Clarify vs Excerpta
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Clarify
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Difficult books are worth reading. Dense prose, unfamiliar ideas, and older language should not keep great books out of reach. Clarify is an AI ebook reader for iPhone and iPad that helps you understand challenging books without leaving the page. Browse 100+ included classics, follow a guided philosophy path, or import your own EPUB. Read the original—not a summary. Ask for help only when you need it, compare clearer wording with the original, and keep reading. AUTO SIMPLIFY AS YOU READ Turn on Simplify and clearer wording appears directly in the reader as you move through the book. Clarify works progressively, paragraph by paragraph, and is designed to preserve the book’s structure and formatting. The original text is always one tap away. SIMPLIFY A PASSAGE Select a difficult sentence or part of a paragraph to see the same idea in clearer language. Switch between the simplified version and the original whenever you want. EXPLAIN THE IDEA Need more than a rewrite? Select a passage for a short answer followed by a fuller explanation informed by nearby text and book context. Understand the idea—not just the words. 100+ CLASSICS—OR YOUR OWN BOOKS Browse and download more than 100 classics across fiction, science, philosophy, history, poetry, adventure, and drama. Already have something you want to understand? Import your own EPUB files and use the same Simplify and Explain tools. GUIDED PHILOSOPHY PATHS Not sure where to begin? Clarify recommends a starting book and related works to explore next: • Understand Stoicism—six essential works featuring Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, and Seneca • Ethics & the Good Life • Power & Government MADE FOR FOCUSED READING • Reading progress saved automatically • Table of contents and chapter navigation • Adjustable text size • Light, dark, and system themes • Downloaded and imported books stored on your device • Core reading works offline • No account required Stay with the original. Get help when you need it. Keep reading.
Excerpta
Track your reading progress, journal your thoughts, and save favorite quotes from any book. Capture text with your camera, organize your library, and visualize your reading habits over time. Discover new books and sync your progress across devices.
- Capture quotes via camera, photos, or typing
- Journal notes, page numbers, and reading moods
- Organize books by shelves, authors, and series
- Track reading progress and set yearly goals
- Analyze reading statistics and visualize habits
- Discover new books and import from other platforms
- Sync across devices with iCloud
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Excerpta is a book tracker that doubles as a reading journal. Every book gets its own timeline: the lines that stopped you, the notes you wrote, the pages you read each day, and how it all felt. Point your camera at a page to keep a quote. It keeps the rest too: your shelves, where you left off, and how your year in reading is going. KEEP THE WORDS – Capture quotes with the camera, from photos (a few pages at once), or by typing. The text is read right on your phone. – Tap a paragraph to keep it whole, or drag the highlighter across just the words you want. – Pick one of six highlight colors, add a note, and mark the page or chapter. – Tag the character who said it and add how it made you feel. Your moods can go to Apple Health too. – Quotes that don't belong to any book land in your Commonplace book. READ YOUR EPUBS Add an EPUB to any book and read it right here, with search, six themes, and your own font and margins. Highlight a passage to keep it as a quote, and the reader logs your reading for you. HOWEVER YOU READ Print, e-book, or audiobook. Owned, borrowed, or gifted. They all share the same shelves. – Add books by searching, scanning the barcode, or typing them in yourself. – Browse by book, author, character, or series. Series fill themselves in, or build your own. – Make as many shelves as you like. A book can sit on several. – Rate in half or quarter stars, write a review, and start a reread with a fresh timeline. – Add a new release as Upcoming and get a note the day it's out. KNOW WHERE YOU LEFT OFF – Start the reading timer, or set your page, your percent, or the time left in an audiobook. – Give a book a finish date, or your whole year a goal. – The Calendar shows each day you read as a cover, ringed by your mood, with your streak up top. SEE HOW THE YEAR IS GOING Stats shows what your reading actually looked like: Books Read, Pages Read, Days Read, Genres, Ratings, Mood, Top Authors, and Time to Finish. Reading Nooks gathers the photos you took and maps the places you read. Pick the cards, then look at a month, a year, or all time. FIND THE NEXT ONE Discovery brings in the NYT Bestsellers lists. Connect Hardcover to add what's trending, the most anticipated books, Vibes, and lists and prompts from other readers, plus each book's moods and similar books. BRING YOUR BOOKS ALONG – Import from Goodreads, StoryGraph, Kindle highlights, Kobo, Apple Books, or a spreadsheet. – Sync between your devices with iCloud. – Sync your library and shelves both ways with Hardcover, and your progress with KOReader. – Export any time, as one Markdown file per book, ready for Obsidian, Bear, or Notes. Export is always free. AROUND YOUR PHONE – Widgets for a quote, your current book, and your reading calendar, on the Home Screen and Lock Screen. – Screen Saver plays your quotes on a slow loop while your phone charges. – Capture a quote from Shortcuts or the Action button. – Share a quote as an image card, or send a friend a link to a book. – Ten reading fonts, and an app icon in your favorite highlight color. YOURS TO KEEP Your library lives on your phone and in your own iCloud. Open the app and add your first book. That's the whole sign-up. Excerpta is made by one person and one corgi. Your next favorite quote is waiting to be remembered. EXCERPTA UNBOUND Excerpta Unbound opens up everything above. Try it free for 7 days with the yearly plan, go monthly, or pay once and keep it for good. If your plan ends, your library stays readable and export stays free. Payment is charged to your Apple Account when you confirm the purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel your subscription in your Apple Account settings. Any unused part of a free trial ends when you buy a subscription. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://excerpta.ink/privacy
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Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Clarify at none against Excerpta's 3. Clarify also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.2). Excerpta's advantage is update cadence (every 6 days vs monthly). On price, ads 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
Both are free to download. Excerpta sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Clarify asks for nothing beyond the download.
Clarify ships an update monthly, Excerpta every 6 days. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.
| Parameter | Clarify | Excerpta |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 3.5 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 66.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 2 — better |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 6 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 26.2 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 37 MB | 65 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | 1553050 B.C. LTD. | Trevor Tarakjian |
In-app purchases
Clarify
No in-app purchases
Excerpta
- Excerpta Unbound Monthly$1.991 Month
- Excerpta Unbound Yearly7 Days trial$14.991 Year
- Excerpta Unbound Forever$49.99









