Gutenberg Project vs CN'TREAD
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Gutenberg Project
Access over 60,000 classic books and 7,000 human-read audiobooks from Project Gutenberg. Enjoy a beautiful reading experience with synchronized audio and text, intelligent table of contents, and personalized recommendations based on user data. Export books with notes and bookmarks.
- Access 60,000+ classic books
- 7,000+ human-read audiobooks
- Synchronized read-along audio/text
- Intelligent Table of Contents
- Big data-driven recommendations
- Export books with notes/bookmarks
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【Premier Reader】: This app costs $6, and our users are paying for it each and every day. Why? It is the best Gutenberg Reader: beautiful images, elegant formatting, and graceful page turning. Contents live from Project Gutenberg with last-minute update, more than 60,000 most important books ever published in history. Plus more than 7,000 human-read audio books. 【Audio books】: There are more than 7,000 human-read audio books, all for the price of a cup of coffee. Alternatively you could pay $3-5 for a single audiobook as some of the "Audio app" would ask you to pay. 【Book recommendation】: Every app gives you a list of book recommendation, but where did they find the list? dreamed up in 'lala' land? We base our recommendation solidly on big data, tens of millions of pages actually read by our users. Downloading or page flipping has no effect on the ranking of our recommendation list. 【Number of Books】: No other apps have more Gutenberg books, and many competitors are missing some classic Gutenberg books, and many competitors use outdated data from Gutenberg. 【Reading】: Texts and images are presented by a sophisticated book reader: beautiful presentation, graceful page turning, and the most intelligent Table of Contents (better than any other book reader for the same book). 【Read-along】: Audio and Text are synchronized when possible. You can read, listen, or read-Along, and switch between them at will. 【Export】: Export a book together with bookmarks and the notes you inserted into the book to anyone and any device, or save it i the cloud (google drive, one drive, or iCloud). * The PAID version "Gutenberg Books" allows unlimited reading and listening.
CN'TREAD
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CN'TREAD turns any book into something you'll actually finish. Import a PDF and CN'TREAD's AI slices it into short, focused "shots" — one key idea at a time. No more losing your place in a 400-page book you never open. Just one shot, a minute of reading, and real progress you can feel. HOW IT WORKS • Import Your Book — Add any PDF and we'll break it down into digestible shots. • Read in Shots — One focused excerpt at a time, in the app or straight from your Home Screen or Lock Screen widget. • Track the Bottle — Every shot you read brings you closer to finishing — watch your progress fill up as you go. WHY CN'TREAD Most reading apps ask for an hour you don't have. CN'TREAD asks for a minute. Read a shot while you wait for coffee, between meetings, or before bed — and actually get through the books piling up on your list. You are not forced to spend time on each page. Instead, you can tap on the widget if the content captures your interest. Built for busy readers who want to make progress in seconds, not hours. Subscribe to unlock unlimited usage. Free trial included.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: CN'TREAD at every 3 weeks against Gutenberg Project's every 2 months. Gutenberg Project's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Gutenberg Project sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and CN'TREAD sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Gutenberg Project ships an update every 2 months, CN'TREAD every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Gutenberg Project | CN'TREAD |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.3 (43 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 40.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 43 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 26 MB | 30 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | himalaya-soft | Tarlan Ismayilsoy |
Bugs and requests
Gutenberg Project
Reported bugs
16 issues- 504 bad gateway errors
- App not working at all
- App not showing any pages
- Search doesn't find anything but error 404
- Stopped working, will not load catalog
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- Close when attempt to open current book
- Could not download more than four pages
- Downloaded books became confused
- Every time you touch the screen wrong it flips the page
- Sets you back to page one
- Deleted all offline books and audiobook
- Missing offline books
- Cannot read the description of the book
- Books open at the end
- Too many redirects
- Most buttons go to an 'email a friend' page or 'Access forbidden'
Requested features
10 requests- Ability to choose favorite colors for reading
- Paid premium version with custom color combinations
- Sourcing more Gutenberg sites
- Option to make text black on white
- Continuous ad at bottom or top instead of full page
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- Less stylized page turn option (swipe or continuous scroll)
- One app for finding, downloading, and reading
- Ability to search Audiobooks by Genre
- Ability to favorite and build a library
- Night reading mode facility
CN'TREAD
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Gutenberg Project
- Unlimited Reading$2.99
- Unlimited Listening$2.99
CN'TREAD
- CNTREAD Pro Monthly$2.991 Month
- CNTREAD Pro Annual$14.991 Year
Questions
Is Gutenberg Project free?
Is CN'TREAD free?
Do Gutenberg Project or CN'TREAD have ads?
Which is updated more often, Gutenberg Project or CN'TREAD?
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