Comparison

OwlCrate vs Readlink

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

Head to head
About

OwlCrate

Connect with fellow book lovers in a free, community-driven space. Share recommendations, join readalongs, participate in challenges, and attend live author events. Discover your next favorite read and engage in a vibrant bookish world.

Highlights
  • Connect with bookish friends
  • Discover new reads
  • Participate in monthly book clubs
  • Join reading challenges
  • Win giveaways
  • Watch live author events
  • Play community games
Features
Read full description

Have you ever read a book so good you wanted to share your excitement with others? As book lovers, we’ve been there… And that’s why we created The Nest—a place where readers belong. The Nest is a completely free, community-powered platform built by the award-winning book subscription box, OwlCrate. Our app welcomes every bookworm, author, and writer —no OwlCrate subscription required. No paywall. No catch. Just a love of books and the people who read them. Whether you’re yet to read your first book this year or plan to read five hundred by the end of the year, The Nest is your space to connect, explore, and celebrate the magic of storytelling. We built this virtual bookish community on the same values that have shaped OwlCrate since the beginning: Community, Creativity, Curiosity, Inclusivity, and Joy. That means everything we offer—from live chats to virtual cons—is free, accessible, and built for readers by readers. With more than 25,000 members and growing, The Nest is where book lovers gather to share what they’re reading and give book recommendations, post book reviews, meet new friends, and take part in unforgettable experiences. But that’s not all…. Here's what’s inside: CONNECT WITH BOOKISH FRIENDS Build your profile, join group chats, comment on posts, and connect with readers around the world—or right in your neighborhood. GET EARLY ACCESS Members of The Nest get access to new OwlCrate releases before they go on general sale. DISCOVER YOUR NEXT FAVORITE READ Scroll your personalized feed to see what books others are reading and recommending in real time to expand your reading list. PARTICIPATE IN A MONTHLY BOOK CLUB Read together by joining chapter-by-chapter readalongs with games, trivia, and giveaways included! JOIN A READING CHALLENGE New challenges drop every month. Join a team, earn points, and complete creative prompts together! WIN GIVEAWAYS Win bookish goodies, gift cards, store credit, and more just by participating in the community. WATCH LIVE EVENTS Throughout the year, we host free live events with bestselling authors. You can expect monthly live chats alongside our annual convention. Plus, you can rewatch all past event recordings whenever you like—no ticket, no cost, ever. PLAY GAMES & FEATURES Weekly games like question of the day, reading sprints, and more keep the fun going every day! TAKE PART IN SUBSCRIBER CHALLENGES The Nest hosts our Young Adult Fantasy Crate Challenge for subscribers. Show off your box, or show us how you use it, and be entered to win OwlCrate store credit! ENJOY YOUR SPACES Whether you're into writing, crafts, cozy fantasy, or TV fan theories, there’s a space for you. EXPERIENCE REAL OPPORTUNITIES Our Nesties have front-row opportunities to get creative! You could be published in OwlCrate Press anthologies, become an OwlCrate artist, or become a featured community contributor on our blog! The Nest is built differently. No gatekeeping. No barriers. Just a joyful space for readers who want more from their reading life—and from each other. We didn’t add a community to OwlCrate. We built a home where both we and our readers can celebrate books together in a safe and supportive space. Join The Nest. Find your people. Share your love for books. Be part of something real. Have questions or feedback? Reach us at support@owlcrate.com Follow @owlcrate on Instagram and TikTok for updates.

About

Readlink

Features
Read full description

Readlink is the social network of personal libraries. What you read shapes how you think. Readlink gives that a home to a living library you build, share, and connect through. Add the books you've read, are reading, and want to read. Annotate them with private notes or public reviews. Then share your library as a single link: on your profile, your site, anywhere your thinking belongs. WHAT READLINK DOES Identity. Your library is a public-facing expression of who you are intellectually, not a list to gamify, but a signal of how you think. It belongs next to your name. Connection. Find people through the books you share, and books through the people you trust. The graph is built on what readers actually read, not who they happen to follow. Intelligence. AI surfaces the connections you'd never find alone: ideas that run across books, readers who think like you, the next book that actually fits. WHAT IT ISN'T Not a tracker. Not a streak. Not a race to a bigger number. Reading isn't a contest of volume, it's how you build a mind over time. Readlink treats your library as something worth keeping, not a scoreboard to climb. FOR READERS WHO MEAN IT Readlink is for people who treat books as inputs to who they are founders, builders, researchers, and anyone whose reading is part of how they work and think. If your books say something about you, this is where they live. Build a library that compounds. Find the readers worth connecting to.

Screenshots

OwlCrate4 screens
Readlink4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: OwlCrate at none against Readlink's 2. On price, update cadence, 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. Readlink sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 per month. OwlCrate asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

OwlCrate ships an update weekly, Readlink every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
OwlCrate versus Readlink: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOwlCrateReadlink
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (31 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings31 — better—
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 6 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationAd-supported—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.016.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size129 MB76 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperOwlCrate Enterprises Inc.Lykan Sagl

In-app purchases

None

OwlCrate

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Readlink

Subscriptions2
  • Readlink Premium$19.991 Month
  • Readlink Premium$119.991 Year

Questions

Is OwlCrate free?
OwlCrate is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Readlink free?
Readlink is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do OwlCrate or Readlink have ads?
Neither OwlCrate nor Readlink shows ads.
Which is updated more often, OwlCrate or Readlink?
OwlCrate ships an update weekly, and Readlink every 6 days. Most recently, OwlCrate was updated on October 24, 2026 and Readlink on October 9, 2026.

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