Comparison

My Book List vs eLibrarian

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

eLibrarian

Easily catalog your personal book collection by scanning ISBNs or typing titles. Securely store and access your library from any device, with options to edit and delete entries. Never lose track of your books again.

Highlights
  • Add books via ISBN scan or manual entry
  • Secure cloud storage for your library
  • View and manage your book collection
  • Edit and delete book entries
  • Sort books alphabetically
  • Access library on any device
Read full description

eLibrarian lets you easily, add, store, view and edit what books you have. Now, you no longer have to comb through your house looking for a book and realizing you don't have it! ADD: You can easily add what books you own to your account through the "Add Books" page by scanning the ISBN barcode or typing the name of the book, your books are then sent to a secure server for storage. VIEW: You can easily view what books you own by going to the "My Books" page, there you can also edit and delete your books. Since your books are stored in a secured database, you can view them on any device. You can also sort your books alphabetically. EDIT: You can easily edit and delete your books so that they can be just right for you.

Screenshots

My Book List4 screens
eLibrarian2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: eLibrarian at 100% against My Book List's 49%. eLibrarian also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.1) and in-app purchases (none vs 14). My Book List's advantage is ratings volume (639 vs 5) and update cadence (every 4 days vs every 9 days). On price, ads 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. eLibrarian asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

eLibrarian holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: My Book List has 639 ratings behind it against 5, 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 100% of eLibrarian's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

My Book List ships an update every 4 days, eLibrarian every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
My Book List versus eLibrarian: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMy Book ListeLibrarian
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (639 ratings)5.0 (5 ratings) — better
Positive reviews48.7% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings639 — better5
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterEvery 9 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.010.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size41 MB68 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBigBalli Consulting llcMallory Haas

Customer experience

My Book List

All ratings639 ratings
Positive78.1%
Neutral6.9%
Negative15.0%
Written reviews339 reviews
Positive48.7%
Neutral10.9%
Negative40.4%

eLibrarian

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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

eLibrarian

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

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
None

eLibrarian

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is My Book List free?
My Book List is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is eLibrarian free?
eLibrarian is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, My Book List or eLibrarian?
eLibrarian is rated higher. My Book List averages 4.1 out of 5 from 639 ratings, while eLibrarian averages 5.0 from 5 ratings.
Do My Book List or eLibrarian have ads?
Neither My Book List nor eLibrarian shows ads.
Which is updated more often, My Book List or eLibrarian?
My Book List ships an update every 4 days, and eLibrarian every 9 days. Most recently, My Book List was updated on October 17, 2026 and eLibrarian on September 22, 2026.

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