Novel Reader vs Karatu
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Novel Reader
Explore a vast library of exclusive novels and manga across numerous genres including romance, fantasy, and sci-fi. Daily updates ensure fresh content, while an active community allows readers and aspiring authors to connect and share stories.
- Massive exclusive novels and manga library
- Daily chapter updates
- Active reader and author community
- Share your own stories and gain fans
- Wide range of book and manga genres
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Novel Reader - Science fiction、Fantasy Novels, Adventure Mangas & Romance Books for Story lovers! - Book Genres: Romance, Mystery, Fantasy, Western, Sci-fi, Fan-fic,Adventure,Comedy,Martial Arts,Xuanhuan,Harem,Drama,Supernatural,Mature - Manga Genres: Romance, Comedy, Drama, Western, Sci-fi, Fan-fic,Action,Fantasy,Shoujo,School Life,Shounen,Adventure,Supernatural,Ecchi,Historical - Collection of Best Novels/Manga/Comics & Hottest New Stories in Every Genre! 1)Massive Exclusive Comics and Novels Discover our library of exclusive novels such as The Supreme Magus, My vampire system, , and tremendous translated novels like Library of heaven’s path, Lord of the Mysteries, Full Marks Hidden Marriage, as well as numerous adapted comics/manga/manhua. Come to life as you jump into a wonderous world full-filed with comic and novel! 2)Quick Daily Updates Join our millions of readers, looking forward to the Webnovel daily-updated chapters. The Webnovel brings you an unequal and immersive comic and novel reading atmosphere. 3) Active community That Loves To Read Webnovel attracts over a million readers and authors who dedicate all passions of reading and writing. No matter you like reading translated novel or the original one, a romance novel, or Fantasy story, with sharing common comic interests, readers and authors come together, regardless of genre. Download Webnovel now. Start your reading or writing journey and be part of novels/comics/manga/manhua/fanfic community. 4) Share Your Story and Gather Your Fans Join with thousands of aspiring authors. Start you journey, telling your stories on the Webnovel. “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Join our bi-weekly writing prompt contest and publish your novel with our matchmaking system to millions of readers who share a similar interest in your genre. Find your voice and share you message with the world. So many book genres await you to explore on Novel Reader App.
Karatu
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Karatu is a native iOS reader where you bring your own sources. The app does not ship with a built-in catalog or library. Instead, you install small JavaScript source plug-ins from public repositories — exactly the same model as a media-server client like Plex or Jellyfin. The app is the reader; the content backend is up to you. WHAT KARATU GIVES YOU - A native iOS reader. Vertical (webtoon) and horizontal (paged) modes, pinch-zoom, double-tap to reset, tap-to-toggle full-screen, auto-advance to the next chapter. - Per-page bookmarks, grouped by series. - Offline downloads. Background URLSession keeps fetches running when the app is suspended; per-chapter status lives on the manga detail screen with a one-tap "Download all chapters." - A real library. Sort by recently-read, recently-added, title, or chapters-read. Filter by currently-reading, has-downloads, unread-chapters-available, or by source. - Reading history with per-chapter resume. Pick up exactly where you left off. - Reading-time stats. Daily totals, current streak, longest streak, total time. Stored locally; nothing is sent anywhere. - A clean settings screen with storage usage, per-source breakdown, and one-tap reset. WHAT KARATU DOES NOT DO - Ship sources. You provide them. - Send any data anywhere. Karatu has no accounts, no telemetry, no third-party SDKs, no ads. The privacy manifest declares zero data collection. - Verify, host, distribute, or endorse any source or repository. You are solely responsible for the content you choose to load. FOR DEVELOPERS Karatu's source SDK is a tiny JavaScript runtime: fetch, console.log, and registerSource. Sources implement four async methods (getPopular, search, getMangaDetails, getChapterPages) and return ordinary JSON. Anyone can write a source and host the manifest as a public file. See the project documentation for the full SDK contract. PRIVACY All app state — library, history, bookmarks, downloads, stats — is stored locally on your device. Karatu makes network requests only to URLs you have explicitly configured. There are no analytics, no tracking pixels, no third-party libraries that phone home. Uninstalling the app removes every byte. REQUIREMENTS iOS 17 or later. iPhone only.
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Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Karatu at daily against Novel Reader's every 3 weeks. Novel Reader's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). On price, 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Novel Reader ships an update every 3 weeks, Karatu daily. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Novel Reader | Karatu |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (6 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 6 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Daily — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 25 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 17+ |
| Developer | 朋 尚 | Umar Rufai |
In-app purchases
Novel Reader
No in-app purchases
Karatu
No in-app purchases









