Comparison

BiblioGenius vs Book Catalog

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

Head to head
About

BiblioGenius

Features
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BiblioGenius is a personal library manager that works entirely on your device. Scan barcodes to add books instantly. Organize them into collections, track loans to friends, and discover books from other libraries on your local network. Features: - Barcode scanning for quick book entry - Search across multiple sources - Collections and tags to organize your library - Loan tracking with contacts - Discover and share books with nearby libraries over Wi-Fi - Mini-games with your books - Works offline, no account required - Open source

About

Book Catalog

Easily catalog your book collection by scanning entire shelves with your camera. Track detailed information about each book, manage your reading progress, and prevent duplicate purchases. Your library data is stored and synced privately on your device.

Highlights
  • Scan entire bookshelves at once
  • Recognize book spines on-device
  • Track book condition, edition, and value
  • Prevent duplicate book purchases
  • Import and export library data (CSV, Goodreads)
  • Track reading progress and goals
  • Lending tracker
Features
Read full description

Point your camera at a bookshelf. Book Catalog reads the spines and adds up to 40 books in one pass. Every other book app makes you scan barcodes one at a time. That is why people who own 400 books never finish cataloguing them. Book Catalog takes a photo of the whole shelf, recognises the spines on your device, and hands you a review list where you confirm the matches before anything is saved. A 500 book library is about 13 shelf photos. One afternoon. SCAN A WHOLE SHELF Photograph one shelf and get a list of what is on it, with a cover, title and author for each spine. Every match shows a confidence, and anything the camera was unsure about is flagged for you to check rather than guessed at. You approve the list, then the books are added. Recognition runs entirely on your device and the photo never leaves your phone. Prefer one at a time? Scan an ISBN barcode, search by title or author, or type a book in by hand. All of it is free and unlimited. BUILT FOR PEOPLE WHO OWN THE BOOKS Most reading apps stop at a star rating. Book Catalog tracks the copy on your shelf: First edition and printing number Dust jacket present Condition, graded Fine through Poor Signed copies Provenance notes Purchase price and date Estimated value, and a running total for the whole collection Print an insurance inventory as a PDF with cover thumbnails, ISBNs, conditions and valuations, suitable for a homeowner's policy rider. Values are your own estimates and the document says so plainly. NEVER BUY THE SAME BOOK TWICE Book Catalog warns you at the moment you add a book you already own, and tells you which copy it collides with. It knows the difference between a second copy of the same edition, which is usually a mistake, and a different edition of the same work, which for a collector is often the point. There is a duplicates report for the whole library too. BRING YOUR LIBRARY WITH YOU Import a Goodreads or StoryGraph export, or any CSV, and keep your ratings, shelves and read dates. Import is free and unlimited, because a catalogue you cannot move into is no use to anyone. Export back out to CSV whenever you like. Your library is yours. TRACK THE READING TOO Shelves for read, reading, want to read and your wishlist, plus any custom shelves you want Reading progress by page or percent, with a session log An annual reading goal that shows whether you are on pace and by how much Streaks, pages per day, genre breakdown, and a year in books Saved quotes with page references A lending tracker for the books you have lent out and the ones you have borrowed Everything is stored on your device. Sign in to iCloud and it syncs privately to your other devices. There is no account, no sign up, and no server of ours holding your library. ACCESSIBLE BY DESIGN Full Dynamic Type support up to the largest accessibility sizes, VoiceOver labels on every book and every scan result, and status shown with a symbol and a label rather than colour alone. The camera is optional: manual entry and import cover everything. FREE AND PRO Free, with no limit: unlimited books, barcode scanning, manual entry, shelves, reading progress, statistics, the annual goal, iCloud sync, and Goodreads, StoryGraph and CSV import. Shelf Scan is free three times a day. BOOK CATALOG PRO Pro unlocks unlimited shelf scanning, the collector fields and collection valuation, the duplicates report, advanced statistics, and CSV and insurance PDF export. Pro is available as a weekly or yearly auto-renewable subscription, or as a one time purchase. Subscriptions auto-renew until canceled. Cancel anytime in your Apple ID Subscriptions settings at least 24 hours before the renewal date. Privacy policy: https://app.innovaapps.ai/privacy Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula

Screenshots

BiblioGenius4 screens
Book Catalog4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: BiblioGenius at none against Book Catalog's 3. BiblioGenius also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs every 2 months) and device support (4 vs 2). On price and ads 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. Book Catalog sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days. BiblioGenius asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

BiblioGenius ships an update every 3 days, Book Catalog every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 5 level
BiblioGenius versus Book Catalog: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBiblioGeniusBook Catalog
PriceFreeFree
Rating—1.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 days — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.5 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size103 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFederico CaloAlex Gameli Heyman

In-app purchases

None

BiblioGenius

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Book Catalog

Subscriptions2
  • Pro Weekly3 Days trial$4.997 Days
  • Pro Yearly7 Days trial$24.991 Year
One-time1
  • Pro Lifetime$29.99

Questions

Is BiblioGenius free?
BiblioGenius is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Book Catalog free?
Book Catalog is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do BiblioGenius or Book Catalog have ads?
Neither BiblioGenius nor Book Catalog shows ads.
Which is updated more often, BiblioGenius or Book Catalog?
BiblioGenius ships an update every 3 days, and Book Catalog every 2 months. Most recently, BiblioGenius was updated on October 24, 2026 and Book Catalog on October 29, 2026.

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