Glose vs LibraryThing
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Glose
This reading app enhances the experience with social features, allowing users to connect with others, share notes, and join online book clubs. Explore a vast ebookstore, read excerpts for free, and import your own EPUBs for offline access.
- Social reading and annotation sharing
- Access to 1 million ebooks
- Read up to 10% of any book for free
- Import your own EPUBs
- Offline reading capabilities
- Create and join online book clubs
- Generate and share quote cards
Read full descriptionHide full description
The next-generation READING APP that makes reading AWESOME with features to keep you engaged and motivated. Pick a book in our choice of 1 million, start reading any book for free, connect with other readers and share notes, highlights, and conversation - and become a better reader. Build your bookshelf in seconds : Create a free reader profile, organize your books, create lists. Browse our ebookstore : 1 million ebooks in all categories. Best sellers, fiction, non fiction, young adult, business, education etc... with great discounts and free classics. Start any book for free! One touch and you’re into any book for free. Read up to 10% of the content before deciding to pursue and purchase the book. Also, upload an import your own epubs from Dropbox, your desktop of anywhere else! Read anywhere, anytime, online and offline. Glose stores your current reads so you can read them offline, in the bus, subway, in the depths of a mysterious forest or a far away galaxy. Join the Community : see what other people are reading, recommending, highlighting, and annotating. Read with your friends! Create reading groups to read with your friends and share highlights and annotations. Shared annotations in the margins of the text make reading more engaging and exciting. Post a note and see what other readers think. Start an online book club! Create a group, pick a name and image, invite people and choose books : you’ve got your online book club read to go - around the world! Make reading beautiful : create beautiful quote cards from the books you read. Choose a sentence that inspires you, choose a background photo, and share the quote card on social media. More about Glose : Reading for better learning : our unique features makes your reading more conducive to text analysis, memorization, and study. Glose is used in leading schools and universities to power distribution of reading material and discussion around text. Our bookstore features the works of Malcolm Gladwell, Walter Isaacson, Stephen King, John Green, Paulo Coelho, James Patterson, E.L. James, Suzanne Collins, Danielle Steel, David Baldacci, Janet Evanovich, Nora Roberts, Dan Brown, Dean Koontz, John Grisham, George R.R Martin, and many more ! • Read popular FREE ebooks by classic authors : Moby Dick, Alice in Wonderland, Sherlock Holmes, The Art of War, by Sun Tzu, The Marvelous Land of Oz, Tales from Shakespeare, Romeo & Juliet, Pride & Prejudice and more. On Glose, reading becomes social. You can highlight your favorite quotes with one touch, archive them, share them on social networks, and annotate them. So join our community of readers who read, share, and discuss the books they love! Glose provides the most powerful reading experience online. • Customise your reading settings to personalise your experience : fonts, spacing, page structure, background color (might mode and more). • Always pick up your reading at the right page thanks to automatic synchronisation of your Reading activity on all devices. • Make new friends through books So what are you waiting for ? Don’t miss the inspiring conversations happening every day in Glose, and Download our app ! Connect with us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/GloseApp) Follow Glose on Twitter (https://twitter.com/Glose)
LibraryThing
Catalog your personal book, DVD, and CD collections. Easily add items by searching or scanning barcodes. Enhance your catalog with high-resolution cover photos and browse your collection visually.
- Catalog books, DVDs, and CDs
- Search for media items
- Scan ISBN barcodes
- Add high-resolution cover photos
- Browse collection by cover type
Read full descriptionHide full description
The LibraryThing app allows LibraryThing members to catalog and browse their collections. LibraryThing is focused on books, but you can add most media, including books, DVDs and CDs. LibraryThing relies on data from Amazon, and over 65 million library records. Add books by searching for them or scanning their ISBN barcode with the camera. Add high-resolution cover photos of your books with the cover editor and browse your books by cover type to find copies that need better covers.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Glose at 4.5 against LibraryThing's 3.5. Glose also leads on ratings volume (8K vs 278). LibraryThing's advantage is monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and review sentiment (47% vs 27%). On price, update cadence, 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Glose holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Glose has 8K ratings behind it against 278, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 27% of Glose's written reviews are positive against 47% of LibraryThing's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Glose ships an update every 3 weeks, LibraryThing every 4 weeks. Both last shipped on October 12, 2026.
| Parameter | Glose | LibraryThing |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (8K ratings) — better | 3.5 (278 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 26.7% of reviews | 47.2% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 8K — better | 278 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 4 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | — | #210 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 65 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Readwise, Inc | LibraryThing.com |
Customer experience
Glose
LibraryThing
User reviews
Glose
From 8K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Smooth reading experience
- 👍 Intuitive interface
- 💡 Social features for sharing highlights
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 🔒 Lack of offline access to downloaded books
- 👎 Difficult to navigate and find your place
- 💤 Sluggish performance
- 📚 Inability to export or transfer purchased books
LibraryThing
From 278 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Quick barcode scanning
- 👍 Useful for cataloging library
- 🚀 Fast book addition
Room to improve
- 🐛 Glitches and crashes
- 🔍 Limited search and editing capabilities
- 🤖 Outdated and dated UI
Bugs and requests
Glose
Reported bugs
4 issues- Pages skipping or jumping unexpectedly
- Highlighting and note-taking features not working as expected
- Audiobook playback issues like skipping and glitching
- Login and account management problems
Requested features
4 requests- Bookmark and annotation management
- Customizable reading settings
- Seamless sync across devices
- Improved search and organization of library
LibraryThing
Reported bugs
3 issues- Barcode scanner not working
- Books disappearing from catalog
- Editing and saving issues
Requested features
4 requests- Ability to create custom collections
- Offline access to library
- Integration with other book apps
- Lending/loan tracking feature
In-app purchases
Glose
No in-app purchases
LibraryThing
No in-app purchases









