The main Goodreads alternatives in 2026 are The StoryGraph, Hardcover, Fable, BookWyrm, LibraryThing and Seekquel. All six take a Goodreads export, so your ratings and shelves can come with you. They differ in who they are built for: stats and mood tags, an open catalog, book clubs, a federated network, cataloguing a physical collection, or an app you arrange yourself.
We make Seekquel, so read its entry with that in mind. Every other entry sticks to published facts about each app, checked in September 2026.
The short version
The StoryGraph if you want to pick books by mood and pace and like detailed stats.
Hardcover if you want an independent, modern app with a public API.
Fable if book clubs are the point, and you already use Everand.
BookWyrm if you want open source and no company in the middle.
LibraryThing if you catalog a large home library, films and music included.
Seekquel if you want to decide what the app shows you and who sees what.
Why readers leave Goodreads
Goodreads has been owned by Amazon since 2013 and has over 150 million members, which is why its reviews are hard to replace. The reasons people give for leaving are mostly the same few:
Amazon ownership. Some readers would rather their reading history sat somewhere else.
Ads. Goodreads sells advertising to publishers and authors, and there is no paid plan that removes it.
Whole stars only. Half stars have been a standing request for years.
An app that has barely changed. No home-screen widget, and most stats wait for the Year in Books recap.
Before you pick a new home, export your library. It takes a few minutes on the Goodreads website. Our step-by-step guide covers the desktop and phone routes: how to export your Goodreads library.
The StoryGraph
The best-known alternative. Independent, founded in 2019 by Nadia Odunayo, and past 5 million sign-ups by January 2026.
Best at: choosing your next book by mood and pace, content warnings from readers and authors, quarter-star ratings, and reading stats.
Social side: book clubs and buddy reads, with a lighter feed than Goodreads.
Price: free. StoryGraph Plus is $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year.
Platforms: web, iPhone and Android.
Limits: no home-screen widget yet.
Our full comparison: Seekquel vs The StoryGraph.
Hardcover
An independent tracker with a modern design and an open approach to its data.
Best at: a public API (the same one its own apps use, still labelled beta), a catalog kept up by volunteer librarians, and a public roadmap.
Price: free. Supporter is $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year, and adds perks such as librarian edit access.
Platforms: web, iPhone and Android.
Imports: a Goodreads export, or its own CSV format.
Limits: home-screen widgets are still on the roadmap.
Our full comparison: Seekquel vs Hardcover.
Fable
A social reading app built around clubs. Everand, part of Scribd, bought Fable in June 2025.
Best at: book clubs, with around 200,000 of them, and a reading streak widget.
Price: free. Fable Plus is $5.99 a month or $49.99 a year. Since June 2026 every Everand plan includes Fable Plus, starting at $11.99 a month, which also brings ebooks and audiobooks.
Imports: sign in with Goodreads to bring over lists and reviews, or use its CSV import, which is in beta.
Limits: no official way to export your library back out.
Our full comparison: Seekquel vs Fable.
BookWyrm
An open-source, federated network. Instead of one company, independent servers (called instances) talk to each other over ActivityPub, the same protocol Mastodon uses.
Best at: independence from any company. It carries no ads and is funded by donations.
Price: free.
Imports: Goodreads, StoryGraph, LibraryThing, Open Library, Calibre and OpenReads files. Every book is re-matched against its catalog, so a few may not come across.
Limits: web only, with no official phone app, and you choose an instance to join first.
LibraryThing
The oldest name here, and still the strongest for cataloguing what is on your own shelves.
Best at: cataloguing books, DVDs and CDs, with barcode scanning.
Price: free for everyone since 2020. Signed-in members see no ads.
Platforms: web, iPhone and Android.
Imports: Goodreads shelves (as tags), ratings, reviews and dates read.
Worth knowing: its founder holds the majority, and AbeBooks, which Amazon owns, holds 40%.
Seekquel
The app we make. It starts with everything switched on, and you turn off what you do not use.
Best at: a home screen you build from more than thirty cards, and around twenty visibility settings that work one by one, so you can show your shelves and hide your current page. Half-star ratings, plus five scores beside the overall one: writing, characters, plot, atmosphere and impact.
Social side: clubs, buddy reads and a feed, all in one tab you never have to open.
Also: home-screen widgets on iPhone and Android, series tracking that shows your next book, and add-ons for KOReader and Calibre that keep your reading in sync.
Price: free, with no ads on any plan. Pro is $3.99 a month, $39.99 a year or $119.99 once.
Platforms: web, iPhone and Android.
Imports: Goodreads, StoryGraph and Hardcover exports: ratings, reviews, shelves and dates.
Limits: a younger, smaller community than Goodreads or StoryGraph, so fewer reviews on each book.
Our full comparison: Seekquel vs Goodreads.
Who owns what
Goodreads: Amazon.
The StoryGraph: independent.
Hardcover: independent.
Fable: Everand (Scribd).
BookWyrm: open source, funded by donations.
LibraryThing: its founder, with AbeBooks (Amazon) holding 40%.
Seekquel: independent.
When to stay on Goodreads
If you mostly read other people's reviews before choosing a book, no alternative matches the volume Goodreads has. Plenty of readers keep Goodreads for looking things up and track in another app. An export and an import take about ten minutes, so trying a new app costs little.
How to move your library
Export from Goodreads. On the website: My Books, then Import and export, then Export Library. The full guide covers the phone route and what to do when it fails.
Import into the new app. Each app above has an import screen that takes that CSV file.
Check the stragglers. Rare editions sometimes fail to match, so look over what did not come across before you delete anything.