Comparison

My Book List vs Bookly

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

Head to head
About

My Book List

Effortlessly catalog your personal book collection with this library organizer. Easily add books by scanning barcodes or searching online, and view your library with customizable sorting and filters. Keep track of reading status, ratings, and notes for each title.

Highlights
  • ISBN barcode scanning
  • Online book search
  • Customizable library views
  • Read status and ratings
  • Multi-device syncing
  • Import/export library data
Features
Read full description

Catalog your entire home library in an afternoon. Snap a photo of any shelf and the AI adds every title. No typing, no spreadsheets, no scattered notes. Trusted by 600+ readers and rated 4.1 stars on the App Store since 2011. • Catalog a 200-book shelf in five minutes. Point your camera. AI reads the spines and adds the books. • Add a single book in seconds by scanning the barcode on the back cover. • Bring your Kindle library across in one tap. No CSV juggling. • Find anything in plain English. "That biography about the architect" works. • AI sorts your shelves by genre, mood, and theme so you stop tagging by hand. • Read on iPhone, edit on iPad, look something up offline at the bookstore. Sync handles the rest. How it works: 1. Point your camera at a shelf and let AI populate your library. 2. Sort, tag, and mark books as Read, Reading, or To Read. 3. Pick up on any device. Share with friends, join a club, ask for a recommendation when you want one. Coming from another app or a spreadsheet? Import CSV, TSV, JSON, XLSX, BibTeX, or RIS files. Field mapping is built in. Real review: "I had a bunch of books I needed to inventory and the barcode scanner made it incredibly easy. Great app." BuckeyeCityCates, App Store review, 2024 Free to start with twenty books and three barcode scans. Open the app and add your first shelf. Payment will be charged to your Apple ID at confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage and cancel your subscriptions in your Account Settings on the App Store after purchase. Any unused portion of a free trial is forfeited when purchasing a subscription. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://BigBalli.com/privacy

About

Bookly

This app helps you track your reading habits in real-time, manage your library, and set reading goals. It offers detailed statistics, custom ratings, and ambient sounds to enhance your reading experience and build a consistent reading habit.

Highlights
  • Real-time reading timer
  • Detailed reading statistics
  • Custom book ratings
  • Book library management
  • Reading goals and reminders
  • Character tracking
  • Readathon tracking
Features
Read full description

Bookly helps you track your reading in real-time, manage your books, make a habit out of reading and see your progress over time. Add books, e-books or audiobooks to your collections, use the timer to track your reading and get access to awesome stats that will help you improve and read even more. Set goals and reminders to stay motivated, get weekly and monthly or yearly reports on your progress. You can better rate your books by going beyond the classic five star ratings by adding custom ones like: inspiration, heartfelt, love, spice, humor, and many more. Bookly also allows half-star ratings. TRACK YOUR READING IN REAL-TIME - Start the timer every time you read with a simple tap - Record your current page number of the books you're reading - See how long it will take you to finish the book at your current pace - Set a Book Goal to finish your book by a given time - Add your own rating, thoughts, and quotes for each book - Play ambient sounds while you read - Generate awesome Infographics style reports for every book - Unlock achievements to stay motivated and read even more GET READING STATS & RESULTS - Get tons of insightful Stats: total read time, pages read, reading speed, estimated book finish time, daily reading time, days you read in a row, reading streak and more - Generate Reading Reports with graphs and stats per book/month/year - Set Monthly or Yearly Goals in number of hours, pages or books - Set daily reminders to keep you motivated to achieve your reading goals - Use the powerful Bookly Assistant to read more, get personalized reading suggestions, reminders, reports and a lot more - Share your progress directly from the app KEEP TRACK OF YOUR BOOKS - Track and manage your entire library of books, e-books and audiobooks - Setup your own custom book Collections, like "Wishlist", "Favourites" - Get book details by scanning the ISBN barcode or searching online directly in the app - Store and sync your books among devices using iCloud - Never lose a book again, mark a book as lent or borrowed KEEP TRACK OF YOUR BOOK CHARACTERS - Track and manage all characters that you meet in your reading journey - Track how they evolve over time, what challenges they face, the relationships between them and much more. KEEP TRACK OF READATHONS - Track your readathon progress in real time - Track books read, reading time and pages for any period of time - Track readathon prompts - Get notifications and stay on track - - - Bookly is free to download and use. No online account or signup needed. The Pro version is free with a 7 day trial, after which we offer three subscription packages: $4.99/month (1 Month Subscription), $19.99/6 months (6 Month Subscription), and $29.99/year (1 Year Subscription). All other features remain free to use indefinitely. These prices are for United States customers. Pricing in other countries may vary and actual charges may be converted to your local currency depending on the country of residence. Subscription service conditions: - Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase - Your subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period - Your account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period - You can manage your subscription and switch off auto-renewal by accessing your Account Settings after purchase - Refunds will not be provided for any unused portion of the term - Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable - All personal data is handled under the terms and conditions of Bookly’s privacy policy. More details can be found here: http://getbookly.com/privacy-policy/ http://getbookly.com/terms-of-use/ *Important: This app is for book TRACKING and MANAGEMENT. Book content and the actual reading is not done in the app.*

Screenshots

My Book List4 screens
Bookly4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Bookly at 4.6 against My Book List's 4.1. Bookly also leads on review sentiment (84% vs 49%) and ratings volume (61K vs 639). My Book List's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 4 days vs monthly). On price, in-app purchases, monetization model 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

Both are free to download. My Book List sells 14 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Bookly sells 16 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Bookly holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bookly has 61K ratings behind it against 639, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 49% of My Book List's written reviews are positive against 84% of Bookly's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

My Book List ships an update every 4 days, Bookly monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and September 27, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
My Book List versus Bookly: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMy Book ListBookly
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (639 ratings)4.6 (61K ratings) — better
Positive reviews48.5% of reviews83.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings63961K — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterMonthly
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank—#76 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS17.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size41 MB510 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperBigBalli Consulting llcTwoDoor Games

Customer experience

My Book List

All ratings639 ratings
Positive78.1%
Neutral6.9%
Negative15.0%
Written reviews338 reviews
Positive48.5%
Neutral10.9%
Negative40.5%

Bookly

All ratings61,057 ratings
Positive92.0%
Neutral4.3%
Negative3.6%
Written reviews2,584 reviews
Positive83.6%
Neutral7.2%
Negative9.2%

User reviews

My Book List

From 639 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Easy to use
  • 📚 Helpful for tracking books
  • 💻 Convenient virtual bookshelf
  • 🔍 Useful barcode scanning feature

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent glitches and bugs
  • 💰 Excessive in-app purchases required
  • 🔍 Barcode scanner not always reliable
  • 🔒 Privacy concerns with mandatory Facebook login
  • 🤔 Confusing pricing and feature structure

Bookly

From 61K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Helpful for tracking reading progress
  • 🚀 Motivates users to read more
  • 📊 Provides detailed reading statistics
  • 💡 Allows adding quotes, thoughts, and new words
  • 👍 User-friendly interface and design

Room to improve

  • 💰 Paywall for many features
  • 🔒 Limited functionality in free version
  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
  • 🔍 Difficulty finding/adding some books
  • 🔢 Limit on number of books that can be added

Bugs and requests

My Book List

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Books disappearing from user libraries
  • Scanning and importing issues
  • Crashes and freezes when using certain features
  • Inconsistent behavior across iOS versions

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to sort books by series or genre
  • Option to manually add book details
  • Offline access to book lists
  • Improved search and filtering capabilities
  • Sync across multiple devices

Bookly

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Reading sessions not always accurately recorded
  • Inconsistencies in page count/progress tracking
  • Syncing issues between devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to delete/edit books
  • Option to track audiobook progress
  • Sync reading progress across devices
  • More customization options
  • Integration with other reading apps

In-app purchases

14 purchases

My Book List

Subscriptions3
  • Full unlock$4.991 Month
  • Premium Yearly Offer$14.991 Year
  • Full unlock$24.991 Year
One-time11
  • extra details for all books$0.99
  • Barcode scanner$0.99
  • remote database & device sync$1.99
Show 8 more
  • CSV Import$3.99
  • Amazon Kindle eBook import$3.99
  • BibTeX and Zotero export$4.99
  • 500 Tokens$4.99
  • 1000 Tokens$9.99
  • 10000 Tokens$49.99
  • Lifetime Full Unlock$49.99
  • 20000 Tokens$79.99
16 purchases

Bookly

Subscriptions10
  • Monthly Pro7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Monthly Pro Family Plan$9.991 Month
  • Monthly Plan7 Days trial$9.991 Month
Show 7 more
  • Yearly Pro 50% OFF$14.991 Year
  • Six Months of Pro$19.996 Months
  • Yearly Pro 30% OFF$19.991 Year
  • Yearly Pro$29.991 Year
  • Yearly Pro (50% OFF 1st year trial)1 Year trial$29.991 Year
  • Yearly Pro 20% OFF3 Days trial$39.991 Year
  • Yearly Pro Family Plan$49.991 Year
One-time6
  • 10 extra reading days$0.99
  • A handful of Diamonds$0.99
  • A big bag of Diamonds$2.99
Show 3 more
  • A chest of Diamonds$5.99
  • Bookly Pro$79.99
  • Bookly Pro Lifetime$149.99

Questions

Is My Book List free?
My Book List is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Bookly free?
Bookly is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, My Book List or Bookly?
Bookly is rated higher. My Book List averages 4.1 out of 5 from 639 ratings, while Bookly averages 4.6 from 61K ratings.
Do My Book List or Bookly have ads?
Bookly shows ads; My Book List does not.
Which is updated more often, My Book List or Bookly?
My Book List ships an update every 4 days, and Bookly monthly. Most recently, My Book List was updated on September 26, 2026 and Bookly on September 27, 2026.

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