Comparison

Star Document Reader vs Readence

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

Head to head
About

Star Document Reader

Features
Read full description

Star Readers is a smart, modern reading tool for people who want to read documents, e-books and text files with clarity and comfort. Use AI features to summarize texts and understand them even faster. Whether you open PDF, EPUB, MOBI, TXT, CSV, Markdown, JSON or log files, Star Reader brings many useful formats into one clean app and keeps the focus where it belongs: on your content. It turns your mobile device into a versatile, elegant reader for everyday use, study, work and personal reading journeys. Highlights: - Elegant, minimal reader design - EPUB chapter view with navigation - MOBI reading with chapter and section navigation for DRM-free files - PDF viewer with annotations and image export - Share PDF annotations as images - Read text, Markdown, JSON and log files - View CSV files as a table or raw text - Favorites and recently opened files - Automatic reading position saving - Adjustable text size, line height and font style - Light, dark and system theme modes - English and German language options - File explorer for supported local files on your device Star Readers is built for longer reading sessions, with calm colors, clear typography and an interface that stays out of the way. Open local files, return to important documents faster and read e-books, notes, logs or tables in one app. Ideal for: - E-books and long-form reading - PDFs with visual annotations - Local document collections - Markdown notes - CSV files - JSON and log files - Focused reading by day or night Supported file extensions: .txt .csv .md .markdown .json .log .epub .pdf .mobi

About

Readence

Read full description

Readence turns reading into something you do every day โ€” not something you mean to get back to. Fifteen minutes is the default goal. Meet it and the day is done: the ember fills, the streak survives, and tomorrow asks the same small thing. No targets you have to beat, no reading speed to defend. Consistency is the whole game. A LIBRARY THAT IS ALREADY YOURS Hundreds of classics from Standard Ebooks and the Hungarian Electronic Library, cleared title by title and free to open the moment you sign in. Browse by genre, see how long a book will actually take you, and start reading in one tap. BRING YOUR OWN BOOKS Add EPUB, PDF, TXT, DOCX, RTF, HTML or Markdown from your phone or iCloud. The file itself never leaves your device โ€” we keep the title, the author and a fingerprint, never the text. TWO WAYS TO READ Read the page the ordinary way, or switch on RSVP: one word at a time at a fixed point on screen, so your eyes stop travelling and your attention has nowhere to wander. Set the pace yourself, from a gentle 150 words a minute upwards. Long words are given a little longer. It is a reading mode, not a party trick โ€” and you can leave it off entirely. A STREAK WORTH KEEPING Daily goals, streaks, XP and levels, and eighteen hand-drawn achievements that mark real things: a first week, a month, a finished book, fifty finished books. Two streak freezes so one bad day does not undo a month. FRIENDS, QUIETLY Add the people you actually know โ€” both sides have to agree, so this list only ever fills up on purpose. See who kept the flame lit today, share a book you finished, and let a friend's streak be the reason you open the app at eleven at night. Your shelf is private until you say otherwise โ€” twice: once for the whole shelf, once per book. FREE, AND HONEST ABOUT IT Everything above is free. Ads appear when a session ends, never before it starts, and never in the middle of a chapter. Readence Plus removes them. After a one-time setup, Readence works offline. Your position, your streak and your books are on your phone first and synced when there is a signal. --- Terms of Use (EULA): https://readence.hu/terms Privacy Policy: https://readence.hu/privacy

Screenshots

Star Document Reader4 screens
Readence4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Star Document Reader at none against Readence's 2. Star Document Reader also leads on ads (none vs shown) and device support (3 vs 1). On price and update cadence there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Readence sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Star Document Reader asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly daily. The most recent releases landed on September 30, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences ยท 2 level
Star Document Reader versus Readence: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStar Document ReaderReadence
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyDailyDaily
AdsNo โ€” betterYes
In-app purchasesNo โ€” betterYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod โ€” betteriPhone
Requires iOS13.0 โ€” better16.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size41 MB43 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperMarkus StadiLajos Gere

In-app purchases

None

Star Document Reader

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Readence

Subscriptions2
  • Readence Plus (Monthly)$2.991 Month
  • Readence Plus (Annual)7 Days trial$19.991 Year

Questions

Is Star Document Reader free?
Star Document Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Readence free?
Readence is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Star Document Reader or Readence have ads?
Readence shows ads; Star Document Reader does not.
Which is updated more often, Star Document Reader or Readence?
Star Document Reader ships an update daily, and Readence daily. Most recently, Star Document Reader was updated on September 30, 2026 and Readence on September 24, 2026.

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