Comparison

Margins vs LitList

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Half-star ratings
  • Track recommendations
  • Customizable book covers
  • Fuzzy date tracking
  • Advanced book search
  • Reading goals
  • Reading timer
  • Distraction blocking
Features
Read full description

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

About

LitList

Organize your reading life with this app. Track books, rate spice, tag tropes, and discover new reads tailored to your taste. Features include audiobook support, smart search, and social reading with friends.

Highlights
  • Log reading status and streaks
  • Audiobook tracking
  • Smart library search and filtering
  • Trope and spice tagging
  • Personalized book recommendations
  • Buddy reads and social sharing
  • Goodreads library import
Features
Read full description

The reading tracker that actually gets readers. Built for how BookTokers think: spice ratings, trope tagging, series tracking. Made for every reader.. Track any book, any genre, any format. TRACK YOUR READING - Log books as Reading, Read, Want to Read, or DNF/soft DNF - Reading streaks, daily goals, and session timer with page tracking - Audiobook support with listening hours and narrator info - Journal entries with mood tracking for each session YOUR LIBRARY, YOUR WAY - Beautiful cover grid with smart search - Filter by status, genre, and vibes (tropes & moods) - Series tracking with reading progress and book order - Spice ratings and trope tags — because BookTok gets it - Content warnings, half-star ratings, and spoiler-tagged reviews DISCOVER YOUR NEXT READ - Today's Pick — a free daily recommendation curated to your taste - Mood Match — tell it your craving and it picks from your own TBR - Browse by tropes: Enemies to Lovers, Slow Burn, Found Family, and more - Filter by spice level from mild to explicit - New in Your Series — never miss a release READ WITH FRIENDS - Buddy reads with real-time progress sharing - Friends system with activity feed - Send book recommendations to friends - Shareable stats cards, reading challenges, and goals FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY - Create a reading profile for your child under your account - Track their books and milestones together - No ads ever shown to child profiles IMPORT & GET STARTED FAST - Import your Goodreads library in under 2 minutes — shelves, ratings, and read dates transfer automatically - Import from any reading app or CSV - Instant cover art, metadata, and series detection - Scan barcodes to add books in seconds, or batch-scan a whole stack GO FURTHER WITH LITLIST PLUS - Picked For You — unlimited personalized recommendation batches - Mood Match for your TBR - Search by theme, mood, or vibe - Premium stats card designs & Year in Review - All vibe themes — Romantasy, Cottagecore & Dark Academia - Unlimited reading challenges - Unlimited family profiles Built independently in Canada by a reader, for readers. No ads. No data selling. Just your reading life, beautifully organized. Terms of Use (EULA): https://litlist.ca/terms Privacy Policy: https://litlist.ca/privacy

Screenshots

Margins4 screens
LitList4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is chart position: Margins at #96 against LitList's unranked. LitList's advantage is iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and ads 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. Margins sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month and LitList sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Margins ships an update every 4 days, LitList weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 9 level
Margins versus LitList: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMarginsLitList
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (20K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews95.3% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings20K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
Best chart rank#96 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size115 MB65 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperParatext Inc.merakistorms

Customer experience

Margins

All ratings19,672 ratings
Positive98.6%
Neutral0.8%
Negative0.6%
Written reviews3,712 reviews
Positive95.3%
Neutral2.4%
Negative2.3%

LitList

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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

LitList

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Margins

Subscriptions3
  • Monthly$5.991 Month
  • Monthly$9.991 Month
  • Annual$59.991 Year
2 purchases

LitList

Subscriptions2
  • LitList Plus Monthly$5.991 Month
  • LitList Plus Annual$34.991 Year

Questions

Is Margins free?
Margins is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is LitList free?
LitList is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Margins or LitList have ads?
Neither Margins nor LitList shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Margins or LitList?
Margins ships an update every 4 days, and LitList weekly. Most recently, Margins was updated on October 22, 2026 and LitList on October 18, 2026.

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