Comparison

BookNote vs Bookshelf

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

Head to head
About

BookNote

This app helps you organize your reading, track your progress, and capture your thoughts on books. Set reading goals, log sessions, and save insights to build a reading habit and visualize your literary journey.

Highlights
  • Organize books by status and category
  • Track reading sessions with timer and page counts
  • Capture and tag notes with highlights
  • Build reading habits with streaks and goals
  • Visualize reading progress and statistics
  • Import from Goodreads and StoryGraph (Pro)
Features
Read full description

Transform every finished book into a timeless collection of personal insights. Track your reading sessions and write down the ideas you want to apply in your life or save for the future. BookNote is the ultimate reading companion. ORGANIZE YOUR BOOKS - Add books by searching for a title, scanning ISBN or picking from our themed collections - Categorize books as currently read, finished, paused, or on wishlist (TBR) - Sort your books by newest, oldest, or last read TRACK YOUR READING - Set a daily goal for how much you would like to read, and a yearly goal for how many books you plan to finish. - Use the built-in timer to track every reading session with page counts and duration - View all your past sessions with detailed history of what you've read and when CAPTURE YOUR THOUGHTS - Easily scan favorites highlights from book pages - Write notes while reading or after finishing a session - Organize your notes using tags - Link notes to specific books and sessions - Easily search across all your notes BUILD A HABIT - Maintain daily reading streaks and watch your consistency grow - Earn ranks from Bronze to Diamond as you hit reading milestones - Revise a few of your notes every daily to solidify the learning - Get inspired with daily motivational quotes about reading VISUALIZE YOUR PROGRESS - See detailed statistics of your reading patterns - Track total books finished, pages read, and time spent - Monitor your progress toward yearly book goals BookNote is free to download and use. Upgrade to BookNote Pro to unlock the full experience: - Unlimited book storage (Free version limited to 10 books) - Advanced note formatting with bold, italic, underline and headings - Import your full collection from Goodreads and StoryGraph - Attach photos and drawings to your notes Important: BookNote is a book TRACKING and NOTE-TAKING app. You cannot read or download actual books inside this app. Terms of Use: https://booknote.app/#terms Privacy Policy: https://booknote.app/#privacy

About

Bookshelf

Organize your entire reading life, tracking physical books, ebooks, and audiobooks. Set reading goals, log sessions, save quotes, and visualize your progress with detailed statistics and a reading habits heat map. Discover new books and connect with friends.

Highlights
  • Smart book organization with custom shelves
  • Reading timer and session tracking
  • Save quotes and notes with OCR
  • Flexible reading goals and progress tracking
  • Detailed statistics and insights
  • Reading habits heat map
  • Monthly and yearly recaps
  • Purchase and borrowing logs
Features
Read full description

The best reading tracker for physical books, ebooks, and audiobooks. Whether you're managing your TBR pile, tracking a BookTok recommendation, or building a reading habit - Bookshelf is the book journal, reading log, and library organizer you've been looking for. Switching from Goodreads or StoryGraph? Import your entire library in minutes. SMART BOOK ORGANIZATION Organize your books into Reading, To Read, Wishlist, Finished, and Abandoned shelves - or create unlimited custom shelves with your own icons and colors. Drag and drop books between shelves. Tag books with custom color-coded labels for easy filtering. Sort by title, author, rating, date added, start date, finish date, last read, pages, publication date, and more. Track series, editions, and co-authors. Add books by searching or by scanning ISBN barcodes - even in bulk scan mode. MULTIPLE VIEWS, YOUR WAY See your library the way you love it: a cozy 3D bookcase view, a flexible grid with adjustable cover size and spacing, or a detailed list. Customize progress indicators, goal badges, and shelf appearance down to the smallest detail. READING TIMER & SESSION TRACKING Start the built-in reading timer whenever you pick up a book. Use the stopwatch for open-ended sessions or set a countdown alarm for timed reading. Log pages read, reading percentage, and session duration. Track audiobooks with chapter-level, minute-precise listening sessions. Re-reading a favorite? Track multiple readings per book. Quick-start a session right from your home screen widget. QUOTES, NOTES & REVIEWS Save your favorite quotes by typing or scanning straight from the page with OCR text recognition. Attach photos to your notes for a richer book journal. Write reviews and rate every book you finish. FLEXIBLE READING GOALS Set goals for pages, reading time, or number of books across any date range - daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or anything in between. Pin your most important goals, show visual badges on book covers, and celebrate completions with animated confetti. DEEP STATS & INSIGHTS Explore your reading like never before: reading pace and velocity, rating trends, abandoned-book rate, genre and author distribution charts, a reading-pattern clock showing when you read best, milestones, history, and year-over-year comparisons. Unlock tiered achievements as your library grows. MONTHLY & YEARLY RECAPS Beautiful monthly summaries and full yearly recaps - your longest and shortest books, five-star reads, first and last finishes, top quotes, genre breakdowns, streaks, and month-by-month highlights. Like Spotify Wrapped, but for your reading life. Export and share as an image or PDF. PURCHASE LOGS Track purchases, borrowed books, and lending history. Set return-date reminders so you never forget to return - or get back - a book. Log price, location, and personal notes. READING FEED Follow friends and explore their shelves, reviews, and stats. Stay inspired with a feed of reading activity from people you follow and the global community. Control exactly what's visible on your public profile. HOME SCREEN WIDGETS Keep your reading front and center with customizable home screen widgets for your current reads and reading timer. 18 STUNNING THEMES Choose from themes like Nordic, Forest, Cyberpunk, Lavender, Pink, and more - each in light and dark. Decorate your shelves with 50+ adorable book nooks across 11 categories. Personalize shelf size, spacing, progress indicators, and your profile widget layout. EASY IMPORT Import from Goodreads or StoryGraph with a CSV file, or scan your physical books with the built-in barcode scanner. Sync your reading across devices, with Kobo e-reader sync supported. Build your shelves. Set your goals. Track your reading streak. Fall in love with reading again. https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

BookNote4 screens
Bookshelf4 screens

Verdict

The call

BookNote and Bookshelf both sit at 4.8 stars, but that hides the real split: 100% of BookNote's written reviews are positive against 88% of Bookshelf's. Bookshelf's advantage is iOS requirement (15.5 vs 17.0). On price, rating, ratings volume 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. BookNote sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and Bookshelf sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $2.49 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for BookNote against 4.8 for Bookshelf. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 23 and 37 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 100% of BookNote's written reviews are positive against 88% of Bookshelf's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 27, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
BookNote versus Bookshelf: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBookNoteBookshelf
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (23 ratings)4.8 (37 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better87.5% of reviews
Number of ratings2337 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.015.5 — better
Further details — not scored
Size67 MB171 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMaciej DaszkiewiczTiago Almeida

Customer experience

BookNote

All ratings23 ratings
Positive95.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative4.3%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bookshelf

All ratings27 ratings
Positive96.3%
Neutral3.7%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive87.5%
Neutral12.5%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

BookNote

Subscriptions2
  • BookNote Pro Monthly$9.991 Month
  • BookNote Pro Yearly$49.991 Year
One-time1
  • BookNote Pro – Lifetime Access$99.99
6 purchases

Bookshelf

Subscriptions4
  • Premium Features$2.491 Month
  • Premium Features$2.991 Month
  • Premium Features$22.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Premium Features$29.991 Year
One-time2
  • Lifetime (promo)$99.99
  • Lifetime$199.99

Questions

Is BookNote free?
BookNote is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Bookshelf free?
Bookshelf is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, BookNote or Bookshelf?
Bookshelf is rated higher. BookNote averages 4.8 out of 5 from 23 ratings, while Bookshelf averages 4.8 from 37 ratings.
Do BookNote or Bookshelf have ads?
Neither BookNote nor Bookshelf shows ads.
Which is updated more often, BookNote or Bookshelf?
BookNote ships an update every 2 weeks, and Bookshelf every 2 weeks. Most recently, BookNote was updated on October 24, 2026 and Bookshelf on October 27, 2026.

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