Comparison

My Book List vs Bookshelf

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

Bookshelf

Organize your book collection with virtual shelves and tags. Track reading progress, set goals, and manage your TBR list. Discover new books, share recommendations, and connect with friends' reading journeys.

Highlights
  • Virtual bookshelves and tags
  • ISBN barcode scanner
  • Reading progress tracking
  • TBR wishlist management
  • Social reading profiles
  • Book statistics and insights
  • OCR text scanning for quotes
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Organize book collection by creating virtual shelves and tags. Track your reading progress and set reading goals to stay motivated. Manage a wishlist of books that you want to read (TBR). Discover great new reads: rate, review and share book recommendations. Create your own social profile and allow friends to follow your reading journey. ORGANIZE YOUR BOOKS - Catalog books using fast and easy to use ISBN barcode scanner - Batch scanner option allows to rapidly scan multiple books at once - Books can be added using search functionality (title/author/ISBN) - Old and rare books can be added manually - Import books from a CSV file generated by other popular book apps - Import books from Goodreads CREATE SHELVES AND TAGS - Organize books by creating virtual bookshelves and tags - Use search functionality to quickly find books on your shelves - Sort your books by title, author, number of pages, publication date, etc. - Use filters to display books matching your criteria - Track your lent and borrowed books - Add information about your book purchases - Organize books by series and volumes - Create personal notes or add other useful information - Add quotes by simply scanning the text with our OCR reader - Multiple book selection; apply batch operations - Grid view available - Dark theme available SET CUSTOM READING GOALS - Create annual reading goals to stay motivated - Define custom date range goals and share them with your friends TRACK YOUR READING - Log how many pages you have read so far and when did you start and finished reading a book - You can record multiple readings for each book SEE WHAT YOUR FRIENDS ARE READING - Create your own reading social profile - Allow your followers to see your last read books, wishlist and reading goals DISCOVER NEW BOOKS - Discover bestselling books in different categories - Share your favorite books with your friends on social media VIEW YOUR STATISTICS - Rich statistics about your books, purchase, reading progress, ratings, top authors, top categories etc. MANAGE YOUR WISHLIST - Maintain a wishlist of books that you want to read - Book price tracking and price alerts available in some countries RATE AND REVIEW - Help others to discover great books and find books for yourself - Rate books with 5 star rating (half-star ratings available) - Read book reviews from others and leave your own opinion NEVER LOSE YOUR DATA - Your data is securely stored on our servers and it's linked to your account - If you change your device/platform, you just need to log back in with your username - You can export data to a CSV file to create your own backup - You can export your data as HTML web page for easy printing with cover images BOOKSHELF PRO PLANS - Bookshelf is free to download and use for up to 100 books - Bookshelf Pro removes the 100-book limit and unlocks other advanced features - Bookshelf Pro includes a 7-day free trial period after which you can choose between monthly, annual or lifetime plans OTHER NOTES - This is an app to organize your books and to track your reading - Reading is not available within this app FOLLOW US Stay in touch for new features and improvements - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bookshelfconcept/ - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookshelfapp/ FEEDBACK AND SUGGESTIONS bookshelf.concept@gmail.com https://www.bookshelfapp.info * Privacy policy: https://www.bookshelfapp.info/privacy-policy.html * Terms of service: https://www.bookshelfapp.info/terms-of-use.html

Screenshots

My Book List4 screens
Bookshelf4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Bookshelf at 94% against My Book List's 49%. Bookshelf also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.1) and chart position (#166 vs unranked). My Book List's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 4 days vs fortnightly). 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 Bookshelf sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Bookshelf holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 639 and 3K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 49% of My Book List's written reviews are positive against 94% of Bookshelf's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

My Book List ships an update every 4 days, Bookshelf fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
My Book List versus Bookshelf: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMy Book ListBookshelf
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (639 ratings)4.8 (3K ratings) — better
Positive reviews48.5% of reviews93.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings6393K — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterFortnightly
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank—#166 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size41 MB80 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBigBalli Consulting llcSquidBit d.o.o.

Customer experience

My Book List

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

Bookshelf

All ratings3,013 ratings
Positive97.3%
Neutral1.6%
Negative1.2%
Written reviews1,231 reviews
Positive93.8%
Neutral3.2%
Negative2.9%

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

Bookshelf

From 3K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🚀 Batch scanning feature
  • 📚 Excellent for organizing book collections
  • 💰 Free app with no limits
  • 🔍 Helpful for avoiding book duplicates

Room to improve

  • 🔍 Search function could be improved
  • 🔢 Inability to add multiple copies of the same book
  • 📷 Limited cover image options for some books

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

Bookshelf

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Occasional issues with scanning barcodes
  • Trouble accessing app after account creation

Requested features

4 requests
  • Ability to organize books by author and series
  • Option to filter statistics by bookshelf
  • Manual page count entry
  • Borrowing/lending tracking system

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
4 purchases

Bookshelf

Subscriptions2
  • Bookshelf (1 Month)7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Bookshelf (1 Year)7 Days trial$19.991 Year
One-time2
  • Bookshelf (Lifetime)$59.99
  • Bookshelf (Lifetime)$79.99

Questions

Is My Book List free?
My Book List is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Bookshelf free?
Bookshelf is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, My Book List or Bookshelf?
Bookshelf is rated higher. My Book List averages 4.1 out of 5 from 639 ratings, while Bookshelf averages 4.8 from 3K ratings.
Do My Book List or Bookshelf have ads?
Bookshelf shows ads; My Book List does not.
Which is updated more often, My Book List or Bookshelf?
My Book List ships an update every 4 days, and Bookshelf fortnightly. Most recently, My Book List was updated on September 24, 2026 and Bookshelf on September 25, 2026.

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