Margins vs Book Tracking
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Margins
This app helps you discover, track, and share your reading journey. It offers detailed tracking options, customizable features, and powerful search capabilities. Stay focused on your reading goals with built-in tools to minimize distractions.
- Half-star ratings
- Track recommendations
- Customizable book covers
- Fuzzy date tracking
- Advanced book search
- Reading goals
- Reading timer
- Distraction blocking
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Margins is a beautifully designed app for people who love books. - App of the Day in 20+ countries - 4.9 rating (40,000+ reviews) - Featured in USA Today, BookRiot, and more TRACK YOUR READING - Log books, series, authors, recommendations, and more - Track Strava-style goals, stats, and streaks - Curate lists of books you care about SEARCH BOOKS BY VIBES - Search books by mood, plot, setting, vibe, and more - Try things like “books like 1920s Paris,” “thriller with a love triangle,” or “indie romantasy” - You can even turn images from Pinterest or your camera roll into book recommendations BLOCK DISTRACTING APPS - Block social media, notifications, and other apps while you read - Use meditation reading timer for soothing rain sounds CHOOSE YOUR COVERS - Pick the cover that matches your version of the book - Curate covers to fit your aesthetic - Sort your library by color CUSTOMIZE YOUR PROFILE - Turn your picture into a sketched portrait you’d see in a book - Show off your favorite books SEE WHAT FRIENDS ARE READING - Find and follow other book lovers - See what they’re reading in Stories - Enjoy gorgeous, hand-illustrated monthly recaps INVITE YOUR BOOK CLUB - Schedule gatherings - Suggest and vote on books - Log your club’s history LEAVE GOODREADS FOR GOOD - Import from Goodreads, StoryGraph, and Fable - Half-star ratings - Support a small, indie team WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING “LOVE this app! so easy to import data from goodreads. it excels where others fail. like letterboxd for books. Really glad there’s finally a good book app out there, i’ve been waiting for something like this!” — scruffythejanitor01 “I love the UI of this app, easy to use and aesthetically pleasing. Also, I've been struggling getting back into reading and the screentime feature has helped me loads. I haven't been able to read this much since 4 years ago. Thank you Margins” — mitakaluvr “The search by vibes is so cool. I am a WWII buff, but this search popped up a two-book WWII saga I had never even heard of, much less read. It ended up being my top read of 2025.” —Michigancolt FREE TO USE Almost all features are free to use. An optional subscription unlocks premium features and priority support. FOLLOW US Instagram: @readwithmargins TikTok: @margins TERMS OF USE Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Margins Terms of Service: https://margins.app/terms Privacy Policy: https://margins.app/privacy “Without the margins, writing is just words on a page. But with them, each of us is invited to leave our mark in the endless conversation between books and the people that love them.” — Excerpt from the Margins manifesto
Book Tracking
This app helps you track your reading progress by logging pages and time spent reading. Set goals, view your reading consistency on a heatmap, and organize your digital library. Earn badges and rewards to stay motivated and read more books.
- Smart progress tracking
- Goals and challenges
- Heatmap view for consistency
- Intelligent reminders and badges
- Digital library organization
- Detailed reading statistics
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Book Tracking helps you read more consistently by turning your books, pages, goals, notes and streaks into clear daily progress. Your reading life deserves more than scattered notes, forgotten page numbers, or messy spreadsheets. With Book Tracking, you can organize your personal library, manage your TBR, log pages in seconds, track reading time, save notes and quotes, follow your goals, and see your progress grow over time. YOUR PERSONAL LIBRARY Add books in seconds by searching online, scanning an ISBN barcode, or entering details manually. Organize every title by status: • To Read • Reading • Finished • DNF Keep your books easy to find, update, and beautifully displayed. TRACK PAGES & PROGRESS Always know where you stopped. Log your current page, track your completion percentage, and turn every reading session into visible progress. Track: • Pages read • Books finished • Reading sessions • Time spent reading • Daily streaks • Reading goals READING TIMER & SESSIONS Use the built-in timer to track focused reading sessions. Save your minutes, pages, and progress so you can better understand your real reading habits. TBR, GOALS & STREAKS Stay motivated with simple visual progress. Follow your TBR, set reading goals, build daily streaks, and keep moving toward the books you want to finish. READING STATS & HEATMAP See your activity with clear, motivating statistics. Track books, pages, time, consistency, goals, and habits with progress charts and a monthly reading heatmap. NOTES, QUOTES, RATINGS & REVIEWS Remember more from every book. Save personal notes, favorite quotes, star ratings, and reviews so your library becomes a real reading journal, not just a list. MADE FOR REAL READERS Book Tracking is perfect for: • Book lovers and avid readers • Students • Busy professionals • Book club readers • BookTok and Bookstagram readers • Readers clearing their TBR • Anyone who wants to build a consistent reading habit WHY BOOK TRACKING? Because reading more is easier when your progress is visible. Book Tracking helps you organize your library, remember what you read, stay consistent, and make every page count. Download Book Tracking today and fall in love with your library again. IMPORTANT Book Tracking is designed for book tracking, reading progress, library management, and reading journaling. Books are not read inside the app, and the app does not provide full book content or e-reader functionality. SUBSCRIPTION TERMS •Book Tracking offers optional auto-renewable subscriptions that unlock premium features. •Payment will be charged to your Apple ID account at confirmation of purchase. •Subscriptions automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current billing period. •Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours before the end of the current billing period. •You can manage or cancel your subscription anytime in your App Store account settings. •Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when you purchase a subscription. Privacy Policy: https://readtracker.net/privacy-policy/ Terms of Use: https://readtracker.net/terms-of-use/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Margins at 4.9 against Book Tracking's 3.7. Margins also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs every 3 months) and ratings volume (20K vs 3). Book Tracking's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). On price, review sentiment, 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
Both are free to download. Margins sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month and Book Tracking sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Margins holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Margins has 20K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 95% of Margins's written reviews are positive against 100% of Book Tracking's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Margins ships an update every 4 days, Book Tracking every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Margins | Book Tracking |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (20K ratings) — better | 3.7 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 95.3% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 20K — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Best chart rank | #108 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 115 MB | 44 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Paratext Inc. | sylvain loirat |
Customer experience
Margins
Book Tracking
Bugs and requests
Margins
Reported bugs
3 issues- Reading time not saving correctly
- Inability to delete or edit books from lists
- Inconsistent behavior when importing data from Goodreads
Requested features
4 requests- Add ability to track page progress and percentage read
- Implement a profile system with custom avatars and bios
- Introduce a social feed to share reading activity with friends
- Add more advanced statistics and reading analytics
Book Tracking
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Margins
- Monthly$5.991 Month
- Monthly$9.991 Month
- Annual$59.991 Year
Book Tracking
- Weekly Pro Full Access3 Days trial$0.997 Days
- Yearly Pro Full Access3 Days trial$14.991 Year









