Bookstacks vs Grow books
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Bookstacks
Read full descriptionHide full description
Bookstacks helps you build and manage your personal library — scan ISBN barcodes or type them in to instantly register books with titles, authors, and cover images. 【Features】 · Scan ISBN barcodes to auto-fill book details from OpenBD · Type in an ISBN to add books you don't have on hand · Enjoy a visual bookshelf with a grid of cover images · Organize books with preset labels: Read, Reading, To-Read, Want to Buy, and more · Create custom labels with your own names and colors · Filter by label or category; sort by date added or title 【Perfect for】 · Anyone who has ever bought the same book twice · Readers who want to tackle their to-read pile · People who like keeping their book lists tidy All data is stored locally on your device. No account required.
Grow books
This app helps you manage your personal library, tracking books read, to-read lists, and reading progress. Organize your collection visually, add notes and reviews, and view reading statistics. A premium plan offers advanced features for dedicated readers.
- Virtual bookshelf organization
- Book search and automatic data import
- Manual book registration
- Reading status management
- Notes and quotations logging
- Book reviews and ratings
- Reading statistics and monthly summaries
Read full descriptionHide full description
“I want to line up my books by their spines, just like on a real bookshelf!” grow books is a reading app that helps you build a reading space of your own. ■Our concept “A bookshelf in your pocket.” Books you’ve read, books you want to read, and books waiting to be read. Books you own and books you don’t, ebooks and printed books—there are so many. grow books lets you keep the books that won’t fit on your shelves in your pocket, helping you keep reading and enjoying it. ■What makes grow books special ・Arrange the books you add by their spines, just like on a real bookshelf. ・Take photos of your book spines and attach them to your books to make your shelf your own. ・There are no social networking features or rankings for interacting or comparing yourself with others. Keep your own reading records without worrying about what anyone else thinks. ■Main features ・A bookshelf view that looks like a real bookshelf ・Photograph and crop book spines, then arrange and organize them on your shelf ・View the books you’ve added and write notes even when you’re offline ・Search for and add books, with covers, titles, and other details filled in automatically ・Manually add books that don’t appear in search results ・Import data from other apps or your own CSV files ・Organize books by category and genre, and record whether they’re ebooks or printed books ・View a list of the books you’ve added ・Manage reading statuses such as “Want to read,” “Reading,” and “Finished” ・Save notes and quotes, including quotes shared from Kindle ・Write reviews and rate books on a 10-point scale ・View statistics about the books you’ve read ・View the books you’ve read this month and share the list with friends ・Save your top 10 favorite books for “#名刺代わりの小説10選” (“10 novels that define me”) and revisit past selections ・Keep the last book you opened visible at all times ・Switch fonts ■Our Premium plan concept Our concept is “Helping you keep reading and enjoying it for years to come.” Reading is enjoyable and rewarding, but there may be times when your motivation fades. We offer convenient features to help you maintain your enthusiasm for reading and keep picking up books. ■Premium benefits ・Keep records of rereads separately from your first reading. ・View monthly totals for pages read and money spent on books. ・Import up to 1,000 books at once from a CSV file. ■Recommended for ・People who have tried various reading tracker apps but haven’t found one that feels right ・People who want to keep enjoying reading ・People who have been managing their books in Notion and want to move to an app ・People who love reading ・People who respect books and always choose to buy them new ・Book lovers who love the books themselves ・People whose local bookstore has poor reception, making it difficult to look up books they want ・People who often read on the subway, on planes, or in other places without reception and want to write notes in the app as they read ■Ways to use grow books ・Jot down books you want to read and use them as a shopping list when you visit a bookstore ・Browse your unread books and decide what to read next ・Take notes on clues as you read a mystery and try to solve it yourself before the reveal ・Save your favorite passages and revisit them regularly for comfort ・Write notes in the app while reading on a plane ・Find books you’ve saved to your reading wish list when poor reception at a bookstore prevents you from looking them up online ■Important Notice Before using this app, please be sure to review the following Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. ・English Terms of Use: https://grow-books.tea-19.com/en/terms/ Privacy Policy: https://grow-books.tea-19.com/en/privacy/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Bookstacks at none against Grow books's 3. Bookstacks also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 5 days). Grow books's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On price, device support and iOS requirement 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. Grow books sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Bookstacks asks for nothing beyond the download.
Bookstacks ships an update daily, Grow books every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Bookstacks | Grow books |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Update frequency | Daily — better | Every 5 days |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 25 MB | 98 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Kenta Takeuchi | Aiju Kawase |
In-app purchases
Bookstacks
No in-app purchases
Grow books
- Monthly plan1 Month trial$4.991 Month
- 3 Months Plan1 Month trial$11.993 Months
- Annual Plan1 Month trial$49.991 Year








