# Bookends vs Paperpile

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Paperpile at none against Bookends's 2. Paperpile also leads on iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.6). Bookends's advantage is rating (4.7 vs 4.5) and ratings volume (394 vs 129). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Bookends sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per year. Paperpile asks for nothing beyond the download.

Bookends holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 394 and 129 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 76% of Bookends's written reviews are positive against 72% of Paperpile's.

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on August 28, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Bookends | Paperpile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.7 (394 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bookends/id739087947/reviews)** | [4.5 (129 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/paperpile/id1187562736/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **394** | 129 |
| Positive reviews | **76.4% of reviews** | 71.6% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | Yes | **No** |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | **Free** |
| Size | 111 MB | 242 MB |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | **12.0** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Sonny Software, LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/417583547) | [Paperpile LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/1187562735) |

## What reviewers say

### Bookends

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bookends/id739087947)

Manage your research references and PDFs on your mobile device. Search online databases, import metadata, annotate PDFs, and organize your library. Offers basic functionality for free with optional one-time purchase and yearly subscription for advanced features like cloud sync and unlimited imports.

**Highlights:** Search online reference databases, Import metadata and PDFs, PDF annotation and markup, Barcode scanning for references, Cloud sync across devices, Share online libraries, Create multiple libraries

**Features:** Family Sharing, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (2)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Premium | $14.99 | per year |
| Standard | $14.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Seamless sync across devices
- 👍 Excellent PDF annotation tools
- 🔒 Reliable and stable
- 💡 Powerful reference management features
- 👍 Responsive and helpful developer support

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Sync issues with iCloud and PDF files
- 🔒 Subscription model for essential features
- 👎 Outdated and clunky user interface
- 🔒 Limited functionality on iOS without subscription

**Reported bugs**

- Incompatibility with iCloud Optimized Storage
- Unreliable sync between desktop and mobile versions
- Occasional data loss or corruption

**Requested features**

- Nested folders and tags for better organization
- Automatic PDF metadata extraction
- Improved search and filtering capabilities
- Seamless integration with third-party services


### Paperpile

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/paperpile/id1187562736)

Organize and manage your research papers effortlessly. Collect, read, and annotate PDFs from millions of academic journals. Beat paper chaos with a tidy digital library.

**Highlights:** Search millions of academic papers, Collect PDFs with one tap, Organize with folders and labels, Read and annotate PDFs, Highlight and add notes, Browser integration for saving

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Excellent reference library management
- 🔄 Seamless cross-device synchronization
- ✍️ Intuitive PDF annotation and highlighting
- 🎨 Clean and minimalist user interface
- 📱 Strong iPad and mobile integration

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Frequent crashes and instability
- ⏱️ Lack of updates for extended periods
- 📱 Mobile app significantly behind web version features
- 🔋 High battery drain on iPad
- 🌙 No dark mode support

**Reported bugs**

- App crashes frequently on iPad and iOS devices
- Highlighting disappears when revisiting papers
- Overlapping annotations delete together when removing one
- Sync failures requiring logout/login cycles
- Annotations not syncing between iPad and web versions

**Requested features**

- Dark mode implementation
- Edit citation metadata on mobile app
- Change PDF file functionality
- Save to downloads feature
- Dictionary/lookup function for reading


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Bookends free?

Bookends is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is Paperpile free?

Paperpile is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Which has better reviews, Bookends or Paperpile?

Bookends is rated higher. Bookends averages 4.7 out of 5 from 394 ratings, while Paperpile averages 4.5 from 129 ratings.

### Do Bookends or Paperpile have ads?

Neither Bookends nor Paperpile shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Bookends or Paperpile?

Bookends ships an update every 2 months, and Paperpile every 2 months. Most recently, Bookends was updated on August 28, 2026 and Paperpile on September 21, 2026.

---

*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*