Goodreads Alternatives: 6 Ways to Track Your Reading, Including One You Own

You finish a book for the second time and want it counted as a reread. You quit one on page 80 and want that on the record. You listen to an audiobook and want the hours somewhere.

A Goodreads alternative is any other place to log what you read: another reading app, a catalogue tool, or a file you keep yourself. The short answer is that the right one depends on whether you miss the friends, the stats or the control.

This page compares six ways to track your reading, with prices checked on each product's own site on 7 October 2026.

The Short Version

• StoryGraph is the stats-first app, Fable and Hardcover are the social ones, and Libib is a catalogue.
• A spreadsheet gives up the community and gains a private record in your own format.
• StoryGraph Plus and Fable Plus are $49.99 a year, and Libib Pro is $99.
• Libib Basic is free, so trying one alternative can cost you nothing.

Why Readers Leave Goodreads

Readers leave Goodreads because they want to track reading their own way, or because they want the history somewhere they control.

The complaints repeat. A DNF, short for did not finish, is a book you started and set down. A reread is a book you finish and count again. Readers also want hours listened for audiobooks, and half-star ratings. In addition, some readers object that Amazon announced it was buying Goodreads in March 2013.

We saw the same pattern when we coded 1,692 reader comments for this product. For example, 11.1% said an app can't track reading their way, and 9.6% called Goodreads and similar apps clunky or outdated (our own audience research, October 2026). If you want a file where every field is yours, with rereads, DNFs and audiobook hours, a spreadsheet is one of the six options below.

However, not everyone is leaving. The National Endowment for the Arts found that fewer than half of US adults read a book in the 12 months before its 2022 survey, so the readers who log their books are a committed group. Plenty of readers keep Goodreads for the friends and add something else for the record.

Goodreads Alternatives at a Glance

Prices below are as listed on each official page on 7 October 2026.

As a result, apps win on community and speed. A spreadsheet wins when doing it your way matters more than doing it fast. None of the six does everything, so choose the one thing you would miss most.

Six Ways to Track Your Reading

Each option below covers one job well, and the Best for: line tells you whether it is yours.

StoryGraph: Stats First

StoryGraph is a reading app for readers who want numbers, and its own Plus page pitches it as a Goodreads alternative not owned by Amazon.

Plus costs $49.99 a year, which StoryGraph says works out to $4.17 a month, with a 30-day free trial. It adds custom charts, extra stats filters and custom-period wrap-up graphics. StoryGraph's own roadmap notes that DNF books don't count toward your reading goal.

Best for: readers who want deep stats and are happy to use an app.

Hardcover: A Social Shelf With Supporter Perks

Hardcover is a social shelf for readers who want friends and reviews without Amazon. It has a free plan and a paid Supporter tier; its pricing page lists what the Supporter tier adds.

Start on the free plan and see whether the shelf and the reviews suit you before paying anything.

Best for: social readers who want friends and reviews without Amazon.

Fable: Clubs and Streaks

Fable is built around book clubs, with reading goals, streaks and a monthly recap. Its home page lists an option to import your Goodreads library.

Fable Plus is $5.99 a month or $49.99 a year. If you like streaks, they are part of the app's pitch. Instead, if streaks make reading feel like homework, skip it.

Best for: readers who want a club and a nudge.

Libib: A Catalogue That Also Logs Reading

Libib is a catalogue tool first. Basic is free for up to 5,000 items, with barcode scanning, CSV export at any time and a way to track what you've completed.

Pro is $9 a month or $99 a year and is aimed at lenders and small libraries. For a home shelf, Basic is usually plenty.

Best for: collectors who want to scan a shelf and stop re-buying books.

A Spreadsheet: The Record You Own

A spreadsheet is the only option here where the file is yours. You decide the columns, so rereads, DNFs, audiobook hours and half stars are all fields instead of workarounds.

You can build one in an evening with this guide to building a book tracker spreadsheet, or start from a ready file. You give up friends and recommendations, which is a real loss if that's why you opened Goodreads.

Best for: readers who want a private record in their own format.

One Reading Year, Worked Through: Leaving Goodreads

A switch is easier to judge once you run one through on paper.

Take an example we made up: nine years on Goodreads and 612 books to move, one row per book.

For instance, say 540 of those rows are finished books and 72 sit on a to-read shelf. Every rating is a whole number. Nine of the books were quit, but they are filed as read.

In a spreadsheet you can fix that at the source. Copy the rows into the Reading List, change the nine to DNF with the page you stopped at, and add half stars going forward. The Ultimate Book Tracker has no Goodreads import, so this copying is manual. For 612 rows it is an afternoon, and you only do it once.

Afterwards the Dashboard counts books, pages, DNFs, rereads and your average rating for any year you pick.

What Decides the Switch

What decides the switch is the one job your current app fails at, not the number of features on a comparison table.

Most roundups rank apps against each other. Instead, a better test is to name the one thing you are missing and look for the option that does it.

• Missing friends? Stay on Goodreads or try Hardcover or Fable.
• Missing stats? Try StoryGraph's free tier before you pay for Plus.
• Missing a place for rereads, DNFs and audiobooks? Use a spreadsheet, because the fields are yours.
• Missing control of your own history? Keep a copy of it in a file you own.

Whichever route you choose, keep a copy of your reading history somewhere you control.

Why Trust This Article

We're the Cosmo Suite team that makes the Ultimate Book Tracker, so we have a stake in the spreadsheet option and say so here.

Prices come from each product's own pricing page and were checked on 7 October 2026. Where a page could not be loaded or a feature could not be confirmed, we say "not publicly available" instead of guessing. We state each competitor's strengths, and we have not rated any of them.

Prices change, so confirm before you pay. Our editorial policy explains how these pages are written and corrected.

Where the Ultimate Book Tracker Fits

The spreadsheet route works best when your complaint is that the app won't record your reading your way. The Ultimate Book Tracker (by Cosmo Suite: one Excel and Google Sheets file, 14 tabs, $9 once) is built for that job.

Enter a book once in the Reading List and the Dashboard, Monthly Wrap-Up, Series Tracker, My Library and TBR & Wishlist tabs fill in. There is room for 5,000 books, half-star ratings, a reread count, DNF as a status and hours listened for audiobooks. A printable reading journal (PDF, 4 pages, US Letter and A4) comes with it. It costs $9 once, with no subscription and no account.

It isn't an app. It has no friends feed, no recommendations, no barcode scanning, no reminders and no sync, and the Excel file is made for Microsoft 365. Phone use means the free Google Sheets app. If any of those are dealbreakers, one of the apps above is the better pick. Read the about page for who we are.