Comparison

Penny vs BookWorm

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

Head to head
About

Penny

This app helps you build a consistent reading habit by tracking your books, timing your reading sessions, and allowing you to take notes. It offers ambient soundscapes to enhance your reading atmosphere and provides detailed progress statistics. The app prioritizes user privacy and works offline.

Highlights
  • Build and organize your book library
  • Track reading sessions with a timer
  • Ambient soundscapes for atmosphere
  • Take notes and track characters
  • View detailed reading progress stats
  • Syncs with iCloud
  • Offline functionality
Read full description

Penny is a reading tracker for people who want a simple, private place for their books. There is no account to create, no ads and no social feed. Your library, your reading time and your notes stay on your iPhone and sync through your own iCloud. Penny 2.0 is the biggest update since launch, and nearly everything in it started as an email or a review from a reader. PICK YOUR PENNY • Four looks: Classic, Paper, Pond (with a dusk mode for reading at night) and Bloom • Each look has its own app icon, and your widgets change with it • Penny now speaks English, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. Choose the language in Settings TIME YOUR READING • Start the timer, read, then note the page you stopped on • A short recap after every session with your minutes, pages, streak and week • Your timer on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island • A daily reminder at your reading time, free for everyone A BOOKSHELF ON YOUR HOME SCREEN • The new Bookshelf widget lines up the books you finished, spine by spine, in the colors of their covers • Currently Reading and Reading Summary widgets keep your progress in sight • Every widget is free and dresses up for your look STANDING IN A BOOKSTORE? • Scan the barcode and Penny tells you if the book is already yours, in any edition • Put the books you want to buy on your Wishlist • Open the scanner straight from Control Center with the Scan a book control PREVIOUSLY ON… • Back to a book after a break? Penny shows the page you stopped on, your last note and the characters and terms you saved BUILD YOUR LIBRARY • Search millions of books from Google Books, Apple Books and Open Library, or scan the barcode • Bring your library over from Goodreads or StoryGraph with a CSV import • Shelves for To Read, Reading, Finished and DNF, plus shelves of your own • Half-star ratings, for the books that deserve a 3.5 • Finish a book and Penny throws you a small party KEEP WHAT YOU READ • Notes and quotes, a glossary for places and terms, and a character list for every book • Everything stays with its book, easy to find when you need it SEE YOUR PROGRESS • Reading streaks and a calendar with the cover of every book you read each day • Stats for books, pages and time, monthly trends, genres and your Year in Review SET THE MOOD • 19 ambient sounds, from rain on the window to a medieval tavern, and you can mix them PRIVATE BY DESIGN • No account, no email, no sign-up • No ads, no tracking, no analytics • Syncs between your iPhone and iPad through your private iCloud FREE AND PREMIUM Most of Penny is free: up to 40 books, the timer and session recaps, stats and streaks, the scanner and Bookstore mode, all four looks, every widget, the daily reminder, iCloud sync and 4 ambient sounds. Premium adds unlimited books, notes, terms and characters, Previously on…, the Wishlist, the Lock Screen timer after your first three sessions, all 19 sounds, custom shelves, CSV export and your full session history. Premium is a monthly or yearly subscription, or a one-time lifetime purchase. I made Penny because I wanted a simpler way to keep track of what I read, without accounts or social media. If there's something you'd love to see next, the Send Feedback button in Settings comes straight to me. Terms of Use: https://readwithpenny.online/terms Privacy Policy: https://readwithpenny.online/privacy

About

BookWorm

This app helps you build a consistent reading habit by tracking books, ebooks, and audiobooks. Set daily goals, maintain reading streaks, and visualize your progress with a unique calendar. It offers effortless book addition, customizable themes, and cross-device synchronization.

Highlights
  • Track books, ebooks, and audiobooks
  • Set and achieve daily reading goals
  • Maintain reading streaks
  • Visualize progress with a reading calendar
  • Add books via search or barcode scan
  • Customizable themes (Light, Dark, Retro)
  • Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets
  • iCloud sync across devices
Features
Read full description

Turn reading into a daily habit you can see. BookWorm tracks every book, ebook and audiobook, counts pages and listening time toward one daily goal, and keeps your streak alive. Every feature is free. BookWorm is a warm, hand built reading tracker for people who love books and want to actually finish them. No feed, no noise, no ads. Just your library, your progress, and a friendly bookworm cheering you on. WHY READERS FINISH MORE BOOKS • Track any format. Physical books and ebooks by page, audiobooks by hours and minutes. • One daily goal for all of it. Pages and listening time count toward the same target. • Reading streaks, so there is a reason to open a book today. • A calendar that fills in as you read, until your year tells a story. • Real stats: books finished, pages read, hours listened, days read, and your best streak ever. • Your most read genres and a format breakdown, so you learn how you actually read. EFFORTLESS BY DESIGN • Add a book in seconds. Search by title, or scan its barcode with your camera. • Covers, page counts and audiobook length estimates are filled in for you. • Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets show what you are reading at a glance. • iCloud sync keeps your library on every iPhone you own, in your own private iCloud. • Nine languages, switchable instantly with no restart. • Re-read a favourite and BookWorm keeps the earlier read in your history. • Finished a book months ago? Add it with its dates and your calendar fills in behind you. IT FEELS LIKE SOMETHING Saving your progress turns a page. Buttons click, switches flip, and finishing a book has a small celebration you can feel in your hand. And because so many readers here are listening rather than turning pages, BookWorm's sounds can never duck or interrupt your audiobook. Sound and haptics each have their own switch. MAKE IT YOURS Four looks, one tap apart. System follows your phone. Light is warm and creamy. Dark is easy on the eyes at night. And Retro dresses the whole app in a 70s sunset palette of teal, mustard and burnt orange, with chunky outlines and monospaced type. Add your own genres, set the goal that suits your week, and pick the look you like. YOURS, AND PRIVATE Your library lives on your device and in your own iCloud, where the developer cannot read it. There is no account, no sign up, no email address. BookWorm collects a small amount of pseudonymous usage data to fix problems and decide what to build next, never your book titles, your name, or what you type into search. FREE, WITH A TIP JAR IF YOU LIKE IT Every feature is free. No paywall, no locked screens, no subscription, no ads. If BookWorm earns its place on your Home Screen, an optional tip supports one independent developer. That is the whole business model. Start your next chapter today.

Screenshots

Penny4 screens
BookWorm4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: BookWorm at 6 against Penny's 2. On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence 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. Penny sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and BookWorm sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Penny holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 6 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Penny ships an update every 9 days, BookWorm weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Penny versus BookWorm: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPennyBookWorm
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better4.8 (6 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings26 — better
Update frequencyEvery 9 daysWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.017.2 — better
Further details — not scored
Size39 MB24 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperClaudiu Valentin SararuAdam Markocki

Customer experience

Penny

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

BookWorm

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Penny

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly$2.991 Month
  • Yearly$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime$29.99
5 purchases

BookWorm

Subscriptions2
  • BookWorm Pro – Monthly7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • BookWorm Pro – Annual7 Days trial$29.991 Year
One-time3
  • An espresso$2.99
  • Coffee & croissant$4.99
  • A week of coffee$9.99

Questions

Is Penny free?
Penny is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is BookWorm free?
BookWorm is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Penny or BookWorm?
Penny is rated higher. Penny averages 5.0 out of 5 from 2 ratings, while BookWorm averages 4.8 from 6 ratings.
Do Penny or BookWorm have ads?
Neither Penny nor BookWorm shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Penny or BookWorm?
Penny ships an update every 9 days, and BookWorm weekly. Most recently, Penny was updated on October 25, 2026 and BookWorm on October 24, 2026.

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