Comparison

Bookshelf vs Chapter

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

Head to head
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/

About

Chapter

Organize your reading life with this app. Track progress, log updates, and build a personalized library. Set goals, save notes, and share your reading journey with friends.

Highlights
  • Track reading progress
  • Log daily updates
  • Build a personalized library
  • Add custom covers
  • Organize by format/status
  • Set reading goals
  • Save notes and quotes
  • Shared readings with friends
Features
Read full description

Reading just got a glow-up. Chapter is the app that helps you keep track of everything you’re reading, planning to read, or pretending you’ve read (we won’t tell). Whether you’re devouring fantasy sagas, vibing with romance, or juggling five nonfiction books at once, Chapter keeps your reading life neat, nerdy, and totally you. Track your reading progress, log daily updates, and build a library that actually feels like yours. Add custom covers, organize books by format or status, and keep everything beautifully tidy. Set reading goals, celebrate milestones, and stay motivated whether you’re reading 2 books a year or 200. Save notes, highlight favorite quotes, and remember every moment that made you laugh, cry, or immediately text a friend. Read together with friends using Shared Readings! Start a shared book with up to 7 friends, follow each other’s progress, and stay motivated together chapter by chapter. Leave fun reviews, discover what other readers are loving, and find your next obsession through the community. You can even plan reading sessions, book club meetings, or upcoming releases with built-in events and reminders. Chapter makes reading feel more organized, more fun, and a whole lot more you. Ready to turn the page? Download Chapter and start your next reading adventure today! -------------------- By using Chapter, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy: TERMS OF SERVICE: https://help.clubchapter.com/en/about/terms/ PRIVACY POLICY: https://help.clubchapter.com/en/about/privacy/

Screenshots

Bookshelf4 screens
Chapter4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Bookshelf at none against Chapter's shown. Bookshelf also leads on ratings volume (27 vs 1) and device support (3 vs 1). Chapter's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.8). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Bookshelf sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $2.49 per month and Chapter sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Chapter holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bookshelf has 27 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Bookshelf ships an update every 2 weeks, Chapter fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Bookshelf versus Chapter: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBookshelfChapter
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (27 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews87.5% of reviews—
Number of ratings27 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterFortnightly
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.5 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size171 MB108 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTiago AlmeidaDiego Frias Nerio

Customer experience

Bookshelf

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

Chapter

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

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
3 purchases

Chapter

Subscriptions3
  • Chapter Premium Monthly$2.991 Month
  • Chapter Premium Quarterly14 Days trial$7.993 Months
  • Chapter Premium Yearly1 Month trial$24.991 Year

Questions

Is Bookshelf free?
Bookshelf is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Chapter free?
Chapter is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Bookshelf or Chapter?
Chapter is rated higher. Bookshelf averages 4.8 out of 5 from 27 ratings, while Chapter averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Bookshelf or Chapter have ads?
Chapter shows ads; Bookshelf does not.
Which is updated more often, Bookshelf or Chapter?
Bookshelf ships an update every 2 weeks, and Chapter fortnightly. Most recently, Bookshelf was updated on October 5, 2026 and Chapter on October 13, 2026.

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