Comparison

Margins vs Scriptorio

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
Currently charting
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 SEE WHAT FRIENDS ARE READING - Find and follow other book lovers - See what they’re reading in Stories - Enjoy gorgeous, hand-illustrated monthly recaps CUSTOMIZE YOUR PROFILE - Turn your picture into a sketched portrait you’d see in a book - Show off your favorite books 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

Scriptorio

Features
Read full description

Everything about the books you read in one place. The passages you keep, and the reading itself. What you read should become part of your thinking, not a fading memory. Scriptorio is a reading companion for people who take books seriously. Point your camera at a page, and the passage is yours. No typing, no retyping, no losing the thread of what you were reading. But saving a passage is only the beginning. Scriptorio helps your ideas come back, connect with what you've read before, and gradually become part of the way you think. CAPTURE WITHOUT INTERRUPTION Photograph a page from the physical book in front of you and text recognition lifts the passage out. Save from Safari, Books, or anywhere else through the share sheet. Everything lands on the same shelf. BRING YOUR KINDLE HIGHLIGHTS Sign in to your Kindle notebook and every highlight you have ever made comes across, book by book, with locations intact. Publishers cap how much of a book may be exported. Where that happens, Scriptorio says so per book, instead of quietly dropping lines. ONE IDEA, MANY BOOKS Theme Collections gather passages across books, so writers who never met end up side by side on the same question. CONNECTIONS YOU DIDN'T LOOK FOR Passages you never thought to pair surface on their own, each with one line on the idea they share. An explanation, not a summary. And when you see a link the app missed, you draw it yourself and write down why. Your reasoning stays with the pair. IT COMES BACK TO YOU Spaced repetition built on your own highlights. The shelf checks in with you, gently, until the ideas stay. Rate a card in one tap and the schedule adapts to how you actually remember. YOUR READING, MEASURED A reading timer, page progress, streaks and goals. For the books you are in the middle of, not the ones you meant to start. Finish a book and rate it, note the one thing that stays, and who you would hand it to. BUILT TO STAY PRIVATE Text recognition runs entirely on your device. The semantic understanding behind the connections graph is computed on your device too, using Apple's own frameworks. Your notes are never sent to a third-party AI service to be indexed. What syncs between your devices is yours alone. SUBSCRIPTION Scriptorio is a subscription. Every new reader starts with a 14-day free trial, no card required. After the trial, full access requires a monthly or yearly subscription, available in the app. The first 100 yearly subscribers receive a founding-member badge. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel anytime in your Apple Account settings. Terms of Use: https://scriptorio.app/app-terms Privacy Policy: https://scriptorio.app/app-privacy

Screenshots

Margins4 screens
Scriptorio4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Margins at every 4 days against Scriptorio's fortnightly. Margins also leads on chart position (#97 vs unranked). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Margins sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month and Scriptorio sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Margins ships an update every 4 days, Scriptorio fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 9 level
Margins versus Scriptorio: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMarginsScriptorio
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (19K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews95.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings19K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterFortnightly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
Best chart rank#97 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size96 MB33 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperParatext Inc.Impelechy LLC

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

Scriptorio

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Margins

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly$5.991 Month
  • Annual$59.991 Year
2 purchases

Scriptorio

Subscriptions2
  • Scriptorio Monthly$9.991 Month
  • Scriptorio Yearly$79.991 Year

Questions

Is Margins free?
Margins is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Scriptorio free?
Scriptorio is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Margins or Scriptorio have ads?
Neither Margins nor Scriptorio shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Margins or Scriptorio?
Margins ships an update every 4 days, and Scriptorio fortnightly. Most recently, Margins was updated on October 14, 2026 and Scriptorio on October 1, 2026.

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