Comparison

Gutenberg Project vs Project Gutenberg eBook Reader

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

【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apps have more Gutenberg books, and many competitors are missing some classic Gutenberg books, and many competitors use outdated data from Gutenberg.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.

About

Project Gutenberg eBook Reader

Access a vast library of over 75,000 public domain classic books. Read them offline, search by title or author, and enjoy features like adjustable text, themes, and bookmarks. Listen to audiobooks with synchronized text highlighting.

Highlights
  • 75,000+ classic books
  • Offline reading
  • Read-along audiobooks
  • Customizable reader themes
  • Search and browse library
  • Bookmarks and highlights
Features
Read full description

Gutenberg puts one of the largest libraries ever assembled in your pocket. Over 75,000 public-domain classics — every novel, essay, play and poem that time has released — ready to read, to search, and to carry with you offline. And the ones you love most, you can hear read aloud, with the words lighting up on the page as the narrator speaks. No account. No clutter. Just the whole library, beautifully made. READ EVERYTHING • 75,000+ complete books from Project Gutenberg — fiction, history, philosophy, poetry, drama and more. • A clean, typeset reader that feels like paper, with a real page-curl turn or smooth vertical scrolling — your choice. • Light, sepia and dark themes; adjustable typeface, text size and margins. • Highlight passages, keep bookmarks, and jump anywhere with a full table of contents. • Every book downloads for offline reading — on a plane, on the subway, anywhere. LISTEN, IN SYNC • A growing collection of read-along audiobooks: classics narrated aloud, aligned to the page. • Words highlight as they're read, so you can read and listen at the same time — or just close your eyes and listen. • Background playback, lock-screen controls, adjustable speed, and skip-forward / skip-back. • Pick up exactly where you left off, whether you were reading or listening. FIND ANYTHING • Search 75,000+ titles by book or by author in an instant. • Browse by subject — Literature, History, Science, Poetry and dozens more — each thousands of books deep. • Sort by most downloaded, recently added, title, or reading ease. • Explore curated shelves, popular authors, and picks based on what you're reading. BUILT FOR READERS • Warm, considered design that gets out of the way of the words. • Set the app to Light, Dark, or follow your system. • Fast, offline-first, and respectful of your attention. GUTENBERG PREMIUM Gutenberg Premium removes ads and lifts all limits so you can open every book and every audiobook without interruption. • Premium is offered as a Weekly or Yearly auto-renewable subscription, or a one-time Lifetime unlock. • Prices are shown in the app and may vary by region. • Payment is charged to your Apple ID at confirmation of purchase. • A subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours before the period ends. • You can manage or cancel your subscription anytime in your App Store account settings. • Any unused portion of a trial period, where offered, is forfeited when you purchase a subscription. All books are sourced from Project Gutenberg and are in the public domain. Gutenberg is an independent reader and is not affiliated with the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Privacy Policy: https://burakkose.me/privacy Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Gutenberg Project4 screens
Project Gutenberg eBook Reader4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Project Gutenberg eBook Reader at 5.0 against Gutenberg Project's 3.3. Project Gutenberg eBook Reader also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs every 2 months) and monetization model (free with in-app purchases vs paid). Gutenberg Project's advantage is review sentiment (41% vs 0%) and ads (none vs shown). On price, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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. Gutenberg Project sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and Project Gutenberg eBook Reader sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Project Gutenberg eBook Reader holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Gutenberg Project has 43 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 41% of Gutenberg Project's written reviews are positive against 0% of Project Gutenberg eBook Reader's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Gutenberg Project ships an update every 2 months, Project Gutenberg eBook Reader every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Gutenberg Project versus Project Gutenberg eBook Reader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGutenberg ProjectProject Gutenberg eBook Reader
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.3 (43 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews40.7% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings43 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 3 days — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size26 MB24 MB
Age rating17+4+
Developerhimalaya-softBurak Kose

Customer experience

Gutenberg Project

All ratings43 ratings
Positive53.5%
Neutral9.3%
Negative37.2%
Written reviews59 reviews
Positive40.7%
Neutral6.8%
Negative52.5%

Project Gutenberg eBook Reader

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

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
Show 11 more
  • 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
Show 5 more
  • 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

Project Gutenberg eBook Reader

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Gutenberg Project

One-time2
  • Unlimited Reading$2.99
  • Unlimited Listening$2.99
3 purchases

Project Gutenberg eBook Reader

Subscriptions2
  • Weekly Subscription$4.997 Days
  • Yearly Subscription$24.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime Access$29.99

Questions

Is Gutenberg Project free?
Gutenberg Project is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Project Gutenberg eBook Reader free?
Project Gutenberg eBook Reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Gutenberg Project or Project Gutenberg eBook Reader?
Project Gutenberg eBook Reader is rated higher. Gutenberg Project averages 3.3 out of 5 from 43 ratings, while Project Gutenberg eBook Reader averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Gutenberg Project or Project Gutenberg eBook Reader have ads?
Project Gutenberg eBook Reader shows ads; Gutenberg Project does not.
Which is updated more often, Gutenberg Project or Project Gutenberg eBook Reader?
Gutenberg Project ships an update every 2 months, and Project Gutenberg eBook Reader every 3 days. Most recently, Gutenberg Project was updated on October 11, 2026 and Project Gutenberg eBook Reader on October 2, 2026.

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