Comparison

Books Reader vs Foliant

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

Head to head
About

Books Reader

This app provides a seamless e-reading experience, managing your ebook collection and offering customizable reading settings. It supports various formats and includes features like bookmarking, note-taking, and a read/unread tracker.

Highlights
  • Supports multiple ebook formats (epub, fb2, mobi, PDF)
  • Manages and organizes ebook collections
  • Customizable text size, color, theme, and brightness
  • Progress tracking and bookmarking
  • Note-taking and excerpt selection
  • Read/unread book tracker
  • Filtering and search functionality
Features
Read full description

Books Reader - its a perfect e-reading experience. Overdrive your reading skills everyday. For everyone reader we gift free books and e-reading collections. Books Reader is a laconic pocket library and intuitive tool for a perfect reading experience. Without extra fluff or complexity, it takes care of all the basic needs: managing your ebook collections, getting the text on the screen and letting you interact with it as you go at your prime reading. For a start, the app builds a library for you by rounding up all the book files stored on the device. Books Reader works with most popular ebooks formats (epub, fb2, mobi etc.), including zip archives. If necessary, you can tweak the list manually, by adding or removing specific titles for ibooks. However big your collection gets, browsing will remain easy thanks to a provided set of filters. Besides, the system is keeping track of your history to display the books in order of relevance. Viewing the book, you can adjust the settings for the best effect: change size and color of the text, pick the right theme and brightness level, use various controls options for turning pages. The combination of a progress bar, bookmarking and a search tool help to navigate the text effortlessly. Make sure to select the excerpts that stayed with you and import them to Notes with just a couple of taps. Books Reader offers: - A variety of ebook formats (epub, fb2,PDF, mobi and others); - Auto unpacking of zip archives; - A smart manager of the books stored on your device; - Read/unread books tracker; - Filtering system (by author, by date added or read, etc.); - Adjustable page/text settings (brightness, size, color, theme and more); - Several controls methods (scrolling, tapping or using buttons); - Marking pages and taking notes. Privacy Policy: https://villow.studio/privacy Term Of Use: https://villow.studio/terms

About

Foliant

This app offers a print-like reading experience with features such as hyphenation, justified text, and footnotes. Customize your reading with various page turn effects, adjustable brightness, and personalized fonts and paper textures. Organize books by series and shelves, and easily access content from multiple sources.

Highlights
  • Print-like typesetting
  • Customizable page turns
  • Adjustable brightness
  • Series and shelf organization
  • Notes and bookmarks
  • Import from various sources
  • OPDS and WebDAV support
Features
Read full description

Foliant is a reader for people who read a lot, and for a long time. Books are typeset by its own engine, so a page looks the way a typesetter would set it — not like a web page. LIKE PRINT • Hyphenation and justified text — without rivers of spaces. • Footnotes at the bottom of the page, as in a printed book. A long footnote continues on the next page. • Images, tables and poems keep the look the book gives them. • Lines are never cut by the screen edge: a page holds only whole lines. TURN PAGES YOUR WAY • Tap, swipe or use the volume buttons. • Page turn effects: page peel or slide. Or none at all. • Scroll reading with auto-scroll — change the speed on the go. • Adjust brightness with a gesture at the screen edge. SERIES AND SHELVES • Books of a series gather on their own shelf, in order. • Finished a volume? The next one is already prepared — it opens with a page turn, no trip back to the library. • Your own shelves, “read” marks, ratings and thoughts about a book. • Recently added books wait at the top of the library. EVERYTHING AT HAND • Table of contents with progress by chapter. • Bookmarks, quotes and notes tied to a place in the book. • Search in a book and across the whole library. • Translate a selection and look words up in the system dictionary. MAKE IT YOURS • Fonts, size, line spacing, margins and indents. • Paper to choose from: rice, brown, beach sand, snow, night and more — with texture or a solid color. • Reading indicator at the top or bottom: chapter, pages, clock. • Give any book its own settings. BOOKS FROM ANYWHERE • Add books from Files, via Share (several at once) or from zip archives. • Book covers appear right in the Files app. • OPDS catalogs and WebDAV servers. • Sync your reading position with KOReader and other readers via KOSync. • “Continue reading” widget on the Home Screen. NO TRACKING No ads, analytics or sign-up. Your books and notes stay on your device; the app only connects to servers you add yourself.

Screenshots

Books Reader4 screens
Foliant4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Foliant at 100% against Books Reader's 38%. Foliant also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 9) and update cadence (every 4 days vs every 3 months). Books Reader's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.0). 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. Books Reader sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Foliant asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Books Reader ships an update every 3 months, Foliant every 4 days. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Books Reader versus Foliant: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBooks ReaderFoliant
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (22 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews37.5% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings22 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.6 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size59 MB17 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperVillowYana Khalikova

Customer experience

Books Reader

All ratings22 ratings
Positive90.9%
Neutral4.5%
Negative4.5%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive37.5%
Neutral25.0%
Negative37.5%

Foliant

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

9 purchases

Books Reader

Subscriptions4
  • Regular donation$1.991 Month
  • Regular donation$3.991 Month
  • Regular donation$5.991 Month
Show 1 more
  • Regular donation$9.991 Month
One-time5
  • Donation$1.99
  • Donation$3.99
  • Donation$5.99
Show 2 more
  • Donation$9.99
  • Custom Fonts & Themes$9.99
None

Foliant

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Books Reader free?
Books Reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Foliant free?
Foliant is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Books Reader or Foliant have ads?
Neither Books Reader nor Foliant shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Books Reader or Foliant?
Books Reader ships an update every 3 months, and Foliant every 4 days. Most recently, Books Reader was updated on October 24, 2026 and Foliant on October 24, 2026.

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