Comparison

Readest vs Qelivon

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

Head to head
About

Readest

This app offers a versatile reading experience for various ebook formats, allowing users to manage their library, take notes, listen to audiobooks, and sync progress across devices. It supports OPDS catalogs, Calibre servers, and multiple cloud storage options for seamless access.

Highlights
  • Supports EPUB, PDF, MOBI, AZW3, FB2, CBZ, TXT, Markdown
  • OPDS catalog and Calibre server integration
  • Text-to-speech with offline voices
  • Cross-device sync via cloud services
  • Annotation and note-taking tools
  • Customizable reading settings
  • CarPlay support for audiobooks
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Readest is an ebook reader for people who read a lot, and who want their books, notes and reading position on whatever device is nearest. Open EPUB, PDF, MOBI, AZW3, FB2, CBZ, TXT and Markdown in one library. Pull books from OPDS catalogs or from your own Calibre server. Read, annotate, listen, translate. Made for iPhone and iPad • CarPlay, so you can keep listening on the road with playback controls on the dashboard • Download read-aloud voices per book and listen with no connection at all • Add books from Files, Mail or any share sheet, and read them in place instead of copying them into a second library • Open up to four books at once on iPad and arrange them how you like Reading • Paginated or scrolling, with custom fonts, themes, spacing and margins • Vertical text for CJK books • Contrast and refresh tuned for e-ink screens • Full-text search inside a book Your library • Browse, search and download from OPDS catalogs and public libraries • Connect to Calibre or Calibre-Web, covers and metadata included • Organize with bookshelf groups you can rename Notes • Highlights, bookmarks and structured notes • Copy a highlight together with a deep link back to the passage • Export your annotations Listening and languages • Text-to-speech with downloadable offline voices • Translate a sentence, a page, or an entire book • Wikipedia and dictionary lookup without leaving the page Sync • Readest Cloud, or bring your own: iCloud, Google Drive, OneDrive, WebDAV, S3 • KOReader sync keeps your progress in step with your e-reader • iPhone, iPad, Mac, all other platforms and the web Readest is open source. Support: support@readest.com Privacy Policy: https://readest.com/privacy-policy Terms of Service: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Qelivon

This e-book reader offers a paper-like reading experience with customizable shelves and support for a wide range of formats. It includes features like read-aloud, iCloud sync, and OPDS catalog integration. A free version supports up to 30 books, with an optional one-time purchase for unlimited access and advanced stats.

Highlights
  • Customizable book shelves
  • Support for FB2, EPUB, MOBI, AZW3, TXT, RTF, HTML, DOCX, ODT, DjVu, CHM, DOC, PDF
  • Read aloud functionality
  • iCloud sync for shelf and reading progress
  • OPDS catalog integration
  • Page curl and tap-to-turn options
  • Search, bookmarks, and highlights
Features
Read full description

Qelivon is an e-book reader for iPhone and iPad. Your books stand on a wooden shelf, open right from it and turn with a page curl, just like paper books. No account, no ads, no subscription. SHELF • Covers on a wooden bookcase, in light and dark appearance • Sort by title, author, date added, or arrange books yourself • NEW and FINISHED ribbons FORMATS • FB2, EPUB, MOBI, AZW3, TXT, RTF, HTML, DOCX, ODT • DjVu, CHM and DOC — the formats other readers won’t open • PDF and DjVu turn pages just like the other books • Old Cyrillic text encodings open without garbled characters READING • Turn pages with a curl or a tap on the edge • Only the text on screen; the controls appear with a tap in the center • Contents with a scrubber to jump through the book • Read aloud: the book is spoken sentence by sentence, the page turns by itself • Search, bookmarks and highlights • Footnotes open in a card over the page • Hyphenation in the language of each book • Rotation lock and “when to dim the screen” WHERE BOOKS COME FROM • The Files app • Other apps — “Open in Qelivon” • OPDS catalogs: add your own or an open library, search and download straight to the shelf ICLOUD • Shelf, reading position, bookmarks, highlights and stats on all your devices • A book added on another device shows up right away and downloads with a tap • Your data stays in your personal iCloud FREE AND FULL VERSION Qelivon is a complete reader for free, with up to 30 books on the shelf: all formats, OPDS, search, bookmarks, highlights, translation, iCloud sync, read-aloud with a choice of voice, page turning with the volume buttons, all fonts, bold text, line spacing, paragraph indent, page margins, all six papers, mark as finished, start over and share the book. The Full Version is a one-time in-app purchase, yours forever: • Unlimited shelf • Export quotes to a Markdown file • Reading stats: yearly goal, books finished by year, library summary The interface is available in 21 languages.

Screenshots

Readest4 screens
Qelivon4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Qelivon at 5.0 against Readest's 4.5. Qelivon also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs fortnightly). Readest's advantage is ratings volume (201 vs 1) and chart position (#200 vs unranked). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Readest sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Qelivon sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Qelivon holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Readest has 201 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Readest ships an update fortnightly, Qelivon every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 8, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Readest versus Qelivon: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterReadestQelivon
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (201 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews83.8% of reviews—
Number of ratings201 — better1
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#200 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.4 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size58 MB38 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperBilingify LLCValerii Kotolevskii

Customer experience

Readest

All ratings201 ratings
Positive85.6%
Neutral6.0%
Negative8.5%
Written reviews290 reviews
Positive83.8%
Neutral5.9%
Negative10.3%

Qelivon

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

9 purchases

Readest

Subscriptions4
  • Subscribe to Plus Plan$4.991 Month
  • Subscribe to Pro Plan$9.991 Month
  • Subscribe to Plus Plan$49.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Subscribe to Pro Plan$99.991 Year
One-time5
  • 1 GB$9.99
  • 2 GB$14.99
  • Full Customization$19.99
Show 2 more
  • 5 GB$29.99
  • 10 GB$49.99
1 purchases

Qelivon

One-time1
  • Full Version$3.99

Questions

Is Readest free?
Readest is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Qelivon free?
Qelivon is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Readest or Qelivon?
Qelivon is rated higher. Readest averages 4.5 out of 5 from 201 ratings, while Qelivon averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Readest or Qelivon have ads?
Neither Readest nor Qelivon shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Readest or Qelivon?
Readest ships an update fortnightly, and Qelivon every 2 days. Most recently, Readest was updated on November 8, 2026 and Qelivon on October 31, 2026.

Other comparisons