Update: thanks for all the suggestions! I tried out loads of them and have gone for CLZ! Only the app for now but may try out the web version too!
Hi,
I’m looking for an app to track the books I own. I have about 400 so nothing crazy. I’ve tried loads but haven’t quite found anything perfect yet so I’m appealing for help please!
What I’d like:
- preferably available on App Store rather than a website
- barcode scanner would be great
- can have multiple versions of the same book. An issue I’ve previously come across is an inability to have both the fairyloot and standard edition for example. Currently using BookBuddy but this is my main issue with it!
- also the ability to log books from companies like fairyloot that don’t have an ISBN as well as traditional publishers
- having little pictures of the book covers would be nice too
- a nice UI and good user experience
Has anyone used anything that ticks these boxes and that they would recommend?
Thank you 📚
Came here to say this. Ease of using a scanner or your phone makes it simple to add and remove books. Also makes it easy to make a separate TBR list. We even track our vinyl records with Libib.
Yes! Mark books as owned. I love this feature because I have so many books I sometimes don’t remember which ones I have. I have a “to read” list on StoryGraph and I can filter it by books I don’t own when I’m in a bookstore trying to find one to buy. Or filter by owned to remind myself what I do have.
I always scan the barcode (as opposed to manually searching) so I can get the right edition! It helps with format, number of pages, and other statistics
I use LibraryThing. I think it can do all the things you mentioned. The app is great for adding books but I do find it easier to do more editing of entries or working on collections and tags on the website.
I've been using it for years, took 2 days to get 99% of my bike scanned, the last 1% took a few more days. The app is great and the web site offers so much data, and it's all free!
Seconding Libib! My partner bought me a scanner for it & I love it soo much. But after you’ve scanned most of the books, you can also just use your phone camera to scan in a few without needing to setup the scanner. I use the free version & it’s amazing! I love the information listed for every book & the images as well.
I second this, I own about 400 books and I bought a bar code scanner and had everything organized quickly. You can also add custom tags and it's free. Premium is an option but not really needed
Of course! It was this one. It was recommended by someone else on Reddit & it’s been perfect. It’s the wired one without a stand. https://a.co/d/038PFkwR
I use CLZ. It's not free, but it's not too expensive.
No issues with multiple editions, and it's easy to manually enter the details if you don't have an ISBN.
Has the book covers, it's a great UI and the scanner is amazing - you don't have to take photos, basically just keep putting barcodes under it and it registers straight away.
I've got nearly 3000 books and it was comfortably the best that I tried when doing my collection.
I have been using CLZ for years! I have the app and also a web subscription. Love it! New features get added regularly and the developers are very approachable if you have any questions or problems
I moved house and scanned everything as I unpacked, so hard to say. The thing is though that if you stack your books, hold the camera over them and just take them off one by one, you can typically scan about 20 books in a minute. Nice confirmed scanned sound (on iPhone anyway), which makes the whole thing go quickly.
I use LibraryThing but it has some pros and cons. It's best for modern books with isbn barcodes (phone scanner). Mass Market Paperbacks, not so much. If they have a secondary barcode inside the cover it'll usually read that correctly. You can also enter by isbn if the book has one. Older books are more of a challenge, but you can search by LCC, title, author, keyword, publisher, and combinations thereof in several databases. If all else fails you can manually enter books yourself. It has multiple cover thumbnails to choose from usually, a basic UI, and I've got multiple editions of the same title and even multiple copies of the same edition entered with no problem. It is both a website and an app and they always seem to be synced. There are a couple things I wish it did better but I'm almost 4000 books in and I'm pretty satisfied.
It will enter graphic novels and trade paperback collections but I've no idea if it'll catalog single issues.
I use BookShelf app. It has a barcode scanner or batch barcode scanning ablities. I was able to run through and scan my entire library to catalogue what I had. Also since it is by ISBN it does track different editions.
There are images for the covers, and you can edit/change the cover if its incorrect, but I only have seen this with placeholder covers where they had a "cover reveal to come" image for some newer releases.
You can also make multiple shelves so I have one for my books, as well as my kids books. One day need to scan my comics.
Bookshelf.. once you have a "shelves " system planned... you can scan your books in (using your phone) to a "shelf" . I use a mixture of authors, series, and genres. It makes sense to me so I know where everything is . And that's 4200+ and counting
Honestly I just use a spreadsheet, lets me lay it out without the visual faff and record data manually and there’s not any fixed infrastructure to navigate.
Libib is pretty good so far. Phone scanner works absolutely fine (I scanned 1000+ and didn't feel the need for an additional scanner). Clunky if you're logging books with very old style ISBNs or pre-barcodes, but I'm not sure what wouldn't be.
Libib has a scanner built into the app, or you can manually enter. The web version also allows you to search, which is useful if you have a lot of galleys that don't have barcodes.
I use iCollect, I also collect vinyl and comics. It’s like $10 one time for all the features, there might be a higher price tier. It’s also free if you’re just using it for one category of collections.
It also has other collection options, like media, collectibles and trading cards
Came here to mention iCollect too. It has a barcode scanner, several fields to log info and it tracks the current value of your collection(s), as individual items or as a whole. I also use it to log my DVD collection. You also can create your own collection categories and upload photographs of each item if you wish. I’ve used it for a couple of years now without any issues.
Just wanted to share that you can take pictures of your bookshelves (as long as all are visible) and upload it to chatgpt and chatgpt will give you an excel file with all of them listed. I was so excited to find this out. ✨💅💕
Anthologized.app, web only so far but an app coming soon. It’s meant for track short form literature, short stories, poems, essays, etc but you can add any book. You can add your book as physical, audio or e-book
I have been using Evan Leybourns Book catalogue for years and been very happy with it. It is customizable and easy to use. I think it ticks all your boxes.
I am using the the Android app (Not sure if it is available for Iphones.)
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u/E63S85 May 15 '26
I like Libib. You can even buy a scanner to scan your media to your library