Fan Reader vs Trace
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Fan Reader
This app offers a streamlined reading experience for web fiction, removing forum clutter to present stories in a clean, book-like format. It allows users to organize their favorite web serials, track reading progress, and search for new content across various platforms.
- Removes forum clutter for focused reading
- Organizes web fiction stories on a personal shelf
- Displays cover art, synopsis, and chapter lists
- Searchable story database
- Adjustable font size and themes
- Automatic progress saving
- Clean chapter navigation
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Fan Reader is a clean reading app for web fiction fans. If you read stories on SpaceBattles, Sufficient Velocity, Archive of Our Own, Royal Road, FanFiction.Net, or Wildbow's serials, Fan Reader strips away the forum clutter and gives you a focused, book-like reading experience. WHAT IT DOES - Unified library — Add stories from SB, SV, Royal Road, AO3, and FFN to one bookshelf - Beautiful reading — Dark, Light, and Eye Care themes with adjustable font, size, and line spacing - Smart search — Find stories across SB, SV, RR, and AO3 with one search, or browse AO3's full catalog with filters - Full FFN support — Paste any FanFiction.Net URL for a clean, ad-free reading experience on the platform's worst-designed mobile site - Chapter navigation — Quick chapter list, next/prev buttons, reading progress tracking - Paste any URL — Drop a story link from any supported platform and start reading instantly - Chapter preloading — Faster page turns on all platforms - No account required — Everything stored locally on your device Fan Reader doesn't store or cache story content on any server. Stories load directly from their original platforms through your device.
Trace
This app helps you track your fanfiction reading progress and organize your favorite stories. It allows you to save works, add notes, and categorize them for easy retrieval. Keep a private record of what you've read, loved, or dropped across supported archives.
- Track reading progress
- Organize fanfiction by status
- Add private notes and tags
- Search and filter by fandom
- Integrates with AO3 and FanFiction.net
- Create reading collections
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Don't settle for storing your fanfiction in open tabs, bookmarks, and your patchy memory. Trace is a private reading library for the fanfiction you read on AO3, FanFiction.net, and elsewhere. It remembers every story you save, the chapter you stopped on, and why you loved it or dropped it. REMEMBER EVERY FIC • Track Saved, Reading, Caught Up, Paused, Finished, and Dropped story status. • Keep chapter progress, ratings, private notes, and personal tags together. • Search by title, author, fandom, relationship, character, status, tag, and more. • Build private or shareable collections for favourites, recommendation lists, and reading projects. WORKS WHERE YOU READ The included Safari extension works on AO3 and FanFiction.net pages. Save stories in a tap, recognise works already in your library, see chapter progress, and change reading status without leaving the archive. FIND IT AGAIN Search and filter your complete library so that you never lose a fic you've read before. SAVE FILTERS Save common filter combinations you use on AO3 so that you can apply them again with a tap. ONE LIBRARY, EVERYWHERE Your library is available on iPhone, iPad, the web, Chrome, Firefox, and Safari, so it stays with you wherever you have internet access. PRIVATE BY DEFAULT Trace does not ask for your AO3 or FanFiction.net password, does not store story text, and does not sell reader data. Your library is private unless you deliberately share a collection. WANT TO READ OFFLINE? Trace — Offline EPUB Reader is a separate free app for reading downloaded AO3 EPUBs on your device in a reader built for fanfiction. Connect both apps to a free Trace account and they share one library you can access anywhere. FREE TO START Trace is free for libraries of up to 100 stories. Trace Unlimited removes the limit for a cheap monthly or yearly subscription. Your local subscription price is shown before purchase. Trace is an unofficial companion and is not affiliated with Archive of Our Own, the Organization for Transformative Works, FanFiction.net, or FictionPress. The extension is source-available: https://github.com/tracefiction/trace-browser-extension End User License Agreement (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
Fan Reader and Trace both sit at 4.2 stars, but that hides the real split: 80% of Fan Reader's written reviews are positive against 0% of Trace's. Fan Reader also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 2). Trace's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 3 weeks) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, rating, ratings volume and ads 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. Trace sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Fan Reader asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.2 for Fan Reader against 4.3 for Trace. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 5 and 3 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 80% of Fan Reader's written reviews are positive against 0% of Trace's.
Fan Reader ships an update every 3 weeks, Trace every 5 days. Both last shipped on October 11, 2026.
| Parameter | Fan Reader | Trace |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (5 ratings) | 4.3 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 80.0% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 5 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | 成文 郑 | ZACHARY SAMUEL LAMBERT |
Customer experience
Fan Reader
Trace
In-app purchases
Fan Reader
No in-app purchases
Trace
- Trace Unlimited Monthly$2.991 Month
- Trace Unlimited Yearly$24.991 Year






