Comparison

Hardcover.app vs Bookoscope

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

Head to head
About

Hardcover.app

This app helps you organize and discover books. Track what you've read, create custom lists, and see what friends are reading. Set reading goals and share your thoughts on books.

Highlights
  • Track read and to-read books
  • Organize with lists and tags
  • See friends' reading activity
  • Discover trending books
  • Rate and review books
  • Set reading goals
  • Track reading statistics
Features
Read full description

Hardcover is a book tracking app with a social side, built for readers, not algorithms. Add books you’ve read or want to read. Keep your library tidy with lists and tags. See what your friends are reading, explore trending picks, and discover hidden gems through curated lists. Rate, review, and share your thoughts. Make your profile public, private, or friends-only—your reading, your rules. Set goals, track your stats, and find your reading rhythm. We use Apple's standard Terms of Service (EULA). https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Bookoscope

Browse and download public domain ebooks or access your own self-hosted library. This app crawls OPDS endpoints, caches book data, and allows quick export to your preferred ereader.

Highlights
  • Browse self-hosted ebook libraries
  • Download public domain classics
  • Searchable by metadata
  • Cached feeds
  • Quick download and export
  • Compatible with Calibre-web, Kavita, Ubooquity
Features
Read full description

Bookoscope is a fast, searchable ebook catalog. With Bookoscope, you can browse your own self-hosted ebook library as well as download public domain classics from Project Gutenberg. FEATURES: - Fast - Easy on the eyes - Includes over 70,000 public domain books from Project Gutenberg - Uses cached feeds (refresh on demand) - Searchable by any available metadata - Quick download and export to the ereader of your choice COMPATIBLE WITH: - Calibre-web - Kavita - Ubooquity - Any ebook server with OPDS 1.0 functionality WHY USE BOOKOSCOPE? Some ereader apps can connect to OPDS endpoints, but the functionality is tucked away and awkward. There's no way to browse and search all the ebooks you have access to, all at once. Bookoscope fills that niche. It crawls your OPDS endpoints, finds and caches all the books it can, and lets you easily download any of them to your device. From there, you can export them to your preferred ereader. BOOKOSCOPE IS NOT: - An ebook reader, sync client, or annotator, like Apple Books, Google Books, or Kindle. - A metadata editor or organizer, like Calibre. - A self-hosted ebook server, like Kavita, Ubooquity, or calibre-web. Bookoscope may be used with any of the above, but is not affiliated with any other app or tool. WHAT IS OPDS? OPDS is the open standard for web endpoints that expose catalogs of ebooks. Many people use home OPDS servers for their personal ebook libraries. WHAT IF I DON'T HAVE AN OPDS SERVER? That's okay! You can use Bookoscope to browse and download free, completely legal books in the public domain. Start with classics like: - Moby Dick - Frankenstein - Pride and Prejudice - The Great Gatsby - The complete works of William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Frederick Douglass, and more!

Screenshots

Hardcover.app4 screens
Bookoscope4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Hardcover.app at 52% against Bookoscope's 0%. Hardcover.app also leads on price (Free vs $2.99) and ratings volume (66 vs 1). Bookoscope's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.2) and in-app purchases (none vs 2). On ads 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

Hardcover.app is free to download; Bookoscope costs $2.99 up front. Hardcover.app sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Bookoscope asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Bookoscope holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Hardcover.app has 66 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 52% of Hardcover.app's written reviews are positive against 0% of Bookoscope's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Hardcover.app ships an update every 6 months, Bookoscope every 5 days. Both last shipped on November 12, 2026.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Hardcover.app versus Bookoscope: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHardcover.appBookoscope
PriceFree — better$2.99
Rating4.2 (66 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews52.2% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings66 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 6 monthsEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB35 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperHardcover LLCIsaac Lyman

Customer experience

Hardcover.app

All ratings66 ratings
Positive72.7%
Neutral15.2%
Negative12.1%
Written reviews46 reviews
Positive52.2%
Neutral21.7%
Negative26.1%

Bookoscope

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Hardcover.app

Subscriptions2
  • Supporter - Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Supporter - Yearly$49.991 Year
None

Bookoscope

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Hardcover.app free?
Hardcover.app is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Bookoscope free?
Bookoscope costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Hardcover.app or Bookoscope?
Bookoscope is rated higher. Hardcover.app averages 4.2 out of 5 from 66 ratings, while Bookoscope averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Hardcover.app or Bookoscope have ads?
Neither Hardcover.app nor Bookoscope shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Hardcover.app or Bookoscope?
Hardcover.app ships an update every 6 months, and Bookoscope every 5 days. Most recently, Hardcover.app was updated on November 12, 2026 and Bookoscope on November 12, 2026.

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