Comparison

Thorium Reader vs Libratory

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

Libratory

Features
Read full description

Libratory plays an audiobook over the real pages of the book, lighting up the sentence and the word being spoken as it reads. Double-tap a sentence to hear it again. Books are made on your Mac with the free Libratory desktop tool, which pairs a book with its narration and saves both as one synced EPUB. Send that file to your iPhone or iPad with AirDrop or the Files app, tap + on the shelf, and press play. Nothing is streamed, no account is needed, and everything works offline. The app comes with a short three-chapter guide already on the shelf. It is itself a synced book, so reading it is the fastest way to see what the app does. READ AND LISTEN • The voice plays over the printed page, with the sentence and the word highlighted as they are spoken • Double-tap a sentence to hear it from there • Three views of a synced book: Page shows the whole sheet with its pictures and tables, Column crops to the printed words, Text reflows the words at a size you choose • Playback continues with the screen locked, with the chapter, cover and controls on the lock screen • Change the speed and the highlight keeps up READ IN TWO LANGUAGES • A book exported with a translation opens with the original and the translation together, each with its own voice • Tap a word to hear the book from there, or to see what it means in the other language • Alternate sentences reads each sentence in one language and then the other • The original can stay on its printed page beside the translation JUST READ, OR JUST LISTEN • Open an EPUB ebook you already own and read it in Text view • Open an M4B audiobook, pick a chapter, and listen with the screen off PICK UP WHERE YOU LEFT OFF • The app remembers your place in every book and shows which parts you have heard • Hold a word to save it, put it in a group, and add a note; find it again in Marks • Search the book and your saved words, then jump back to read or listen KEEP YOUR LIBRARY IN ORDER • Folders and tags for your books, and a search across the whole library • Each book says which chapters light up word by word and which sentence by sentence PRIVATE BY DESIGN • No account, no analytics, no network calls. Your books stay on your device. Works on iPhone and iPad with iOS 15.6 or later. On iOS 15 and 16, a simpler reader includes Pages and Text, playback, highlighting, chapters, saved progress, and two-language books in two panes. Bookmarks, search, folders and tags require iOS 17 or later. Synced books are made with the Libratory desktop app for Mac, free at libratory.dev. Plain EPUB ebooks and M4B audiobooks open as they are.

Screenshots

Thorium Reader4 screens
Libratory4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Libratory at weekly against Thorium Reader's every 3 weeks. Libratory also leads on iOS requirement (15.6 vs 26.1). 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Thorium Reader ships an update every 3 weeks, Libratory weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Thorium Reader versus Libratory: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterThorium ReaderLibratory
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.4 (12 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews40.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings12 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS26.115.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size46 MB9 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperReadiumPetar Sabev

In-app purchases

None

Thorium Reader

No in-app purchases

None

Libratory

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Thorium Reader free?
Thorium Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Libratory free?
Libratory is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Thorium Reader or Libratory have ads?
Neither Thorium Reader nor Libratory shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Thorium Reader or Libratory?
Thorium Reader ships an update every 3 weeks, and Libratory weekly. Most recently, Thorium Reader was updated on October 18, 2026 and Libratory on October 7, 2026.

Other comparisons