Libby is the better app overall, scoring 9.1 to 8.3. Libby wins on 3 of the 5 scores, Kindle on 1, with 1 tied.
Readers and audiobook fans who have, or can get, a public library card
Readers who already buy ebooks from Amazon or own a Kindle
Score by score
The details
| Feature | Libby | Kindle |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Reading & News | Reading & News |
| Category rank | #1 of 7 | #6 of 7 |
| Developer | OverDrive | Amazon |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Usable for free | Yes | Yes |
| iPhone & iPad | ✓ | ✓ |
| Android | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mac | — | ✓ |
| Windows | — | ✓ |
| Web | ✓ | ✓ |
Common questions
Is Libby better than Kindle?
Libby is the better app overall, scoring 9.1 to 8.3. Libby wins on 3 of the 5 scores, Kindle on 1, with 1 tied.
Which is cheaper, Libby or Kindle?
Libby: Free; you just need a card from a participating library. Kindle: Free app; you buy books one at a time, and Kindle Unlimited is optional. On value for money, Libby scores higher.
Do Libby and Kindle work on the same devices?
Only Kindle runs on Mac, Windows.
Which is more private, Libby or Kindle?
Libby scores higher on privacy (9.2/10). App Store label: no tracking. Only crash data is linked to you; product interaction and performance data are collected without being tied to you. Google Play says nothing is shared.
Strengths and weaknesses
Libby
- Completely free with a library card
- No tracking, and almost no data tied to you
- Clean design that's easy for any age
- Popular titles can mean long hold waits
- Catalog depends on your library's collection
- Send to Kindle works only in the US
Libby turns your library card into a free ebook, audiobook and magazine app. Borrow titles, place holds and get told when they're ready, download them for offline reading, set audiobook speed from 0.6x to 3x and, in the US, send loans to a Kindle. You can link several library cards at once. The only real cost is patience, since popular books often have long hold queues.
Full Libby review
Kindle
- Huge store with over six million titles
- Syncs your place, highlights and notes
- Free to read on almost any device
- Can't buy books inside the iPhone app
- Books are locked to Amazon's ecosystem
- Ties lots of data to you, including for marketing
If you buy ebooks from Amazon, the Kindle app is how you read them anywhere. It syncs your place, highlights and notes across phone, tablet, computer and the web, and adds X-Ray, dictionary and Wikipedia lookups, translation, real page numbers and a switch to the Audible version if you own both. The store has over six million titles. The trade-offs are Amazon's lock-in and a privacy label that ties a lot of data to you.
Full Kindle review
