Comparison

Spine vs Shelfd

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

Shelfd

Organize your reading life with a charming book tracker. Log what you're reading, discover your next book with a spin of a wheel, and visualize your reading habits with personalized stats and achievements. Enjoy a cozy, ad-free experience with optional premium features for advanced tracking.

Highlights
  • Track current, finished, and to-be-read books
  • Spin a wheel to pick your next read
  • Organize books by genre with custom colors
  • Set reading goals and view yearly stats
  • Earn achievements narrated by an Archivist
  • Import libraries from other apps (CSV)
  • Backup and restore your library
Features
Read full description

A warm, unhurried home for your reading life. Shelfd keeps a quiet record of everything you've read and everything still waiting — without turning your hobby into a job. No leaderboards. No guilt for the week you didn't finish anything. HOWEVER YOU READ IT Paper, ebook, or audiobook — track them side by side on the same shelf. Audiobooks count down in hours and minutes remaining, the way your listening app shows them, so there's no maths to do when you log your progress. YOUR SHELF, ACTUALLY SHELVED Finished books stand as real spines, coloured from their own covers. Browse them as a shelf or a list, and build your own collections for classics, comfort rereads, or whatever you're hoarding this month. SPIN THE WHEEL Too many books, not enough decisions. Load up your TBR, give it a spin, and let fate choose your next read. A GOAL WORTH HITTING Set a books-per-year target and watch the arrow move toward the bullseye. Miss it and nothing bad happens. Hit it and something rather nice does. THE SHAPE OF YOUR TASTE See which genres you actually gravitate to, how you read — paper, screen, or headphones — and the quiet trends across your year. ACHIEVEMENTS, STAMPED Every finished book earns a mark from the Archivist, who keeps your records in impeccable order and is quietly more invested than he lets on. BRING YOUR LIBRARY Coming from Goodreads or StoryGraph? Import your whole history from a single file and pick up where you left off. Back up your shelf whenever you like — your library is yours, and it stays on your device. SCAN AND GO Point the camera at a barcode and the book is on your shelf, page count and cover included. SHELFD PREMIUM Read up to three books at once, unlock the Ratings Card with half-stars and emoji vibes for how a book actually felt, get the deeper genre breakdown, and build unlimited shelves and lists. "Keep reading. That's all I ask." — The Archivist SHELFD PREMIUM — SUBSCRIPTION TERMS Shelfd Premium is available as a monthly or annual auto-renewing subscription, or as a one-time Founders Group purchase. A 7-day free trial is included with the subscription. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours of the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel your subscription in your Apple Account settings after purchase. Any unused portion of a free trial is forfeited when you purchase a subscription. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://joinshelfd.com/privacy.html

Screenshots

Spine4 screens
Shelfd4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Spine at 100% against Shelfd's 50%. Spine also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.0) and in-app purchases (none vs 3). Shelfd's advantage is update cadence (daily vs weekly). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Shelfd sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Spine asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Spine holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Spine has 81 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Spine's written reviews are positive against 50% of Shelfd's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Spine ships an update weekly, Shelfd daily. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Spine versus Shelfd: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSpineShelfd
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (81 ratings) — better4.0 (4 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings81 — better4
Update frequencyWeeklyDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhoneiPhone
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.2
Further details — not scored
Size32 MB16 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTanner FlakeZachary Selburg

Customer experience

Spine

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

Shelfd

All ratings4 ratings
Positive75.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative25.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

In-app purchases

None

Spine

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Shelfd

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Premium Annual7 Days trial$24.991 Year
One-time1
  • Shelfd Founders Group$59.99

Questions

Is Spine free?
Spine is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Shelfd free?
Shelfd is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Spine or Shelfd?
Spine is rated higher. Spine averages 5.0 out of 5 from 81 ratings, while Shelfd averages 4.0 from 4 ratings.
Do Spine or Shelfd have ads?
Neither Spine nor Shelfd shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Spine or Shelfd?
Spine ships an update weekly, and Shelfd daily. Most recently, Spine was updated on October 24, 2026 and Shelfd on October 24, 2026.

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