Comparison

MapleRead CE vs Readest

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Customizable EPUB reader
  • Pseudo audiobook generation
  • Immersion reading (sync audio/text)
  • Library management and organization
  • Cross-device sync
  • User-defined customization options
Read 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.]

About

Readest

This app is a powerful ebook reader designed for deep thinkers and researchers. It offers advanced annotation tools, seamless device syncing, and robust library management with OPDS and Calibre support. Enjoy a distraction-free reading experience with customizable modes and multi-book viewing for enhanced study and analysis.

Highlights
  • OPDS Online Libraries
  • Calibre Integration
  • Sync Across Devices
  • Bookshelf Management
  • Customizable Reading Modes
  • Multi-Book View
  • Advanced Annotations & Highlights
Features
Read full description

Readest is an ebook reader for people who read a lot, and who want their books, notes and reading position on whatever device is nearest. Open EPUB, PDF, MOBI, AZW3, FB2, CBZ, TXT and Markdown in one library. Pull books from OPDS catalogs or from your own Calibre server. Read, annotate, listen, translate. Made for iPhone and iPad • CarPlay, so you can keep listening on the road with playback controls on the dashboard • Download read-aloud voices per book and listen with no connection at all • Add books from Files, Mail or any share sheet, and read them in place instead of copying them into a second library • Open up to four books at once on iPad and arrange them how you like Reading • Paginated or scrolling, with custom fonts, themes, spacing and margins • Vertical text for CJK books • Contrast and refresh tuned for e-ink screens • Full-text search inside a book Your library • Browse, search and download from OPDS catalogs and public libraries • Connect to Calibre or Calibre-Web, covers and metadata included • Organize with bookshelf groups you can rename Notes • Highlights, bookmarks and structured notes • Copy a highlight together with a deep link back to the passage • Export your annotations Listening and languages • Text-to-speech with downloadable offline voices • Translate a sentence, a page, or an entire book • Wikipedia and dictionary lookup without leaving the page Sync • Readest Cloud, or bring your own: iCloud, Google Drive, OneDrive, WebDAV, S3 • KOReader sync keeps your progress in step with your e-reader • iPhone, iPad, Mac, all other platforms and the web Readest is open source. Support: support@readest.com Privacy Policy: https://readest.com/privacy-policy Terms of Service: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

MapleRead CE4 screens
Readest4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Readest at Free against MapleRead CE's $6.99. Readest also leads on ratings volume (185 vs 13) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 6 weeks). On rating, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Readest is free to download; MapleRead CE costs $6.99 up front. MapleRead CE sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and Readest sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for MapleRead CE against 4.5 for Readest. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Readest has 185 ratings behind it against 13, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 79% of MapleRead CE's written reviews are positive against 84% of Readest's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

MapleRead CE ships an update every 6 weeks, Readest fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
MapleRead CE versus Readest: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMapleRead CEReadest
Price$6.99Free — better
Rating4.5 (13 ratings)4.5 (185 ratings)
Positive reviews78.6% of reviews83.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings13185 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS15.0 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size26 MB57 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperMaplepop LLCBilingify LLC

Customer experience

MapleRead CE

All ratings13 ratings
Positive84.6%
Neutral7.7%
Negative7.7%
Written reviews14 reviews
Positive78.6%
Neutral14.3%
Negative7.1%

Readest

All ratings185 ratings
Positive86.5%
Neutral5.4%
Negative8.1%
Written reviews280 reviews
Positive83.9%
Neutral5.4%
Negative10.7%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

MapleRead CE

One-time3
  • Small Gratuity$0.99
  • Gratuity Level 2$1.99
  • Gratuity Level 5$4.99
9 purchases

Readest

Subscriptions4
  • Subscribe to Plus Plan$4.991 Month
  • Subscribe to Pro Plan$9.991 Month
  • Subscribe to Plus Plan$49.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Subscribe to Pro Plan$99.991 Year
One-time5
  • 1 GB$9.99
  • 2 GB$14.99
  • Full Customization$19.99
Show 2 more
  • 5 GB$29.99
  • 10 GB$49.99

Questions

Is MapleRead CE free?
MapleRead CE costs $6.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Readest free?
Readest is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, MapleRead CE or Readest?
MapleRead CE and Readest are both rated 4.5 out of 5 on the App Store, from 13 and 185 ratings respectively.
Do MapleRead CE or Readest have ads?
Neither MapleRead CE nor Readest shows ads.
Which is updated more often, MapleRead CE or Readest?
MapleRead CE ships an update every 6 weeks, and Readest fortnightly. Most recently, MapleRead CE was updated on October 8, 2026 and Readest on October 11, 2026.

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