Comparison

Ghostreader AI vs Close Reader

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

Head to head
About

Ghostreader AI

Features
Read full description

Ghostreader is the e-reader that reads with you. Bring books, papers, and articles into one private reading workspace, then ask questions, follow ideas, and return every answer to its source. READ WITH GHOST • Ask questions grounded in the text in front of you • Highlight a passage to explain it, define it, or ask a follow-up • Chat with one book, a selected set, or your whole library • Check cited source passages instead of taking an answer on faith • Listen with natural read-aloud while the page stays visible KEEP A PRIVATE READING MEMORY • Turn saved highlights, notes, and page-linked questions into inspectable ideas • See meaningful connections across books without turning reading progress into a public profile • Search what you kept and review a human-readable activity history BUILD IN BOOK STUDIO • Create cited comparisons, evidence tables, literature reviews, outlines, maps, briefs, and reading plans • Let Ghostreader find relevant passages automatically, or pin the exact passages you want • Revise artifacts without losing their source snapshot or version history READ WITH FRIENDS • Share one sourced page, note, or question with people you choose • Catch up through a finite Today table instead of an endless ranked feed • Read together in invite-only rooms with quiet, qualitative signals • Reply by branching from a passage in your own copy Friends is optional. Your library, private highlights, reading position, Reading Memory, and Studio work are not shared by default. You confirm the audience for every shared page. BRING YOUR OWN READING Import EPUB books, PDFs, Markdown files, research papers, and web articles. Switch supported originals between paged and continuous reading, and keep downloaded EPUB or PDF originals available for offline reading and search. AI explanations, sync, and newly generated work require a connection. Ghostreader includes a free Normie Reader plan with up to three new reading materials per month. Avid Reader is $6.99 per month and removes the monthly import limit. AI reading features are included on both plans. An account is required. Your library is private and is not used to train public AI models. Privacy Policy: https://ghostreader.ai/privacy Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Close Reader

Features
Read full description

Close Reader is an e-book reader for iPhone and iPad that helps you read any book, in a foreign language or in your own. Press and hold a word for a translation that fits the sentence, and save it to flashcards. Forgot where you left off? Get a recap of what you’ve read so far. Ask the AI who a character is, what a passage means or what lies behind an event, even where the book has no footnote. It knows the book only up to your page, so there are no spoilers. At a glance • Your own books: EPUB, FB2, MOBI, AZW3, PDF and TXT (DRM-free), from Files, Mail or a messenger, or from your OPDS library (Calibre, Kavita, Komga). No store, no sign-up. • Books in any language; translations into more than 40 languages; the app itself speaks 20. • Free to download and read. AI help is free for your first 7 days (1,500 energy, no account), then runs on a plan or energy you buy; Medium starts with a 7-day free trial. • iPhone and iPad, in sync if you sign in. • No ads. Your text isn’t stored or used to train AI models. Help right where you stumble • Hold a word: the translation fits this very sentence. Reading in your own language? You get a plain definition. • Drag the handles to take in a phrase, or translate the whole sentence or paragraph. • Select a name: “Who’s this?” reminds you who that character or place is, from the pages you’ve read, and where they first appeared. • “Explain” gives the background of a passage: history, allusions, idioms and old-fashioned phrasing. • Questions about real history or the author get answers from the web, with sources. No spoilers Every answer comes from what you’ve read, up to the last line on your screen. In “No spoilers” mode we don’t even tell the AI which book it is, so it can’t fill in the plot from memory. Rereading? Switch to “Whole book”. Talk the book over • Ask for a recap, who’s who, or why a character did what they did. “Detailed answer” goes deeper. • Ask where something happened: the answer lists the places, and a tap opens the book there. • Answers link to the passages they rely on. Keep several chats per book; your notes can come along. • Chapters you’ve read have recaps, and rings in the contents show how much of each you’ve read. Learn the words you meet • “Save word” keeps a word with its translation and the sentence where you met it. • Flashcards adapt to your memory, with a daily reminder. Vocabulary exports to CSV. Find your way, keep what matters • The slider is a map of the book: chapters, bookmarks, notes and the time left in the chapter. • Jump anywhere to look around: your reading place stays put, and one tap takes you back. • Search the book. Footnotes open over the page, pictures full screen. • Highlights, notes, quotes shared as pictures, saved AI answers, bookmarks and “I’m here”. Notes export to Markdown. Easy on the eyes Four themes, fonts, text size and line spacing; pages or scrolling; portrait or landscape, with a two-page spread on a wide screen. Energy and plans AI help runs on energy: translating a word costs 1, and bigger requests show their price first. Reading, notes and flashcards are always free. Every feature is on every plan: Light, Medium and Max give 15,000, 40,000 and 80,000 energy a month, enough for everyday help plus about 25, 70 or 150 detailed answers. Extra energy you buy never expires. Subscriptions Light, Medium and Max are auto-renewing subscriptions, billed monthly or yearly. Payment is charged to your Apple Account when you confirm the purchase. A subscription renews automatically unless you cancel it at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel it in Settings > your name > Subscriptions. Terms of Use: https://closereader.app/terms Privacy Policy: https://closereader.app/privacy

Screenshots

Ghostreader AI4 screens
Close Reader4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Ghostreader AI at none against Close Reader's shown. On price, update cadence, in-app purchases and device support 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. Ghostreader AI sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $6.99 per month and Close Reader sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Ghostreader AI ships an update every 10 days, Close Reader every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 5 level
Ghostreader AI versus Close Reader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGhostreader AIClose Reader
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 10 days — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.016.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size9 MB61 MB
Age rating4+9+
Developerlauren brendleIlia Ilinskii

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Ghostreader AI

Subscriptions1
  • Avid Reader$6.991 Month
8 purchases

Close Reader

Subscriptions6
  • Light – monthly$4.991 Month
  • Medium – monthly7 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Max – monthly$19.991 Month
Show 3 more
  • Light – yearly$39.991 Year
  • Medium – yearly7 Days trial$79.991 Year
  • Max – yearly$149.991 Year
One-time2
  • 10,000 energy$2.99
  • 30,000 energy$6.99

Questions

Is Ghostreader AI free?
Ghostreader AI is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Close Reader free?
Close Reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Ghostreader AI or Close Reader have ads?
Close Reader shows ads; Ghostreader AI does not.
Which is updated more often, Ghostreader AI or Close Reader?
Ghostreader AI ships an update every 10 days, and Close Reader every 3 weeks. Most recently, Ghostreader AI was updated on November 5, 2026 and Close Reader on November 10, 2026.

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