LibraryThing vs Bookshelf
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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
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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.
Bookshelf
Organize your book collection with virtual shelves and tags. Track reading progress, set goals, and manage your TBR list. Discover new books, share recommendations, and connect with friends' reading journeys.
- Virtual bookshelves and tags
- ISBN barcode scanner
- Reading progress tracking
- TBR wishlist management
- Social reading profiles
- Book statistics and insights
- OCR text scanning for quotes
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Organize book collection by creating virtual shelves and tags. Track your reading progress and set reading goals to stay motivated. Manage a wishlist of books that you want to read (TBR). Discover great new reads: rate, review and share book recommendations. Create your own social profile and allow friends to follow your reading journey. ORGANIZE YOUR BOOKS - Catalog books using fast and easy to use ISBN barcode scanner - Batch scanner option allows to rapidly scan multiple books at once - Books can be added using search functionality (title/author/ISBN) - Old and rare books can be added manually - Import books from a CSV file generated by other popular book apps - Import books from Goodreads CREATE SHELVES AND TAGS - Organize books by creating virtual bookshelves and tags - Use search functionality to quickly find books on your shelves - Sort your books by title, author, number of pages, publication date, etc. - Use filters to display books matching your criteria - Track your lent and borrowed books - Add information about your book purchases - Organize books by series and volumes - Create personal notes or add other useful information - Add quotes by simply scanning the text with our OCR reader - Multiple book selection; apply batch operations - Grid view available - Dark theme available SET CUSTOM READING GOALS - Create annual reading goals to stay motivated - Define custom date range goals and share them with your friends TRACK YOUR READING - Log how many pages you have read so far and when did you start and finished reading a book - You can record multiple readings for each book SEE WHAT YOUR FRIENDS ARE READING - Create your own reading social profile - Allow your followers to see your last read books, wishlist and reading goals DISCOVER NEW BOOKS - Discover bestselling books in different categories - Share your favorite books with your friends on social media VIEW YOUR STATISTICS - Rich statistics about your books, purchase, reading progress, ratings, top authors, top categories etc. MANAGE YOUR WISHLIST - Maintain a wishlist of books that you want to read - Book price tracking and price alerts available in some countries RATE AND REVIEW - Help others to discover great books and find books for yourself - Rate books with 5 star rating (half-star ratings available) - Read book reviews from others and leave your own opinion NEVER LOSE YOUR DATA - Your data is securely stored on our servers and it's linked to your account - If you change your device/platform, you just need to log back in with your username - You can export data to a CSV file to create your own backup - You can export your data as HTML web page for easy printing with cover images BOOKSHELF PRO PLANS - Bookshelf is free to download and use for up to 100 books - Bookshelf Pro removes the 100-book limit and unlocks other advanced features - Bookshelf Pro includes a 7-day free trial period after which you can choose between monthly, annual or lifetime plans OTHER NOTES - This is an app to organize your books and to track your reading - Reading is not available within this app FOLLOW US Stay in touch for new features and improvements - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bookshelfconcept/ - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookshelfapp/ FEEDBACK AND SUGGESTIONS bookshelf.concept@gmail.com https://www.bookshelfapp.info * Privacy policy: https://www.bookshelfapp.info/privacy-policy.html * Terms of service: https://www.bookshelfapp.info/terms-of-use.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Bookshelf at 94% against LibraryThing's 48%. Bookshelf also leads on rating (4.8 vs 3.5) and ratings volume (3K vs 278). LibraryThing's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4) and ads (none vs shown). On price, update cadence 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
Both are free to download. Bookshelf sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. LibraryThing asks for nothing beyond the download.
Bookshelf holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bookshelf has 3K ratings behind it against 278, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 48% of LibraryThing's written reviews are positive against 94% of Bookshelf's.
LibraryThing ships an update every 4 weeks, Bookshelf every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | LibraryThing | Bookshelf |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.5 (278 ratings) | 4.8 (3K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 48.2% of reviews | 93.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 278 | 3K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 weeks | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | — | #174 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 80 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | LibraryThing.com | SquidBit d.o.o. |
Customer experience
LibraryThing
Bookshelf
User reviews
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
Bookshelf
From 3K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use
- 🚀 Batch scanning feature
- 📚 Excellent for organizing book collections
- 💰 Free app with no limits
- 🔍 Helpful for avoiding book duplicates
Room to improve
- 🔍 Search function could be improved
- 🔢 Inability to add multiple copies of the same book
- 📷 Limited cover image options for some books
Bugs and requests
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
Bookshelf
Reported bugs
2 issues- Occasional issues with scanning barcodes
- Trouble accessing app after account creation
Requested features
4 requests- Ability to organize books by author and series
- Option to filter statistics by bookshelf
- Manual page count entry
- Borrowing/lending tracking system
In-app purchases
LibraryThing
No in-app purchases
Bookshelf
- Bookshelf (1 Month)7 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Bookshelf (1 Year)7 Days trial$19.991 Year
- Bookshelf (Lifetime)$59.99
- Bookshelf (Lifetime)$79.99







