Hardcover.app vs BookNote
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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/
BookNote
This app helps you organize your reading, track your progress, and capture your thoughts on books. Set reading goals, log sessions, and save insights to build a reading habit and visualize your literary journey.
- Organize books by status and category
- Track reading sessions with timer and page counts
- Capture and tag notes with highlights
- Build reading habits with streaks and goals
- Visualize reading progress and statistics
- Import from Goodreads and StoryGraph (Pro)
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Transform every finished book into a timeless collection of personal insights. Track your reading sessions and write down the ideas you want to apply in your life or save for the future. BookNote is the ultimate reading companion. ORGANIZE YOUR BOOKS - Add books by searching for a title, scanning ISBN or picking from our themed collections - Categorize books as currently read, finished, paused, or on wishlist (TBR) - Sort your books by newest, oldest, or last read TRACK YOUR READING - Set a daily goal for how much you would like to read, and a yearly goal for how many books you plan to finish. - Use the built-in timer to track every reading session with page counts and duration - View all your past sessions with detailed history of what you've read and when CAPTURE YOUR THOUGHTS - Easily scan favorites highlights from book pages - Write notes while reading or after finishing a session - Organize your notes using tags - Link notes to specific books and sessions - Easily search across all your notes BUILD A HABIT - Maintain daily reading streaks and watch your consistency grow - Earn ranks from Bronze to Diamond as you hit reading milestones - Revise a few of your notes every daily to solidify the learning - Get inspired with daily motivational quotes about reading VISUALIZE YOUR PROGRESS - See detailed statistics of your reading patterns - Track total books finished, pages read, and time spent - Monitor your progress toward yearly book goals BookNote is free to download and use. Upgrade to BookNote Pro to unlock the full experience: - Unlimited book storage (Free version limited to 10 books) - Advanced note formatting with bold, italic, underline and headings - Import your full collection from Goodreads and StoryGraph - Attach photos and drawings to your notes Important: BookNote is a book TRACKING and NOTE-TAKING app. You cannot read or download actual books inside this app. Terms of Use: https://booknote.app/#terms Privacy Policy: https://booknote.app/#privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: BookNote at 100% against Hardcover.app's 52%. BookNote also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.2) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 6 months). Hardcover.app's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, ratings volume, 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
Both are free to download. Hardcover.app sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and BookNote sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
BookNote holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 66 and 23 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 52% of Hardcover.app's written reviews are positive against 100% of BookNote's.
Hardcover.app ships an update every 6 months, BookNote every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Hardcover.app | BookNote |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (66 ratings) | 4.8 (23 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 52.2% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 66 — better | 23 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 6 MB | 67 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Hardcover LLC | Maciej Daszkiewicz |
Customer experience
Hardcover.app
BookNote
In-app purchases
Hardcover.app
- Supporter - Monthly$4.991 Month
- Supporter - Yearly$49.991 Year
BookNote
- BookNote Pro Monthly$9.991 Month
- BookNote Pro Yearly$49.991 Year
- BookNote Pro – Lifetime Access$99.99









