ShelfBuddy vs Shelfd
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ShelfBuddy
Manage your physical book collection digitally with virtual shelves, wishlists, and reading timelines. Track borrowed books with return reminders and view reading statistics. Easily add books by scanning, searching, or manual entry.
- Virtual shelves and wishlists
- ISBN barcode scanning
- Reading progress tracking
- Borrowed book management
- Customizable notes and genres
- Multilingual interface
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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. Your whole library, neatly organized, and your data always stays in your hands. Freshly redesigned in the new "Paper & Ink" look. YOUR LIBRARY, ORGANIZED Manage your books the way you want. Create as many shelves as you like, for example Fantasy, Thrillers or Classics, keep a wishlist of books you still want, and plan what to read next with a reading list. The "Continue reading" card puts your current book right on the home screen. Make the overview your own: drag its sections into your order and hide the ones you don't use. BOOK SERIES AT A GLANCE See for every series which volumes you own and which are still missing. Search for a book series or an author under "Series" and browse every volume in reading order, even before you own one. Add missing volumes to your wishlist or a shelf with one tap and get notified when a new volume is released. YOUR DATA, YOUR CHOICE Your library belongs to you, and you decide where it is stored. Keep everything 100% local on your device for full privacy, or turn on optional cloud sync to back up your books and use them on all your devices. On iPhone and iPad you can sync via iCloud or Google Drive, and nothing leaves your device unless you want it to. You can also export a complete backup of your library at any time, so your books are never tied to one platform. TRACK YOUR READING ShelfBuddy is a reading tracker and reading journal in one. Mark each book as unread, reading or read, add start and finish dates, rate your books and see detailed reading statistics by month and year. Share your personal reading recap as an image. READING SESSIONS WITH A READING TIMER Start a reading session and the built-in reading timer starts automatically. When you're done, simply enter your current page and ShelfBuddy updates your reading progress and reading pace. See how long you've read per book, log past reading time after the fact, and start your next session straight from the home screen, the app icon or a widget. INSIGHTS: GET TO KNOW YOUR READING HABITS ShelfBuddy turns your reading sessions into a picture of how you read. 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 personal records, and how you read each book, devoured in a weekend or savoured in small steps. A short written summary puts your reading year into words. Insights are part of ShelfBuddy Premium. YOUR READING JOURNAL AND BOOK COLLECTION Record every book you've read and make reading a habit. Manage your entire book collection, keep a reading journal, and stay on track with reading goals and a reading challenge. ADD BOOKS IN SECONDS Scan the ISBN barcode, search millions of books, or add books by hand. Imports from Goodreads, StoryGraph, Reado and other apps are supported. AUTHORS AND LENDING Follow your favorite authors and get notified about new titles. The lending feature remembers who has which book, with a reminder to get it back. ALL YOURS Dark mode, selectable accent colors and available in four languages.
Shelfd
Organize your reading life with a charming book tracker. Log what you're reading, discover your next book with a spin of a wheel, and visualize your reading habits with personalized stats and achievements. Enjoy a cozy, ad-free experience with optional premium features for advanced tracking.
- Track current, finished, and to-be-read books
- Spin a wheel to pick your next read
- Organize books by genre with custom colors
- Set reading goals and view yearly stats
- Earn achievements narrated by an Archivist
- Import libraries from other apps (CSV)
- Backup and restore your library
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A warm, unhurried home for your reading life. Shelfd keeps a quiet record of everything you've read and everything still waiting — without turning your hobby into a job. No leaderboards. No guilt for the week you didn't finish anything. HOWEVER YOU READ IT Paper, ebook, or audiobook — track them side by side on the same shelf. Audiobooks count down in hours and minutes remaining, the way your listening app shows them, so there's no maths to do when you log your progress. YOUR SHELF, ACTUALLY SHELVED Finished books stand as real spines, coloured from their own covers. Browse them as a shelf or a list, and build your own collections for classics, comfort rereads, or whatever you're hoarding this month. SPIN THE WHEEL Too many books, not enough decisions. Load up your TBR, give it a spin, and let fate choose your next read. A GOAL WORTH HITTING Set a books-per-year target and watch the arrow move toward the bullseye. Miss it and nothing bad happens. Hit it and something rather nice does. THE SHAPE OF YOUR TASTE See which genres you actually gravitate to, how you read — paper, screen, or headphones — and the quiet trends across your year. ACHIEVEMENTS, STAMPED Every finished book earns a mark from the Archivist, who keeps your records in impeccable order and is quietly more invested than he lets on. BRING YOUR LIBRARY Coming from Goodreads or StoryGraph? Import your whole history from a single file and pick up where you left off. Back up your shelf whenever you like — your library is yours, and it stays on your device. SCAN AND GO Point the camera at a barcode and the book is on your shelf, page count and cover included. SHELFD PREMIUM Read up to three books at once, unlock the Ratings Card with half-stars and emoji vibes for how a book actually felt, get the deeper genre breakdown, and build unlimited shelves and lists. "Keep reading. That's all I ask." — The Archivist SHELFD PREMIUM — SUBSCRIPTION TERMS Shelfd Premium is available as a monthly or annual auto-renewing subscription, or as a one-time Founders Group purchase. A 7-day free trial is included with the subscription. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours of the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel your subscription in your Apple Account settings after purchase. Any unused portion of a free trial is forfeited when you purchase a subscription. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://joinshelfd.com/privacy.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Shelfd at none against ShelfBuddy's shown. ShelfBuddy's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.2). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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
Both are free to download. ShelfBuddy sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Shelfd sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for ShelfBuddy against 5.0 for Shelfd. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 3 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
ShelfBuddy ships an update every 3 days, Shelfd every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on September 20, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ShelfBuddy | Shelfd |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) | 5.0 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 3 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 26.2 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 52 MB | 14 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | JAN-HENNING BUNS | Zachary Selburg |
Customer experience
ShelfBuddy
Shelfd
In-app purchases
ShelfBuddy
- ShelfBuddy Freischaltung$5.99
Shelfd
- Premium Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Premium Annual7 Days trial$24.991 Year
- Shelfd Founders Group$59.99





