LibraryThing vs Aspen LiDA
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.
Aspen LiDA
Discover books, movies, and games from your library anywhere. Search the full catalog, including digital content, to find titles, place holds, and manage your loans.
- Search entire library catalog
- Discover books, movies, and games
- Access eContent
- Place holds on items
- Check due dates
- Renew eligible titles
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Aspen LiDA allows you to explore your library on the go to find new books, movies, games, or your old favorites! Quickly search the entire catalog, including eContent, and place holds, check due dates and renew eligible titles.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: LibraryThing at 3.5 against Aspen LiDA's 1.4. LibraryThing also leads on review sentiment (47% vs 9%) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15.1). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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.
LibraryThing holds the better App Store score, 3.5 against 1.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 278 and 230 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 47% of LibraryThing's written reviews are positive against 9% of Aspen LiDA's.
LibraryThing ships an update every 4 weeks, Aspen LiDA monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | LibraryThing | Aspen LiDA |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.5 (278 ratings) — better | 1.4 (230 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 47.2% of reviews — better | 9.2% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 278 — better | 230 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 weeks — better | Monthly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 56 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | LibraryThing.com | ByWater Solutions |
Customer experience
LibraryThing
Aspen LiDA
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
Aspen LiDA
From 230 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 App works fine for ordering books
- 👍 Can see other books in series (Libby feature comparison)
- 👍 App is convenient for library card access
- 👍 App allows placing and renewing holds
Room to improve
- 🐛 App frequently crashes
- 🐛 App logs users out repeatedly
- 🐛 App is slow to load
- 🐛 App freezes
- 🐛 App does not save login info
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
Aspen LiDA
Reported bugs
58 issues- App kicks users out
- App doesn't renew books with holds
- App doesn't renew all books even when Renew All is pressed
- App won't open, shows spinning wheel
- App freezes
Show 53 moreShow fewer
- App constantly doesn't load things
- App boots users out and won't allow reopening
- App requires re-login every time
- App loads perpetually
- App won't open, just sits on initial page spinning
- App won't open on modern phone
- App stops working, sits on first screen with spinner
- App logs out in the middle of use
- App doesn't respond when opened
- App crashes
- App won't open at all
- App doesn't recognize number or password
- App has no way of resetting or crashes
- App has a Server Connection Error
- App doesn't load
- App is super slow to load anything
- App is hard to search by genre
- App won't let users search for their library to log in
- App continually logs out
- App won't let users type account number or anything
- App freezes when trying to type library card number
- App doesn't recognize user/new card
- App says 'select library' and nothing happens when searching
- App won't load after update
- App requires signing in every day and is not functional
- App has glitches
- App automatically checks out magazines
- App logs users out and won't let them enter location before login
- App crashes and logs users out
- App cannot search for library
- App search bar shrinks when typing, results not visible
- App is logged out every 3rd time it's opened
- App won't open, stuck at 'SELECT YOUR LIBRARY'
- App doesn't show library name when typed
- App barely works and constantly crashes
- App is slow
- App crashes often
- App doesn't load pages
- App almost never lets users place a hold
- App crashes immediately on opening
- App doesn't retain account data
- App prompts for volume title when placing holds
- App spins and never completes holds
- App crashes all the time
- App crashes after an update
- App cannot find library using location or search
- App doesn't load discover categories
- App indicates a problem after crashing, requires re-entry of library card and PIN
- App doesn't save login info in iPhone password feature
- App doesn't function properly, ebook checkouts don't appear
- App spins and spins and never loads
- App is impossible to search
- App shows 'bad request' when trying to place a hold
Requested features
7 requests- Show position in hold queue
- Allow saving login information
- Implement facial/fingerprint recognition for login
- Improve search functionality for genres/topics
- Allow managing multiple library cards
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- Fix automatic magazine checkouts
- Improve discover categories loading
In-app purchases
LibraryThing
No in-app purchases
Aspen LiDA
No in-app purchases
