Comparison

TBR vs Readerly

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

Head to head
About

TBR

Easily track books you want to read, are currently reading, or have finished. Rate and review books, log favorite moments, and discover new reads. Set yearly reading goals and celebrate milestones with fun animations.

Highlights
  • Track books (to-read, reading, finished)
  • Rate and review books
  • Log favorite moments and quotes
  • Browse public ratings and genre-specific insights
  • Set custom yearly reading goals
  • Earn achievement stickers
  • Pro features: tropes, playlists, adaptations
Features
Read full description

Got a growing TBR list? See great book recommendations, but forget them later? Meet TBR Bookshelf! Easily track books you want to read, are currently reading, or have finished with no limits. Rate and review books once you’ve read them and log your favorite moments using our quick and intuitive rating system. Browse public ratings to see a book’s POV, tropes, reread rate, and up to four genre-specific ratings. For example, Romance tracks Spice, Fluff, Humor, and Tear. All ratings are anonymous, so you can be honest with your reviews. Within our rating system, you can log: * Reading format * 5 Star Rating including half stars * Up to four genre ratings * If you would reread a book * DNF (Did Not Finish) * Favorite characters and quotes * Series and standalone books * Pro quotes and annotations (Paid Subscription Required) * Any additional thoughts about the book Celebrate your reading milestones with special book confetti and earn stickers for completing books and certain book tropes. Exclusive Pro features include: * Book tropes * Book playlists to track songs (cannot be played within the app) * POV format and amount * TV show and movie adaptation ratings * Four seasonal ratings All users can create custom yearly reading goals. When you finish a book, it is automatically added to your yearly reading goal bookshelf. Pro users can also fully customize their bookshelves with color themes, bookshelf items, and layouts. TBR Bookshelf makes managing your TBR list fun, easy, and satisfying. Track books, set reading goals, log quotes, and discover new reads all in one place. With customizable shelves, anonymous ratings, and a supportive community, staying on top of your reading has never been more enjoyable. Join TBR Bookshelf, a woman-owned and operated company, BookTok’s favorite, and trusted by millions of readers. TBR Bookshelf is free to download and use. No account or sign-up is required. TBR Bookshelf Pro includes a 7-day free trial and then options for a monthly plan ($4.99), a 6-month plan ($19.99), or a yearly plan ($29.99). All other features remain free indefinitely. A subscription will be applied to your iTunes account at the end of your free trial. Subscriptions automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can cancel anytime in your iTunes account settings. Any unused portion of a free trial will be forfeited if you purchase a subscription. These prices are for United States customers. Pricing in other countries may vary. Note: This app is for tracking your reading journey. Reading is not available within the app. Privacy Policy: http://jordanpetersonstudio.com/tbr-bookshelf-privacy-policy/
Terms of Service: http://jordanpetersonstudio.com/tbr-bookshelf-terms-of-service/

About

Readerly

Track your reading habits with detailed statistics and insights. Log books, notes, and quotes, and visualize your reading life over time. Offers advanced analytics for a deeper understanding of your reading patterns.

Highlights
  • Detailed reading statistics
  • Log books, notes, and quotes
  • Visualize reading pace and trends
  • Private data storage on device
  • Barcode scanning for books
  • Import reading data from files
  • Shareable reading insights
Features
Read full description

You know roughly how much you read. Readerly tells you exactly. Readerly turns your reading history into a clear picture of your reading life: how your pace changes through the year, what you reach for, which authors you return to, when you read most, and how this year compares with every year before it. Save Private Notes & Quotes, too, so the parts of a book you want to remember stay with your reading life. No account. No sign-in. Your library stays on your iPhone. WHY THE NUMBERS HOLD UP A chart is only useful if the number under it is right. Audiobooks are counted in hours. Insight cards show the evidence behind what they say: how many sessions contributed, what window was measured, and whether there is enough data to support the result. If there is not, Readerly says so instead of inventing an average. Your reading data also outranks the catalog. If you are on page 628 of a book a database says has 623 pages, Readerly accepts 628 and offers to correct the book length. Reopen any reading session and change the date, pages or minutes. Start and finish dates are yours to set. Correcting your own reading history is never behind Readerly Pro. WITHOUT A SUBSCRIPTION • Unlimited books and reading sessions, stored on your device • Private Notes & Quotes • Haptic quarter-star ratings, so a book can be 4¼ instead of being forced to 4 or 4½ • Searchable genres and custom cover images • Log the page you are actually on, not pages-read arithmetic • Live reading pace and projected finish date for every active book • Barcode scanning • Bookstore Mode: continuously scan shelves and instantly see whether a book is already yours or already read • Import from CSV, TSV, XLSX or ZIP • Preview every addition, update and conflict before anything is saved • Readerly reconstructs your reading history from dates in your file, marks estimated dates, and lets you undo the entire import with one tap • Optional AI Import Assistant for messy or unfamiliar exports • Cover and description lookup for books missing metadata • Books Finished, Day Streak, Pages Read and Minutes Read • Two charts on your real numbers: Books Finished by Month and print, digital and audio mix • Share cards as square images or silent 9:16 videos READERLY PRO Readerly Pro turns your log into a deeper view of how you actually read. Unlock deeper charts and insights, including reading momentum, daily rhythm, the hours and weekdays you read, genre currents, per-book reading journeys, genre mix, rating shape, author affinity, completion patterns, length versus rating, a six-axis taste profile, and a deck of the strongest insights your history can support. Explore your reading by year or month. Choose any month and tap pages or listening bars to see the books behind your totals. Tap a rating, author or genre to see the books behind the number. Share your reading highlights. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your books, sessions, ratings, notes, quotes, dates and progress live in a private database on your iPhone. Book lookup sends only what identifies the book, such as an ISBN or title and author. No ads. No third-party analytics. No tracking. AI IS OPTIONAL Readerly includes two optional AI tools on the import screen, and neither runs unless you ask. It can send titles and authors of uncategorized books to Anthropic's Claude to suggest a genre from Readerly's fixed list, or send your file's column names and limited samples to suggest how they map. Readerly asks first and tells you what will be sent. Readerly Pro is an auto-renewing monthly or yearly subscription at the price shown before purchase. Cancel any time in your Apple Account settings. Built for people who want more from a reading tracker than a list of books. Subscribe to Readerly Pro to unlock deeper insights, support continued development, and get a growing lineup of thoughtful new features. Privacy Policy: https://thereaderlyapp.com/privacy/ Terms of Use: https://thereaderlyapp.com/terms/

Screenshots

TBR4 screens
Readerly4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Readerly at none against TBR's 10. Readerly also leads on ads (none vs shown) and rating (5.0 vs 4.5). TBR's advantage is ratings volume (4.4K vs 1) and chart position (#35 vs unranked). On price, update cadence, monetization model 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. TBR sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Readerly asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Readerly holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: TBR has 4.4K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
TBR versus Readerly: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTBRReaderly
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (4.4K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings4.4K — better1
Update frequencyWeeklyWeekly
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
Best chart rank#35 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.618.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size98 MB13 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperTBR - Bookshelf, LLCJovanne Villarino

Customer experience

TBR

All ratings4,411 ratings
Positive88.6%
Neutral5.1%
Negative6.3%

Readerly

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

TBR

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Books disappearing from shelves
  • Inability to edit read dates
  • Search function not working properly
  • Crashing when trying to access certain features

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to organize books by series
  • Option to view other users' reviews and ratings
  • Customizable bookshelves and themes
  • Sync across multiple devices
  • More genre/category options for ratings

Readerly

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

TBR

Subscriptions3
  • Pro Access7 Days trial$5.991 Month
  • Pro Access7 Days trial$29.996 Months
  • Pro Access7 Days trial$39.991 Year
One-time7
  • 1500 Gems$2.99
  • 4500 Gems$5.99
  • 20,000 Gems$9.99
Show 4 more
  • Gift 6 Months$19.99
  • Gift 1 Year of Pro$29.99
  • Gift Lifetime Pro$119.99
  • Lifetime Purchase$179.99
None

Readerly

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is TBR free?
TBR is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Readerly free?
Readerly is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, TBR or Readerly?
Readerly is rated higher. TBR averages 4.5 out of 5 from 4.4K ratings, while Readerly averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do TBR or Readerly have ads?
TBR shows ads; Readerly does not.
Which is updated more often, TBR or Readerly?
TBR ships an update weekly, and Readerly weekly. Most recently, TBR was updated on October 23, 2026 and Readerly on October 7, 2026.

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