Comparison

Cinder Reader vs Sutra

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

Head to head
About

Cinder Reader

A modern, ad-free app for reading ebooks, comics, manga, and PDFs. Organize your personal library, import files from various sources, and customize your reading experience with flexible tools and appearance settings.

Highlights
  • Read ebooks, comics, manga, and PDFs
  • Import and manage personal library
  • Connect to content sources
  • Customize reader appearance
  • Track reading progress
  • Create highlights and notes
  • Organize with folders and filters
Features
Read full description

Cinder is a modern, ad-free reading app for ebooks, comics, manga, PDFs, web novels, and more. Build a library that fits the way you read. Import your own files, connect your preferred catalogs and personal content sources, organize everything in one place, and enjoy a clean, customizable reading experience across multiple formats. Features Read ebooks, comics, manga, and PDFs in one app Import your own files and manage your personal library Add and browse compatible catalogs and personal content sources Customize fonts, themes, spacing, alignment, and reader appearance Track reading progress and pick up where you left off Create highlights and notes Organize books with folders, filters, and library tools Discover new titles with built-in discovery features Sync with your Hardcover account to track reading progress and discover new books Designed for phones, tablets, and larger screens Built for readers Cinder focuses on a polished, distraction-light reading experience with flexible library management and deep reader customization. Whether you’re reading novels, graphic novels, manga, or documents, Cinder gives you one place to keep everything organized. Privacy-first by design Your library and reading setup stay centered around your own content, your own sources, and your own reading workflow.

About

Sutra

Access your entire book collection from various sources in one beautiful app. Enjoy a customizable reading experience with synced progress, bookmarks, and highlights across devices. Organize your library with series info, search, and collections.

Highlights
  • Connect Kavita, Calibre, and OPDS servers
  • EPUB and PDF reading with page-curl effect
  • Rich typography and reading themes
  • iCloud sync for progress, bookmarks, and highlights
  • Offline downloads
  • Highlighting and search functionality
  • Series grouping and collections
Features
Read full description

Sutra is a warm, thoughtful home for every book and comic you love. Bring together your self-hosted library, your manga, your classic EPUBs, and those “just one more chapter” reads in one beautifully calm reader. Connect Kavita, Komga, or Calibre; explore any OPDS catalogue; or discover a new favourite from Project Gutenberg and Standard Ebooks. READ YOUR WAY • Enjoy EPUB, PDF, CBZ, MOBI, fixed-layout comics, and manga in one place • Move through comics panel by panel, or take in the whole page • Read right-to-left manga and beautiful iPad two-page spreads • Make the page yours with fonts, text size, spacing, themes, auto-scroll, page turns, and Sutra-only brightness control A LIBRARY THAT FEELS LIKE HOME • Browse dedicated Series and Collection views, with Favorites always close by • Sort by Recently Read, Title, Author, or Date Added while staying in a familiar cover grid • Let Sutra recover missing Calibre series details and keep your library beautifully organised • Pick up where you left off with dependable progress and finished-book sync for Kavita and Komga BUILT FOR SELF-HOSTERS • Connect Kavita, Komga, Calibre, Grimmory, or another OPDS server • Stream comic pages from Kavita and Komga when available, or download for offline reading • Keep your highlights and reading progress with you across your Apple devices Sutra is free to enjoy for EPUB and PDF reading, with no ads and no subscription. Unlock unlimited CBZ, MOBI, and Komga reading once, and keep it forever.

Screenshots

Cinder Reader4 screens
Sutra4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Cinder Reader at 5.0 against Sutra's 4.4. Cinder Reader also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 85%). Sutra's advantage is monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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. Cinder Reader sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Sutra sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Cinder Reader holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 14 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Cinder Reader's written reviews are positive against 85% of Sutra's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Cinder Reader ships an update every 3 weeks, Sutra weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Cinder Reader versus Sutra: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCinder ReaderSutra
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (8 ratings) — better4.4 (14 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better84.6% of reviews
Number of ratings814 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.4 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size73 MB39 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperJESSE LAMAR MARTINKoustav Dasgupta

Customer experience

Cinder Reader

All ratings8 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Sutra

All ratings14 ratings
Positive85.7%
Neutral7.1%
Negative7.1%
Written reviews13 reviews
Positive84.6%
Neutral0.0%
Negative15.4%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Cinder Reader

One-time1
  • Cinder Pro Lifetime$8.99
4 purchases

Sutra

One-time4
  • Small Tip$1.99
  • Medium Tip$2.99
  • Large Tip$4.99
Show 1 more
  • Sutra Pro$6.99

Questions

Is Cinder Reader free?
Cinder Reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Sutra free?
Sutra is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Cinder Reader or Sutra?
Cinder Reader is rated higher. Cinder Reader averages 5.0 out of 5 from 8 ratings, while Sutra averages 4.4 from 14 ratings.
Do Cinder Reader or Sutra have ads?
Neither Cinder Reader nor Sutra shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Cinder Reader or Sutra?
Cinder Reader ships an update every 3 weeks, and Sutra weekly. Most recently, Cinder Reader was updated on October 8, 2026 and Sutra on October 12, 2026.

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