Comparison

Bookshelf vs BookSlayer

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
Currently charting
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

BookSlayer

Organize your reading, track progress, and discover new indie authors with this reader-focused app. Features include custom notes, reading challenges, and shareable progress reports. Enjoy a streamlined experience with no login required.

Highlights
  • Customized reading challenges
  • Shareable progress tracking
  • Indie author discovery
  • Organize books by status
  • Save custom notes and quotes
  • Monthly wrap-up reports
  • Night mode
Features
Read full description

BookSlayer - Built by an author, made for readers. Level up your literary life with BookSlayer - your home for customized reading challenges, share-worthy progress tracking, and new indie author discovery. No learning curve, no locked features, and no log-in required. Welcome to a streamlined, reader-first experience that puts you in control of your shelf. My Shelf - Organize your books by reading status - Save custom notes, favorite quotes, and reflections with every book - Automatically check whether you have an identical book on your shelf (even if the cover has changed!) Reading Challenges - No templates or image editing required, snap books to squares with one tap! - Challenge progress automatically synchronizes with each book's reading status - Track your challenges with checks and crosses, or play in Jigsaw Mode! - Slay multiple reading challenges simultaneously, why limit yourself to one? - Completely randomized Book Bingo challenge, no two cards are the same! Monthly Wrap-Up - Track start and finish dates for a visual calendar of books you've finished or DNF'd Post-Ready - Choose beautiful backdrops for your books to screenshot and share your reading progress Featured Books - Discover new indie authors and their books on the front page Night Mode - Save your eyes for the words that matter Whether you're slaying a towering TBR Pile or tackling a year of reading challenges, BookSlayer keeps your reading journey organized, engaging, and easy to share.

Screenshots

Bookshelf4 screens
BookSlayer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Bookshelf at 88% against BookSlayer's 0%. Bookshelf also leads on rating (4.8 vs 2.3) and ads (none vs shown). BookSlayer's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.5). 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 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and BookSlayer sells 8 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Bookshelf holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 2.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bookshelf has 38 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 88% of Bookshelf's written reviews are positive against 0% of BookSlayer's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Bookshelf ships an update every 2 weeks, BookSlayer fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Bookshelf versus BookSlayer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBookshelfBookSlayer
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (38 ratings) — better2.3 (3 ratings)
Positive reviews87.5% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings38 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterFortnightly
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#192 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.513.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size171 MB99 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperTiago AlmeidaSteven Heuzinkveld

Customer experience

Bookshelf

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

BookSlayer

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Bookshelf

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Features$2.991 Month
  • Premium Features$29.991 Year
One-time2
  • Lifetime (promo)$99.99
  • Lifetime$199.99
8 purchases

BookSlayer

One-time8
  • Word Warrior$0.99
  • Page Pounder$1.99
  • Novel Nomad$2.99
Show 5 more
  • Book Blitzer$4.99
  • Tome Tamer$9.99
  • Narrative Ninja$19.99
  • Story Slayer$49.99
  • Library Legend$99.99

Questions

Is Bookshelf free?
Bookshelf is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is BookSlayer free?
BookSlayer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Bookshelf or BookSlayer?
Bookshelf is rated higher. Bookshelf averages 4.8 out of 5 from 38 ratings, while BookSlayer averages 2.3 from 3 ratings.
Do Bookshelf or BookSlayer have ads?
BookSlayer shows ads; Bookshelf does not.
Which is updated more often, Bookshelf or BookSlayer?
Bookshelf ships an update every 2 weeks, and BookSlayer fortnightly. Most recently, Bookshelf was updated on November 4, 2026 and BookSlayer on November 5, 2026.

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