Comparison

Buks vs Open Library Reader

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

Head to head
About

Buks

Access over 60,000 free ebooks across many languages. Discover new titles with intuitive search and AI-generated cover art. Send books directly to your Kindle or other readers, or read them within the app.

Highlights
  • 60,000+ free ebooks
  • AI-generated cover art
  • Send to Kindle
  • EPUB and MOBI download
  • In-app ebook reader
  • Dark mode
Features
Read full description

Get instant access to more than 60 000 free ebooks. Send ebooks directly to your Kindle or other ebook readers. Save books to your library and share them with your friends. Discover new books by using our intuitive search or by finding new gems among your favourites. By using the latest breakthroughs in generative AI, we were able to breathe new life into more than 30 000 ebooks lacking cover art. APP HIGHLIGHTS * Discover new books using our intuitive search function * Filter and sort lists of books to find the one you like * Send ebooks to Kindle with one tap * Download EPUB and MOBI versions of every book * We created 30 000 new covers using the latest generative AI technology * Save books to your library and access them at any time * Share books with your friends * Read books directly in our app with our ebook reader * Use our dark mode if our default white is too bright for you * All ebooks in our app are 100% free for you to use * Disable all ads if you want to be more efficient OVER 60 000 FREE BOOKS Our extensive library contains more than 60 000 free ebooks in 67 languages for you to discover download and share. We have all the classics and countless categories. Some of the authors we feature: * Jane Austen * Mary Shelley * Lewis Carroll * Jonathan Swift * Arthur Conan Doyle * Bernard Shaw * Mark Twain * Charlotte Brontë * Charles Dickens * William Shakespeare * Edgar Allan Poe * Oscar Wilde * Fyodor Dostoevsky * Leo Tolstoy * James Joyce * W.B. Yeats * Franz Kafka * Friedrich Nietzsche * Voltaire * Homer * Plato And many more! We’re constantly trying to improve the experience for our users. Feel free to contact us if you run into any issues with the app, with an ebook or if you’re missing a feature. feedback@buksapp.com

About

Open Library Reader

Access and read millions of books from an online library. Organize your reading lists, track borrowed books, and discover related titles within a familiar reading interface. Requires an internet connection.

Highlights
  • Browse and check out millions of books
  • Track reading progress and wishlists
  • Built-in search and related title discovery
  • Shelf management and edition changes
  • Checkout tracking for borrowed books
  • Customizable reading interface
Features
Read full description

Open Library is an online library with millions of books to browse or check out. You can track the books that you're reading, want to read, etc. and read many of them right there. PLEASE NOTE: This app is an interface to the openlibrary.org web site — if you don't use that site to read books, you may have trouble figuring out what the app is for. I encourage you to familiarize yourself with the site first, and then you'll understand what the app offers. This app is one reader's effort to create the ideal portable experience for taking advantage of Open Library's amazing collection. You'll get the best experience out of this app on an iPad, but you can use it on a smaller screen (if you don't mind squinting). The moment you open the app and log in, any books you've already saved on the Open Library site are laid out on your screen. You can sort them by title, author, publication date, and date saved, see which books are available to read, and open them with a single tap. Once you've opened a book in the familiar reading interface, a tap at the top of the screen will trigger the full screen mode, removing every distraction and expanding the book pages to the limits of your screen for the perfect reading experience. Other features include: - Built-in search: find and add books to your shelves from inside the app. - Shelf management: move books between shelves, remove books, change the edition of a book. - Related title search: choose a book on your shelf and quickly find more books like it. - Checkout tracking: see at a glance how long you have left on limited-access books you've checked out. - Customization: choose which shelves you want to see and manage the size of the books and their titles. This app is essentially an alternative interface to the Open Library site — all of your data is stored there, and the books you read are hosted online, not in the app. As a result, an active internet connection is required when you are using this app. Open Library is an initiative of the Internet Archive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. The developer of this app has no legal or contractual relationship with Open Library or the Internet Archive, and bears no responsibility for the content found there.

Screenshots

Buks4 screens
Open Library Reader1 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Buks at 4.3 against Open Library Reader's 3.1. Buks also leads on review sentiment (67% vs 26%) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months). Open Library Reader's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). On price, in-app purchases and device support 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Buks holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 3.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Open Library Reader has 51 ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 67% of Buks's written reviews are positive against 26% of Open Library Reader's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Buks ships an update every 3 weeks, Open Library Reader every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Buks versus Open Library Reader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBuksOpen Library Reader
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (10 ratings) — better3.1 (51 ratings)
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews — better26.2% of reviews
Number of ratings1051 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS10.0 — better13.0
Further details — not scored
Size259 MB24 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDagda KlGLoomis House, LLC

Customer experience

Buks

All ratings10 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative20.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%

Open Library Reader

All ratings50 ratings
Positive44.0%
Neutral14.0%
Negative42.0%
Written reviews42 reviews
Positive26.2%
Neutral19.0%
Negative54.8%

In-app purchases

None

Buks

No in-app purchases

None

Open Library Reader

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Buks free?
Buks is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Open Library Reader free?
Open Library Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Buks or Open Library Reader?
Buks is rated higher. Buks averages 4.3 out of 5 from 10 ratings, while Open Library Reader averages 3.1 from 51 ratings.
Do Buks or Open Library Reader have ads?
Buks shows ads; Open Library Reader does not.
Which is updated more often, Buks or Open Library Reader?
Buks ships an update every 3 weeks, and Open Library Reader every 2 months. Most recently, Buks was updated on October 24, 2026 and Open Library Reader on October 25, 2026.

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