Vesper vs BeyondRead
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Vesper
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A calm, focused place to read your own EPUB and PDF books and keep a private journal of everything you read. Load your library, open a book, and the reader gets out of the way. Tap once to hide every chrome element so it's just you and the page. Highlights you save show up in a Quote of the Day widget on your Home Screen, so the lines that mattered come back to find you later. A reading buddy lives inside the book. Tap the chat button on any page and ask about what you're looking at — a phrase, a character, the historical moment, your own half-formed thought. A short answer appears beside the page. Useful for catching a reference, asking a question, working through a passage out loud, or when a scene just wants to be talked about. The journal half of the app tracks what you're reading, what you've finished, and what's still waiting. Build custom views with filters and sorts — Currently Reading, Finished This Year, By Genre, by anything you care about. Tag books with genres and subgenres, add notes, set reading status. It's a bookshelf you actually use. Features: • Read EPUB and PDF files from your library, iCloud Drive, Files, or anywhere on your device • Ask AI about the page you're on, without leaving the book • Save highlights and revisit them via the Home Screen widget • Track reading status, finish dates, genres, and notes per book • Build custom filtered views of your library • Multiple typefaces, adjustable size, and full theme control • Automatic Day/Night theme that follows local sunset • Private iCloud sync across iPhone and iPad — your data, your account • Designed for both phone and iPad Bring your own EPUBs and PDFs. Read at your pace. Keep the record. Terms of service: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
BeyondRead
This app is an EPUB and PDF reader that includes a library of over 20,000 public-domain classics. It offers AI-powered features to explain, translate, or discuss any sentence within a book, and can generate concise AI Digests of entire books. All reading data is stored locally for enhanced privacy.
- AI sentence explanation, translation, and chat
- AI book digests
- Library of 20,000+ public-domain classics
- EPUB, PDF, and MOBI support
- Local-first data storage
- Customizable reading experience
- Quote card creation and sharing
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BeyondRead is a local-first ebook reader for your own EPUB, PDF and MOBI files, now with a built-in library of more than 20,000 public-domain classics. Select any sentence and ask AI to explain it, translate it, or keep the conversation going in the context of the book. AI Digest turns a whole book into an article you can read in a few minutes. BROWSE (NEW) • More than 20,000 public-domain classics in over 40 languages, free to download and keep • Shelves of great books, browsing by language and genre, and a "Surprise me" pick • Search by title, author or subject, with several words in any order READ • EPUB, PDF and MOBI (MOBI is converted to EPUB on import), on iPhone and iPad • Full-page bookmarks with notes; every book reopens where you left off • Quote cards in three styles: save them to Photos or share them • In-book search, table of contents, adjustable font size and background • Reading, bookmarks, quotes and search need no account ASK AI ABOUT ANY SENTENCE • Translate, Explain and Chat, with as many follow-up questions as you like • Only the passage you select and about 300 characters around it are sent, never the whole book • Translation, explanation and chat on the same passage merge into one highlight you can reopen AI DIGEST • Built from the title, the author, the real table of contents extracted on your device, and roughly the first 200 characters of each chapter • The full text is never uploaded; scanned PDFs and DRM-protected books cannot be digested • You are notified when a digest is ready PRIVACY • Books, bookmarks, quotes, reading positions and AI history live only on your device; our server stores no book content • AI can be switched off entirely, and then nothing leaves the device PLANS • Reading is free, and so is the public-domain library • AI features require signing in (Sign in with Apple) • AI translation is free and does not use your allowance (a fair-use monthly limit applies) • Free plan: 10 AI chats every month, plus 3 AI Digests to keep • Subscriptions raise your monthly chat and digest allowance. They renew automatically, are charged to your Apple ID and can be cancelled at any time in Settings; prices are shown in the app • AI Top-Up packs (new): buy chats and digests without subscribing. Credits never expire and are only used after your monthly allowance runs out LANGUAGES • Interface in English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, French, German and Russian • The AI reply language can be set separately Questions or suggestions? Use "Report a problem" in the app or visit the support page. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ BeyondRead Terms of Use: https://beyondread.app/terms Privacy Policy: https://beyondread.app/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
Vesper and BeyondRead are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.
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. Vesper sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and BeyondRead sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
| Parameter | Vesper | BeyondRead |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | — | Every 4 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.5 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 9+ |
| Developer | S Tan | 章 刘 |
In-app purchases
Vesper
- Vesper Premium Monthly$2.991 Month
- Vesper Premium Yearly$24.991 Year
- Book Library Lifetime$24.99
BeyondRead
- Plus Monthly$0.991 Month
- Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
- Max Monthly$8.991 Month
- AI Top-Up · Small$0.99
- AI Top-Up · Medium$2.99
- AI Top-Up · Large$4.99









