Comparison

Famous Books vs Harvard Classics

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

Head to head
About

Famous Books

Explore a curated collection of 52 rare and world-famous manuscripts, incunabula, and printed works from the Bavarian State Library. View high-quality digital copies, zoom in on details, and discover cultural heritage from the Occident and Orient.

Highlights
  • Digital copies of rare books
  • Zoomable high-resolution images
  • Browse manuscripts and printed works
  • Occidental and Oriental collections
  • View cultural heritage
Features
Read full description

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek is one of the biggest and most important universal libraries worldwide. Its vaults accommodate some of the most precious and world-famous works of mankind’s written cultural heritage. The app "Famous Books. Treasures of the Bavarian State Library” presents an exquisite selection of these holdings: 52 splendid manuscripts, unique incunabula and rare, precious printed works from the Occident and the Orient Only very rarely can the public view the physical manifestations of these treasures in exhibitions. The brilliant, complete digital copies of the exhibits - formatted for presentation on iPad and iPhone - provide a fascinating insight into the treasures held by the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. Users can browse through and freely zoom into the manuscripts and printed works from the first to the last page. Among the exhibits are, for example, the manuscript A of the Nibelungenlied (The Song of the Nibelungs), the eight volumes of the Ottheinrich Bible, an edition of each the Gutenberg Bible and the World Chronicle of Hartmann Schedel, the Babylonian Talmud and Wolfram von Eschenbach’s epic poem Parzival.

About

Harvard Classics

Explore the history of religion, philosophy, civilization, and science through curated classic texts. This app offers a vast collection of essential readings, including the Harvard Classics, with options to read, listen, or follow along. Enjoy features like offline access, customizable reading settings, and integrated Wikipedia articles for deeper understanding.

Highlights
  • Curated classic texts
  • Read, listen, or read-along options
  • Offline access
  • Integrated Wikipedia articles
  • Customizable reading settings
  • Bookmark and search functionality
Features
Read full description

Guided by Dr. Eliot, the famed president of Harvard University, you will journey through the history of religion and philosophy, the history of civilization, and the history of classic science. Along the way, Dr. Eliot will introduce you to the books selected from the famed Harvard Classics. All classics you ever need to read in History and Civilization, in Philosophy and Religion, and in Science are collected in one app. Read, listen, or read-along these books of Harvard Classics, plus 50,000+ Gutenberg classics, on-line, off-line, anywhere, anytime. Text of each book is hand-reformatted for best reading experience, audio books done by experienced readers, and videos professionally presented. Inside each book, you can also explore an in-depth Wikipedia article about the author and the book, Most of the basic features for a book reader are also provided, include, page-turning, bookmarking, night reading, changing font size, changing background color, dictionary, and word and phrase looking up in search engine or Wikipedia.

Screenshots

Famous Books4 screens
Harvard Classics4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Famous Books at 94% against Harvard Classics's 25%. Famous Books also leads on price (Free vs $2.99) and rating (4.7 vs 3.4). Harvard Classics's advantage is update cadence (every 3 months vs every 7 months) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 16.0). On ratings volume, ads, in-app purchases 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

Famous Books is free to download; Harvard Classics costs $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Famous Books holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 30 and 11 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 94% of Famous Books's written reviews are positive against 25% of Harvard Classics's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Famous Books ships an update every 7 months, Harvard Classics every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Famous Books versus Harvard Classics: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFamous BooksHarvard Classics
PriceFree — better$2.99
Rating4.7 (30 ratings) — better3.4 (11 ratings)
Positive reviews94.3% of reviews — better25.0% of reviews
Number of ratings30 — better11
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsEvery 3 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size238 MB19 MB
Age rating9+12+
DeveloperBayerische Staatsbibliothekhimalaya-soft

Customer experience

Famous Books

All ratings30 ratings
Positive93.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative6.7%
Written reviews88 reviews
Positive94.3%
Neutral4.5%
Negative1.1%

Harvard Classics

All ratings11 ratings
Positive45.5%
Neutral27.3%
Negative27.3%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive25.0%
Neutral25.0%
Negative50.0%

In-app purchases

None

Famous Books

No in-app purchases

None

Harvard Classics

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Famous Books free?
Famous Books is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Harvard Classics free?
Harvard Classics costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Famous Books or Harvard Classics?
Famous Books is rated higher. Famous Books averages 4.7 out of 5 from 30 ratings, while Harvard Classics averages 3.4 from 11 ratings.
Do Famous Books or Harvard Classics have ads?
Neither Famous Books nor Harvard Classics shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Famous Books or Harvard Classics?
Famous Books ships an update every 7 months, and Harvard Classics every 3 months. Most recently, Famous Books was updated on November 1, 2026 and Harvard Classics on November 6, 2026.

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