Comparison

Nightstand vs Shelfd

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

Head to head
About

Nightstand

Organize your reading life by tracking books you want to read and those you've finished. Add books to your TBR, sort them, and move them to your finished shelf to record ratings and reviews. Easily share book recommendations with friends.

Highlights
  • Track 'To Be Read' (TBR) lists
  • Record ratings and reviews for finished books
  • Sort and search book shelves
  • Share book recommendations
  • Import and export book data
  • Create social media posts for books
Read full description

Nightstand is a simple app to help keep your reading life organized. With Nightstand, you can track what you want to read next and record the books you've finished, all in one place. TBR (To Be Read) With a few taps, you can add a book to your TBR. The app finds the book cover for you, so you will have a beautiful shelf of books to help choose your next read. Sort your TBR however you like, by genre, author, upcoming books, etc. You can search your TBR, share books with others, and send books over to your Finished shelf with a swipe or a tap of a button. CURRENTLY READING Find a book on your TBR and mark it has your current read. Set the format (audio, e-book, physical book) and move it over to your Finished shelf when you're done. FINISHED Once you’ve read a book on your TBR, move it to your Finished shelf and record a rating and review. Or search the Nightstand book database to add the books you read earlier this year. You can sort your finished view in a variety of ways: list, title, author, genre, rating, and by month. You can search your shelf or share your favorite books with friends. Never forget the title or author of a book you just read again! SHARE If you love a book and want to share it with a friend, you can send a text from Nightstand with the book recommendation and link to add it to their TBR. Or you can create a social post - with just a few taps, you will have a beautiful post with the book cover image, title, author, and your note or review of the book that you can post to Instagram or another platform. Create social posts of your monthly reads, goal progress and reading summary to date. IMPORT and EXPORT Import books into Nightstand from another book tracker. Export your books to CSV or PDF at any time. READING GOALS Set an annual reading goal and create custom goals by genre, format, or time period. Share your goal progress with a social post. Nightstand is simple and private. We don’t sell, store, or analyze your data. There are no friend connections to manage or other reviews to wade through. This is your reading life. Just for you. Terms of Service: https://nightstand-app.com/tos/ Privacy Policy: https://nightstand-app.com/privacypolicy/

About

Shelfd

Organize your reading life with a charming book tracker. Log what you're reading, discover your next book with a spin of a wheel, and visualize your reading habits with personalized stats and achievements. Enjoy a cozy, ad-free experience with optional premium features for advanced tracking.

Highlights
  • Track current, finished, and to-be-read books
  • Spin a wheel to pick your next read
  • Organize books by genre with custom colors
  • Set reading goals and view yearly stats
  • Earn achievements narrated by an Archivist
  • Import libraries from other apps (CSV)
  • Backup and restore your library
Features
Read full description

A warm, unhurried home for your reading life. Shelfd keeps a quiet record of everything you've read and everything still waiting — without turning your hobby into a job. No leaderboards. No guilt for the week you didn't finish anything. HOWEVER YOU READ IT Paper, ebook, or audiobook — track them side by side on the same shelf. Audiobooks count down in hours and minutes remaining, the way your listening app shows them, so there's no maths to do when you log your progress. YOUR SHELF, ACTUALLY SHELVED Finished books stand as real spines, coloured from their own covers. Browse them as a shelf or a list, and build your own collections for classics, comfort rereads, or whatever you're hoarding this month. SPIN THE WHEEL Too many books, not enough decisions. Load up your TBR, give it a spin, and let fate choose your next read. A GOAL WORTH HITTING Set a books-per-year target and watch the arrow move toward the bullseye. Miss it and nothing bad happens. Hit it and something rather nice does. THE SHAPE OF YOUR TASTE See which genres you actually gravitate to, how you read — paper, screen, or headphones — and the quiet trends across your year. ACHIEVEMENTS, STAMPED Every finished book earns a mark from the Archivist, who keeps your records in impeccable order and is quietly more invested than he lets on. BRING YOUR LIBRARY Coming from Goodreads or StoryGraph? Import your whole history from a single file and pick up where you left off. Back up your shelf whenever you like — your library is yours, and it stays on your device. SCAN AND GO Point the camera at a barcode and the book is on your shelf, page count and cover included. SHELFD PREMIUM Read up to three books at once, unlock the Ratings Card with half-stars and emoji vibes for how a book actually felt, get the deeper genre breakdown, and build unlimited shelves and lists. "Keep reading. That's all I ask." — The Archivist SHELFD PREMIUM — SUBSCRIPTION TERMS Shelfd Premium is available as a monthly or annual auto-renewing subscription, or as a one-time Founders Group purchase. A 7-day free trial is included with the subscription. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours of the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel your subscription in your Apple Account settings after purchase. Any unused portion of a free trial is forfeited when you purchase a subscription. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://joinshelfd.com/privacy.html

Screenshots

Nightstand4 screens
Shelfd4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Nightstand at 100% against Shelfd's 50%. Nightstand also leads on rating (4.9 vs 4.0). Shelfd's advantage is update cadence (daily vs every 2 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. Nightstand sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Shelfd sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Nightstand holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 10 and 4 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Nightstand's written reviews are positive against 50% of Shelfd's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Nightstand ships an update every 2 weeks, Shelfd daily. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Nightstand versus Shelfd: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNightstandShelfd
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (10 ratings) — better4.0 (4 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings10 — better4
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS26.426.2 — better
Further details — not scored
Size14 MB16 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperOctopus Kids Co. LLCZachary Selburg

Customer experience

Nightstand

All ratings7 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Shelfd

All ratings4 ratings
Positive75.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative25.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Nightstand

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly7 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • Yearly7 Days trial$12.991 Year
3 purchases

Shelfd

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Premium Annual7 Days trial$24.991 Year
One-time1
  • Shelfd Founders Group$59.99

Questions

Is Nightstand free?
Nightstand is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Shelfd free?
Shelfd is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Nightstand or Shelfd?
Nightstand is rated higher. Nightstand averages 4.9 out of 5 from 10 ratings, while Shelfd averages 4.0 from 4 ratings.
Do Nightstand or Shelfd have ads?
Neither Nightstand nor Shelfd shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Nightstand or Shelfd?
Nightstand ships an update every 2 weeks, and Shelfd daily. Most recently, Nightstand was updated on October 24, 2026 and Shelfd on October 24, 2026.

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