Comparison

Keeps vs Karatu

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

Head to head
About

Keeps

Features
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Read more. Remember more. Share more. Keeps is the reading companion that helps you capture every meaningful quote and track your reading journey in one place. [Scan Quotes with Your Camera] Point your camera at any book page and OCR instantly recognizes the text. You can also extract text from gallery images. No more typing out long passages. [Beautiful Quote Cards] Turn your favorite quotes into stunning shareable cards. Choose from 8 unique styles and highlight key phrases to make them stand out on social media. [Track Your Reading Progress] Log your progress page by page. Use the built-in reading session timer to track how long you read each day. [Reading Goals & Stats] Set yearly and monthly reading goals and watch your progress. View stats like books completed per month and total pages read. [Your Personal Library] Search and add books by title or ISBN, or manually enter any title. Organize with categories and collections to keep your library tidy. [Secure Cloud Backup] Back up your reading data to the cloud. Switch devices without losing a single note or highlight. Start building your reading habit with Keeps today. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Terms of Service: https://sites.google.com/view/keeps-terms-conditions Privacy Policy: https://sites.google.com/view/keepsprivacypolicy

About

Karatu

Features
Read full description

Karatu is a native iOS reader where you bring your own sources. The app does not ship with a built-in catalog or library. Instead, you install small JavaScript source plug-ins from public repositories โ€” exactly the same model as a media-server client like Plex or Jellyfin. The app is the reader; the content backend is up to you. WHAT KARATU GIVES YOU - A native iOS reader. Vertical (webtoon) and horizontal (paged) modes, pinch-zoom, double-tap to reset, tap-to-toggle full-screen, auto-advance to the next chapter. - Per-page bookmarks, grouped by series. - Offline downloads. Background URLSession keeps fetches running when the app is suspended; per-chapter status lives on the manga detail screen with a one-tap "Download all chapters." - A real library. Sort by recently-read, recently-added, title, or chapters-read. Filter by currently-reading, has-downloads, unread-chapters-available, or by source. - Reading history with per-chapter resume. Pick up exactly where you left off. - Reading-time stats. Daily totals, current streak, longest streak, total time. Stored locally; nothing is sent anywhere. - A clean settings screen with storage usage, per-source breakdown, and one-tap reset. WHAT KARATU DOES NOT DO - Ship sources. You provide them. - Send any data anywhere. Karatu has no accounts, no telemetry, no third-party SDKs, no ads. The privacy manifest declares zero data collection. - Verify, host, distribute, or endorse any source or repository. You are solely responsible for the content you choose to load. FOR DEVELOPERS Karatu's source SDK is a tiny JavaScript runtime: fetch, console.log, and registerSource. Sources implement four async methods (getPopular, search, getMangaDetails, getChapterPages) and return ordinary JSON. Anyone can write a source and host the manifest as a public file. See the project documentation for the full SDK contract. PRIVACY All app state โ€” library, history, bookmarks, downloads, stats โ€” is stored locally on your device. Karatu makes network requests only to URLs you have explicitly configured. There are no analytics, no tracking pixels, no third-party libraries that phone home. Uninstalling the app removes every byte. REQUIREMENTS iOS 17 or later. iPhone only.

Screenshots

Keeps4 screens
Karatu4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Karatu at none against Keeps's 2. Karatu also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (daily vs every 2 months). Keeps's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Keeps sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.49 per month. Karatu asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Keeps ships an update every 2 months, Karatu daily. Both last shipped on October 25, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences ยท 1 level
Keeps versus Karatu: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterKeepsKaratu
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsDaily โ€” better
AdsYesNo โ€” better
In-app purchasesYesNo โ€” better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod โ€” betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.1 โ€” better17.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size59 MB2 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperSeungpyo HanUmar Rufai

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Keeps

Subscriptions2
  • Pro plan$3.491 Month
  • Pro Plan$34.991 Year
None

Karatu

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Keeps free?
Keeps is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Karatu free?
Karatu is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Keeps or Karatu have ads?
Keeps shows ads; Karatu does not.
Which is updated more often, Keeps or Karatu?
Keeps ships an update every 2 months, and Karatu daily. Most recently, Keeps was updated on October 25, 2026 and Karatu on October 25, 2026.

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