Comparison

Bookstacks vs BookDeck

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

Head to head
About

Bookstacks

Features
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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.

About

BookDeck

Features
Read full description

BookDeck is a reading tracker for the books you've read, the ones you're reading, and the ones waiting for you. No social feed, no followers. It's built so that simply looking at your own shelf feels good. ■ Add a book with one search, or a quick scan ・Search by title, author or ISBN. The cover, publisher, release date and description fill themselves in ・Point the camera at the barcode on the back of a book and add it on the spot ・Tap + on a search result. Select several and add them all at once ・Duplicate checking, so the same book never lands twice ■ Your shelf ・Switch between a grid of covers and a list that shows more detail ・Filter by Want to read / To read / Reading / Finished ・Search across tags, authors, series, publishers — even the text of your memos ・Sort by date added, title, author, series or rating ・Group a series into one stack (volume one in front, with a count badge) ・Select several books and change their tags, series or status together ・Books you're reading show a progress bar under the cover ■ Inside a book ・Edit the title, author, publisher, status, rating, start and finish dates, series, tags and memos right there ・Mark one finished and a bookmark slips into the cover — a small moment worth having ・A five-star rating and a place for your thoughts ・As many memos as you like. Pin the passages you love and revisit them from Records. Dates are yours to change ・Photograph a page and lift the text straight into a memo (Live Text) ・Replace the cover with a photo of your own copy ・Links to Rakuten Books, Rakuten Kobo, Amazon and Kindle, for print and digital alike ■ Turn your shelf into one image ・Lay out just the covers and share or save the result ・No headers, no ads. Filter first and only those books line up ・Covers stay the same size no matter how many books you have (up to 1,000) ■ Records ・How many books you finished this year, with their covers ・Books per month, drawn as real books stacking up (finished / started / added) ・A reading calendar: covers appear on the day you finished them, and tapping a date brings that day back. It reads like a reading diary ・Books read this month, reading in numbers, your most read authors and most used tags ・All your pinned memos, collected in one place ■ How it looks ・28 theme colors (7 muted traditional shades, 7 solids, 14 gradients). The Home Screen icon can follow your choice ・Light, dark, or follow the system. Light mode uses a soft, papery background ・A Home Screen widget with this year's count and what you're reading, covers included ■ iCloud sync, and an easy move to a new device ・Your shelf, tags, series, memos and reading records sync automatically across the iPhones and iPads on your Apple Account ・Get a new device, sign in, and pick up exactly where you left off ・No extra charge. Settings shows the sync status and when it last ran ■ Your data stays yours ・No account to create. Records live on your device and in your own iCloud, nowhere else ・Back up books, tags, series, memos, cover photos and reading records to a single JSON file, and restore from it ・CSV export (Premium) opens in Excel or Numbers ■ Premium (optional) Every feature works on the free version. Premium removes the ads and unlocks CSV export. ・¥200 / month, ¥1,900 / year (with a 7-day free trial), or ¥6,800 once ・Subscriptions are charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase and renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the period ends. Manage or cancel them in your App Store account settings ■ About the book data Search and cover images come from the Rakuten Books API. Page counts come from the National Diet Library Search, openBD and Google Books. Terms of use: https://taka3267-collab.github.io/tkApps/libroa/terms.html Privacy policy: https://taka3267-collab.github.io/tkApps/libroa/privacy-policy.html

Screenshots

Bookstacks4 screens
BookDeck4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Bookstacks at none against BookDeck's 3. Bookstacks also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 2 weeks) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 18.0). 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. BookDeck sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Bookstacks asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Bookstacks ships an update daily, BookDeck every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 9, 2026 and November 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 3 level
Bookstacks versus BookDeck: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBookstacksBookDeck
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyDaily — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS16.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size25 MB39 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKenta TakeuchiTakahiro Kimura

In-app purchases

None

Bookstacks

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

BookDeck

Subscriptions2
  • プレミアム(月額)$0.991 Month
  • プレミアム(年額)7 Days trial$11.991 Year
One-time1
  • プレミアム(買い切り)$39.99

Questions

Is Bookstacks free?
Bookstacks is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is BookDeck free?
BookDeck is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Bookstacks or BookDeck have ads?
Both Bookstacks and BookDeck show ads.
Which is updated more often, Bookstacks or BookDeck?
Bookstacks ships an update daily, and BookDeck every 2 weeks. Most recently, Bookstacks was updated on November 9, 2026 and BookDeck on November 13, 2026.

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