Comparison

Bookshelf vs TBR Book Jar

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

TBR Book Jar

This app helps you decide what to read next with over 190 prompts and a customizable digital bookshelf. Track your reading progress, view stats, and personalize your virtual library.

Highlights
  • 190+ reading prompts
  • Customizable digital bookshelf
  • Page progress tracking
  • Reading timer and speed tracking
  • Reading stats and goals
  • Goodreads import
  • Dark mode support
Features
Read full description

Can't decide what to read next? Reach into the jar. TBR Book Jar is the reading app BookTok has been waiting for — a digital TBR jar, a gorgeous customizable bookshelf, an AI book buddy, audiobook magic… and now the biggest thing we've ever shipped: a built-in community of readers. Book clubs, forums, a used-book marketplace, and your shelf synced to the web. Built by a reader who was tired of staring at the TBR pile — now with company. NEW — TBRTALK, YOUR READING COMMUNITY · Book clubs with their own themed rooms — join one or start your own · Forums for every bookish conversation, plus direct messages · A used-book marketplace: list your finished copies, browse everyone else's — buyers and sellers arrange everything directly · Wishlist a book and get alerted when someone lists a used copy · Every book gets its own page: reviews, ratings, clubs reading it, copies for sale · Your library and wishlist sync with tbrtalk.com — your shelf, on the web NEW — YOUR HOME DASHBOARD Pick up right where you left off: a continue-reading carousel, streaks and goals at a glance, quick doors to everything. AUDIOBOOK MODE Your paperbacks just learned to talk. Snap photos of any pages — they're transcribed and read aloud with karaoke-style highlighting that follows along. Studio Voices sound remarkably human and run entirely on your iPhone: downloaded once, private, offline. Have a DRM-free EPUB? Drop it in and listen to the whole book. THE JAR 190+ creative prompts across 17 categories. Tap to pick and let fate decide — or hit Mystery Book to pull randomly from your own shelf. DISCOVER An endless deck of book suggestions dealt from the genres you actually love. Swipe right to wishlist, left to pass — it quietly learns your taste. YOUR BOOKSHELVES Not a list — real bookshelves. Books stand as spines or face-out covers on wooden shelves, sized to their true cover shape. Stack them into piles, drag to rearrange, decorate with wallpapers, stickers and animated GIFs. Unlimited shelves, smart shelves that fill themselves, and a Wishlist shelf for the books you want next. BOOK BUDDY — YOUR AI READING COMPANION Give it a name, then ask for recommendations, chat about books, describe a vibe or "books like ___" — grounded in real, current titles and tuned to what's on your shelf. READING TIMER & FOCUS SCENES The timer is free for every reader. Go Pro and read beside a crackling campfire, rain on the window, ocean waves — seven looping nature scenes plus ambient sound. ADD BOOKS IN SECONDS Search millions of titles with auto-filled covers and summaries · scan a barcode or snap the cover · import your whole Goodreads library via CSV. TRACK & CELEBRATE Page progress, reading speed, ratings and reviews, streaks, a yearly goal ring, genre charts and an activity heatmap. FREE The whole community · 10 books on your shelf · unlimited wishlist · 30 prompts · reading tracker & timer · a daily taste of Book Buddy and page scanning PRO — Monthly, Yearly or Lifetime (start with a 14-day free trial) · Unlimited books & shelves · full Audiobook Mode · All 190+ prompts + custom prompts · Unlimited Book Buddy, Discover deck & smart wishlist · Stats, focus scenes & sounds, goals & reminders · Goodreads import · every wallpaper, theme & decoration Your TBR pile just got fun — and it brought friends. Reach in and start picking. Subscriptions auto-renew unless cancelled 24 hours before the period ends. Manage in App Store settings. Privacy: https://damobo.com/tbrbookjar/privacy Terms: https://apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Support: support@damobo.com

Screenshots

Bookshelf4 screens
TBR Book Jar4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: TBR Book Jar at every 4 days against Bookshelf's every 2 weeks. Bookshelf's advantage is chart position (#169 vs unranked) and ratings volume (38 vs 5). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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 TBR Book Jar sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

TBR Book Jar holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bookshelf has 38 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Bookshelf ships an update every 2 weeks, TBR Book Jar every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
Bookshelf versus TBR Book Jar: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBookshelfTBR Book Jar
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (38 ratings)5.0 (5 ratings) — better
Positive reviews87.5% of reviews—
Number of ratings38 — better5
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFreemium
Best chart rank#169 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.5 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size171 MB118 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTiago AlmeidaChristopher Mayberry

Customer experience

Bookshelf

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

TBR Book Jar

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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
4 purchases

TBR Book Jar

Subscriptions3
  • Pro Monthly (One-Time Offer)$3.991 Month
  • TBR Book Jar Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
  • TBR Book Jar Pro Annual14 Days trial$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • TBR Book Jar Pro Lifetime$69.99

Questions

Is Bookshelf free?
Bookshelf is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is TBR Book Jar free?
TBR Book Jar is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Bookshelf or TBR Book Jar?
TBR Book Jar is rated higher. Bookshelf averages 4.8 out of 5 from 38 ratings, while TBR Book Jar averages 5.0 from 5 ratings.
Do Bookshelf or TBR Book Jar have ads?
Neither Bookshelf nor TBR Book Jar shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Bookshelf or TBR Book Jar?
Bookshelf ships an update every 2 weeks, and TBR Book Jar every 4 days. Most recently, Bookshelf was updated on November 4, 2026 and TBR Book Jar on October 31, 2026.

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