Comparison

Texidium vs Panels

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Texidium

Access digital textbooks and course materials anytime, anywhere, both online and offline. Enhance your study experience with features like note-taking, highlighting, and a read-aloud option. Collaborate with peers and instructors by sharing your annotations.

Highlights
  • Online and offline textbook access
  • Chapter and page navigation
  • Color-coded highlights and notes
  • Share notes and highlights
  • Read Aloud feature
  • Add links to notes
  • Adjustable font sizes
Features
Read full description

Your textbooks, your way. Study smarter with Texidium – the solution that provides you with anytime, anywhere access to your digital textbooks and course materials. Key Features: - Access your textbooks online and offline, whenever and wherever you are. - Sort and search through your books with built-in chapter and page navigation. - Personalize highlights and notes by color-coding and categorizing key information. - Collaborate with classmates and professors by sharing notes and highlights. - Listen to textbooks and learn on the go using the Read Aloud feature. - Add links to videos, online quizzes, and other websites to your notes. - View your reading history to see where you left off at home or in class. - Adjust textbook font sizes for easier reading. Get the most out of your textbooks and excel in school with the Texidium Reader.

About

Panels

Enhance your comic and manga reading with a clean, customizable interface. Enjoy universal file compatibility, cross-device syncing, and advanced reading presets. Organize your library, secure your content, and import from various cloud services and local networks.

Highlights
  • Universal file compatibility (CBR, CBZ, PDF, ePUB)
  • Cross-device reading progress sync
  • iCloud Drive integration
  • Customizable reading presets
  • Right-to-left reading for manga
  • OPDS server support
  • Content security with password/Face ID
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Improve your comic reading experience with Panels. Enjoy reading your favorite titles in a clean and delightful interface, with plenty of customization and advanced features — fully DRM-free, with first-class support for OPDS, your own library, and your own files. Key features: - Universal Compatibility: Support for most common comic types: CBR, CBZ, CB7, PDF and comic ePUB (not text eBook). Support for multiple image formats, including WebP. - Cross-Device Sync: Synchronize your reading progress across iPhone, iPad and Mac and resume reading exactly where you left off. - Full iCloud Drive support: store your entire library on iCloud and access it from different devices. - Library Organization: Effortlessly manage your comic library with intuitive tools for easy navigation, custom folder colors, logos and cover images. * Themes: support for Light and Dark modes, and many others. * Reading Presets: Choose from a multitude of reading presets or create your own, including horizontal, vertical, or panel-by-panel guided view. - Right to Left reading (manga): read any comic with Panels. * OPDS support: Stream, search and download comics from your OPDS compatible server (Komga, Kavita, Codex, Ubooquity and others). * Secure your content: Keep files locked using a password or Face ID for your collections and files. Use Incognito mode to keep your reading sessions hidden. * Live Text and Subject detection. * Experimental Features: Access experimental features like panel-by-panel navigation. Panels Store — DRM-free comics from independent creators: - Browse and buy comics directly inside Panels, no extra apps or accounts. - 100% DRM-free: every purchase is yours to keep, read offline and back up. - Creators keep 80% of revenue, so your purchases directly support the people making the comics. - Purchased issues are added to your library and sync across your devices automatically. Native support for importing files from: * iCloud Drive * Dropbox * Microsoft OneDrive - Substack * OPDS: Komga, Kavita, Codex and others * Local network shared files and folders via SMB and Embedded web server - iTunes - External drives - Airdrop - Drag&Drop from other apps Page Filters: * Reduce Noise * Increase Sharpness * Reduce Moiré * Crop Borders * Require an active subscription or a one-time purchase. • You may purchase an Auto-Renewing Subscription to unlock all the premium features while it\'s active; or a one-off purchase to unlock the current major version features forever. • Your subscription will be charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase and will automatically renew (at the duration selected) unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. • Current subscription may not be cancelled during the active subscription period; however, you can manage your subscription and/or turn off auto-renewal by visiting your iTunes Account Settings after purchase • Read our privacy policy and terms of use: https://panels.app/privacy / https://panels.app/terms

Screenshots

Texidium4 screens
Panels4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Panels at 70% against Texidium's 13%. Panels also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.2) and update cadence (every 8 days vs every 3 months). Texidium's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). On price, ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Panels sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $1.49 per month. Texidium asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Panels holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Panels has 12K ratings behind it against 26, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 13% of Texidium's written reviews are positive against 70% of Panels's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Texidium ships an update every 3 months, Panels every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Texidium versus Panels: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTexidiumPanels
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (26 ratings)4.8 (12K ratings) — better
Positive reviews13.0% of reviews70.2% of reviews — better
Number of ratings2612K — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 8 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank—#161 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS12.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size38 MB165 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTexidium Solutions Inc.Produkt Studio

Customer experience

Texidium

All ratings26 ratings
Positive80.8%
Neutral0.0%
Negative19.2%
Written reviews54 reviews
Positive13.0%
Neutral5.6%
Negative81.5%

Panels

All ratings12,369 ratings
Positive95.4%
Neutral1.8%
Negative2.7%
Written reviews1,126 reviews
Positive70.2%
Neutral9.6%
Negative20.2%

Bugs and requests

Texidium

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Panels

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Crashes when opening large files
  • Issues with page order and navigation
  • Problems with zooming and scrolling
  • Syncing and importing bugs
  • Compatibility issues with older devices

Requested features

6 requests
  • Ability to create sub-folders and nested collections
  • Automatic sorting and organization of comics
  • Option to lock reading direction
  • Double-tap to zoom functionality
  • Progress tracking and bookmarking features
Show 1 more
  • Support for more file formats like ePub

In-app purchases

None

Texidium

No in-app purchases

5 purchases

Panels

Subscriptions2
  • Panels+ Monthly7 Days trial$1.491 Month
  • Panels+ Yearly7 Days trial$14.991 Year
One-time3
  • Panels 3 Upgrade$9.99
  • Panels 2$19.99
  • Panels 3$19.99

Questions

Is Texidium free?
Texidium is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Panels free?
Panels is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Texidium or Panels?
Panels is rated higher. Texidium averages 4.2 out of 5 from 26 ratings, while Panels averages 4.8 from 12K ratings.
Do Texidium or Panels have ads?
Neither Texidium nor Panels shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Texidium or Panels?
Texidium ships an update every 3 months, and Panels every 8 days. Most recently, Texidium was updated on October 9, 2026 and Panels on October 13, 2026.

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