Comparison

HomeBooks vs MargiNotes

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

Head to head
About

HomeBooks

Effortlessly catalog your entire book collection by simply scanning shelves or pages. Track reading habits with visual progress rings and save quotes instantly via photo or voice. Organize your library, import from other services, and enjoy a private, ad-free experience.

Highlights
  • Shelfie Scanner for instant book identification
  • Reading progress rings and habit tracking
  • Page and voice note saving for quotes
  • Customizable shelves and themes
  • Import from Goodreads and StoryGraph
  • Private and ad-free experience
Features
Read full description

SCAN WHOLE SHELVES INSTANTLY - The "Shelfie Scanner" feels like magic. Just snap a photo of your bookshelf, and HomeBooks identifies every book, downloads the covers, and organizes them for you. No typing, no barcodes, just your library in your pocket. CLOSE YOUR READING RINGS - Build a reading habit without the pressure. - Set a gentle daily goal—pages or minutes—and watch your progress rings close as you read. - Track your streaks, see your reading velocity, and look back on your year in books. SAVE QUOTES WITHOUT TYPING - Don’t put the book down to type out a long passage. - Page Scanner: Snap a photo of the text, and we’ll turn it into a digital note instantly. - Voice Notes: Speak your thoughts while you read, and we’ll transcribe and save them to the right book automatically. YOUR LIBRARY, YOUR WAY 
 - Customize your books’ covers - Organize books into custom shelves (Read, TBR, Favorites, etc.) - Create a "Wishlist" - Customize the app themes to match your vibe 
IMPORT YOUR EXISTING LIBRARY
 - Import from Goodreads or StoryGraph in seconds - Bring in your books, reviews, progress seamlessly 
 PRIVATE BY DEFAULT - HomeBooks is built by a solo developer, not a big tech company. - No ads. - No selling your data. - No social clutter. Just a safe, beautiful home for your books. Privacy Policy: https://www.homebooks.app/privacy-policy Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.homebooks.app/terms-of-use

About

MargiNotes

Features
Read full description

MargiNotes is a calm reader and note-taking app for PDF, EPUB, and paper books. Its difference is simple: a note can keep a path back to the book it came from. Import a highlight from Kindle or Apple Books, or capture a quote from a printed page. If the matching PDF or EPUB is in your library, MargiNotes can search that book on your device and relink the note to its real place. No guessed links. If MargiNotes cannot find a reliable match, it says so clearly. READ AND CAPTURE • Read PDF and EPUB books with adjustable themes, typography, layout, and reading settings. • Highlight while you read and keep each note with its book. • Capture quotes from printed books with on-device OCR. • Scan a barcode to fill in a paper book's title, author, and cover. • Add comments, tags, and voice notes alongside what you read. FIND YOUR WAY BACK Search inside a book and your own notes appear first, next to the book's own sentences. Search quotes, comments, tags, and transcripts across your whole library, or find a note straight from iPhone search. Ask your notes a question and the answer is built only from them — and always shown with the notes it came from. Writing the answer needs Apple Intelligence; without it, MargiNotes still finds the notes closest to your question. YOUR NOTES, PORTABLE Create shareable quote cards, follow your reading with simple statistics and widgets, and export to Markdown, PDF, or an Obsidian vault where every note keeps its links. PRIVATE BY DESIGN • No account • No ads • No analytics • No cloud AI — text recognition, transcription, and answers run on your device • Sync only through your own iCloud The app never goes online by itself. The one exception is the barcode lookup you start yourself, which sends only the ISBN — and you can switch it off. Your books stay yours. MargiNotes is built to help you remember not only what you saved, but where it came from.

Screenshots

HomeBooks4 screens
MargiNotes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: MargiNotes at none against HomeBooks's 2. HomeBooks's advantage is iOS requirement (15.5 vs 17.0). 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. HomeBooks sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. MargiNotes asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

HomeBooks ships an update every 9 days, MargiNotes every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
HomeBooks versus MargiNotes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHomeBooksMargiNotes
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (7 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings7 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 9 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.5 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size233 MB14 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHomeBooks Technologies Inc.Emirhan Ayaz

In-app purchases

2 purchases

HomeBooks

Subscriptions2
  • Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Annual Subscription$39.991 Year
None

MargiNotes

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is HomeBooks free?
HomeBooks is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is MargiNotes free?
MargiNotes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do HomeBooks or MargiNotes have ads?
Neither HomeBooks nor MargiNotes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, HomeBooks or MargiNotes?
HomeBooks ships an update every 9 days, and MargiNotes every 2 weeks. Most recently, HomeBooks was updated on October 9, 2026 and MargiNotes on October 10, 2026.

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