Comparison

CHMate vs Hedgehog reader

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

Head to head
About

CHMate

This app offers a robust reading experience for EPUB and CHM eBooks. Organize your library, add bookmarks and notes, and customize your reading environment. Share passages and easily search within your books.

Highlights
  • Organize eBooks into collections
  • Add bookmarks and notes
  • Customizable fonts and line height
  • Fast scrolling and pagination
  • Highlight favorite passages
  • Built-in search functionality
  • Share quotes with friends
Features
Read full description

Default ebook formatting does not always suit the way you read. CHMate turns your personal files into a calm, comfortable reading corner. A customizable wooden bookshelf with an ambient lamp and personal decor. Download free. Unlock multiple books with a single one-time purchase. A BOOKSHELF OF YOUR OWN • Wooden shelves and ambient lamp: Display your personal collection with warm bookshelf lighting. • Shelf decor: Arrange animated ornaments, plants, paintings, and shelf-edge figures. • Personal memories: Decorate with photos, Live Photos, or silent looping videos (MP4/MOV). • Custom layout: Freely move, resize, and favorite your decor items. TAILORED TYPOGRAPHY • Page colors: Choose from six page colors independently of your typography theme, with light, dark, or automatic appearance. • Precise reading controls: Adjust font size, line height, page margins, and fonts for body, headings, and code. • Custom font import: Read with built-in fonts or import your own font files. • Horizontal and vertical reading: Switch text orientation where supported for Chinese and Japanese text. • iCloud theme sync: Save your custom typography themes and sync them across your devices. TOOLS & LOCAL IMPORT • Supported formats: Read your own EPUB and CHM files with structured table of contents navigation. • Local Wi-Fi transfer: Send files directly from your computer browser over your local network. • Reading tools: Search full text across chapters, add highlights, and review notes in one place. HONEST PRICING • Free download with complete reading features for your current book. • Unlock multiple books with a single one-time in-app purchase. • No subscriptions and no ads.

About

Hedgehog reader

This app allows you to read a wide variety of e-book and audiobook formats, organize your personal library, and even translate text offline. It offers features like full-text search, typo correction, and text-to-speech functionality.

Highlights
  • Supports multiple e-book and audiobook formats
  • Organize library with shelves, search, and filtering
  • Offline text translation
  • Full-text search and notes
  • Typo correction
  • Text-to-speech with adjustable speed
  • Import from local devices and cloud storage
Features
Read full description

An app for reading books and organizing a personal library. The supported formats are FB2, MOBI, EPUB, DOCX, CBZ, CHM, RTF, HTML, MHTML, WebArchive, PDF, MD, TXT, and MP3, M4A, M4B for audiobooks. Import from local devices, iCloud, and Dropbox, as a single book and as a batch. An ability to create an internal shelves structure with search and filtering by genre, keywords, languages, series, and ratings. An ability to translate (even when there is no Internet connection) selected words and phrases to the chosen language, by presetting the list of languages to translate from. An ability to perform a full-text search throughout the entire library and the notes added to books. An ability to quickly correct typos in a book. Reading the text aloud (even when there is no Internet connection) with different variants of speed and operating from the music control. Bookmarks and notes with the ability to upload the latter as a file. An ability to directly download books from servers that support OPDS. Automatic synchronization of library content (and reading progress) across multiple devices.

Screenshots

CHMate4 screens
Hedgehog reader4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Hedgehog reader at 4.9 against CHMate's 3.9. Hedgehog reader also leads on review sentiment (67% vs 55%) and iOS requirement (18.7 vs 26.0). CHMate's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On price, ratings volume, update cadence 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. CHMate sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Hedgehog reader sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Hedgehog reader holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 3.9. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 20 and 17 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 55% of CHMate's written reviews are positive against 67% of Hedgehog reader's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

CHMate ships an update every 2 weeks, Hedgehog reader fortnightly. Both last shipped on October 21, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
CHMate versus Hedgehog reader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCHMateHedgehog reader
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.9 (20 ratings)4.9 (17 ratings) — better
Positive reviews55.3% of reviews66.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings20 — better17
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.018.7 — better
Further details — not scored
Size51 MB59 MB
Age rating4+9+
Developer贤安 陈Anna Diubina

Customer experience

CHMate

All ratings20 ratings
Positive70.0%
Neutral5.0%
Negative25.0%
Written reviews197 reviews
Positive55.3%
Neutral12.7%
Negative32.0%

Hedgehog reader

All ratings17 ratings
Positive94.1%
Neutral5.9%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews12 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral16.7%
Negative16.7%

Bugs and requests

CHMate

Reported bugs

13 issues
  • App crashes when searching CHM files
  • Crashes when using tap-hold for bookmarking
  • Highlighting functionality broken after iOS updates
  • Notes and bookmarks not saving properly
  • Highlights disappear or move between chapters
Show 8 more
  • App crashes on startup or when opening files
  • Table of contents index expansion broken
  • Custom fonts blocked after iOS 14.5 update
  • Files not accessible via iCloud or Dropbox
  • Missing icons after updates
  • Images display as half-dark or missing
  • Text formatting changes not visible without page reload
  • First line spacing issues

Requested features

12 requests
  • Dark mode and additional color themes (Sepia)
  • Book cover display instead of text-only library view
  • PDF support
  • Text-to-speech functionality
  • Better pagination options
Show 7 more
  • iPad Pro resolution support
  • iOS multi-window support
  • Better bookmark functionality
  • Separate highlighting and annotation tools
  • Support for Cyrillic and Arabic text encoding
  • Collection/folder organization for multiple files
  • Zip file support for documentation sets

Hedgehog reader

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

CHMate

One-time1
  • CHMate+$9.99
2 purchases

Hedgehog reader

One-time2
  • Advertisement free mode$5.99
  • Book export$14.99

Questions

Is CHMate free?
CHMate is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Hedgehog reader free?
Hedgehog reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, CHMate or Hedgehog reader?
Hedgehog reader is rated higher. CHMate averages 3.9 out of 5 from 20 ratings, while Hedgehog reader averages 4.9 from 17 ratings.
Do CHMate or Hedgehog reader have ads?
Hedgehog reader shows ads; CHMate does not.
Which is updated more often, CHMate or Hedgehog reader?
CHMate ships an update every 2 weeks, and Hedgehog reader fortnightly. Most recently, CHMate was updated on October 21, 2026 and Hedgehog reader on October 21, 2026.

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