Hardcover.app vs Readwise Books
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/
Readwise Books
This reading app allows you to buy, read, and track all your books in one place. It automatically logs your reading sessions and provides detailed metrics to help you improve. Share your reading progress with friends in a low-pressure feed.
- Centralized book library
- Automatic reading session logging
- Detailed reading metrics
- Print book tracking
- Highlighting and note-taking
- Optional social feed
- EPUB audio playback
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Readwise Books is invite-only for now. You'll need an invite code from a friend to create an account. (If you're an existing Readwise subscriber, you already have early access.) A reading app unlike any other. Buy, read, and track all your books in one beautiful place. ONE PLACE FOR EVERY BOOK Read the ebooks you buy or upload. Track the rest, whether print, audio, or ebooks from elsewhere. Import your shelves from Goodreads and your Kindle library to start. THE STRAVA OF READING Every page flip is logged automatically, the way a pedometer counts steps. Pages roll up into reading sessions. Sessions roll up into weeks, months, and years. METRICS THAT MATTER Visualize rich reading data like words read, time read, pace, depth, immersion, and more. That which is measured is improved. EVERY BOOK COUNTS Reading on paper? Capture your starting and ending page, then save your session. Highlight print books with your camera. READING, ELEVATED Beautiful typography, light and dark modes, pagination or scroll, and best-in-class highlighting, notes, and tags. READING ALONE IS BETTER, TOGETHER Your sessions post to a light feed where friends can see that you're reading. No likes to chase, nothing to perform. More coffee shop than social network. And only if you want to. LISTEN, TOO Upload any DRM-free EPUB and listen with lifelike voices while the text follows along. READWISE ECOSYSTEM One account across Readwise Books, Reader, and Highlights. Every highlight syncs instantly.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Readwise Books at 100% against Hardcover.app's 52%. Readwise Books also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.2) and in-app purchases (none vs 2). On price, ratings volume, 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
Both are free to download. Hardcover.app sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Readwise Books asks for nothing beyond the download.
Readwise Books holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 66 and 64 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 52% of Hardcover.app's written reviews are positive against 100% of Readwise Books's.
Hardcover.app ships an update every 6 months, Readwise Books every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Hardcover.app | Readwise Books |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (66 ratings) | 5.0 (64 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 52.2% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 66 — better | 64 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | — | #82 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 6 MB | 134 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Hardcover LLC | Readwise, Inc |
Customer experience
Hardcover.app
Readwise Books
In-app purchases
Hardcover.app
- Supporter - Monthly$4.991 Month
- Supporter - Yearly$49.991 Year
Readwise Books
No in-app purchases









