Hondana vs a spreadsheet
A spreadsheet is an honest shelf: rows, columns, and no one else's opinion. It gets worse at the moment two editions share a volume number, or a barcode should have filled the row for you. Hondana is that sheet with a catalog behind it, and the export is the sheet.
People start in a spreadsheet because the columns are obvious: series, volume, owned, read. The columns stop being obvious at omnibuses. “Volume” has to become a range, “edition” has to become its own column, and a second printing needs a place to live or it overwrites the first. None of that is hard once. It is hard on the two-hundredth book, with no lookup.
A known barcode in Hondana fills series, edition, range, and printing from the catalog. Unknown barcodes and cover photos stop and ask you to confirm. The app will not invent a row. That is the opposite of a model that writes into your sheet while you look away.
If you outgrow the app, or you never wanted it, export every entry to CSV. The columns are the ones a spreadsheet actually needs: series, edition, volume start, volume end, possession, reading. Import the other way from MyAnimeList when you are starting from a reading list rather than from a blank grid.
Side by side
| Hondana | a spreadsheet | |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | An account and a scan | A blank grid and your own columns |
| ISBN lookup | Built in, free | You paste it |
| Two editions of one volume | Two entries, by design | Whatever the column allows |
| Public shelf | One switch, notes stay private | You publish the file |
| Leaving | CSV export on every plan | The file is already yours |
| Price | Free; Pro is $3 a month or $30 a year | Free |
Which to use
Choose Hondana when you want the lookup and the edition rules without giving up the spreadsheet. The CSV is always there.
Choose a spreadsheet when you want total control of the columns and you already enjoy maintaining them.