Comparison

PARALLEL PLUS Bible vs Holy Scroll

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

Head to head
About

PARALLEL PLUS Bible

Explore biblical texts with multiple translations side-by-side. Deepen your understanding with integrated Greek and Hebrew word studies, grammatical analysis, and translation tips. Search for verses using keywords across all versions.

Highlights
  • Parallel Bible versions (up to 8 columns)
  • Greek and Hebrew word studies
  • Lexical entries and word families
  • Verse-by-verse exegetical helps
  • Search for verses by keywords
  • Multiple language support
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

The PARALLEL PLUS® Bible-study app is for pastors, lay leaders, and others actively seeking a deeper understanding of the Scriptures. PARALLEL: up to 8 columns, 200+ versions. PLUS Greek and Hebrew word studies (verse lists, unabridged Thayer/BDB/Schleusner, word families). PLUS exegetic helps (parsings, translation tips). Free, install now. EXPERIENCE IT: As you read down the column in one version, when you encounter a verse you'd like to better understand, just move your eyes left-and-right to see how other versions express that verse in its context, and then continue reading the chapter. The idea is to introduce as little eye movement as possible, so you can get into the Scriptures and stay there for a while. BIBLICAL LANGUAGES: See Hebrew and Greek in parallel with other versions. Plus tap any word to lookup the corresponding Hebrew or Greek word and its occurrences. Plus tap any verse to lookup Hebrew or Greek details in a verse: phonetics, parsings, parts of speech, translation tips. GO DEEPER: Tap any word, then tap “word study” to see: verse lists, lexical entries, and word families. Tap any verse, then tap “verse study” to see verse-at-a-time helps: color-coded parts-of-speech, word forms, phonetics, syllables, and translation tips. It also helps you find familiar Bible verses, even when you only remember a few words; enter "God so loved" in the search box and see where that phrase occurs in every Bible version in your parallel Bible. PROTESTANT, CATHOLIC: This app automatically aligns verses—by verse content—and displays corresponding verse numbers when different. COMMENTARY FREE: The act of reading versions in parallel helps readers to understand more deeply. Even without commentary. We feel this is so important that we do not include commentary in our app. LANGUAGES: Biblical Hebrew and Greek plus English, French, German, Hindi, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, and about 50 others. ABOUT: TheBible.org is a US charitable organization (official name: The Bible Works). Its mission is helping ministers make known Christ; in support of that mission, it develops apps to help people experience more effective Scripture reading. Peter Coad leads his small team in this work. The organization's content partners include Biblica (NIV), Crossway (ESV), Lockman (NASB), and Bible League International. Parallel Plus® is a registered trademark of TheBible.org ©2026 TheBible.org. All rights reserved.

About

Holy Scroll

This app integrates Bible reading into your daily phone usage habits. It offers a verse-by-verse infinite scroll experience, similar to social media feeds, to make reading Scripture effortless and engaging. Users can also add notes and like verses that resonate with them.

Highlights
  • Verse-by-verse infinite scroll
  • Habit-based reading integration
  • Double-tap to like verses
  • Hold to add notes
  • Distraction-free interface
  • Hidden features on demand
Read full description

THE BIBLE APP THAT WORKS WITH YOUR HABITS, NOT AGAINST THEM
 Listen. You already know you should read your Bible more. I'm not going to lecture you about that.
 Here's what I am going to tell you: you reach for your phone about 150 times a day. You scroll through Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, whatever. Your thumb does this thing where it just keeps moving. Swipe, swipe, swipe. You don't even think about it anymore.
 And every single time you do that, there's this little voice in your head that says "I should be reading Scripture instead."
 So you try. You download a Bible app. Maybe you've downloaded five of them. You open it with good intentions. You're going to read a chapter today. You're finally going to get through Romans.
 But here's what actually happens: You open the app. You hunt for where you left off. You can't remember if you were in chapter 3 or chapter 4. You finally find it. You start reading. Then a notification pops up. You swipe it away. You go back to reading. But now you're thinking about that text message. You finish the verse. You close the app. You tell yourself you'll come back to it later.
 You don't come back to it later.
 And the whole time, your thumb? Your thumb is bored. Because your thumb has been trained by ten years of Instagram to expect something different. It expects to keep moving. It expects that smooth scroll. That rhythm. That flow.
 Fighting that is exhausting… So stop fighting it!
 Holy Scroll works with the way you already use your phone, not against it. It's verse-by-verse infinite scroll. Just like your Instagram feed, just like TikTok, just like everything else on your phone. But it's Scripture.
 You open the app. You see your name. One button that says Continue. You tap it. You're exactly where you stopped yesterday, yesterday morning, ten minutes ago, whenever. And you just start scrolling.
 Verse after verse after verse. Your thumb does what it already knows how to do. You keep reading. You get into this rhythm. Time kind of disappears. You look up twenty minutes later and you've read three chapters without trying. I'm not making this up. This is what happens when the friction disappears. WRITE WHAT THE SPIRIT SAYS! A verse moved you? Double tap to like a verse! God spoke to you? Hold down to add a note! Notes aren't for organization. They're for remembrance. When God speaks on the mountain write it down. Six months from now when you're in the valley and can't feel Him, you'll need proof this was real. Your notes become your ammunition.
 THE MOST DISTRACTION-FREE BIBLE APP IN EXISTENCE! Everything you need hides until you reach for it. Search, notes, translations, highlights, bookmarks. All there. All instant. All hidden until you want them. Power features that know their place. This is what respecting your attention looks like.
 WHO THIS IS FOR? This is for believers who are tired of trying harder. Who know they should read Scripture but keep choosing their feed instead. Who want to be the person who's read Romans, not the person who keeps starting and quitting. This is for people who are hungry but exhausted.
 If you've been losing the attention war on your phone, Holy Scroll is what you've been looking for.
 DOWNLOAD HOLY SCROLL TODAY! Holy Scroll is what happens when you stop fighting your habits and start working with them.
 You're going to scroll anyway. You might as well scroll Scripture. That's it. That's the whole idea.
 You can download it right now. It's free. Open it tomorrow morning instead of social media. See what happens. I think you'll finish books of the Bible you never thought you'd read. I think you'll become the person who actually knows where verses are instead of just nodding along when someone mentions them. I think this might be the thing that finally makes Bible reading feel easy instead of exhausting.
 But hey, don't take my word for it. Download it. Try it for a week. See if I'm lying.
 Your thumb already knows what to do.

Screenshots

PARALLEL PLUS Bible4 screens
Holy Scroll4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: PARALLEL PLUS Bible at free against Holy Scroll's free with in-app purchases. PARALLEL PLUS Bible also leads on ratings volume (14K vs 49) and chart position (#206 vs unranked). On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for PARALLEL PLUS Bible against 5.0 for Holy Scroll. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PARALLEL PLUS Bible has 14K ratings behind it against 49, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 98% of PARALLEL PLUS Bible's written reviews are positive against 100% of Holy Scroll's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PARALLEL PLUS Bible ships an update monthly, Holy Scroll every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
PARALLEL PLUS Bible versus Holy Scroll: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPARALLEL PLUS BibleHoly Scroll
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (14K ratings)5.0 (49 ratings) — better
Positive reviews98.1% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings14K — better49
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#206 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.2 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size381 MB270 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperScripture NetworkDiscipleship Tech, Inc.

Customer experience

PARALLEL PLUS Bible

All ratings14,428 ratings
Positive97.9%
Neutral1.1%
Negative1.1%
Written reviews412 reviews
Positive98.1%
Neutral0.5%
Negative1.5%

Holy Scroll

All ratings49 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews47 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

PARALLEL PLUS Bible

Reported bugs

1 issue
  • Tried to change from NASB20 to NASB 95 and everything has gone haywire

Requested features

3 requests
  • Add the Passion translation as another choice
  • Allow highlighting individual words or sections of verses
  • Change the font color to black for better readability

Holy Scroll

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

PARALLEL PLUS Bible

No in-app purchases

None

Holy Scroll

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PARALLEL PLUS Bible free?
PARALLEL PLUS Bible is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Holy Scroll free?
Holy Scroll is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, PARALLEL PLUS Bible or Holy Scroll?
Holy Scroll is rated higher. PARALLEL PLUS Bible averages 4.9 out of 5 from 14K ratings, while Holy Scroll averages 5.0 from 49 ratings.
Do PARALLEL PLUS Bible or Holy Scroll have ads?
Neither PARALLEL PLUS Bible nor Holy Scroll shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PARALLEL PLUS Bible or Holy Scroll?
PARALLEL PLUS Bible ships an update monthly, and Holy Scroll every 3 weeks. Most recently, PARALLEL PLUS Bible was updated on September 24, 2026 and Holy Scroll on September 22, 2026.

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