A guide to the alternatives, by SHELVD
The Goodreads Exile
Every serious Goodreads alternative, big and small, compared honestly. Including our own, and where others beat us.
Reading on Kindle too? Start with our Kindle sync guide.
24 apps tracked · Last reviewed 2026-06
Other apps only import from Goodreads, so it goes stale the day you switch. SHELVD writes your reading back, so it stays current.
The comparison
| App | Modern interface | Reading stats | Social & clubs | Half-star ratings | Goodreads import | Updates your Goodreads | Data export |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SHELVD That is us | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| The StoryGraph | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Pagebound | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Unconfirmed |
| Fable | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Unconfirmed |
| Hardcover | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Bookmory | Yes | Yes | No | Unconfirmed | Yes | No | Yes |
| Bookly | Unconfirmed | Yes | No | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed | No | Unconfirmed |
| Oku | Yes | Yes | Yes | Unconfirmed | Yes | No | Unconfirmed |
| Margins | Yes | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed | Yes | Unconfirmed | No | Unconfirmed |
| READO | Unconfirmed | Yes | Yes | Unconfirmed | Yes | No | Unconfirmed |
| Basmo | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed | No | Yes |
| Reading List | Unconfirmed | Yes | No | Unconfirmed | Yes | No | Yes |
| Bookology | Unconfirmed | Yes | No | Unconfirmed | Yes | No | Yes |
| Bukku | Unconfirmed | Yes | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed | No | Unconfirmed |
| Bookdot | Unconfirmed | Yes | No | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed | No | Yes |
| Bookwise | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed | No | Unconfirmed |
| BookWyrm | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed | Yes | Unconfirmed | Yes | No | Yes |
| Literal | Yes | Unconfirmed | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
A question mark means unconfirmed, not no. Spot an error? Tell us and we will fix it.
Next in the Goodreads cluster
The apps
SHELVD The reading app that keeps your Goodreads updated for you.
Best for: Readers who want a better app without abandoning Goodreads. Social features with a full privacy opt-out. Write-back is a Pro feature with a one-month free trial.
Stands out: Updates your Goodreads for you; Bookmark: snap a page to log progress.
Watch for: New, smaller community; Some features in beta.
Full data export is available by request; self-serve export is not shipped yet.
Last verified 2026-06 · getshelvd.com
The StoryGraph Mood, pace, and theme stats. The data-lover's pick.
Best for: Readers who want deep stats and mood-based recommendations.
Stands out: Best-in-class stats; Quarter-star ratings; Independent, ~5M signups.
Watch for: Manual progress entry; Social still developing; Its AI Preview feature drew accuracy and environmental criticism in 2025; the team kept it.
Run and built by Nadia Odunayo and Rob Frelow. UK, bootstrapped. Added Kobo auto-tracking in June 2026.
Last verified 2026-06 · thestorygraph.com
Pagebound Goodreads meets Reddit. Per-book forums, indie, anti-AI.
Best for: Readers who want forums and group readalongs as they read.
Stands out: Per-book forums; Quests and badges; Built by two women, no algorithm.
Watch for: Colorful aesthetic is polarizing; Some 'top contributor' clique complaints.
Cofounders Lucy Zhao and Jennifer Dobak. ~130K users (founder-stated, 2026).
Last verified 2026-06 · pagebound.co
Fable Big, active book clubs and in-app reading.
Best for: Readers who want structured, social book clubs.
Stands out: 100K+ book clubs; In-app reader; Celebrity-hosted clubs; Tracks TV alongside books.
Watch for: Premium clubs paywalled; Pulled its AI year-end summaries in January 2025 after they produced offensive output; Weak web experience; Catalog gaps for indie and ARC titles.
Acquired by Everand (Scribd) in June 2025; ~3M users at acquisition.
Last verified 2026-06 · fable.co
Hardcover Ad-free, community-focused, indie-built.
Best for: Design-conscious social readers who want full access without paying.
Stands out: Match % score for recommendations; Half-star ratings; Open GraphQL API; Builds in public.
Watch for: No reading timer or session tracking; Smaller community; Android app roughly rated.
Founded by Adam Fortuna, USA. Supporter-funded with unlimited free access. Export via CSV and a public API.
Last verified 2026-06 · hardcover.app
Bookmory Offline-first private tracking with timers and heatmaps.
Best for: Private, offline readers who want timers, streaks, and stats with no social feed.
Stands out: Works offline with no account; Reading timer and calendar heatmap; Rated 4.8 across 73K Android reviews.
Watch for: No community features; Cross-device sync issues reported historically; Ads on the free tier.
Indie developer in South Korea. About 2.5 million Android downloads, an outlier among the private trackers.
Last verified 2026-06 · play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.tonysoft.bookmory
Bookly Habit-building timer with streaks, goals, and rewards.
Best for: Readers building a daily habit who want sessions timed and rewarded.
Stands out: Session timer and streaks; Multi-axis ratings (humor, love, spice); Bloo AI chat assistant.
Watch for: 10-book cap on the free tier; Some reviews report glitches; No community.
Romanian studio TwoDoor Games, around since 2018.
Last verified 2026-06 · getbookly.com
Oku Calm, design-first tracking with shelves and clubs.
Best for: Design-focused readers who want a quiet tracker on web and iPhone.
Stands out: Clean design; Collections and tags; Goals and highlights.
Watch for: Slow update cadence; Android app abandoned since 2022.
Dutch team, renamed from Readng in 2021. Some lists still cite the old name as a separate app; it is the same product.
Last verified 2026-06 · oku.club
Margins A polished Apple-only reading companion.
Best for: Design-focused iPhone and Mac readers who want a beautiful personal log.
Stands out: Half-star ratings; Tracks who recommended each book; Ambient reading timer; AI-powered vibes search.
Watch for: Subscription required for continued use; Apple platforms only; Database gaps for some titles; Limited export.
Rated 4.9 across roughly 16K App Store ratings.
Last verified 2026-06 · margins.app
READO German-built social reading with buddy reads.
Best for: Readers who want buddy reads and spoiler-safe comments tied to your page.
Stands out: BuddyReads; Spoiler-free page comments; Booklyn AI recommendations; Tree-planting tie-in.
Watch for: Account required for multi-device use; Little English-language coverage so far.
READO GmbH, Frankfurt. 100K+ Android installs.
Last verified 2026-06 · home.reado.app/en
Basmo Timer-based tracking with notes that flow into Notion.
Best for: Non-fiction readers and note-takers who time sessions and export to Notion.
Stands out: ChatBook AI assistant grounded in the book; Session timing; Kindle highlights import; Notion export.
Watch for: Free tier is limited; some reviews say there is no permanent free tier.
By Bookvitals, likely Romania. 100K+ Android installs.
Last verified 2026-06 · basmo.app
Reading List Free, private, on-device tracking for Apple devices.
Best for: Privacy-focused Apple users who want no account and no cloud.
Stands out: No account needed; Fully on-device with iCloud backup; Free and unlimited.
Watch for: Apple platforms only; Metadata depends on Google Books; Light sorting and filtering.
Solo developer Andrew Bennet. Some third-party lists claim it updates Goodreads; the developer's site makes no such claim and we could not corroborate it.
Last verified 2026-06 · readinglist.app
Bookology New analytics-heavy tracker with timers and heatmaps.
Best for: Stats-focused readers on iPhone who want deep analytics without a feed.
Stands out: Deep analytics and calendar heatmap; Kindle highlights import; On-device privacy.
Watch for: iPhone only; Brand new with a small user base.
Launched January 2026 by Empty Studio.
Last verified 2026-06 · apps.apple.com/us/app/bookology-book-tracker/id6747273681
Bukku Multilingual tracker in open beta, Android first.
Best for: Multilingual readers on Android who want stats without a paywall.
Stands out: 108M+ title catalog via ISBNdb; Shareable stat images; English, French, and Spanish.
Watch for: Android only for now; Still in beta.
Not to be confused with the unrelated BUKU digital-library app.
Last verified 2026-06 · bukku.app
Bookdot Private tracker that mirrors your library into Notion.
Best for: Notion users on iPhone who want their library in both places, with no social feed or ads.
Stands out: Notion integration; Private by design.
Watch for: Apple platforms only; Young app from a small team.
By TRILLIWON. Premium unlocks unlimited shelves and the Notion mirror.
Last verified 2026-06 · bookdot.app
Bookwise Web-first tracker with quarter-star ratings and a book chat companion.
Best for: Readers who want quarter-star precision and a chat companion on the web.
Stands out: Claude AI book companion that avoids spoilers; Quarter-star ratings; Kindle highlights bookmarklet.
Watch for: Web-first, no Android app; Much smaller community; Shares its name with an unrelated iOS app.
Company details are thinly documented, so most cells stay unconfirmed pending verification.
Last verified 2026-06 · bookwiseapp.com
BookWyrm Open-source, federated reading network on ActivityPub.
Best for: Readers who want to own their data on an open, decentralized network.
Stands out: Open-source and federated; Explicitly anti-AI; Per-entry privacy controls; CSV export.
Watch for: Federated and self-host model is niche; Import is ISBN-based and imperfect; Lighter stats; Smaller catalog.
Community-developed, led by Mouse Reeve. Join a public instance or self-host.
Last verified 2026-06 · joinbookwyrm.com
Literal A group chat for books. Beautiful, but development has stalled.
Best for: Was the design-lover's social pick; hard to recommend for new shelves while development is stalled.
Stands out: Polished design; Clubs and highlights; Half-star ratings; Open API.
Watch for: Widely regarded as semi-dormant since 2022; Android app removed from Google Play in February 2025; Import failures and duplicate titles reported.
Berlin team. The site and iOS app still work, so it is listed as a caution rather than defunct. Export is available through its API.
Last verified 2026-06 · literal.club
Adjacent tools
Real products, but not day-to-day reading trackers. Included for completeness.
LibraryThing Cataloging for collectors, the original social cataloging site.
Best for: Collectors cataloging a physical library, more than reading tracking.
Listed as adjacent: cataloging tool, not a reading tracker. Included for completeness.
Libib Cataloging for whole collections: books, movies, music, and games.
Best for: Cataloging a home or small-organization library across media, with barcode scanning.
Listed as adjacent: a cataloging tool for collections, not a day-to-day reading tracker.
Likewise Cross-media recommendations spanning books, TV, film, and podcasts.
Best for: Recommendation hunting across media, not day-to-day book tracking.
Listed as adjacent: a recommendation engine, not a reading tracker.
No longer operating
Tome. Shut down May 29, 2026. BookTok-rooted tracker with 100K+ readers; shut down citing competition and cost. Listed so the page is complete and so its readers searching for a replacement land here.
BookSloth. Dormant since its 2022 acquisition by BookClub. Women-led Puerto Rican startup with 50K-100K users at its peak. The app last shipped a real update in 2021.
TBR. Web recommendations service, closing June 2026. A curated recommendations service rather than a tracker. Distinct from the active TBR Bookshelf romance app of the same name.
Common questions
Is there an app that keeps Goodreads up to date for you?
Yes. SHELVD writes your reading progress, ratings, dates, and shelves back to Goodreads, so your Goodreads stays current without entering anything twice. It works for any book you track, not just Kindle, across iPhone, Android, and web, and it is a Pro feature with a one-month free trial.
What is the best Goodreads alternative?
It depends on what you want. For deep stats and mood-based recommendations, The StoryGraph leads. For forums and community as you read, Pagebound is strong. For book clubs, Fable is built around groups. If you want a modern app but need to keep your existing Goodreads current, SHELVD is the one that updates Goodreads for you.
Which Goodreads alternatives let you export your data?
Several do. The StoryGraph, Hardcover, BookWyrm, Bookmory, Reading List, LibraryThing, and Goodreads itself all offer CSV export, and Hardcover and BookWyrm add open APIs. Basmo and Bookdot export to Notion. SHELVD offers full export by request while self-serve export is still pending.
You do not have to abandon Goodreads to outgrow it.
SHELVD gives you a modern, beautiful reading app and keeps your Goodreads updated for you. Free to start, write-back included in a one-month Pro trial.
Try SHELVD