How we test
Short answer
Every app is scored out of 100 across eight weighted criteria: experience (20), catalog fit (15), ownership and lock-in (15), sync (10), discovery (10), price honesty (10), accessibility (10), and staying power (10). Free apps and paid apps face the same rubric, scores are dated, and a confidence flag says how much of the score came from hands-on use.
The weights
| Criterion | Weight |
|---|---|
| Reading and listening experience | 20 |
| Library and catalog fit | 15 |
| Ownership and lock-in | 15 |
| Sync and cross-platform | 10 |
| Discovery and tracking | 10 |
| Price honesty | 10 |
| Accessibility | 10 |
| Staying power | 10 |
| Total | 100 |
One rubric, applied to everything
Every app on this site is scored out of 100 across the same eight criteria, with the same weights, whether it costs nothing or $24 a month. A free library app and a premium summary service compete on identical terms, because the reader's question is identical: does this deserve room on my phone and a line on my statement?
Weights favour the things you feel daily. Reading and listening experience carries the most because a beautiful catalog is worthless in an unpleasant app. Ownership carries almost as much, because the cost of leaving is a real cost that no pricing page prints.
What we measure, in order
Experience covers typography controls, playback, navigation, and how the app behaves at 200% zoom. Catalog fit asks whether the books you want are actually there. Ownership asks what survives a cancellation. Sync asks whether your position follows you across devices and platforms. Discovery covers recommendations and tracking. Price honesty penalises confusing tiers, silent renewals, and credits that expire. Accessibility covers screen readers, dynamic type, and contrast. Staying power asks how likely this is to exist in three years.
Confidence flags, not false certainty
HANDS-ON TESTED means we paid, installed, used, and cancelled. DESK REVIEW · PROVISIONAL means the evidence is documentation, pricing pages, and public terms. COMMUNITY-SOURCED means readers supplied a detail we could not verify ourselves. Every score prints its flag next to it, and every price prints the date it was checked.
We would rather show you a dated, flagged number than a confident wrong one. Where a measurement has not happened, the page says 'Not yet measured' instead of guessing.
Corrections
Prices move, tiers get renamed, catalogs shrink. When something changes, the page changes and the changelog records the date. If you spot a number that is wrong, write to us and the fix ships with a date attached rather than a silent edit.
Current scoring pass dated 2026-08-01
Q & A
Questions readers actually ask
- Why are some scores marked provisional?
- Because they are desk reviews: the app has been examined, documented, and priced, but not yet lived with for a full billing cycle. Provisional scores carry the DESK REVIEW flag until hands-on re-scoring lands.
- Do commissions affect scores?
- No. Scores are set before anyone checks whether an affiliate program exists, and the score sheet is published on every review so you can check our arithmetic.
- What is a lock-in table?
- A six-row table on every review: formats, DRM, export path, offline access, what happens if you cancel, and what happens if the company folds. If we cannot answer all six, the review does not publish.
Some links earn us a commission. Commissions never move a rank, and every score is set before anyone checks whether a program exists.