Comparison

Folio vs Elayne

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

Head to head
About

Folio

Features
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Meet Ollie, your reading companion — and discover 75,000+ free books inside the most beautiful reading app on iOS. Folio makes reading feel like holding a real book. Warm cream pages, elegant serif fonts, realistic page turns, and a cozy reading experience designed for people who love books — not just screens. FREE BOOKS, BUILT RIGHT IN Browse 75,000+ public domain classics from Project Gutenberg and Standard Ebooks. Frankenstein, Pride and Prejudice, Moby Dick, Romeo and Juliet — all free, all beautifully formatted, all yours to keep. - Browse by genre: Fiction, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Romance, Philosophy, History, and more - One-tap download to your personal library - New books added regularly - No subscriptions. No hidden fees. Just great books. READING THAT FEELS REAL Every detail is designed to bring back the joy of physical books: - Warm cream, parchment, night, and midnight themes - Choose your font: Lora, Merriweather, Georgia, Literata, and more - Realistic page curl, smooth slide, or gentle fade transitions - Adjustable font size, spacing, and margins - Import your own EPUB and PDF files HIGHLIGHTS & NOTES YOU'LL ACTUALLY USE Never lose a great passage again: - Color-coded highlights (2 free, 7 with Premium) - Add notes to any highlight - Notes Hub: browse all highlights across all books in one place - Export to Notion, Obsidian, Apple Notes, or Markdown (Premium) SAVE ARTICLES FOR LATER Read web articles in Folio's beautiful reading view: - Save from Safari with the Share Sheet - Articles stripped clean — no ads, no clutter - Read offline, highlight, and take notes just like books MEET OLLIE Ollie the owl is your friendly reading companion. He'll help you find your next book, celebrate your milestones, and keep your reading life organized — without ever guilt-tripping you. FOLIO PREMIUM — $4.99, ONE TIME Unlock everything with a single purchase. No subscription. No recurring charges. - All 7 highlight colors - Smart highlight collections and tags - Export notes - Custom reading themes - Shelf view (wooden bookshelf) - Advanced reading stats and annual report - Custom OPDS catalog support - Unlimited Read It Later articles Download Folio free. Read beautifully. Keep your ideas forever.

About

Elayne

Features
Read full description

Elayne turns your iPhone or iPad into a reader, a narrator, and a personal library for your books and comics. Organize your collection, read or listen to your EPUBs with natural-sounding voices, and keep track of everything you read. YOUR LIBRARY, YOUR WAY: • Create a local folder on your device or in iCloud and organize your books and comics into subfolders or however you prefer. • Edit your books’ information, including title, author, genre, series, rating, and other metadata. • Filter and sort your books however you like. • Add ratings so those books appear reordered in your top favorites list. • Check your reading progress and keep track of what you’ve read, are reading, or still have left to read from your books and series. READ YOUR BOOKS: • Read books in EPUB and PDF formats. • Customize your reading experience with different fonts, text sizes, margins, spacing, and colors. • Read your books without an internet connection. READ YOUR COMICS AND MANGA: • Read CBZ and CBR files directly from your device. • Use a magnifying glass to zoom in on page details or the free zoom feature to adjust the page to your reading style. LISTEN TO YOUR EPUBS WHILE YOU WALK: • Convert the text of your EPUB books to speech in real time and listen while you do other things, such as walking, exercising, or when you’re drifting off to sleep. • Use the voices available on your device or connect to external text-to-speech services. • Compatible with Google Cloud TTS, Microsoft Azure TTS, and ElevenLabs. • Use your own API keys to directly control the usage and consumption of these services. • Schedule reading sessions by chapter to better manage your time. The reading will automatically stop when it reaches the end of the scheduled session, accompanied by a subtle sound. • Adjust the reading speed and choose the voice that best suits your preferences. • Play the narration in the background and control playback from the locked screen. DOWNLOAD YOUR NARRATIONS TO LISTEN OFFLINE: • Download entire chapters so you can listen to them later without an internet connection. • The generated audio is stored locally on your device and is available only for local playback within Elayne. • Track the character usage of the text-to-speech services you use. • Set limits, alerts, and usage thresholds to avoid unexpected charges. MUSIC WHILE YOU READ: • Play background music while you read or listen to your books. • Integrate Spotify or Apple Music to start playback without having to leave Elayne. • The music will play at a lower volume so it accompanies your reading without drowning out the narration. SYNCHRONIZE YOUR LIBRARY: • Create an account and sync your reading progress and settings across your devices using iCloud or Google Drive. • By using your own cloud storage, your data remains under your control. READING STATISTICS: • See how much time you’ve spent reading. • Keep track of the pages you’ve read. • Find out which genres you read most often. ACCOUNTS AND PARENTAL CONTROLS: • For family devices, you can use multiple accounts and create supervised accounts for the youngest members of the household. • Set restrictions on those accounts to hide certain books and features. Elayne is designed for people who travel a lot or who, due to a lack of time, can never find that daily moment to sit down and read.

Screenshots

Folio4 screens
Elayne4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Elayne at none against Folio's 1. On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. Folio sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Elayne asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard1 real difference · 4 level
Folio versus Elayne: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFolioElayne
PriceFreeFree
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 — better18.5
Further details — not scored
Size13 MB65 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLaxman ShahAdrian Portela Ortiz

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Folio

One-time1
  • Folio Plus Lifetime$4.99
None

Elayne

No in-app purchases

Questions

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

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