Comparison

Spine vs Absorb

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

Head to head
About

Spine

Log your reading progress, create custom tier lists of your favorite books, and discover new titles. Connect with friends to see their reading habits and share recommendations.

Highlights
  • Track reading progress
  • Create book tier lists
  • Follow friends' reading
  • Personalized recommendations
  • Import Goodreads library
Features
Read full description

Track what you've read, what you're reading, and what you want to read next. Build tier lists of your favorites. Reach your reading goals. Follow your friends and see what they're reading, create a blend, share books that mattered, recommend books. [ READING LOG ] Mark books read, currently reading, or queued. Note when you started, when you finished, and what you thought. [ TIER LISTS ] S, A, B, C, D. Easily drag-and-drop your favorites into a tier list. [ FRIENDS ] See what your people have read. Let them know what you've read and what you think about it. [ DISCOVER ] Personalized recommendations based on what you’ve read, rated, and exactly what you're specifically looking for. [ IMPORT ] Easily bring your Goodreads library over. Mr. Bezos won't miss you.

About

Absorb

This app provides a streamlined mobile experience for listening to audiobooks and podcasts from your self-hosted media server. Enjoy features like offline playback, chapter navigation, and listening statistics. It's a free, open-source solution with no ads or data collection.

Highlights
  • Offline listening
  • Chapter navigation
  • Sleep timer
  • Playback speed control
  • Home screen widgets
  • Listening statistics
  • CarPlay support
Features
Read full description

Absorb is a free, open source audiobook and podcast player built for Audiobookshelf, a self-hosted media server for your personal book library. Connect to your own Audiobookshelf server and enjoy your audiobook collection with a clean, polished mobile experience built specifically for iOS. Features: Stream or download books for offline listening Full playback controls with chapter navigation, sleep timer, and playback speed Home screen widgets for quick playback controls Listening stats and streaks to track your progress Bookmarks with notes Series tracking and discovery Light and dark mode CarPlay support And much more!!! Absorb is built by a solo developer and is completely free with no ads, no subscriptions, and no data collection. Your library stays between you and your server. Requires a self-hosted Audiobookshelf server. Visit audiobookshelf.org to learn more.

Screenshots

Spine4 screens
Absorb4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Spine at weekly against Absorb's every 5 weeks. Absorb's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Spine against 4.9 for Absorb. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 82 and 164 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 100% of Spine's written reviews are positive against 97% of Absorb's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Spine ships an update weekly, Absorb every 5 weeks. Both last shipped on October 28, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Spine versus Absorb: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSpineAbsorb
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (82 ratings) — better4.9 (164 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better97.4% of reviews
Number of ratings82164 — better
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size32 MB65 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTanner FlakeNathan Poulson

Customer experience

Spine

All ratings75 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews16 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Absorb

All ratings157 ratings
Positive98.1%
Neutral1.3%
Negative0.6%
Written reviews39 reviews
Positive97.4%
Neutral2.6%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Spine

No in-app purchases

None

Absorb

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Spine free?
Spine is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Absorb free?
Absorb is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Spine or Absorb?
Spine is rated higher. Spine averages 5.0 out of 5 from 82 ratings, while Absorb averages 4.9 from 164 ratings.
Do Spine or Absorb have ads?
Neither Spine nor Absorb shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Spine or Absorb?
Spine ships an update weekly, and Absorb every 5 weeks. Most recently, Spine was updated on October 28, 2026 and Absorb on October 28, 2026.

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