# Bookends vs Citer

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Bookends at 76% against Citer's 0%. Bookends also leads on rating (4.7 vs 1.0) and ratings volume (400 vs 1). Citer's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Bookends sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per year and Citer sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Bookends holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bookends has 400 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 76% of Bookends's written reviews are positive against 0% of Citer's.

Bookends ships an update every 2 months, Citer every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 26, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Bookends | Citer |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.7 (400 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bookends/id739087947/reviews)** | [1.0 (1 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/citer-paper-format-and-citation/id6480121473/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **400** | 1 |
| Positive reviews | **76.4% of reviews** | 0.0% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | **Every 2 weeks** |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Size | 114 MB | 3 MB |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | **17.0** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | **iPhone, iPad, Mac** |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Sonny Software, LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/417583547) | [Betyl Pty Ltd](https://appshunter.io/developer/961419117) |

## 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


### Citer

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/citer-paper-format-and-citation/id6480121473)

Write academic papers in sections on the go, manage references, and auto-generate citations and reference lists. Supports APA and MLA formats, with PDF and RTF export options.

**Highlights:** Section-based paper writing, Online reference search and import, Auto-generated citations and reference lists, APA and MLA format support, PDF and RTF export, Reference library for sharing, Image insertion

**In-app purchases (2)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Monthly Subscription | $2.99 | per month |
| Yearly Subscription | $24.99 | per year |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Bookends free?

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

### Is Citer free?

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

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

Bookends is rated higher. Bookends averages 4.7 out of 5 from 400 ratings, while Citer averages 1.0 from 1 ratings.

### Do Bookends or Citer have ads?

Neither Bookends nor Citer shows ads.

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

Bookends ships an update every 2 months, and Citer every 2 weeks. Most recently, Bookends was updated on October 29, 2026 and Citer on October 26, 2026.

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