Pros n Cons vs Bookends
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pros n Cons
This app helps you make informed decisions by weighing pros and cons. You can list factors, assign importance, and assess options against each factor. It then ranks your options based on your input to guide you to the best choice.
- List decision factors
- Assign importance to factors
- Assess options against factors
- Rank options automatically
- Simple decision helper
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Pros n Cons - simple yet powerful decision helper. List all factors and set their importance. List all options and assess them for each factor. Options will be sorted from the best to the worst based on the assessments multiplied by importance of corresponding factors. Make the best decision!
Bookends
Manage your research references and PDFs on your mobile device. Search online databases, import metadata, annotate PDFs, and organize your library. Offers basic functionality for free with optional one-time purchase and yearly subscription for advanced features like cloud sync and unlimited imports.
- Search online reference databases
- Import metadata and PDFs
- PDF annotation and markup
- Barcode scanning for references
- Cloud sync across devices
- Share online libraries
- Create multiple libraries
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Bookends is the reference management app you've been looking for. The basic version offers: • Search online sites directly (arXiv, Google Books, Google Scholar, JSTOR, the Library of Congress, PubMed, PubMed Central, and Semantic Scholar) or use the built-in browser (EZProxy-compliant) to download reference metadata and PDFs (access privileges required). Searches can return a maximum of 20 references, and only 50 references can be stored in your personal database. • Use unique identifiers such as DOI, PMID, ISBN, or arXiv id to autofill references. • View the text of PDF annotations in a note stream, and create your own with our powerful PDF markup engine. • Barcode scanning, one per day. • And many more features designed to help you discover, organize, and use reference information. Standard, one-time purchase ($14.99): • No limit on searches or importing. Premium, yearly subscription ($14.99). Requires a Standard purchase. • Cloud sync with all your iOS devices and Bookends for Mac (separate purchase). • Share online libraries with colleagues. • Scan documents with Mellel Mobile*. • Create multiple libraries. • Unlimited barcode scanning. • Extract PDF annotations with deep links to annotations and text. • Convenient UI to add PDF notes to the library. • Automate your actions with Shortcuts. * iPad-only. Requires a Mellel Mobile Premium subscription. Subscription is for one year and has an auto-renew option. The subscription can be managed in iOS -> Settings > [your name] > Subscriptions. A subscription will renew if it isn't canceled at least 24 hours before the renewal date. If the subscription is not renewed, Premium will be disabled but Standard will continue to work. Terms of Service: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Bookends at Free against Pros n Cons's $1.99. Bookends also leads on rating (4.7 vs 4.1) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 4 months). Pros n Cons's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and iOS requirement (13 vs 17.6). On ads and device support 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
Bookends is free to download; Pros n Cons costs $1.99 up front. Bookends sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per year. Pros n Cons asks for nothing beyond the download.
Bookends holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bookends has 394 ratings behind it against 36, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 65% of Pros n Cons's written reviews are positive against 76% of Bookends's.
Pros n Cons ships an update every 4 months, Bookends every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and August 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pros n Cons | Bookends |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.1 (36 ratings) | 4.7 (394 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 64.7% of reviews | 76.4% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 36 | 394 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 13 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 111 MB |
| Age rating | +4 | 4+ |
| Developer | Mikhail Akopov | Sonny Software, LLC |
Customer experience
Pros n Cons
Bookends
Bugs and requests
Pros n Cons
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Bookends
Reported bugs
3 issues- Incompatibility with iCloud Optimized Storage
- Unreliable sync between desktop and mobile versions
- Occasional data loss or corruption
Requested features
4 requests- Nested folders and tags for better organization
- Automatic PDF metadata extraction
- Improved search and filtering capabilities
- Seamless integration with third-party services
In-app purchases
Pros n Cons
No in-app purchases
Bookends
- Premium3 Months trial$14.991 Year
- Standard$14.99
