Comparison

Thorium Reader vs EPUB Reader

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

Head to head
About

Thorium Reader

Organize all your ebooks, comics, and manga in a single app. Customize your reading experience with adjustable text, fonts, and themes. Listen to audiobooks and zoom into visual content with ease.

Highlights
  • Unified bookshelf for all content
  • Adjustable text size and spacing
  • Multiple font options
  • Text-to-speech audio playback
  • Zoom for comics and manga
  • Offline dictionary and translation
  • Import EPUB, PDF, CBZ files
Features
Read full description

Looking for an app where you can bring all your ebooks, comics and manga in one place? That’s what we built Thorium Reader for. Read it your way Everyone’s different, that’s why we want you to be fully in control: • Adjust text size, switch between color schemes with themes and control spacing. • 10+ fonts available, including specialized ones. • You prefer audio? Listen to any ebook, whenever you want. We’ll remember your preference. • Zoom into comics, manga and magazines. • Add bookmarks with notes. • Use the built-in iOS dictionary and translation features, even offline. • Tweak your reading experience with reading options. Bring your own books A single bookshelf and reading application where you can bring all your content: • Download free books, borrow from your library or buy from your favorite retailer. • Support for ebooks, documents, comics and manga. • Import EPUB, PDF and CBZ files. • Support for Readium LCP, used by thousands of libraries and retailers. Thorium Reader is built by EDRLab, a non-profit dedicated to open standards, reading and accessibility.

About

EPUB Reader

Customize your reading experience with extensive font and layout options. Effortlessly manage your library, track reading habits, and enjoy eye-care features. Sync your books across devices via cloud storage without proprietary lock-in.

Highlights
  • 200+ built-in fonts and custom font import
  • Adjustable text and layout settings
  • Smart dark mode with intelligent image inversion
  • 20-20-20 eye health reminders
  • Library management for 5,000+ books
  • Cloud sync via iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive
  • Highlighting, notes, and bookmarking
  • Reading progress tracking and goal setting
Features
Read full description

EPUB, PDF, comics, and audiobooks in one native iOS reader. Fast, deeply customizable, and built to disappear so you can simply read. FOUR FORMATS, ONE SHELF Read EPUB 3 and PDF. Read CBZ and CBR comics and manga, with two-page spreads, double-tap zoom, and a reading direction you set per book. Listen to audiobooks with chapters, a sleep timer, Car Mode, and CarPlay. Or follow along with EPUB 3 narration, where the text highlights in time with the voice. READ ALOUD Any book can be read to you, by any Apple voice on your device or by natural neural voices in 31 languages that you download once and then run offline. The sentence highlights as it is spoken and the pages turn on their own, with speed presets, sentence skips, a sleep timer, and Lock Screen controls. Prepare a book in advance and keep listening with the screen off. TYPOGRAPHY YOU CONTROL 200+ fonts, or import your own. Tune size, weight, line and paragraph spacing, alignment, hyphenation, and separate margins for portrait and landscape. Save settings per book so a novel, a textbook, and poetry each look right. Build your own color themes and let them switch at sunset. Choose which buttons the reader toolbar shows and where a tap opens it, and give links their own color and style. Smart dark mode keeps images natural, and in-reader brightness, Line Focus, and eye-care break reminders protect your eyes. NO LOCK-IN, EVER Your books stay ordinary files in an ordinary folder, never a proprietary database. Point justread at any folder: on device, iCloud Drive, or one your cloud app syncs through Files. Import from a Calibre server or any OPDS catalog. Email a book to your Kindle or PocketBook. IN SYNC WITH YOUR E-READER Your reading position follows you to any e-reader running KOReader, a Kobo included, in both directions. Connect a self-hosted Grimmory server to browse and download its books, send books to it, and keep status, ratings, highlights, notes, and bookmarks in step both ways. A LIBRARY THAT SCALES Thousands of books with no lag, and a book opens in about a second. Instant search by title, author, or series. Automatic metadata and series detection, 11 sort modes, saved filters, collections, and tags. Edit any book's details by hand, description included. Spotlight opens any book from your home screen. HIGHLIGHTS, NOTES, BOOKMARKS Highlight, underline, and attach a note. Browse every highlight across your whole library in one place, share a quote as a card, or export to Markdown, PDF, or Readwise. YOUR READING, IN NUMBERS Daily goals, a yearly books goal, streaks, and milestone badges. An hourly heatmap shows when you read best. Monthly and yearly recaps, plus a story-style Reading Wrap that turns your year into cards worth sharing. AND THE REST Home screen and lock screen widgets. Dictionary and translation. Full-text search and a nested table of contents. iCloud sync, so you resume on the exact line on any device. Right-to-left and Japanese vertical text. A page curl, if you want one. Free for 14 days, then a subscription or a lifetime purchase, both with Family Sharing. Available in 18 languages. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://justread.app/en/privacy_policy

Screenshots

Thorium Reader4 screens
EPUB Reader4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: EPUB Reader at 4.7 against Thorium Reader's 3.9. EPUB Reader also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 months) and review sentiment (89% vs 60%). Thorium Reader's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 7). On price, ads 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. EPUB Reader sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Thorium Reader asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

EPUB Reader holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.9. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 9 and 36 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 60% of Thorium Reader's written reviews are positive against 89% of EPUB Reader's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Thorium Reader ships an update every 2 months, EPUB Reader every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on September 10, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Thorium Reader versus EPUB Reader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterThorium ReaderEPUB Reader
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.9 (9 ratings)4.7 (36 ratings) — better
Positive reviews60.0% of reviews88.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings936 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.118.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size45 MB124 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperReadiumPETR JAHODA

Customer experience

Thorium Reader

All ratings9 ratings
Positive77.8%
Neutral0.0%
Negative22.2%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive60.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative40.0%

EPUB Reader

All ratings36 ratings
Positive91.7%
Neutral2.8%
Negative5.6%
Written reviews27 reviews
Positive88.9%
Neutral3.7%
Negative7.4%

In-app purchases

None

Thorium Reader

No in-app purchases

7 purchases

EPUB Reader

Subscriptions5
  • Monthly Premium14 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Monthly Premium$4.991 Month
  • Yearly – Launch Price7 Days trial$12.491 Year
Show 2 more
  • Yearly Premium14 Days trial$24.991 Year
  • Yearly Premium$29.991 Year
One-time2
  • Lifetime – Launch Price$29.99
  • Lifetime Premium$79.99

Questions

Is Thorium Reader free?
Thorium Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is EPUB Reader free?
EPUB Reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Thorium Reader or EPUB Reader?
EPUB Reader is rated higher. Thorium Reader averages 3.9 out of 5 from 9 ratings, while EPUB Reader averages 4.7 from 36 ratings.
Do Thorium Reader or EPUB Reader have ads?
Neither Thorium Reader nor EPUB Reader shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Thorium Reader or EPUB Reader?
Thorium Reader ships an update every 2 months, and EPUB Reader every 5 days. Most recently, Thorium Reader was updated on September 10, 2026 and EPUB Reader on September 23, 2026.

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