BookWorm vs Better Bookshelf
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
BookWorm
This app helps you build a consistent reading habit by tracking books, ebooks, and audiobooks. Set daily goals, maintain streaks, and organize your library. It offers gentle reminders and progress insights to encourage more reading.
- Daily reading goals (pages/minutes)
- Reading streak tracking
- Log print books, ebooks, and audiobooks
- Organize library (Reading, To Read, Finished)
- Reading timer
- Monthly progress recaps
- Shareable reading stats
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Turn "I should read more" into a daily habit. BookWorm is a calm, beautiful reading tracker for books, ebooks and audiobooks. Set a daily goal, build a streak and watch your reading grow. BUILD A READING HABIT • Set a daily goal in pages or minutes • Keep your streak alive and earn reading quests • See every reading day on your calendar • Gentle reminders, at the time you choose BOOKS AND AUDIOBOOKS, IN ONE PLACE • Log pages for print books and ebooks • Log listening time for audiobooks • Both count toward the same daily goal YOUR WHOLE LIBRARY • Organise your shelf: Reading, To Read and Finished • Import your existing library from a CSV file • Add notes to every book STAY FOCUSED • Start the reading timer with one tap • Pick up right where you left off from Home SEE YOUR PROGRESS • A Monthly Recap of every month you read • Books finished, pages read and hours listened • Your best streak and favourite genres SHARE WHAT YOU READ • Beautiful share cards for every finished book • Share your Monthly Recap in one tap BUILT FOR EVERY SCREEN • Optimised for iPhone Duo: your shelf and your book, side by side • iPhone and iPad, synced with iCloud • Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets • Four themes: Light, Dark, Retro and Marginalia • Available in 9 languages Made by an independent developer. If you love BookWorm, an optional tip helps keep it growing.
Better Bookshelf
Consolidate all your books from physical shelves, Kindle, and Audible into a single, private digital library. Easily add books by scanning barcodes, taking photos, or importing existing libraries. Revisit your favorite highlighted passages and track your reading progress.
- Scan barcodes or covers to add books
- Import Kindle and Audible libraries
- Consolidate books across multiple formats
- Save and revisit highlighted passages
- Track reading status and personal ratings
- Mark books as lent
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Scan an entire bookshelf. Find the book you want. Remember the book, but not where you put it? Take one clear photo of your bookshelf. Better Bookshelf uses AI to identify the books and save their positions. Add matched titles to your library, then search for a book and see it highlighted on your shelf photo. YOUR WHOLE SHELF, ONE PHOTO Build your book inventory without scanning every barcode. Photograph a bookshelf, add identified books together, and help with any uncertain matches. Search by title, scan a barcode, or link a book already in your library. KNOW WHERE YOUR BOOKS ARE Search your saved shelves by title or author. Tap a result to see the book's location, with a close-up and nearby identified books to guide you. You can also choose Find on shelf from a book in your library. KEEP UP WITH YOUR COLLECTION Give each shelf a name. When books move, take a new photo to update that shelf. Better Bookshelf checks your existing library for matches, helping you connect books you already own to their locations. YOUR READING LIFE, TOGETHER • Catalog physical books, ebooks and audiobooks. • Add individual books by barcode or title. • Import supported Kindle, Audible and Goodreads CSV files. • Track unread, reading and read books. • Keep a reading list and record ratings and reviews. • Back up your library to Google Drive. START WITH 50 BOOKS FREE Use barcode scanning or title search to catalog your first 50 books. Whole-shelf AI scanning is included with the paid Unlimited upgrade. UNLIMITED BOOKS. SIX WHOLE-SHELF AI SCANS. The one-time Unlimited purchase removes your library-size limit and includes six AI shelf scans. Already purchased Unlimited? Restore your purchase to link your included scans. The six included scans are granted once, not every month. Need more? Buy additional packs of six scans. Your local price is shown before purchase. One successfully processed shelf photo uses one scan credit, including a new photo used to update a shelf. Fixing matches, adding identified books and searching saved shelves use no scan credits. ABOUT SHELF SCANNING AI scanning requires internet access. Your selected photo is sent to OpenAI through Better Bookshelf for identification. Clear, well-lit photos with readable spines work best. Some books may need correction or manual identification. Shelf locations reflect your saved photo; update it when books move. Your saved library and shelf photos stay on your device, with optional Google Drive backup. Google Drive sign-in is not required to scan a shelf.
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Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: BookWorm at 100% against Better Bookshelf's 33%. BookWorm also leads on rating (4.8 vs 3.8). Better Bookshelf's advantage is monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and update cadence (every 4 days vs every 9 days). 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
Both are free to download. BookWorm sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and Better Bookshelf sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
BookWorm holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 6 and 6 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of BookWorm's written reviews are positive against 33% of Better Bookshelf's.
BookWorm ships an update every 9 days, Better Bookshelf every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | BookWorm | Better Bookshelf |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (6 ratings) — better | 3.8 (6 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 33.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 6 | 6 |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days | Every 4 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.2 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 27 MB | 42 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Adam Markocki | Matthew Smith |
Customer experience
BookWorm
Better Bookshelf
In-app purchases
BookWorm
- An espresso$2.99
- Coffee & croissant$4.99
- A week of coffee$9.99
Better Bookshelf
- Premium — Unlimited Library$9.99
- 6 Whole Shelf AI Scans$10.00
- Premium — Unlimited Library$29.99









