Bookjournal.app vs Margin
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Bookjournal.app
Easily log books you've read, record ratings, thoughts, and notes. Enhance your entries with stickers and share your favorite reads with others. This app offers a convenient digital alternative to traditional reading journals.
- Track read books
- Record ratings and notes
- Add stickers to entries
- Share favorite books
- Digital reading journal
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Keep track of all the books you've read, capture your ratings, thoughts and notes, add stickers and more. Share your favorite books with family, friends and colleagues. As avid readers, we craved a seamless way to journal, track, and share our literary experiences. Traditional journaling, though enjoyable, can be tedious and time-consuming. We wanted our journals accessible anytime, anywhere - from waiting rooms to school pick-ups. That's why we built BookJournal.app. Join us for an effortless and enjoyable reading journey! Link to our End User License Agreement: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Margin
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Margin is a calm reading-streak app. Read a little every day and watch the days add up. Keep a streak Log minutes with a focus timer or by hand, set a daily goal, and see every reading day on a calendar beside your stats. Gentle reminders help you keep going without nagging. Read in Margin Open your own EPUB and PDF books in a reader built for long sessions: a page curl that follows your finger, themes and fonts, a contents view with page numbers, search, bookmarks, highlights and notes. Your place follows you from iPhone to iPad to the web, down to the sentence. Your library, organised Add books by title, by scanning a barcode, or by taking a photo of the cover. Sort them into collections like Research or Computer Vision, tag genres, and track what you want to read, are reading, and have finished. Covers are found for you, or use the first page of a PDF. Read aloud Record chapters as you read, keep reading while it records, and play them back from the book's page. Export a recording as a video with the book's cover, ready to share. Works with your AI assistant Connect any AI assistant that supports MCP to your library. Your assistant can see what you're reading, log sessions, add books, make collections and set genres, with access you approve and can revoke. Margin Plus Everything above is free, including up to five uploaded books of 5 MB each. Margin Plus adds unlimited uploads up to 150 MB each, video export of recordings, and book recognition from photos. Choose monthly, yearly, or a one-time lifetime purchase. If Plus ends, nothing is locked: every book you have stays readable. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and can be managed in your Apple Account settings. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy: https://margin.pstepanov.dev/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
Bookjournal.app and Margin are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.
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. Bookjournal.app sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Margin sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Bookjournal.app ships an update weekly, Margin every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Bookjournal.app | Margin |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (251 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 43.6% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 251 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Weekly | Every 6 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 36 MB | 74 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Rowan Trollope | Pavel Stepanov |
Bugs and requests
Bookjournal.app
Reported bugs
18 issues- Deleted books reappear
- Goodreads import does not work
- Incorrect book titles/covers after import
- Duplicate books
- App crashes
Show 13 moreShow fewer
- App won't open or stay open
- Error message when trying to cancel
- Messages marked as undeliverable on Discord
- Journal entries not saving or updating
- App refuses to open since update
- Books disappear after adding
- App not working after transfer
- Cannot add and save books read
- Reading goal reverts to 50
- No connection on home screen
- No results for searches
- App crashes immediately on opening
- Unable to access rating and date options
Requested features
13 requests- Connect with friends
- Add timer for reading tracking
- More information like a timer
- Audiobooks as a selection
- Add friends
Show 8 moreShow fewer
- Integrate Goodreads list without re-adding
- Fix journal saving/updating
- Fix series organization
- One-time payment option for premium
- More premium features for the price
- Dark mode option
- Improve search functionality
- Fix connection issues
Margin
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Bookjournal.app
- Monthly$4.991 Month
- Yearly$49.991 Year
Margin
- Margin Plus Monthly$2.991 Month
- Margin Plus Yearly$24.991 Year
- Margin Plus Lifetime$49.99









