MapleRead SE vs Calibre View
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
MapleRead SE
This app offers a unique audio-visual reading experience for EPUB and PDF files. It allows for extensive customization of book styles, instant audiobook generation, and immersive reading that syncs audio and text. It also functions as an effective library management tool with cross-device syncing.
- Audio-visual reading experience
- EPUB and PDF reader
- Pseudo audiobook generation
- Immersion reading (audio/text sync)
- Library management and organization
- Cross-device syncing
- User-defined customization
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MapleRead is dedicated to enable unique audio-visual reading experience for everyone. ------------ Our MapleRead app family has 3 members, namely SE, CE and CX. - SE is our flagship product with all features. - CE is SE without PDF reader and built-in Library Server. - CX is CE with some limitation. Free to try. - No recurring subscription fees. No ads. Just buy it once. Gratuity optional. - Moreover, SE and CE can be run side-by-side via split-view multitasking. - Recommend SE for use on multiple devices with easy and fast book sharing via Library Server. - Recommend the SE-CE bundle for the best value. ------------ MapleRead includes a superb audio-visual EPUB e-book reader. - It lets you easily modify publisher's original book style to better suit your aesthetic taste. - It lets you instantly generate pseudo audiobooks with a choice of narrator voices over 40 languages. - It enables immersion reading so that you may read and listen to the same book in sync. - Background listening works well too. Compatible with Lock Screen Music Player and CarPlay. MapleRead UI is friendly to users of all ages. - Books can be read in regular and large print. - A choice of UI text sizes makes reading in non-book views much more comfortable. MapleRead is a great learning tool. - It lets you look up words, translate sentences, search text, highlight text and write notes. - It helps you collect vocabulary and organize notes with various priorities. - It provides hooks to user-defined dictionaries, translators, and other tools. - Immersion reading improves your comprehension, especially of foreign-language books. MapleRead is an effective and fast library management tool. - It is designed for you, a book lover, who may own a huge and/or growing book collection. - It lets you keep all your books in one place and well-organized automatically. - It lets you display your books elegantly in style. - It lets you easily repair individual book metadata. - If supports multiple book sets and multiple tags. - It offers multiple ways to import and export books, and works well with Calibre. MapleRead supports secure sync across devices via MapleRead Cloud and iCloud. - It syncs reading positions, notes, vocab, bookmarks, and book set membership (but not the books). - It syncs reading positions additionally via iCloud for even better user experience. - It enables web access to synced data via web browsers from desktop and mobile devices. MapleRead offers unprecedented user-defined customization options. - They include unlimited user-defined fonts, book themes, cover images and library scenes. - Each book theme includes various types of user-defined highlight colors. - Each book can have its own theme, and each EPUB book can have its own style. MapleRead SE includes also a great PDF e-book reader. - The PDF reader looks very similar to the EPUB reader for a sense of unified UI. MapleRead SE has a zero-configuration Library Server for easy book sharing. - All books in Library can be shared. - Smart batch download makes transferring of multiple books very convenient. [For more technical details, screenshots, FAQ and reviews, please visit our website.]
Calibre View
Browse and manage your Calibre ebook library on iOS devices. Connect to cloud storage or local files for fast searching, sorting, and filtering. Optimized for large collections and works offline once downloaded.
- Connect to cloud storage (Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud, WebDAV)
- Browse library with metadata only
- Optimized for large libraries (15,000+ books)
- Customizable book list columns and sorting
- Fast search and filtering by tags, authors, series
- Download books locally for offline reading
- Supports multiple libraries and quick switching
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Calibre View lets you browse and manage your Calibre ebook library on iPhone and iPad using cloud storage or local files on your device. Connect your existing Calibre library and explore your entire collection with fast searching, flexible sorting, and powerful filtering, all in a clean, native iOS and iPadOS interface designed for libraries large and small. (Tested with a 15k book library!) Whether you want to quickly find a specific book or explore your collection by tags, authors, or series, Calibre View is built to stay responsive and organized, even with very large libraries. Key Features • Connect to Calibre libraries stored in Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, WebDAV, iCloud, or the Files app • Optionally upload only your metadata.db file to browse your library without downloading covers or books • Smooth performance with very large libraries, tested with collections of 15,000+ books (slightly longer load times for larger libraries, ~1 second per 1000 books) • Customize which columns appear in the book list, similar to Calibre’s desktop view • Sort by any Calibre column, including custom columns • Filter books instantly using tags, authors, series, and other metadata fields • View detailed book information and customize what appears on the book details screen • Tap a tag or author in detail view to immediately narrow results • Choose a column for Quick Filter to refine search results, authors, or tags • Covers are downloaded on demand only when viewing book details, saving bandwidth and storage • Fast, full-library search with instant results • Download books locally and share or open them in other reading apps in any available format • Support for multiple libraries, with quick switching between them, even across different cloud services • Optimized layouts for both iPhone and iPad, including optional horizontal scrolling for portrait phone use • Works fully offline once a library is downloaded (covers and book downloads require connectivity) • Supports both light mode and dark mode
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Calibre View at Free against MapleRead SE's $8.99. Calibre View also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.1) and in-app purchases (none vs 3). MapleRead SE's advantage is ratings volume (130 vs 4) and chart position (#107 vs unranked). On review sentiment, update cadence, ads 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
Calibre View is free to download; MapleRead SE costs $8.99 up front. MapleRead SE sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Calibre View asks for nothing beyond the download.
Calibre View holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: MapleRead SE has 130 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 68% of MapleRead SE's written reviews are positive against 67% of Calibre View's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
MapleRead SE ships an update every 2 months, Calibre View every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | MapleRead SE | Calibre View |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $8.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.1 (130 ratings) | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 68.5% of reviews — better | 66.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 130 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 6 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #107 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 26.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 30 MB | 38 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Maplepop LLC | DANIEL EDWARD LAMSON |
Customer experience
MapleRead SE
Calibre View
Bugs and requests
MapleRead SE
Reported bugs
3 issues- Freezing and crashing issues, especially on iOS 14
- Inconsistent behavior when switching between portrait and landscape modes
- Unreliable OPDS server integration and book downloads
Requested features
5 requests- Automatic reading progress sync across devices
- Improved PDF handling and annotation support
- Expanded highlighting and note-taking capabilities
- Streamlined library import and management
- Cleaner and more intuitive user interface
Calibre View
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
MapleRead SE
- Gratuity Level 1$0.99
- Gratuity Level 2$1.99
- Gratuity Level 5$4.99
Calibre View
No in-app purchases








