Absorb vs Klibri
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Absorb
This app provides a streamlined mobile experience for listening to audiobooks and podcasts from your self-hosted media server. Enjoy features like offline playback, chapter navigation, and listening statistics. It's a free, open-source solution with no ads or data collection.
- Offline listening
- Chapter navigation
- Sleep timer
- Playback speed control
- Home screen widgets
- Listening statistics
- CarPlay support
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Absorb is a free, open source audiobook and podcast player built for Audiobookshelf, a self-hosted media server for your personal book library. Connect to your own Audiobookshelf server and enjoy your audiobook collection with a clean, polished mobile experience built specifically for iOS. Features: Stream or download books for offline listening Full playback controls with chapter navigation, sleep timer, and playback speed Home screen widgets for quick playback controls Listening stats and streaks to track your progress Bookmarks with notes Series tracking and discovery Light and dark mode CarPlay support And much more!!! Absorb is built by a solo developer and is completely free with no ads, no subscriptions, and no data collection. Your library stays between you and your server. Requires a self-hosted Audiobookshelf server. Visit audiobookshelf.org to learn more.
Klibri
Access and read your personal digital library of comics, manga, and ebooks from your self-hosted server. Enjoy offline reading, customizable viewing options, and seamless progress syncing across devices.
- Reads manga, comics (CBZ, CBR), ebooks (EPUB), and PDFs
- Offline reading of downloaded content
- Syncs reading progress with Kavita server
- Customizable ebook reader with themes and fonts
- Supports multiple Kavita servers
- Webtoon continuous scroll mode
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Klibri is a reader for your own Kavita library. It connects to your self-hosted Kavita server and lets you read your whole collection of manga, comics and books — on your iPhone and iPad. Your library stays on your server. Klibri just reads it. Klibri needs a Kavita server you already run. It doesn't host or sell content of its own. READ EVERY FORMAT Manga and comics (CBZ, CBR), e-books (EPUB) and documents (PDF) — one app for your entire library. BUILT FOR COMICS AND MANGA Pinch to zoom, double-tap, swipe or tap the edges to turn pages. Read left-to-right or right-to-left. Read long strips in continuous webtoon mode. Adjust screen brightness without leaving the page. A REAL BOOK READER The EPUB reader gives you four themes (including a true-black mode for OLED), six fonts, and fine control over size, spacing and margins. Read in scrolling or paged mode, and search the full text of any book. READ OFFLINE Download chapters and read them anywhere — no connection needed. PDFs render fully offline. PICK UP WHERE YOU LEFT OFF Klibri syncs your reading progress with your Kavita server in real time. Move from iPhone to iPad, or to Kavita in a browser, and carry on at the exact page. Klibri won't overwrite progress you've made elsewhere. YOUR WHOLE LIBRARY Browse series, collections and reading lists. Search your entire library, even a large one. Mark chapters or whole series as read. ALL YOUR KAVITA SERVERS Add more than one Kavita server and switch between them in a tap. Each server keeps its own libraries and its own reading progress. Your logins sync across your Apple devices through iCloud Keychain, so you set up once. Free. In English and French. iPhone and iPad, iOS 16 and later.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Klibri at every 4 days against Absorb's monthly. Absorb's advantage is ratings volume (111 vs 5). On price, rating, review sentiment 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Absorb against 4.8 for Klibri. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Absorb has 111 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 97% of Absorb's written reviews are positive against 100% of Klibri's.
Absorb ships an update monthly, Klibri every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Absorb | Klibri |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (111 ratings) — better | 4.8 (5 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 97.1% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 111 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 4 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 72 MB | 5 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Nathan Poulson | Benjamin Chianese |
Customer experience
Absorb
Klibri
In-app purchases
Absorb
No in-app purchases
Klibri
No in-app purchases









