Anthologized vs SlowRead
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Anthologized
This app helps readers of short-form literature track, rate, and remember individual stories, poems, essays, and plays within their anthology collections. Easily add new books by scanning barcodes or searching, and organize your reading with custom lists and wishlists.
- Track individual stories, poems, essays, and plays
- Rate and write notes on literary works
- Mark reading status (read, want to read, abandoned)
- Add new books via barcode scan or search
- Organize reading with custom lists and wishlists
- Track magazines and journals
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Anthologized You've read hundreds of stories across dozens of anthologies. But ask yourself which book "The Lottery" was in, or which collection had that perfect essay about grief, and the answer is gone. Anthologized fixes that. Anthologized is the only app built for readers of short-form literature. Track, rate, and remember every story, poem, essay, and play inside your anthology collections — not just the books themselves. What you can do: Track every story inside every anthology you own. Rate them individually. Write notes on the ones that stayed with you. Mark what you've read, what you want to read, and what you abandoned halfway through. If we don't have the book or story you're reading it is easy to add new books by scanning the barcode or searching by title. Anthologized pulls in the cover, publication details, and lets you build out the table of contents at your own pace. Organize your reading with custom lists. Keep a wishlist for anthologies you want to pick up next. Track magazines and journals alongside your books. Built for anthology lovers: The Best American series. The Norton anthologies. Year's Best collections. Prize anthologies. Themed collections. These books don't fit neatly into apps built around novels — Anthologized was designed specifically for them. No more losing track of who wrote that story about the lighthouse. No more buying an anthology only to realize you've already read half of it elsewhere. No more forgetting that haunting tale from page 47. Your reading, your way: Keep your library private or share it publicly. Follow other readers and see what they're discovering. Earn badges as your collection grows. Anthologized is free to download.
SlowRead
This app helps you build a visually appealing digital bookshelf and encourages focused reading sessions by blocking distracting apps. Track your reading progress, organize your library, and create a personalized reading ritual.
- Customizable 2.5D digital bookshelf
- Distraction-blocking focus sessions
- Reading streak tracking
- TBR and library organization
- Effortless book addition (scan, search, photo)
- Import from Goodreads (CSV)
- Private, local-first library
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SlowRead is the book tracker with a bookshelf you will want to show off. Every book you read stands on your own shelf, with its real spine and cover. Keep your TBR, your reading journal and your reading log in one place, and share your bookshelf on BookTok and Instagram. YOUR BOOKSHELF • Every book stands on the shelf as a spine or as a cover. • Photograph your own copy to show its real spine, cover and sprayed edges, or use a photo another reader already shared. • Arrange your books by hand, lay them flat in piles and keep a series together. • Decorate with plants, candles, lights and more, and pick a theme for the wall and the wood. • Share a picture of your bookcase to your Stories on TikTok or Instagram. • Get a public profile at slowreadapp.com/@you with the bookcases you choose to show. BOOK CLUBS • Create a club or join one and read the same book together. • Talk in a channel for each part of the book, so nobody spoils what comes next. • Hide the parts of a message that are spoilers. • Vote on the club's next book. YOUR READING YEAR • Monthly and yearly wrap ups: cards to swipe through and share. • Your reader type, worked out from the books you finish. • A yearly reading challenge, and your year next to the last one. • Stats for pages, time and books, your reading speed and your top genres. • A reading streak, with past days you can fill in by hand. TRACKING WITHOUT EFFORT • Search millions of books or scan the barcode to add one in seconds. • Import your library from Goodreads, The StoryGraph, Bookmory, Fable or Libib. • Paperback, ebook and audiobook, even for the same book. • Track library loans with the due date and a reminder the day before. • Series grouped together, with your progress through each one. • Notes, quotes scanned from the page with your camera, and characters with a portrait and their relationships. • Half star ratings, rereads and did not finish. WIDGETS • Your bookshelf, what you are reading, your streak, your challenge and a daily quote on your Home Screen and Lock Screen. READING SESSIONS • Start a timed session from any book and log the page where you stop. • If you want, block the apps that distract you while you read, with Screen Time. All features described above require a subscription. A free trial is included, so you can try everything before paying. TERMS: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Anthologized at none against SlowRead's 4. Anthologized also leads on ads (none vs shown) and rating (5.0 vs 4.6). SlowRead's advantage is ratings volume (789 vs 2) and chart position (#27 vs unranked). On price 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. SlowRead sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $8.39 per 7 days. Anthologized asks for nothing beyond the download.
Anthologized holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SlowRead has 789 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
| Parameter | Anthologized | SlowRead |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better | 4.6 (789 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 25.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 789 — better |
| Update frequency | — | Every 3 days |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | — | #27 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 38 MB | 117 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Tim Peysar | Adrian Martinez Moreno |
In-app purchases
Anthologized
No in-app purchases
SlowRead
- Premium Weekly$8.397 Days
- Premium Annual Offer$32.991 Year
- Premium Annual3 Days trial$44.991 Year
- Lifetime access to Slowread$149.99








