3 Of The Best Goodreads Alternatives

Goodreads, the book-tracking app owned by Amazon, is a good starter app for the avid book reader. It allows users to keep track of books they want to read, ones they've already read, and ones they're currently reading. There's also the ability to create additional "shelves" if you want to organize books in a more personalized fashion. However, there are some drawbacks with the app that become painstakingly obvious for users once they've been consistently reading for more than a month. Some flaws might be noticed even sooner than that.

First of all, the UI is outdated and laggy. One would expect an app with Bezos money to be a little more responsive than it is. Furthermore, it's inconsistent with its features between iOS and Android. Readers on iPhone are able to choose the exact edition of a book they're reading, while Android users are forced to settle with whatever edition the app provides. Bookworms can be particularly picky when tracking their books, and many avoid certain copies of a book simply because they don't like the aesthetics of the cover, opting for perhaps a less popular version.

This might seem trivial to casual readers or non-readers, but if you can't track the exact edition you're reading, the app can inaccurately track your progress. There's not much social aspect to the app beyond being able to like other people's reading updates. Sure, there are reviews, but that's not the same as sharing pictures of a recent book haul. So when Goodreads doesn't cut it, here are a few alternatives that will even let users transfer their Goodreads library over.

For social readers who enjoy sharing their book hauls and reading progress or commenting on others' progress, Fable is a great option. There's a significant social component to the app, with a feed where users can share pictures, tag books, quote their favorite novels, and share their reviews. The UI is responsive and more up-to-date than Goodreads. Many users are drawn to the book club feature that lets them have thoughtful discussions about each individual chapter in a book. Whether you exclusively read sci-fi and fantasy or history books, there's a club for everyone.

The biggest drawback with Fable is its book recommendations. The app seems to suggest books that are current and popular, especially those frequently talked about on TikTok, rather than using a person's reading history to make genuine recommendations. These types of recommendations aren't very thorough, and they don't expose readers to a wider variety of authors.

Fable might not let readers choose the exact edition of a book they're reading, but it does allow them to input the page numbers they'll actually read. It provides some nice stats for readers to peruse and understand themselves a little bit better, too, including a "Reader Summary" that tells you what kind of reader you are. It tracks which books are read in a month and on which days, the ratings a reader gives a book, and their most commonly read authors. Fable is still a work in progress. Developers frequently inform users of new features being implemented and ask for input.

StoryGraph is one of the top-rated apps by avid readers with a 4.4 rating out of five on the Google Play Store. Comparatively, Goodreads has a three-star rating. After reading consistently for so many years, it's common for bookworms to ponder questions like how fast they get through books, which genres they enjoy the most, what mood is prevalent in the books they read, or what's the average length of a book they read. StoryGraph keeps track of all of that and more. The pie charts it creates for its users are interactive and insightful. Any part of the graph can be tapped on, and the app will bring users to the books that fit within that category.

Want to see which books are dark? Adventurous? Tense? Tap and find out. It might not be as stylish as Fable, resembling something made with Microsoft Excel more than anything, but it gives readers a more thorough glimpse at their habits and interests. The recommendations are considerably broader, showing readers more than just popular contemporary reads. There isn't nearly as large of a social component on StoryGraph, though. Users can add friends, but the only updates seen by them are limited to books they've finished and reviews they've left.

Book clubs can be created, but unlike Fable, they're not searchable. Buddy Reads, on the other hand, can be created and sought out by users. StoryGraph goes above and beyond with book editions. Not only is there a vast library of all the different editions of a book, but it also lets users choose audiobook versions, which is useful for those listening to audiobooks with Apple CarPlay. For an app that's managed by a very small team, StoryGraph is an impressive tool.

Hardcover is a newer app, founded in 2021 and hoping to win the hearts of the many disgruntled Goodreads users. It has many of the same features as Goodreads but adds some of its own. The idea is a combo of social and statistical features, and the company is pretty communicative about other additions coming in the future. The social aspect of Hardcover is akin to Instagram, where users can follow anyone and see the different activities publicly shared. It doesn't quite reach the heights Fable has with its social component, but that might be fine for plenty of users.

Hardcover claims that more social feed activities will continue to be added with time. Like every self-respecting book-tracking platform, it lets users review their favorite and least favorite reads. It also lets readers add tags to their book lists, including the genre, content warnings, and custom tags like "read twice." Mood readers will find Hardcover especially useful because its "Explore" tab allows everyone to search books based on the mood they exhibit. If they prefer searching for specific genres, that's an option as well.

The app's developers let users tune in to watch them publicly build up Hardcover on a weekly basis at Twitch, YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.