Comparison

Bookshelf vs StoryShelf

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

StoryShelf

Easily catalog your personal library, track reading progress, and discover new books. Save notes, ratings, and set reading goals. Connect with friends to share your literary journey.

Highlights
  • Scan book barcodes to add to library
  • Save notes, ratings, and reviews
  • Track reading progress and set goals
  • Monthly and yearly reading recaps
  • Connect with friends to view their books
  • Discover new book recommendations
  • Sync library across devices
Features
Read full description

Discover, Track, and Organize Your Books   StoryShelf is the ultimate companion for book lovers. Whether you're cataloging your personal library, tracking what you’ve read, or planning your next great read, StoryShelf makes it simple and satisfying.   Features:   - Scan book barcodes to quickly add them to your shelf  - Save notes, ratings, and personal reviews  - See monthly and yearly recaps - Track your reading progress and set goals  - Add friends to view their recent books and progress  - Discover new books and view curated recommendations  - Sync your library across devices

Screenshots

Bookshelf4 screens
StoryShelf4 screens

Verdict

The call

Bookshelf and StoryShelf both sit at 4.8 stars, but that hides the real split: 100% of StoryShelf's written reviews are positive against 88% of Bookshelf's. Bookshelf's advantage is ratings volume (37 vs 8). On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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 StoryShelf sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

StoryShelf holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 37 and 8 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 88% of Bookshelf's written reviews are positive against 100% of StoryShelf's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Bookshelf ships an update every 2 weeks, StoryShelf every 9 days. Both last shipped on October 30, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Bookshelf versus StoryShelf: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBookshelfStoryShelf
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (37 ratings)5.0 (8 ratings) — better
Positive reviews87.5% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings37 — better8
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.5 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size171 MB106 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTiago AlmeidaZachary Pfaltzgraff

Customer experience

Bookshelf

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

StoryShelf

All ratings8 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
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
1 purchases

StoryShelf

One-time1
  • No Ads$1.99

Questions

Is Bookshelf free?
Bookshelf is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is StoryShelf free?
StoryShelf is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Bookshelf or StoryShelf?
StoryShelf is rated higher. Bookshelf averages 4.8 out of 5 from 37 ratings, while StoryShelf averages 5.0 from 8 ratings.
Do Bookshelf or StoryShelf have ads?
Neither Bookshelf nor StoryShelf shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Bookshelf or StoryShelf?
Bookshelf ships an update every 2 weeks, and StoryShelf every 9 days. Most recently, Bookshelf was updated on October 30, 2026 and StoryShelf on October 30, 2026.

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