Comparison

Bookoscope vs Readest

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

Head to head
About

Bookoscope

Browse and download public domain ebooks or access your own self-hosted library. This app crawls OPDS endpoints, caches book data, and allows quick export to your preferred ereader.

Highlights
  • Browse self-hosted ebook libraries
  • Download public domain classics
  • Searchable by metadata
  • Cached feeds
  • Quick download and export
  • Compatible with Calibre-web, Kavita, Ubooquity
Features
Read full description

Bookoscope is a fast, searchable ebook catalog. With Bookoscope, you can browse your own self-hosted ebook library as well as download public domain classics from Project Gutenberg. FEATURES: - Fast - Easy on the eyes - Includes over 70,000 public domain books from Project Gutenberg - Uses cached feeds (refresh on demand) - Searchable by any available metadata - Quick download and export to the ereader of your choice COMPATIBLE WITH: - Calibre-web - Kavita - Ubooquity - Any ebook server with OPDS 1.0 functionality WHY USE BOOKOSCOPE? Some ereader apps can connect to OPDS endpoints, but the functionality is tucked away and awkward. There's no way to browse and search all the ebooks you have access to, all at once. Bookoscope fills that niche. It crawls your OPDS endpoints, finds and caches all the books it can, and lets you easily download any of them to your device. From there, you can export them to your preferred ereader. BOOKOSCOPE IS NOT: - An ebook reader, sync client, or annotator, like Apple Books, Google Books, or Kindle. - A metadata editor or organizer, like Calibre. - A self-hosted ebook server, like Kavita, Ubooquity, or calibre-web. Bookoscope may be used with any of the above, but is not affiliated with any other app or tool. WHAT IS OPDS? OPDS is the open standard for web endpoints that expose catalogs of ebooks. Many people use home OPDS servers for their personal ebook libraries. WHAT IF I DON'T HAVE AN OPDS SERVER? That's okay! You can use Bookoscope to browse and download free, completely legal books in the public domain. Start with classics like: - Moby Dick - Frankenstein - Pride and Prejudice - The Great Gatsby - The complete works of William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Frederick Douglass, and more!

About

Readest

This app is a powerful ebook reader designed for deep thinkers and researchers. It offers advanced annotation tools, seamless device syncing, and robust library management with OPDS and Calibre support. Enjoy a distraction-free reading experience with customizable modes and multi-book viewing for enhanced study and analysis.

Highlights
  • OPDS Online Libraries
  • Calibre Integration
  • Sync Across Devices
  • Bookshelf Management
  • Customizable Reading Modes
  • Multi-Book View
  • Advanced Annotations & Highlights
Features
Read full description

Readest is an ebook reader for people who read a lot, and who want their books, notes and reading position on whatever device is nearest. Open EPUB, PDF, MOBI, AZW3, FB2, CBZ, TXT and Markdown in one library. Pull books from OPDS catalogs or from your own Calibre server. Read, annotate, listen, translate. Made for iPhone and iPad • CarPlay, so you can keep listening on the road with playback controls on the dashboard • Download read-aloud voices per book and listen with no connection at all • Add books from Files, Mail or any share sheet, and read them in place instead of copying them into a second library • Open up to four books at once on iPad and arrange them how you like Reading • Paginated or scrolling, with custom fonts, themes, spacing and margins • Vertical text for CJK books • Contrast and refresh tuned for e-ink screens • Full-text search inside a book Your library • Browse, search and download from OPDS catalogs and public libraries • Connect to Calibre or Calibre-Web, covers and metadata included • Organize with bookshelf groups you can rename Notes • Highlights, bookmarks and structured notes • Copy a highlight together with a deep link back to the passage • Export your annotations Listening and languages • Text-to-speech with downloadable offline voices • Translate a sentence, a page, or an entire book • Wikipedia and dictionary lookup without leaving the page Sync • Readest Cloud, or bring your own: iCloud, Google Drive, OneDrive, WebDAV, S3 • KOReader sync keeps your progress in step with your e-reader • iPhone, iPad, Mac, all other platforms and the web Readest is open source. Support: support@readest.com Privacy Policy: https://readest.com/privacy-policy Terms of Service: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Bookoscope4 screens
Readest4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Readest at 84% against Bookoscope's 0%. Readest also leads on price (Free vs $2.99) and ratings volume (195 vs 1). Bookoscope's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 9) and rating (5.0 vs 4.5). On 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

Readest is free to download; Bookoscope costs $2.99 up front. Readest sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Bookoscope asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Bookoscope holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Readest has 195 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 0% of Bookoscope's written reviews are positive against 84% of Readest's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Bookoscope ships an update every 5 days, Readest fortnightly. Both last shipped on October 25, 2026.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Bookoscope versus Readest: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBookoscopeReadest
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better4.5 (195 ratings)
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews84.2% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1195 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterFortnightly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS13.0 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size35 MB58 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperIsaac LymanBilingify LLC

Customer experience

Bookoscope

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

Readest

All ratings191 ratings
Positive86.4%
Neutral5.2%
Negative8.4%
Written reviews285 reviews
Positive84.2%
Neutral5.3%
Negative10.5%

In-app purchases

None

Bookoscope

No in-app purchases

9 purchases

Readest

Subscriptions4
  • Subscribe to Plus Plan$4.991 Month
  • Subscribe to Pro Plan$9.991 Month
  • Subscribe to Plus Plan$49.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Subscribe to Pro Plan$99.991 Year
One-time5
  • 1 GB$9.99
  • 2 GB$14.99
  • Full Customization$19.99
Show 2 more
  • 5 GB$29.99
  • 10 GB$49.99

Questions

Is Bookoscope free?
Bookoscope costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Readest free?
Readest is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Bookoscope or Readest?
Bookoscope is rated higher. Bookoscope averages 5.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while Readest averages 4.5 from 195 ratings.
Do Bookoscope or Readest have ads?
Neither Bookoscope nor Readest shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Bookoscope or Readest?
Bookoscope ships an update every 5 days, and Readest fortnightly. Most recently, Bookoscope was updated on October 25, 2026 and Readest on October 25, 2026.

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