Comparison

Thorium Reader vs BookCard

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

BookCard

Features
Read full description

BookCard is the private, offline reading tracker that just works. No account. No ads. No 5-book paywall. Your shelf opens instantly and never leaves your phone unless you ask it to. OPENS INSTANTLY. WORKS OFFLINE. Your whole library lives on your device, so it loads in a blink — on a plane, in the subway, anywhere. No loading spinner, no server round-trip, no grey screen. YOUR WHOLE LIBRARY. NO BOOK LIMIT. Track unlimited books free. No cap that forces you to pay after five or ten books. The free tier is the real app, not a demo. SCAN ANY BARCODE. ADD A BOOK IN 2 SECONDS. Point your camera at the back cover and the book lands on your shelf — title, author, cover, page count. Search and manual entry are always there too. HALF-STAR RATINGS. FIRST-CLASS DNF. Rate in half stars (4.5 is a real rating). Did-not-finish is a proper status, not a shame. Log pages, minutes, and notes as you read. STREAKS, YEARLY GOAL, MOOD CHARTS. Beautiful stats: books per month, reading streaks, your most-used moods, and a yearly reading goal with a progress ring. Set it, watch it fill. YOUR SHELF STAYS PRIVATE. NO ACCOUNT. NO ADS. No sign-in wall, no sponsored posts inside your own shelves, no feed, no social graph. Just your books. OPTIONAL PRO — ONE-TIME UNLOCK. Pay once, keep it forever: real iCloud sync (opt-in, Apple-only), custom shelves, Goodreads + StoryGraph import with merge and dedupe, and shareable BookCards. If your plan ever lapses, your books stay fully readable and exportable. WHAT TO READ NEXT — BASED ON YOUR RATINGS. A quiet, on-device suggestion from your own want-to-read pile. No AI, no cloud, just your data. BookCard is local-first. Your shelf, logging, and stats work fully offline; search and covers need a connection. Sync is opt-in and uses only your private Apple iCloud. Terms of Use (EULA): https://bookcard.uptrail.ai/terms Privacy Policy: https://bookcard.uptrail.ai/privacy

Screenshots

Thorium Reader4 screens
BookCard4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Thorium Reader at none against BookCard's 3. Thorium Reader also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 6 weeks). BookCard's advantage is iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.1). 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. BookCard sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Thorium Reader asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Thorium Reader ships an update every 3 weeks, BookCard every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and September 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Thorium Reader versus BookCard: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterThorium ReaderBookCard
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.6 (11 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews37.5% of reviews—
Number of ratings11 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 6 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.118.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size46 MB5 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperReadiumMitaanshu Agarwal

In-app purchases

None

Thorium Reader

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

BookCard

Subscriptions2
  • BookCardReadingTrackerMonthly$2.991 Month
  • BookCardReadingTrackerYearly$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • BookCard Pro Lifetime$19.99

Questions

Is Thorium Reader free?
Thorium Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is BookCard free?
BookCard is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Thorium Reader or BookCard have ads?
Neither Thorium Reader nor BookCard shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Thorium Reader or BookCard?
Thorium Reader ships an update every 3 weeks, and BookCard every 6 weeks. Most recently, Thorium Reader was updated on September 28, 2026 and BookCard on September 15, 2026.

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