 months, Zen weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
CBETA電子佛典2(非官方) versus Zen: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCBETA電子佛典2(非官方)Zen
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS14.5 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size0 MB19 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMeng-Yuan HuangCHUNG CHENG CHIU

In-app purchases

None

CBETA電子佛典2(非官方)

No in-app purchases

10 purchases

Zen

Subscriptions6
  • Diamond Sutra Monthly$0.291 Month
  • Dhammapada Monthly$0.291 Month
  • Platform Sutra Monthly$0.291 Month
Show 3 more
  • Diamond Sutra Yearly$1.991 Year
  • Dhammapada Yearly$1.991 Year
  • Platform Sutra Yearly$1.991 Year
One-time4
  • Diamond Sutra Lifetime$2.99
  • Dhammapada Lifetime$2.99
  • Platform Sutra Lifetime$2.99
Show 1 more
  • Unlock All Books$5.99

Questions

Is CBETA電子佛典2(非官方) free?
CBETA電子佛典2(非官方) is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Zen free?
Zen is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do CBETA電子佛典2(非官方) or Zen have ads?
Neither CBETA電子佛典2(非官方) nor Zen shows ads.
Which is updated more often, CBETA電子佛典2(非官方) or Zen?
CBETA電子佛典2(非官方) ships an update every 7 months, and Zen weekly. Most recently, CBETA電子佛典2(非官方) was updated on October 22, 2026 and Zen on October 25, 2026.

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