Comparison

ShelfPulse vs Grim Reader

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

Head to head
About

ShelfPulse

Monitor your Audiobookshelf server with real-time dashboards, deep listening analytics, and library insights. Manage users, view beautiful home screen widgets, and gain personal or administrative perspectives on your audiobook collection. Enjoy a privacy-first experience with direct server connection.

Highlights
  • Real-time session monitoring
  • Deep listening analytics
  • Library and server insights
  • User management
  • Home screen widgets
  • Direct server connection
Features
Read full description

Real-Time Dashboard: Monitor active sessions, playback progress, and device details instantly. Deep Analytics: Track listening time, streaks, favorite genres, and full history. Library Insights: Explore detailed server trends and collection statistics. Admin Functionality: Manage Users: Create, Edit, Delete and reset passwords for users of your server. Beautiful Widgets: Keep your listening stats visible right on your home screen. For Everyone: Full server monitoring for Admins and personal insights for standard users. Privacy First: Direct connection to your server with no cloud services or data collection. 3-Day Free Trial: Experience full functionality risk-free. Requires an Audiobookshelf server. https://www.audrabooks.app/shelfpulse/terms https://www.audrabooks.app/shelfpulse/privacy

About

Grim Reader

Organize and enrich your personal library of e-books, comics, and audiobooks. This app allows you to manage your collection locally or via your own servers, adding details like covers and author information. Enjoy a seamless reading and listening experience across all your content.

Highlights
  • Library management for e-books, comics, and audiobooks
  • Enrich library with online book and author data
  • Supports local files and personal servers (WebDAV, OPDS)
  • Cross-device reading and listening progress tracking
  • Organize by author, series, and genre
  • Mark favorites
Features
Read full description

Your books. Your library. Your way. Privacy By Design. Made in the EU. Grim Reader is a modern reader and library manager for e-books, comics and audiobooks. Keep your collection on your device, connect to your own servers, and turn even a simple collection of files into a rich, beautifully organised library. A library that feels alive Browse your collection by books, authors, series and more. See covers, reading progress and detailed information at a glance, continue where you left off, mark favourites and quickly find what you want to read next. Grim Reader is designed for both iPhone and iPad, with an interface that adapts to the device you are using. Enrich your books Missing a cover, description or other information? Grim Reader can help enrich your library using online book and author sources. Depending on the available information, Grim Reader can help you find and add details such as: • Covers and book descriptions • Authors and author information • Series information • Publisher and publication details • ISBN and other identifiers • Genres, categories and tags • Additional book metadata You remain in control and can review and edit your library information. More than e-books Grim Reader brings different types of reading together in one library: • Read e-books • Browse and read comics • Listen to audiobooks • Keep track of reading progress • Continue reading or listening across your library • Organise books by author and series • Mark books and authors as favourites Your files, your servers You don’t need to hand your library over to a commercial book platform. Grim Reader can work with books stored locally and supports personal libraries through WebDAV and OPDS, as well as the optional Grimmory server. This makes Grim Reader equally useful for a small collection on your iPhone or iPad and for a large self-hosted library. Made for readers Grim Reader focuses on your books rather than a store. There are no books to sell you and no ecosystem you need to buy into. Build the library you want, enrich it, organise it and enjoy reading it. Grim Reader — your library belongs to you.

Screenshots

ShelfPulse4 screens
Grim Reader3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Grim Reader at none against ShelfPulse's 2. On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence 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. ShelfPulse sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Grim Reader asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for ShelfPulse against 5.0 for Grim Reader. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 9 and 4 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ShelfPulse ships an update weekly, Grim Reader every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
ShelfPulse versus Grim Reader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterShelfPulseGrim Reader
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (9 ratings)5.0 (4 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings9 — better4
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS18.517.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB16 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperEric RandallMaarten de Kreij

Customer experience

ShelfPulse

All ratings9 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Grim Reader

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

ShelfPulse

Subscriptions1
  • ShelfPulse Monthly3 Days trial$0.991 Month
One-time1
  • Full Access$9.99
None

Grim Reader

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ShelfPulse free?
ShelfPulse is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Grim Reader free?
Grim Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, ShelfPulse or Grim Reader?
Grim Reader is rated higher. ShelfPulse averages 4.9 out of 5 from 9 ratings, while Grim Reader averages 5.0 from 4 ratings.
Do ShelfPulse or Grim Reader have ads?
Neither ShelfPulse nor Grim Reader shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ShelfPulse or Grim Reader?
ShelfPulse ships an update weekly, and Grim Reader every 2 weeks. Most recently, ShelfPulse was updated on October 7, 2026 and Grim Reader on October 10, 2026.

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