LibraryThing vs Velato
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.
Velato
Effortlessly digitize your book collection by scanning entire shelves with your camera. Organize your library, track your to-read list, and manage lent books. Discover insights into your reading habits.
- AI-powered shelf scanning
- Instant digital library creation
- Shelf and in-shelf book locator
- To-read list management
- Loan tracking
- Duplicate purchase avoidance
- Library insights and stats
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Point your camera at a bookshelf, and Velato does the rest. Just pan across your shelves — no typing titles or scanning barcodes one by one. Velato identifies your books and turns your bookcase into an organized, searchable digital library in minutes, with your to-read list and lent books tracked in the same place. Know exactly which books you own, search your collection from anywhere, find where a book sits on your shelves, track what you want to read next, and keep tabs on the books you lend. Velato can even uncover insights about what your collection says about you. Features: • AI-Powered Shelf Scanning: Pan your camera across a full shelf and let Velato identify multiple books at once — no manual entry, no barcode-by-barcode scanning. • Instant Digital Library: Keep a complete, searchable inventory of your books, organized and easy to browse. • Shelf Locator: See which shelf a book sits on, and where on that shelf. • To-Read List & Quick Verdicts: Save the books you want to read next, and give any book on your shelves a quick yes or no in one tap. • Loan Tracking: Keep tabs on which books you've lent out, to whom, and since when. • Avoid Duplicates: Check your library while at the bookstore so you never accidentally buy a book you already own. • Library Insights: Discover what your collection says about you — reading patterns, genres, and quirky stats about your shelves. Whether you're a casual reader keeping track of your TBR pile or a serious collector organizing hundreds of volumes across your home library, Velato is a fast way to digitize your shelves. Your shelf, unveiled.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Velato at 100% against LibraryThing's 47%. Velato also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.5) and update cadence (every 6 days vs every 4 weeks). LibraryThing's advantage is ratings volume (288 vs 4) and chart position (#201 vs unranked). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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.
Velato holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: LibraryThing has 288 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 47% of LibraryThing's written reviews are positive against 100% of Velato's.
LibraryThing ships an update every 4 weeks, Velato every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | LibraryThing | Velato |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.5 (288 ratings) | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 47.5% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 288 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 weeks | Every 6 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | #201 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 37 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | LibraryThing.com | CONSI SOFTWARE LTD |
Customer experience
LibraryThing
Velato
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
Velato
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
LibraryThing
No in-app purchases
Velato
No in-app purchases
