EDUBOOKS vs RedShelf
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
EDUBOOKS
Find and purchase college textbooks at significant discounts. Buy, sell, rent, or trade books with other students on campus or through online sources. Save money and connect with peers who share your academic interests.
- Search textbooks by title, author, ISBN, or barcode
- Buy textbooks
- Sell textbooks
- Rent textbooks
- Trade textbooks
- Connect with students on campus
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Save 90% on textbooks! What can Edubooks do for you? • Easily search for textbooks by title, author, ISBN or by scanning a barcode • Buy or sell textbooks with other students on campus • Buy or rent textbooks and eTextbooks from our online sources • Sell your textbooks to students on campus or online for immediate money Buy, Sell, Rent & Trade textbooks all from the Edubooks app with other students on campus! On Edubooks you can save time, money and make new friends who share your major on campus!
RedShelf
Access and read your digital textbooks on any device. Highlight text, take notes, create flashcards, and have content read aloud. Your notes and highlights sync across all your devices.
- Access textbooks on any device
- Highlight text and take notes
- Create flashcards from content
- Define unfamiliar words
- Text-to-speech functionality
- Sync notes and highlights across devices
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The RedShelf eReader companion app provides access to read and engage with your textbooks located in your RedShelf account on the My Shelf page. Access your textbooks no matter where you go with a unified experience across mobile, tablet, and desktop devices. eReader Features: - Access textbooks on your device for seamless reading - Easily highlight text, take notes, and share with classmates - Create flashcards while reading to test your understanding of the content - Define unfamiliar words quickly and easily - Have text read aloud and select the voice and pace - Sync all of your notes and highlights to your account and across devices App Requirements: - Active RedShelf account - One or more books available in your RedShelf account
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: EDUBOOKS at 86% against RedShelf's 3%. EDUBOOKS also leads on iOS requirement (12.0 vs 16.0). RedShelf's advantage is ratings volume (7.1K vs 36) and rating (4.5 vs 4.2). 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.
RedShelf holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: RedShelf has 7.1K ratings behind it against 36, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 86% of EDUBOOKS's written reviews are positive against 3% of RedShelf's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
EDUBOOKS ships an update every 2 months, RedShelf every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | EDUBOOKS | RedShelf |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (36 ratings) | 4.5 (7.1K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 86.3% of reviews — better | 3.1% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 36 | 7.1K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 5 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 73 MB | 26 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | High Development Mobile Applications, INC | RedShelf |
Customer experience
EDUBOOKS
RedShelf
User reviews
EDUBOOKS
From 36 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💰 Saves students money
- 👍 User-friendly interface
- 🚀 Fast and efficient
- 💡 Innovative platform
- 💸 Earn money from old books
Room to improve
- 🐛 App crashes frequently
- 🐛 Buttons not working
- 🐛 Cannot log in
- 🐛 Cannot create account
- 🐛 App kicks users off
RedShelf
From 7.1K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Convenient to access textbooks in one place
- 🚀 Decent overall performance
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and glitches
- 💤 Slow loading and page turning
- 👎 Unreliable highlighting and note-taking features
- 🤖 Poor text-to-speech functionality
- 📵 Inability to access books offline
Bugs and requests
EDUBOOKS
Reported bugs
7 issues- App crashes on startup
- App crashes when pressing buttons
- Cannot log in
- Cannot create account
- Cannot input book information
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- Prices are not correct
- App blacks out when editing price
Requested features
3 requests- Shipping option for books
- Allow 'N/A' for ISBN
- Manually upload pictures
RedShelf
Reported bugs
3 issues- Books not loading or showing blank screens
- Highlighting issues (selecting wrong text, unable to edit)
- Sync issues between devices and web version
Requested features
4 requests- Improve highlighting and annotation tools
- Add support for split-screen mode
- Enhance text-to-speech capabilities
- Allow offline access to downloaded books
In-app purchases
EDUBOOKS
No in-app purchases
RedShelf
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is EDUBOOKS free?
Is RedShelf free?
Which has better reviews, EDUBOOKS or RedShelf?
Do EDUBOOKS or RedShelf have ads?
Which is updated more often, EDUBOOKS or RedShelf?
Other comparisons
