Comparison

Bookworm Reads vs Ray

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

Head to head
About

Bookworm Reads

Track your reading, connect with friends, and join a vibrant community of book lovers. Organize your library, discover new titles, and participate in reading challenges. Customize your unique worm avatar and share your literary journey.

Highlights
  • Track and categorize books
  • Create custom bookshelves
  • See friends' reading activity
  • Rate, review, and discuss books
  • Create and join book clubs
  • Participate in reading challenges
  • Customize worm avatar
Features
Read full description

Bookworm Reads is a book tracker & joyful community app. On Bookworm, you can track your books, see what your friends are reading, rate, review, and discuss books, create and join book clubs, and be a part of a vibrant digital community of readers. We're like Goodreads but for the girls, gays, and theys. Plus, you get to be a worm. Discover new books to save to your library, create your own customizable bookshelves, send and receive book recommendations from friends, and join community reading challenges. The best part of all: dress up your wormy avatar from a variety of outfits, hats, accessories, and more! Import your Goodreads data: Say goodbye to Amazon-owned Goodreads, and keep your bookshelves just as you left them. Import from Goodreads and start using Bookworm. Simple, beautiful, book tracking. Track & categorize your books into bookshelves: books you want to read, have read, are currently reading. Plus, create your own custom bookshelves. Your 5-star club, books you DNF (did not finish), abandoned, repeat reads; whatever your heart desires. Add as many shelves as you want--no power-tools required. Join community reading challenges. Set a reading goal for yourself and let your friends cheer you on. The number of books you set as your goal is only visible to you. Upon joining, you get the option to give your wormy a badge to show you're participating in the community challenge. And, you can edit your goal number as the challenge continues. Share book recommendations. Send recommendations to friends and get them in return. Get notified whenever someone starts reading the book you recommended, and check out their review when they finish. All books recommended to you get saved to a bookshelf so you'll never lose them. Create, organize, and join book clubs. Find like-minded readers and host discussions in the app. You can create collaborative shelves, where everyone in the club can add to your shared to-read shelf, or you can do the choosing and let readers to follow along. Get started by joining Thee Bookworm Book Club--the Bookworm-wide club. Dress up your wormy avatar. Hands down the best feature on Bookworm Reads: dress up your wormy avatar! Choose from outfits, wigs, accessories, and more to keep your wormy as fresh as you are. Get creative, and change your outfit as much as you want! You can also buy a real life bookworm bookmark + sticker pack to keep your books adorned with Bookworm swag. Social sharing included. Share books to your instagram story with pre-made, gorgeous backgrounds. You can tweet, text, email, or whatever kind of sharing you'd like with everything on Bookworm. From books, to posts, to your wormy's outfit, share on whatever platform is your favorite. Features: • track & categorize your books into bookshelves: books you want to read, have read, are currently reading • plus, create your own custom book categories. for example, create a bookshelf for books you couldn't finish, or your favorite books you want everyone to read • join reading challenges: set a goal for yourself and get that lil dopamine hit every time you finish a book • recommend books to friends and get notified when they read your suggestion • organize your book club: set your books, your next meeting info, and host discussion in your club • discover new clubs: join one of the many public book clubs to find new reading buddies • design your wormy's outfit • share all of this to social media • import from Goodreads, Storygraph, Libib, or wherever you track your books. No need to start over! Bring your Goodreads/Storygraph data right into Bookworm. Download Bookworm Reads, create your wormy, and join the community!

About

Ray

This app offers a curated library of over 1,000 poems, short stories, and essays for daily reflection. Enjoy offline access, progress saving, and bookmarking with a single one-time purchase, fostering a habit of contemplation without subscriptions.

Highlights
  • Curated library of 1000+ poems, stories, essays
  • Daily thoughtful reading delivery
  • Offline access
  • Auto-save progress
  • Bookmark functionality
  • Sharing tools
Features
Read full description

Ray is a short-form reading app designed for thoughtful reflection in a world of distraction. With a single one-time purchase, unlock a beautifully curated library of over 1,000 poems, short stories, and essays — no accounts, no subscriptions, no hidden costs. Each day, Ray delivers one thoughtful reading to help you build a lasting habit of silent contemplation. Offline access, auto-save progress, bookmarks, and sharing tools are all built in, so your focus stays where it belongs: on the words themselves. Just timeless works, beautifully delivered.

Screenshots

Bookworm Reads4 screens
Ray4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: Bookworm Reads at 1.1K against Ray's 6. Bookworm Reads also leads on monetization model (free with in-app purchases vs paid). Ray's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 77%) and rating (5.0 vs 4.8). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. Bookworm Reads sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Ray sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Ray holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bookworm Reads has 1.1K ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 77% of Bookworm Reads's written reviews are positive against 100% of Ray's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Bookworm Reads ships an update every 3 weeks, Ray monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Bookworm Reads versus Ray: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBookworm ReadsRay
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (1.1K ratings)5.0 (6 ratings) — better
Positive reviews77.3% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.1K — better6
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.115.1
Further details — not scored
Size59 MB128 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperBookworm Reads CLUBCristobal Grana Samanez

Customer experience

Bookworm Reads

All ratings1,061 ratings
Positive95.3%
Neutral2.6%
Negative2.1%
Written reviews88 reviews
Positive77.3%
Neutral9.1%
Negative13.6%

Ray

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Bookworm Reads

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Inability to permanently delete user profiles
  • Signup process issues with 'Accept' button not working
  • Inconsistent display of book covers and information
  • Frequent crashes and app freezes
  • Syncing issues with imported book data

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add ability to track reading progress
  • Improve accessibility for visually impaired users
  • Introduce more customization options for user profiles
  • Expand search capabilities to include more book details
  • Integrate with other popular book platforms

Ray

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Bookworm Reads

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Subscription14 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Yearly subscription14 Days trial$49.991 Year
1 purchases

Ray

One-time1
  • Ray Lifetime$6.99

Questions

Is Bookworm Reads free?
Bookworm Reads is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Ray free?
Ray is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Bookworm Reads or Ray?
Ray is rated higher. Bookworm Reads averages 4.8 out of 5 from 1.1K ratings, while Ray averages 5.0 from 6 ratings.
Do Bookworm Reads or Ray have ads?
Neither Bookworm Reads nor Ray shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Bookworm Reads or Ray?
Bookworm Reads ships an update every 3 weeks, and Ray monthly. Most recently, Bookworm Reads was updated on October 25, 2026 and Ray on October 28, 2026.

Other comparisons