Comparison

Vellum vs Vellum Reader

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

Head to head
About

Vellum

Access and read thousands of classic books for free offline. Organize your reading, take personal notes, and save favorite quotes. Enjoy a distraction-free, ad-free experience with beautiful typography.

Highlights
  • Offline reading
  • Ad-free experience
  • Library management
  • Personal notes and quotes
  • Thousands of classic titles
  • Distraction-free reader
  • EPUB export
Features
Read full description

Read the World's Greatest Books for Free. Vellum is a completely free, offline-first library designed for lovers of classic literature. Access hundreds of masterpieces from the Project Gutenberg archives without paying a cent, viewing ads, or needing an internet connection. Why Vellum? 100% Free & No Ads: Enjoy a premium reading experience without paywalls, subscriptions, or annoying banners. Manage Your Library: Keep your reading life organized. Easily track your journey by marking books as "To Read," "Currently Reading," or "Completed." Personal Notes: capturing your thoughts has never been easier. Save favorite quotes, study notes, or personal reflections directly inside every book. Download & Keep: Save books to your device instantly. Build your personal library and read anywhere, even in airplane mode. Thousands of Titles: From Pride and Prejudice to Sherlock Holmes and The Great Gatsby, if it’s a classic, it’s here. Premium Reader: A distraction-free interface with beautiful typography optimized for comfortable reading, day or night. Open Formats: Prefer your own reader? You can export the raw EPUB files directly to other apps on your device. Private & Secure: Your reading habits and notes are stored locally on your device. We track nothing. About the Developer: Vellum was built by Imran Khan, a Senior Product Engineer and Founding Engineer at a YC startup. "I built Vellum because I believe great literature should be accessible to everyone for free. I love Project Gutenberg, but I wanted a mobile experience that felt modern and fast. I made this app to give these classic books the beautiful home they deserve, at zero cost to the reader." In his spare time, Imran researches AI and LLMs and contributes to open-source developer tools. Vellum is a labor of love, built to ensure that literature remains free and accessible to everyone, everywhere.

About

Vellum Reader

Read full description

Vellum is a minimalistic and elegant book reader designed for readers who appreciate a classy, distraction-free reading experience on iPhone and iPad. Your Personal Library Import your favorite books and documents with ease. Vellum supports PDF, EPUB, TXT, and RTF files. Smart metadata extraction automatically pulls titles, authors, and cover images from your PDFs. Organize Your Way • Create custom collections to group your reading • Mark favorites for quick access • Search and sort your library effortlessly • Track your reading progress across all documents A Beautiful Reading Experience • Choose from 8 elegant fonts including Georgia, Palatino, and Baskerville • 4 page themes: Light, Sepia, Dark, and Black (OLED) • Adjustable font size, line spacing, margins, and text alignment • Tap edges to turn pages or swipe naturally Thoughtful Features • Search Public Domains like "Project Gutenberg" and "StandardEbooks" for thousands of classics to import to your library • Automatic progress saving — pick up right where you left off • Bookmarks to mark important pages • Keep Screen Awake mode for uninterrupted reading • Visual progress bar and page numbers • Continue Reading section for quick access to current books • Utilize the AI recommendation feature to get book suggestions based on the current works in your library Five Beautiful App Themes Personalize Vellum with Sepia, Midnight, Ocean, Forest, or Lavender accent themes. Privacy First Vellum respects your privacy completely. All your books and reading data stay on your device. No accounts required. No data collection. Just you and your books. Download Vellum and rediscover the joy of reading.

Screenshots

Vellum3 screens
Vellum Reader4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Vellum at 15.1 against Vellum Reader's 17.0. 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Scorecard1 real difference · 8 level
Vellum versus Vellum Reader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterVellumVellum Reader
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeks—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.1 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size38 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperImran KhanSUZETTE RENEE COPLEY DE SCHRYVER

In-app purchases

None

Vellum

No in-app purchases

None

Vellum Reader

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Vellum free?
Vellum is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Vellum Reader free?
Vellum Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Vellum or Vellum Reader have ads?
Neither Vellum nor Vellum Reader shows ads.

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