KCLS vs Bookshop.org
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
KCLS
Manage your library account conveniently from your mobile device. Discover new books, place holds, renew borrowed items, and easily locate library branches and their hours.
- Discover and search library collection
- Place, manage, and cancel holds
- Renew borrowed items
- Rate and save titles
- Find library locations and hours
- Browse bestsellers and new arrivals
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Save time by managing your King County Library System (KCLS) account on your mobile device. The KCLS app makes it easy to discover and rate titles, place holds, renew items, and find library locations. Features: • Find items in our collection, using filters to zero-in on what you’re looking for • Browse bestsellers, new arrivals, and recent reader reviews • Check title availability and map locations where titles are available now • Place, suspend, activate, and cancel holds • Renew items • Rate and save titles to Shelves • Find library hours and get directions to the nearest location
Bookshop.org
Read your ebooks and discover new titles while supporting independent bookstores. All ebook purchases made through this platform directly benefit local bookshops, ensuring their continued success in the digital age.
- Read ebooks from your library
- Browse millions of ebooks
- Add titles to wishlist
- Support local bookstores with purchases
- Connect seamlessly with Bookshop
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Bookshop.org’s mission is simple: We help local, independent bookstores thrive by giving more than 80% of our profits back to our network of 3,000+ stores. In our app, you can read millions of ebooks - and every purchase supports an independent bookstore near you! In the Bookshop app you can: - Read your ebooks in our customizable ebook reader. - Browse millions of titles and discover your next favorite read in romance, thrillers, mystery, fiction, non-fiction, memoir, and more. - Organize your TBR into custom shelves. - Highlight in five different colors, and add notes to your highlighted passages. - Sort & filter highlights and notes by date created, book order, and more. - Save titles to your wishlist so you can read them later. - Shop knowing that over 80% of the profit goes directly to local, independent bookstores. We’re a Certified B Corp, and we’ve raised more than $50 million for independent bookstores nationwide since 2020. Download the Bookshop.org app to support bookstores, not billionaires.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Bookshop.org at 4.8 against KCLS's 3.8. Bookshop.org also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 3 months) and review sentiment (57% vs 28%). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Bookshop.org holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bookshop.org has 2.1K ratings behind it against 17, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 28% of KCLS's written reviews are positive against 57% of Bookshop.org's.
KCLS ships an update every 3 months, Bookshop.org every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | KCLS | Bookshop.org |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.8 (17 ratings) | 4.8 (2.1K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 27.5% of reviews | 56.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 17 | 2.1K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | — | #171 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 22 MB | 106 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | King County Library System | Bookshop, Inc. |
Customer experience
KCLS
Bookshop.org
User reviews
KCLS
From 17 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to log in
- 👍 Fun books to read
- 👍 Excellent app
- 👍 Helpful for all ages
- 👍 Convenient for managing holds
Room to improve
- 🐛 Unreliable app
- 🐛 Constant sign in issues
- 🐛 Failed sign in attempts count against user
- 🐛 Return book function doesn't work
- 🐛 Search bar coded too narrowly
Bookshop.org
From 2.1K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Wonderful app
- 👍 Great alternative to Amazon
- 👍 Supports local bookstores
- 👍 Clean and pleasing interface
- 👍 Solid app for a new release
Room to improve
- 🐛 Formatting issues (lack of italics, poor paragraph spacing, etc.)
- 🐛 Buggy page turning and navigation
- 🔧 Limited customization options (fonts, themes, brightness, etc.)
- 🔧 Missing essential features (highlighting, note-taking, search, etc.)
Bugs and requests
KCLS
Reported bugs
173 issues- Keeps logging out
- Constant sign in issues
- Failed sign in attempts count against user
- Return book function doesn't work
- Search bar coded too narrowly
Show 168 moreShow fewer
- No notifications for holds ready
- App times out
- Bookshelf features show blank
- Glitching frequently
- Kicks user out
- Won't accept card or passcode
- System errors after login prompts
- Search results blank
- Borrowing tab won't show books
- Opening a book doesn't work
- App crashes when viewing 'For Later' shelf
- App loads website in all views
- Navigation is a mess
- Wasted space
- Hard to find things
- App gets worse with each update
- Developers lack common sense
- Borrowing section takes long to load
- Borrowing section often blank
- App not reliable
- App didn't resize on iPad
- App remains small on iPad
- Confusing new UI
- Horrid update
- New version doesn't let you search by genre
- New version doesn't let you search by type of item
- App bounces user to multiple other apps
- Forces multiple sign-ins
- Doesn't work in the end
- Completely useless
- Confusing vocabulary
- Counterintuitive product
- Horrible new update
- App is slow
- Cumbersome new version
- Less visually attractive new version
- Missing 'On Order' filter
- Lacks website functionalities
- Awful new version
- Not visual
- Not user friendly
- Worst App ever
- Missing 'Just Ordered' option
- Useless to user
- Landing page shows holds, not borrowed
- Takes long to open Borrowing page
- Real drag to wait every time
- Easier to use browser version
- Black bars on top and bottom of iPhone X screen
- App is adequate at best
- App is unloved compared to website
- Design is outdated
- Keyboard and popup windows target non-Retina devices
- App forced into portrait on iPad
- Cannot be used in landscape on iPad
- Does not scale to iPad screen
- App is almost unusable due to instability
- Very buggy
- Features to refine searches not working
- 'Done' button doesn't work for refinements
- 'Done' or 'Cancel' button doesn't work for refinements
- 'Refine' feature stopped working
- 'DONE' button for refining results isn't working
- App looks horrible on an iPad
- App keeps crashing
- App closes within seconds of opening
- App tells user something's on hold when it's not
- Lag with dialogue boxes
- Invalid Patron Access error
- App had a bunch of issues initially
- App won't stay open
- Redirected to mobile website for holds
- Redirected to mobile website for ebooks
- Slow when placing a hold
- Slow when checking account
- Difficulties with logging in/out
- Difficulties with changing accounts
- Can't suggest authors
- Can't recommend other books in a series
- Doesn't mark books read through Overdrive app
- New version is confusing
- New version is slow
- New UI very difficult to use
- Cannot listen to audiobooks through Apple Music
- App gets worse with each update
- Developers lack common sense
- App times out
- Bookshelf features show blank
- Glitching frequently
- Kicks user out
- Won't accept card or passcode
- System errors after login prompts
- Search results blank
- Borrowing tab won't show books
- Opening a book doesn't work
- App crashes when viewing 'For Later' shelf
- App loads website in all views
- Navigation is a mess
- Wasted space
- Hard to find things
- App gets worse with each update
- Developers lack common sense
- Borrowing section takes long to load
- Borrowing section often blank
- App not reliable
- App didn't resize on iPad
- App remains small on iPad
- Confusing new UI
- Horrid update
- New version doesn't let you search by genre
- New version doesn't let you search by type of item
- App bounces user to multiple other apps
- Forces multiple sign-ins
- Doesn't work in the end
- Completely useless
- Confusing vocabulary
- Counterintuitive product
- Horrible new update
- App is slow
- Cumbersome new version
- Less visually attractive new version
- Missing 'On Order' filter
- Lacks website functionalities
- Awful new version
- Not visual
- Not user friendly
- Worst App ever
- Missing 'Just Ordered' option
- Useless to user
- Landing page shows holds, not borrowed
- Takes long to open Borrowing page
- Real drag to wait every time
- Easier to use browser version
- Black bars on top and bottom of iPhone X screen
- App is adequate at best
- App is unloved compared to website
- Design is outdated
- Keyboard and popup windows target non-Retina devices
- App forced into portrait on iPad
- Cannot be used in landscape on iPad
- Does not scale to iPad screen
- App is almost unusable due to instability
- Very buggy
- Features to refine searches not working
- 'Done' button doesn't work for refinements
- 'Done' or 'Cancel' button doesn't work for refinements
- 'Refine' feature stopped working
- 'DONE' button for refining results isn't working
- App looks horrible on an iPad
- App keeps crashing
- App closes within seconds of opening
- App tells user something's on hold when it's not
- Lag with dialogue boxes
- Invalid Patron Access error
- App had a bunch of issues initially
- App won't stay open
- Redirected to mobile website for holds
- Redirected to mobile website for ebooks
- Slow when placing a hold
- Slow when checking account
- Difficulties with logging in/out
- Difficulties with changing accounts
- Can't suggest authors
- Can't recommend other books in a series
- Doesn't mark books read through Overdrive app
- New version is confusing
- New version is slow
- New UI very difficult to use
Requested features
23 requests- Correct misspellings in search
- Allow less than exact search terms
- Auto-correction in search
- Word suggestion in search
- Dark mode option
Show 18 moreShow fewer
- Filter search by genre
- Filter search by subject
- See reviews and comments in app
- Limit search to specific word and exclude derivatives
- Predictive text feature in search
- Add library card to Apple Wallet
- Optimize for iPhone X screen
- Suggest authors, not just books
- Mark books as read through Overdrive app
- Push notifications for holds/due dates
- Account overview/summary screen
- Return 'On Order' filter
- Return 'Just Ordered' filter
- Dark mode
- Advanced search filters
- Improved search functionality
- Better iPad optimization
- Push notifications
Bookshop.org
Reported bugs
4 issues- Inability to remember last page read
- Scrolling issues and unexpected page skipping
- Formatting problems (stripped italics, weird paragraph spacing)
- Settings not persisting between app sessions
Requested features
7 requests- More font and theme options
- Ability to adjust line spacing, margins, and other formatting
- Implement highlighting, annotation, and note-taking features
- Add search functionality
- Improve page turning and navigation
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Provide better dark mode/night reading experience
- Sync reading progress across devices
In-app purchases
KCLS
No in-app purchases
Bookshop.org
No in-app purchases
