Comparison

Lore Machine vs Novel Reader & Bookmate

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

Head to head
About

Lore Machine

Create and play interactive stories with friends. Transform your text into immersive audio-visual experiences with branching choices. Collaborate with others to remix and expand story worlds.

Highlights
  • Create stories from ideas or text
  • Generate audio-visual story elements
  • Add interactive choices and branching paths
  • Play and remix stories by others
  • Collaborate with friends on stories
Features
Read full description

Meet the animated graphic novel you can play! Jump into hundreds of LOREs from the best storytellers on the web. Or make your own LORE! It's easy: write a prompt or paste an entire story, and Lore Machine transforms it into imagery, voice, music, motion, and choices your readers make as they go. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://wiki.loremachine.world/the-lore-machine-user-manual/privacy-policy

About

Novel Reader & Bookmate

Features
Read full description

Lore is a quiet EPUB reader that remembers the book for you. Open any book and you always know who's who and what just happened, and never a page further than you've read. WHY LORE Long novels lose people. Forty characters, three names each, two weeks between sittings, and suddenly you are back in chapter nine working out who betrayed whom. Lore keeps that thread for you, without ever getting ahead of you. A SHELF THAT ISN'T EMPTY Lore opens on The Archives: a curated collection of classics you can search by title or author and download without leaving the app. Already have books? Import your own DRM-free EPUB files and they land on the same shelf. THE READING PART, DONE PROPERLY Four themes: Light, Sepia, Dark and an OLED black for reading at night. Four typefaces: serif, sans, mono and cursive. Set font size, line spacing and margins until the page looks right. Automatic hyphenation breaks long words at the syllable, so lines stay even. Portrait or landscape. Page numbers are measured for your type settings, so the count holds still. See the pages left in the chapter, jump straight to a page, or move around from the chapter list. Lore reads EPUB, and it does that one format well: no PDF, no MOBI, no AZW. WHEN YOU LOSE THE THREAD - A character guide: who someone is, what else they are called, and how they are tied to everyone else. - Chapter recaps: the key events and turning points of the stretch you just finished. - Ask a question about the story so far and get an answer from the book. - Talk to a character from the book, one to one. - Illustrated scenes and portraits, collected per book. NOTHING PAST THE PAGE YOU'RE ON All of that is locked to the page you have actually reached. Not a promise, a limit written into the app. Pick a 900-page novel back up after three weeks away, get your bearings, and still not know how it ends. HOW THE GUIDES ARE BUILT Character profiles, recaps and answers are built from the book's own text, using AI that is only ever given the pages you have already read. MADE FOR - Russian novels where everyone has three different names - Doorstop fantasy with a cast list longer than chapter one - Coming back to a book three weeks later LANGUAGES AND ACCOUNT English, Turkish, Spanish, German and French. A free Google or Apple account is required. Your analyses and your spark balance are tied to your account; your library and your reading position stay on your device. You can delete your account in the app at any time. SPARKS AND PREMIUM Reading is free. Importing your own EPUB and downloading from The Archives are free. Sparks are spent when you analyse a book, ask a question, chat with a character or create an illustration. Once a book is analysed, its character guide and chapter recaps are yours to browse as often as you like, at no further cost. Lore Premium is an auto-renewing subscription, sold in three plans: Weekly at $9.99 a week for 1,000 sparks each week, Monthly at $14.99 a month for 2,000 sparks each month, and Yearly at $149.99 a year for 2,000 sparks each month. Prices are in U.S. dollars and vary by region. Each refill sets your balance to the plan amount, so unused sparks do not carry over. Promo codes are accepted. Payment is charged to your Apple ID at confirmation of purchase. A subscription renews automatically unless auto-renew is switched off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel in your Apple ID settings. Terms of Use: https://zarathustra.app/terms.html Privacy Policy: https://zarathustra.app/privacy.html Zarathustra is now Lore. Same books, same page you left off on.

Screenshots

Lore Machine4 screens
Novel Reader & Bookmate4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Novel Reader & Bookmate at daily against Lore Machine's fortnightly. 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. Lore Machine sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days and Novel Reader & Bookmate sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Lore Machine ships an update fortnightly, Novel Reader & Bookmate daily. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Lore Machine versus Novel Reader & Bookmate: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLore MachineNovel Reader & Bookmate
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (12 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews77.8% of reviews—
Number of ratings12 — better—
Update frequencyFortnightlyDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS14.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size60 MB90 MB
Age rating9+12+
DeveloperExo Unlimitedhalit aldemir

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Lore Machine

Subscriptions9
  • Lore Machine Weekly$3.997 Days
  • Explorer (monthly)$8.991 Month
  • Lore Machine Monthly$9.991 Month
Show 6 more
  • Creator (monthly)$19.001 Month
  • Pro (monthly)$49.001 Month
  • Explorer (yearly)$84.001 Year
  • Lore Machine Yearly$99.991 Year
  • Creator (yearly)$179.991 Year
  • Pro (yearly)$469.001 Year
One-time1
  • 100 Token Pack$4.99
3 purchases

Novel Reader & Bookmate

Subscriptions3
  • Zarathustra Pro Weekly$9.997 Days
  • Zarathustra Pro Monthly$24.991 Month
  • Zarathustra Pro Annual$249.991 Year

Questions

Is Lore Machine free?
Lore Machine is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Novel Reader & Bookmate free?
Novel Reader & Bookmate is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Lore Machine or Novel Reader & Bookmate have ads?
Neither Lore Machine nor Novel Reader & Bookmate shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Lore Machine or Novel Reader & Bookmate?
Lore Machine ships an update fortnightly, and Novel Reader & Bookmate daily. Most recently, Lore Machine was updated on October 9, 2026 and Novel Reader & Bookmate on October 5, 2026.

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