MapleRead CE vs epuBear Reader
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
MapleRead CE
This app offers an immersive EPUB reading experience with customizable audio-visual features. It allows users to personalize book styles, generate audiobooks, and sync progress across devices. It also functions as a powerful library management tool for organizing and accessing your book collection.
- Customizable EPUB reader
- Pseudo audiobook generation
- Immersion reading (sync audio/text)
- Library management and organization
- Cross-device sync
- User-defined customization options
Read full descriptionHide full description
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. [For more technical details, screenshots, FAQ and reviews, please visit our website.]
epuBear Reader
This application is a dedicated reader for EPUB format books, offering a seamless and ad-free experience. It provides essential reading features like navigation, font customization, and bookmarking, along with advanced options such as text search and highlighting.
- EPUB 2 and EPUB3 compatibility
- Chapter and page navigation
- Night mode
- Adjustable font size
- Text search
- Bookmarks and highlights
- Text-to-speech
Read full descriptionHide full description
Our epuBear Reader acts as a standalone reader for EPUB format books with no ads and no limitations and the solution is based on epuBear SDK developed by Scand. Core Functionality: - Reading EPUB format files; - Performance indicators display; epuBear Reader Features: - Compatibility with EPUB 2 and EPUB3 format; - Navigation through pages; - Navigation through chapters; - Night mode; - Font size change; - Embedded links support; - Text search; - Text and background color change; - Bookmarks; - Text-to-speach; - Text notes and highlights; - Ad-free; - Fast and smooth; - Clear and simple interface; - Customer support.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: epuBear Reader at Free against MapleRead CE's $6.99. epuBear Reader also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). MapleRead CE's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 7 months) and rating (4.4 vs 4.2). On review sentiment, ratings volume, 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
epuBear Reader is free to download; MapleRead CE costs $6.99 up front. MapleRead CE sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. epuBear Reader asks for nothing beyond the download.
MapleRead CE holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 12 and 6 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 79% of MapleRead CE's written reviews are positive against 83% of epuBear Reader's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
MapleRead CE ships an update every 2 months, epuBear Reader every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | MapleRead CE | epuBear Reader |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $6.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.4 (12 ratings) — better | 4.2 (6 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 78.6% of reviews | 83.3% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 12 — better | 6 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 7 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #46 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 26 MB | 39 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Maplepop LLC | SCAND LLC |
Customer experience
MapleRead CE
epuBear Reader
In-app purchases
MapleRead CE
- Small Gratuity$0.99
- Gratuity Level 2$1.99
- Gratuity Level 5$4.99
epuBear Reader
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is MapleRead CE free?
Is epuBear Reader free?
Which has better reviews, MapleRead CE or epuBear Reader?
Do MapleRead CE or epuBear Reader have ads?
Which is updated more often, MapleRead CE or epuBear Reader?
Other comparisons















