Comparison

Chapters vs Bookhand

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

Head to head
About

Chapters

A private journaling app that requires no account and keeps your entries secure. Access all your past notes anytime, synced across all your iOS devices via iCloud.

Highlights
  • Private journaling
  • No account required
  • iCloud syncing
  • Cross-device access
  • Secure entries
Features
Read full description

Chapters is your safe space to express yourself freely. No account is required, there are no in-app purchases, and your entries stay private – we never analyze or track what you write. Whether you're writing a personal journal or taking notes in class, you can access all your past notes at any time, like turning pages in your notebook. Moreover, all your entries are synced to iCloud, allowing you to access them from any iOS device.

About

Bookhand

Features
Read full description

Bookhand is a free app for writing little books: journals, notes, ideas, short stories, poetry, philosophical treatises or anything else you feel like writing. The idea is that your words live on something like actual paper. Your text is typeset onto real pages with proper margins and page numbers, the pages curl as you turn them, and every notebook gets its own paper size, typefaces, colors and a cover you design yourself. READING A notebook opens in Page Mode, laid out the way it would be set on printed paper, from pocket A6 up to A4. There's also a full-screen e-reader mode with the same page-turning, an outline for jumping to a chapter or section, in-book search, and a page grid for finding your place visually. WRITING Edit Mode is a full-screen, distraction-free editor for your award-winning novel, thrilling memoir or truly revolutionary shopping list, whichever the case may be. Paragraphs can be headings, body text or block quotes; add images and control how they sit on the page. A rearrange mode lets you move, copy and cut whole paragraphs at once. MAKE IT YOURS Choose from seventeen carefully picked typefaces, set your paper size and margins, pick paper and ink colors, style the page numbers, then design the cover: board color, patterns, foil stamping, frames, flourishes and your own lettering. YOUR WORDS ARE YOURS Notebooks are stored on your device. There are no accounts, no servers and no database, and your text goes nowhere unless you want it to. Export to PDF, EPUB, Markdown or plain text, or as a .bookhand file for handing a notebook to someone else (or storing a backup for yourself). Import works too: bring in Markdown, plain text or EPUB. Notebooks can also be locked or hidden behind a PIN. FREE, REALLY Bookhand is made by one person as a personal project, so it's free, with no ads, no in-app purchases, no subscriptions and no upsell pop-ups. I just wanted an app where it's fun to sit down and write little books. I imagine you do too, so here we are.

Screenshots

Chapters4 screens
Bookhand4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Bookhand at Free against Chapters's $2.99. Chapters's advantage is chart position (#197 vs unranked) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 26.5). On update cadence, ads, 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

Bookhand is free to download; Chapters costs $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chapters ships an update every 10 days, Bookhand weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Chapters versus Bookhand: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChaptersBookhand
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating4.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 10 daysWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaid—
Best chart rank#197 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.0 — better26.5
Further details — not scored
Size1 MB17 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStanislav StasiukBruno Takahashi Carvalhas de Oliveira

In-app purchases

None

Chapters

No in-app purchases

None

Bookhand

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Chapters free?
Chapters costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Bookhand free?
Bookhand is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Chapters or Bookhand have ads?
Neither Chapters nor Bookhand shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Chapters or Bookhand?
Chapters ships an update every 10 days, and Bookhand weekly. Most recently, Chapters was updated on October 27, 2026 and Bookhand on October 24, 2026.

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