Comparison

Lu Reader vs NovelCraft

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

Head to head
About

Lu Reader

This application offers a streamlined reading experience for various document and e-book formats, including EPUB and PDF. It features customizable reading settings, text-to-speech functionality, and smart library management. Users can back up their data to Google Drive.

Highlights
  • Supports EPUB, PDF, TXT, DOC, FB2, HWP, ZIP, CBZ
  • 11 customizable color themes
  • Adjustable font size, line spacing, and margins
  • In-app brightness control
  • Text-to-speech with adjustable speed
  • Automatic table of contents generation
  • Smart library with sorting and search
Features
Read full description

Lu Reader is a fast, clean, all-in-one reader for your documents and e-books - with no clutter and no sign-up required. SUPPORTED FORMATS - Text and e-books: TXT, EPUB, PDF, FB2, DOC, DOCX, HWP, HWPX - Archives containing text files: ZIP, CBZ COMFORTABLE READING - 11 color themes (cream, sepia, mint, black, navy and more) - Fine-tune font size, line spacing and margins - In-app brightness control for reading in the dark - Keep-screen-on, screen rotation and immersive full-screen mode VOICE READING (TTS) - Listen to any text with the current sentence highlighted - Adjustable speed from 0.6x to 2.0x - Choose from voices installed on your device - Sleep timer to stop automatically AUTOMATIC TABLE OF CONTENTS - Builds a chapter list even for plain TXT files - Detects multilingual chapter patterns - Jumps to and highlights the current chapter SMART LIBRARY - Add files from the Files app or the in-app file browser - Reading progress percentage and progress bar - Sort by name, date or progress, and search by filename - Bookmark your position; select a word for dictionary and translation - Auto-scroll and in-text search BACKUP & RESTORE - Safely back up your books, reading positions, bookmarks and settings to your own Google Drive - Restore everything on a new device Lu Reader keeps the focus on reading. Download it and enjoy your library, your way.

About

NovelCraft

Features
Read full description

NovelCraft is a private library and reader for long-form web novels. Add a work URL you are authorized to access, analyze its chapter list, and download text for continued reading offline. Key features â€ĸ Download chapters for an offline library â€ĸ Full-screen reading with horizontal pages, vertical pages, or continuous scrolling â€ĸ Adjust brightness, text size, text color, and background â€ĸ Clean chapter noise with rules, preview the result, and re-download saved chapters with updated rules â€ĸ Organize folders and edit covers, titles, authors, and publishers â€ĸ Export EPUB, PDF, and Markdown â€ĸ Import and manage book sources â€ĸ Optional private iCloud sync between iPhone, iPad, and Mac â€ĸ Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, and English interfaces that follow the system language â€ĸ Use your own AI provider and API key to assist webpage analysis and rule creation NovelCraft is only for content you are authorized to access. Please comply with source-site terms and copyright requirements.

Screenshots

Lu Reader4 screens
NovelCraft1 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: NovelCraft at none against Lu Reader's shown. NovelCraft also leads on update cadence (daily vs weekly). Lu Reader's advantage is iOS requirement (15.5 vs 17.0). On price, 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Lu Reader ships an update weekly, NovelCraft daily. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences ¡ 5 level
Lu Reader versus NovelCraft: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLu ReaderNovelCraft
PriceFreeFree
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Update frequencyWeeklyDaily — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationAd-supported—
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS15.5 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size95 MB10 MB
Age rating4+17+
Developersanghun jeongįžŽå‹‡ 周

In-app purchases

None

Lu Reader

No in-app purchases

None

NovelCraft

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Lu Reader free?
Lu Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is NovelCraft free?
NovelCraft is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Lu Reader or NovelCraft have ads?
Lu Reader shows ads; NovelCraft does not.
Which is updated more often, Lu Reader or NovelCraft?
Lu Reader ships an update weekly, and NovelCraft daily. Most recently, Lu Reader was updated on November 5, 2026 and NovelCraft on November 6, 2026.

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