Bindery Books vs ShelfBee
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Bindery Books
Discover new books and connect with fellow readers through curated content and community features. Explore recommendations from trusted tastemakers and participate in the creation of new literary voices.
- Bookish content and commentary
- Personalized reading recommendations
- Thematic book collections
- Join book communities and clubs
- Participate in new author publishing
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Bookish content, reading recommendations, book clubs, and the publishing of entirely new voices from tastemakers you trust. • Access bookish content: Get in depth commentary about books you love and notifications on the latest content from your favorite tastemakers • Discover your next read: Receive recommendations from leading tastemakers or browse their favorites in dynamic bookshelves and thematic collections • Build community: Discover people who share your taste by joining book communities, members-only Discords, and book clubs • A look inside publishing: Participate in the publication of brand new voices through tastemaker-led publishing imprints
ShelfBee
Instantly check ebook and audiobook availability in your local libraries directly from book pages on popular retail and review sites. Save desired titles to a list and get notified when they become available. Includes barcode scanning for quick lookups.
- Check availability on Amazon, Goodreads, B&N, etc.
- See wait times and number of holds
- Filter by ebook or audiobook
- Save books to a Buzz List
- Barcode scanning for book lookups
- Syncs across iPhone, iPad, and Mac
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See whether a book is available in your library's Libby/Overdrive collection — without leaving the page you're already on. ShelfBee adds a small button to book pages on Amazon, Goodreads, TheStoryGraph, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, Hardcover, and Book of the Month, showing whether that title is available to borrow right now from the libraries you care about, how many people are waiting, and roughly how long a hold would take. A companion app adds barcode scanning and a Buzz List for books you want to check on later. HOW IT WORKS 1. Turn on the ShelfBee extension in Safari. The app walks you through it with a screenshot for every step. 2. Open the bee menu and search for your library by name. Add as many as you like. 3. Browse as usual. When you land on a book page, ShelfBee checks your libraries and shows you what it found. WHAT YOU SEE • Available now — ready to borrow immediately • On hold — with the number of people waiting and an estimated wait • Not available — so you can stop wondering Results are grouped by library and split by format, so you can tell at a glance which of your libraries has the ebook and which has the audiobook. BUZZ LIST & SCANNING Save a title to your Buzz List right from the button on any book page, then check back anytime to see if it's become available. On iPhone and iPad, the app can also scan a book's barcode to look it up on the spot — handy in a bookstore or browsing your own shelves. FEATURES • Works on Amazon (21 storefronts), Goodreads, TheStoryGraph, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, Hardcover, and Book of the Month • Add as many libraries as you like — public, county, consortium, or university • Reorder your libraries so the one you borrow from most sits at the top • Filter by ebook or audiobook • Save books to a Buzz List and revisit them anytime • Scan a barcode to look up a book on iPhone and iPad • Your library list and Buzz List sync across iPhone, iPad, and Mac through iCloud • Setup Guide and Troubleshooting built into the app NO ACCOUNT NEEDED No sign-up, no library card, no sign-in — not even for setup. ShelfBee reads public availability data, the same catalog information Libby shows, and never asks who you are. ONE-TIME PURCHASE Buy ShelfBee once and it's yours. No subscription, no in-app purchases, no ads, and nothing to unlock later. PRIVACY ShelfBee collects nothing. Your library choices and Buzz List live on your device and in your own iCloud account. Availability lookups go straight to OverDrive's public API, and scanned or searched books are looked up via Open Library and Google Books for title, author, and cover art — none of it linked to you. There's no ShelfBee server, no analytics, and no tracking of any kind. Questions or ideas: support@shelfbee.app ShelfBee is an independent app and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by OverDrive, Libby, Amazon, Goodreads, TheStoryGraph, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, Hardcover, or Book of the Month.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Bindery Books at Free against ShelfBee's $1.99. Bindery Books also leads on ratings volume (34 vs 2) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18.0). On rating, review sentiment, update cadence and ads 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
Bindery Books is free to download; ShelfBee costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Bindery Books against 5.0 for ShelfBee. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bindery Books has 34 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
Bindery Books ships an update every 2 weeks, ShelfBee fortnightly. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | Bindery Books | ShelfBee |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $1.99 |
| Rating | 5.0 (34 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 34 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 33 MB | 7 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Bindery Books, Inc. | SCOTT TIMOTHY DENNIS |
Customer experience
Bindery Books
ShelfBee
In-app purchases
Bindery Books
No in-app purchases
ShelfBee
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Bindery Books free?
Is ShelfBee free?
Which has better reviews, Bindery Books or ShelfBee?
Do Bindery Books or ShelfBee have ads?
Which is updated more often, Bindery Books or ShelfBee?
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