Comparison

ShelfBuddy vs Book Tracker & TBR

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

Head to head
About

ShelfBuddy

Organize your entire book collection digitally. Track owned, borrowed, and wishlisted books, manage series, and log reading progress with a built-in timer. Gain insights into your reading habits and share your reading year.

Highlights
  • Digital bookshelf organization
  • Track owned, lent, and wishlisted books
  • Manage book series and missing volumes
  • Log reading progress with a timer
  • Analyze reading habits and statistics
  • Import/export library data
  • Scan ISBN barcodes to add books
Features
Read full description

ShelfBuddy is your digital bookshelf: beautiful, calm and built entirely around reading. Keep track of every book and audiobook you own, are reading, have lent out or still want. Free, with no limit on books. Premium is a one-time purchase, no subscription. YOUR LIBRARY, ORGANIZED Create as many shelves as you like, for example Fantasy, Thrillers or Classics, keep wishlists, and plan what to read next with a reading list. A book may sit on several shelves, and copies marked "collected only" count neither as read nor as unread. Manage genres and tags across all your books at once, and "Edit fields" sets author, genres and tags for several books in one step. Filter your TBR pile by shelf, format, genre, tag or language. BOOKS AND AUDIOBOOKS The overview keeps books and audiobooks apart: audiobooks get their own series, wishlists, loans and statistics. Count them as read if you like, and keep manga and comics separate. BOOK SERIES AT A GLANCE See for every series which volumes you own and which are still missing, and add them to your wishlist or a shelf with one tap. Discover suggests book series and audiobook series picked by your taste, search puts the series you look for first, and you get notified when a new volume is released. RATINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Rate your books in quarter stars and see ratings from Thalia and other ShelfBuddy readers alongside. "Popular on ShelfBuddy" shows what the community is reading a lot right now, next to recommendations picked by your taste and "Next in your series". TRACK YOUR READING Reading tracker and reading journal in one: status, start and finish dates, reading progress, notes and quotes, also for books you have read more than once. "Read as" remembers when you read a book as an eBook or a borrowed copy while the print edition stays on your shelf. READING SESSIONS WITH A READING TIMER Start a reading session and the timer runs along. When you're done, enter your page and ShelfBuddy updates your progress and reading pace. Log past reading time after the fact, and start your next session from the home screen, the app icon or a widget, with a Live Activity on the Lock Screen. INSIGHTS: GET TO KNOW YOUR READING HABITS A reading calendar shows which days you read and how much. See the time of day and the weekdays you read most, which genres get most of your reading time, your records, your spending per week, month and year, and a short written summary of your reading year. YOUR READING RECAP Share your reading year or month as an image: six templates, headline styles, reading time or pages, your covers and highlights. ADD BOOKS IN SECONDS Scan the ISBN barcode, search millions of books or add books by hand. Import your library from Goodreads, StoryGraph, Reado and other apps, genres and covers included. "Missing details" fills in page counts and publishers, and you can export your whole library as a .csv spreadsheet. AUTHORS AND LENDING Follow your favorite authors in several languages and get notified about new titles. Lending remembers who has which book, with a reminder to get it back, and borrowed books remember when you got them. YOUR DATA, YOUR CHOICE Keep everything 100% local on your device, or sync via iCloud or Google Drive. Export a complete backup at any time. PREMIUM: PAY ONCE, NO SUBSCRIPTION No ads, cloud sync, Insights, and your library in the browser on your computer at app.shelfbuddy.de, linked with a QR code, no account needed and encrypted on your device. One purchase, all future updates included. ON IPHONE, IPAD AND IPHONE DUO On iPad you work with a sidebar and the book page side by side. Optimized for iPhone Duo: unfolded, ShelfBuddy uses the large screen like a tablet. ALL YOURS Dark mode, selectable accent colors and available in four languages.

About

Book Tracker & TBR

Organize your reading life with a private digital library. Track books, jot down notes and quotes, and monitor your reading progress. Set reading reminders to encourage consistent reading habits.

Highlights
  • Private digital library
  • Add books and notes
  • Track reading progress
  • Save quotes and highlights
  • Set reading reminders
  • Offline access
Features
Read full description

Track every book you read, log pages and save the notes you never want to lose. A quiet, private space for your reading life. Add books, jot thoughts while they're fresh, and see your progress grow — all on your phone. Nothing leaves the device. Four shelves. Zero chaos. — Inbox — books you want to read — Projects — what you're reading right now — Resources — keepers you come back to — Archives — finished and searchable forever Notes that stick Save quotes, ideas, and highlights — each one tied to its book and page. Find anything later with a quick search. Progress you can see Log pages and minutes. Daily stats at a glance. One view for what's done, what's current, and what's next. A nudge, not a pester Pick a reading time. The app taps your shoulder. You read. Every page counts. Yours alone No accounts, no sign-ups. Your library stays on your device — just you and your books. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

ShelfBuddy4 screens
Book Tracker & TBR3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Book Tracker & TBR at none against ShelfBuddy's shown. ShelfBuddy's advantage is ratings volume (6 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, rating, update cadence and in-app purchases 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. ShelfBuddy sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Book Tracker & TBR sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for ShelfBuddy against 5.0 for Book Tracker & TBR. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ShelfBuddy has 6 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ShelfBuddy ships an update every 3 days, Book Tracker & TBR every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on November 9, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
ShelfBuddy versus Book Tracker & TBR: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterShelfBuddyBook Tracker & TBR
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (6 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings6 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 3 days — betterEvery 5 days
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size57 MB65 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJAN-HENNING BUNSPetrichka Yaroslav

Customer experience

ShelfBuddy

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Book Tracker & TBR

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

ShelfBuddy

One-time1
  • ShelfBuddy Freischaltung$19.99
3 purchases

Book Tracker & TBR

Subscriptions3
  • Premium Weekly$2.997 Days
  • Premium Monthly$3.991 Month
  • Yearly Premium$34.991 Year

Questions

Is ShelfBuddy free?
ShelfBuddy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Book Tracker & TBR free?
Book Tracker & TBR is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, ShelfBuddy or Book Tracker & TBR?
ShelfBuddy and Book Tracker & TBR are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 6 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do ShelfBuddy or Book Tracker & TBR have ads?
ShelfBuddy shows ads; Book Tracker & TBR does not.
Which is updated more often, ShelfBuddy or Book Tracker & TBR?
ShelfBuddy ships an update every 3 days, and Book Tracker & TBR every 5 days. Most recently, ShelfBuddy was updated on November 9, 2026 and Book Tracker & TBR on October 31, 2026.

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