Comparison

BookBuddy vs Fable

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

Head to head
About

BookBuddy

Manage your entire book collection digitally, track reading progress, and organize your library. Easily add books by scanning, searching, or manual entry. Keep tabs on borrowed and lent items, and gain insights into your reading habits.

Highlights
  • Scan barcodes to add books
  • Organize into custom categories
  • Track borrowed and lent books
  • Sync library across devices
  • Analyze reading statistics
  • Import/export library data
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

BookBuddy is a powerful book management app that gives you access to your entire book catalog, anywhere. Using BookBuddy is fun and easy, allowing you to quickly find any book in your library, share your favorite books, and keep track of borrowed and lent books. FREE VERSION - BookBuddy has all the features of BookBuddy Pro with a 50 book limit. - BookBuddy can be upgraded via In-App Purchase for unlimited book storage. KEY FEATURES • Adding Your Books Add your books using the following options: - Scan barcode (via iPhone camera or Bluetooth handheld scanner) - Enter ISBN - Search online by keyword - Add manually - Import from CSV file • Organizing Your Books Place your books where they belong: - My Books — books you own - Wish List — books you wish to own - Borrowed — books you borrowed from others - Previously Owned — books you no longer own • Syncing Your Library Sync your library across multiple devices using iCloud or Dropbox sync. • Sharing Your Library Share your library online via the BookBuddy Companion website and invite anyone to view it (requires a monthly subscription). • Unlocking Your Reading Insights Deep dive into your reading habits by exploring the following statistics: - Books Finished — Track the number of books you’ve completed - Pages Read — See your page count over time - Top Authors — Discover your most-read authors - Favorite Genres — Identify your preferred genres MORE TO LOVE • Universal app — pay once and use BookBuddy on your iPhone, iPad, and Apple Silicon Mac. • Personalize — use categories and tags, mark favorites, add personal notes, and much more. • Appearance — choose either list or grid view to best match your needs. • Custom Filters — filter your library by multiple criteria. • Advanced Sorting — apply multi-level data sorting. • Loans — instantly track books that are currently loaned out. • Multiple selection — apply batch operations using multiple selection. • Reading Status — filter your books by their reading status. • Quick find — instantly find books by entering search keywords or scanning their barcodes. • Export — quickly export your library into CSV, PDF, or HTML formats. • Print — easily print selected books to AirPrint-enabled printers. • Backup — create backups to any cloud service. • Activity History — view the full history of your reading and loaning activities. • Duplicates — quickly detect duplicates and easily remove them. • Markdown Formatting — style your notes with headings, lists, bold, italics, links, and more. • Privacy — your library is saved locally and privately on your device. • And so much more! CLASSROOM LIBRARY MANAGER (for teachers) • Manage — use BookBuddy to manage your classroom library and track student checkouts. • Checkout History — easily track checkout history and view statistics. • Contacts — save your student names in BookBuddy Contacts rather than in your personal Contacts app. • Reading Level Fields — use various fields to track the reading level of your books. • Online Sharing — allow students to self-checkout books via the BookBuddy Companion website (requires a monthly subscription). FEEDBACK We love staying in touch with our users and we look forward to hearing from you! If you have any feedback, questions, or concerns, please email us at: support@kimicoapps.com or visit: http://www.kimicoapps.com/support.html Follow us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/KimicoLtd * Privacy policy: https://www.iubenda.com/privacy-policy/12652322 * Terms and Conditions: https://www.iubenda.com/terms-and-conditions/12652322

About

Fable

This app helps you discover, discuss, and track books and TV shows. Set reading goals, view personalized stats, and join or create online clubs to connect with other readers and viewers. Organize your entire reading and watching life.

Highlights
  • Track reading and watching lists
  • Set reading goals and streaks
  • View personalized reading stats
  • Create and join book/TV clubs
  • Discover new books and shows
  • Write custom book reviews
  • Import Goodreads/Kindle data
Features
Read full description

Join a community of good people discussing great stories on Fable, an app designed to find, discuss, and track books and TV shows. Set reading goals, get personalized reading stats, discover new books and shows, and connect with fellow readers in online book clubs and TV clubs. TRACK YOUR READING LIFE: Stay organized with beautiful lists, reading goals, and daily streaks that encourage you to read more. - Organize the books you’re currently into, what’s on your TBR, what you finished, and DNFed - Import your book lists from Goodreads and Kindle to keep everything in one place - Build custom lists for all of your niche reading interests - Build watch lists for the TV shows you’re interested in, currently watching, finished, and more - Follow lists from other readers for inspiration, and share your own VIEW PERSONALIZED STATS: Learn more about yourself as a reader with deep insights, charts, and graphs about your reading history. - Import your lists from Goodreads or Kindle to power your reading stats - Visualize your progress to your annual reading goal - See your most-read authors and genres - See your longest reading streak - View your average book rating across all the books you finished BUILD A READING HABIT WITH STREAKS: Stay motivated with tools designed to help you tackle your reading goals. - Create daily reading streaks - Track your book progress daily based on the page or percentage read - Edit past streaks if you forget to log a day of reading - Add our home screen widget for one-tap access to your streaks - Set annual reading goals to challenge yourself - Get reminders to keep your reading streak alive CREATE BETTER BOOK REVIEWS: Share your perspective with customized book ratings and book reviews. - Import your lists and reviews from Goodreads - Rate and review books with half-stars (and update your Goodreads ratings with half-stars) - Add expressive tags to share exactly how the book made you feel - Add spice level ratings to your book reviews - Pair your book review with emoji reactions for further customization - Leave book reviews in your book club’s reflection room or on the book’s detail page JOIN BOOK & TV CLUBS: Explore thousands of free book and TV clubs for every niche interest, or start your own club to read or watch with friends or family. - Join your favorite BookTokkers’ book clubs, or start a buddy read to discuss books with friends - Find clubs led by TV recappers and reviewers from TikTok, YouTube, and elsewhere - Spark conversations with your club in organized, spoiler-free chapter rooms and episode rooms - Leave reviews in the reflection room at the end of the book or show - Read or watch at your own pace or follow the club’s suggested milestones DISCOVER NEW BOOKS & SHOWS: Find your next favorite book to read or show to watch. - Use Scout to get personalized book recommendations - Ask Scout to randomly select your next read from your TBR - Import your Goodreads or Kindle lists for even more personalization - Discover new books and shows from Fable’s editorial team - Follow friends’ lists in the For You feed for community recommendations BUY EBOOKS DESIGNED FOR INTERACTIVE READING: Experience an entirely new way to read books inside Fable’s custom ebook reader. - Join other readers who are “social reading” inside thousands of free book clubs - Annotate books with highlights, notes, tabs, comments, and reactions right inside the book - Respond to discussion prompts embedded inside the book - Discover thousands of free books to read inside the Fable app, or shop from our catalog of over one million interactive ebooks SHOW OFF WHAT YOU READ - Customize monthly Reading Wraps to highlight the books you read that month - Come back at the end of the year for an annual wrapup of your year in reading Terms of use: https://fable.co/terms

Screenshots

BookBuddy4 screens
Fable4 screens

Verdict

The call

BookBuddy and Fable both sit at 4.8 stars, but that hides the real split: 82% of BookBuddy's written reviews are positive against 67% of Fable's. Fable's advantage is update cadence (every 6 days vs fortnightly) and chart position (#13 vs #186). On price, rating, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. BookBuddy sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Fable sells 108 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for BookBuddy against 4.8 for Fable. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Fable has 79K ratings behind it against 15K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 82% of BookBuddy's written reviews are positive against 67% of Fable's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

BookBuddy ships an update fortnightly, Fable every 6 days. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
BookBuddy versus Fable: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBookBuddyFable
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (15K ratings)4.8 (79K ratings)
Positive reviews81.6% of reviews — better66.5% of reviews
Number of ratings15K79K — better
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 6 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#186#13 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size33 MB194 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperKimico, Ltd.Fable

Customer experience

BookBuddy

All ratings15,207 ratings
Positive97.5%
Neutral1.4%
Negative1.1%
Written reviews949 reviews
Positive81.6%
Neutral7.2%
Negative11.3%

Fable

All ratings78,747 ratings
Positive95.6%
Neutral3.3%
Negative1.2%
Written reviews1,769 reviews
Positive66.5%
Neutral14.5%
Negative19.0%

User reviews

BookBuddy

From 15K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🚀 Efficient book scanning
  • 📚 Comprehensive book cataloging
  • 🔍 Helpful search and filtering options
  • 💻 Syncs across devices

Room to improve

  • 🔍 Limited search capabilities
  • 🔢 Restrictive free version limits
  • 🔀 Issues with series organization
  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
  • 📚 Struggles with older/obscure books

Fable

From 79K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💕 Fantastic community
  • 📚 Great for book clubs
  • 🎨 Beautiful UI design
  • 📊 Useful reading stats
  • 🔍 Helpful book recommendations

Room to improve

  • 🔍 Limited book selection
  • 🐛 Occasional app crashes and glitches
  • 🔍 Difficulty finding specific books
  • 🔍 Lack of ability to add custom books
  • 🔍 Syncing issues with other platforms

Bugs and requests

BookBuddy

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Books disappearing from library
  • Syncing issues between devices
  • Barcode scanning not always reliable

Requested features

5 requests
  • Allow sorting by author last name
  • Add ability to track reading progress
  • Integrate with other book services (e.g. Goodreads)
  • Improve duplicate book detection
  • Expand export/sharing options

Fable

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Issues with updating currently reading status
  • Inconsistent behavior when adding new books
  • Notifications not always syncing properly

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add ability to track reading progress across devices
  • Implement more filtering and sorting options for book lists
  • Allow users to customize book covers and details
  • Improve notification settings and controls
  • Add support for more book formats and sources

In-app purchases

5 purchases

BookBuddy

Subscriptions4
  • Online Sharing Std (Monthly)14 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • Online Sharing Pro (Monthly)14 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Online Sharing Std (Yearly)14 Days trial$19.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Online Sharing Pro (Yearly)14 Days trial$49.991 Year
One-time1
  • BookBuddy Pro (Lifetime)$9.99
108 purchases

Fable

Subscriptions5
  • Fable Friends$1.991 Month
  • Fable Plus Monthly$5.991 Month
  • Fable Plus Annual7 Days trial$49.991 Year
Show 2 more
  • Yearly sub - 2 week trial14 Days trial$69.991 Year
  • Yearly subscription$69.991 Year
One-time103
  • House of Salt and Sorrows$1.99
  • The Dead Romantics$1.99
  • A Man Called Ove$1.99
Show 100 more
  • A Winter's Promise$1.99
  • One Perfect Couple$2.99
  • Book Lovers$2.99
  • The Book Eaters$2.99
  • Olga Dies Trying$2.99
  • Under One Roof$2.99
  • A Curse of Blood and Wolves$2.99
  • The Goddess of Loneliness$3.99
  • Stalked by the Kraken$3.99
  • Dark Matter$4.99
  • We Have Always Lived in the...$4.99
  • Every Summer After$5.99
  • Jackal$5.99
  • Red Rising$5.99
  • Forbidden Love$6.99
  • The Only One Left$7.99
  • The Very Secret Society of...$7.99
  • A Touch of Darkness$7.99
  • As Long as the Lemon Trees$8.99
  • Better Than the Movies$9.99
  • Archer's Voice$9.99
  • Caraval$9.99
  • The Shadow of the Gods$9.99
  • Mexican Gothic$9.99
  • Quicksilver$9.99
  • In a Holidaze$9.99
  • Lights Out$9.99
  • Daisy Darker$9.99
  • Conversations with Friends$9.99
  • In the Company of Witches$9.99
  • Binding 13$9.99
  • The House Where Death Lives$9.99
  • A Good Girl's Guide to Murder$9.99
  • People We Meet on Vacation$9.99
  • Artificial Wisdom$9.99
  • Before I Let Go$9.99
  • Pretty Girls$9.99
  • One Dark Window$9.99
  • The Inheritance Games$10.99
  • Last Night at the Telegraph$10.99
  • Love, Theoretically$10.99
  • Legendborn$10.99
  • The Thirteenth Child$10.99
  • Lovelight Farms$10.99
  • Icebreaker$10.99
  • Love and Other Words$10.99
  • Hell Followed with Us$10.99
  • Wildfire$10.99
  • Belladonna$10.99
  • Meet Me at the Lake$10.99
  • Magnolia Parks$10.99
  • The Cruel Prince$11.99
  • Circe$11.99
  • Heartless Hunter$11.99
  • The Nightingale$11.99
  • Seven Days in June$11.99
  • The Bluest Eye$11.99
  • It Ends With Us$11.99
  • Part of Your World$11.99
  • To Shape a Dragon's Breath$11.99
  • Happy Place$11.99
  • Acts of Desperation$11.99
  • Legends & Lattes$12.99
  • Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of$12.99
  • The Invisible life of Addie$12.99
  • Nettle & Bone$12.99
  • Magnolia Parks: Into the Dark$12.99
  • Project Hail Mary$12.99
  • Funny Story$12.99
  • The Silent Patient$12.99
  • Normal People$12.99
  • Blood of Hercules$12.99
  • The Idiot$12.99
  • The Unmaking of June Farrow$12.99
  • If We Were Villains$12.99
  • Daisy Jones & The Six$12.99
  • The Secret History$12.99
  • The Haunting of Alejandra$12.99
  • His & Hers$12.99
  • Divine Rivals$12.99
  • Practice Makes Perfect$13.99
  • The Night Circus$13.99
  • The Seven Year Slip$13.99
  • None of This is True$13.99
  • Verity$13.99
  • On Earth We're Briefly ...$13.99
  • Tomorrow and Tomorrow and...$13.99
  • Local Woman Missing$14.99
  • Lessons in Chemistry$14.99
  • Fourth Wing$14.99
  • The Heaven & Earth Grocery...$14.99
  • Iron Flame$14.99
  • The God of the Woods$14.99
  • The Women$14.99
  • The Wedding People$14.99
  • The Games Gods Play$14.99
  • Yellowface$14.99
  • Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo$14.99
  • The Fall of Roe$16.99
  • The Covenant of Water$28.00

Questions

Is BookBuddy free?
BookBuddy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Fable free?
Fable is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, BookBuddy or Fable?
BookBuddy and Fable are both rated 4.8 out of 5 on the App Store, from 15K and 79K ratings respectively.
Do BookBuddy or Fable have ads?
Neither BookBuddy nor Fable shows ads.
Which is updated more often, BookBuddy or Fable?
BookBuddy ships an update fortnightly, and Fable every 6 days. Most recently, BookBuddy was updated on September 24, 2026 and Fable on September 24, 2026.
Which is more popular, BookBuddy or Fable?
BookBuddy currently peaks at #186 in the App Store charts, and Fable at #13. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

Other comparisons