CheapestTextbooks.com vs Textbooks 101
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
CheapestTextbooks.com
Easily find affordable textbooks by scanning barcodes or searching for titles. This app compares prices across various retailers, including condition and shipping options, to help students save money.
- Scan book barcodes
- Search by title
- Compare prices
- Check book condition
- Find rental options
- Identify shipping offers
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Get your books cheap by harnessing the power of the Cheap Books app. This app will save you time and money. Easily scan in a book’s barcode or type in a search phrase and we’ll locate your book at a store selling it for a cheap price. What is the Cheap Books app? Our purpose at is to assist you in finding all your books. We scour the internet to help students find their books at cheap prices. Our one of a kind search engine takes mere seconds to find cheap prices for the books you’re looking for. Our price comparison includes: the price, condition (new books, used books and rental books), free shipping offers and other money saving options like dollar off coupons. Don't waste your hard earned money on college books by giving it to the campus bookstore! We all know that the cost of college books is going up, but you can reverse that trend. A student can spend over $1000 on college books a year. Don’t be that kind of student! Be a student of fiscal awareness, by using our easy to use Cheap Books app to find all your books. Many students using our site and app have saved over 95% off their college books, by price comparing the major online bookstores.
Textbooks 101
This app helps college students save money by comparing prices for buying and selling textbooks. It allows users to scan barcodes, compare offers from multiple retailers, and even connect with other students on campus to buy or sell books directly.
- Compare buyback prices from 10+ retailers
- Scan ISBN barcodes for instant price lookup
- Sell textbooks to the highest-paying retailer
- Buy and sell with students on campus
- Built-in messaging for campus transactions
- Wait-list notifications for hard-to-find books
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Textbooks 101 is the #1 textbook price comparison app for college students. Compare buyback prices from every major retailer, sell your textbooks for the most money, and buy cheap textbooks — all in one app. SELL YOUR TEXTBOOKS Scan your textbook's barcode or search by ISBN to instantly compare buyback prices from 10+ retailers. See who pays the most and sell with one tap. Stop leaving money on the table. BUY TEXTBOOKS CHEAP Compare prices across every major retailer to find the cheapest option — new, used, rental, or eBook. Save hundreds every semester. CAMPUS MARKETPLACE Buy and sell directly with other students at your school. No middleman, no shipping — just meet up on campus. Built-in messaging makes it easy. BARCODE SCANNER Point your camera at any textbook barcode for instant price lookups. Perfect for comparison shopping at the bookstore. WAIT-LIST Can't find the textbook you need? Add it to your wait-list and get notified instantly when another student lists it. KEY FEATURES • Compare buy & sell prices from 10+ retailers • Scan ISBN barcodes for instant price lookup • Sell textbooks to the highest-paying retailer • Buy and sell with students on campus • Built-in messaging for campus transactions • Wait-list notifications for hard-to-find books • Works in the US and Canada • 100% free — no hidden fees Join thousands of students who save money on textbooks every semester with Textbooks 101.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: CheapestTextbooks.com at 5.0 against Textbooks 101's 1.0. CheapestTextbooks.com also leads on ratings volume (5 vs 1) and iOS requirement (8.1 vs 15.0). Textbooks 101's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 52 months) and review sentiment (100% vs 75%). 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
CheapestTextbooks.com holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: CheapestTextbooks.com has 5 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 75% of CheapestTextbooks.com's written reviews are positive against 100% of Textbooks 101's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
CheapestTextbooks.com ships an update every 52 months, Textbooks 101 every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and September 29, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | CheapestTextbooks.com | Textbooks 101 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (5 ratings) — better | 1.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 75.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 5 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 52 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | — | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 8.1 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 19 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Intermarketings Inc | Friday Software Group Inc. |
Customer experience
CheapestTextbooks.com
Textbooks 101
In-app purchases
CheapestTextbooks.com
No in-app purchases
Textbooks 101
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is CheapestTextbooks.com free?
Is Textbooks 101 free?
Which has better reviews, CheapestTextbooks.com or Textbooks 101?
Which is updated more often, CheapestTextbooks.com or Textbooks 101?
Other comparisons
