How to choose a book tracking and discovery app

Choose a book app by the job you want done first: keeping a reading log, finding something new to read, or cataloging a physical shelf. The book tracking and discovery ranking separates reading-first services from catalog services, and pricing is mostly free across the list. Decide the job first, then compare community, openness and paid tiers.

Reading status and shelves

Goodreads, Douban Books and Hardcover all record whether you want to read, are reading or have finished a book. Goodreads adds ratings and reviews from the largest English-language reader community in the ranking, and the ranking lists it for web browsers only. Hardcover tracks status, progress, half-star ratings and reviews, has iOS and Android apps, and can import a library from Goodreads, The StoryGraph or a CSV file. Douban Books also has ratings, tags and notes, along with iPhone and Android apps, but its interface is in Chinese. The StoryGraph focuses on reading statistics, though its custom charts and stats comparisons sit behind the Plus plan at $49.99 a year. Booklogr's free tier includes unlimited book tracking, reviews and social features, while its Pro and Patron plans add statistics and custom lists.

Finding new books

Discovery is a separate job from tracking. Open Library offers more than 3 million books to read online for free, and it is an editable catalog with yearly reading goals. Google Books lets you search inside titles, look at previews and read some books in full online, but it does not track your reading. apprun.icu* offers free browser apps, and its book lists rank titles live from Open Library and Google Books, with separate lists for science fiction, self-help, finance, health and technology. The apps need no account, install or tracking. Its ebooks are paid and sit apart from the free apps, and its book lists depend on Open Library and Google Books data. Open Library is better for finding and reading books than for detailed reviews, and Google Books is the stronger choice for checking whether a particular book is worth buying.

Cataloging a physical collection

Libib suits someone who wants to catalog a physical shelf. It scans ISBN and UPC barcodes and covers books, movies, music and video games in one collection. Its free Basic plan is for personal collections, and its Pro and Ultimate plans raise item limits and add features aimed at larger organizations. Libib tracks what you own rather than your reading progress, so the ranking places it below the reading-first services. It has iOS and Android apps.

Community, language and openness

Community size varies a great deal across the list. Goodreads has the largest English-language reader community in the ranking, and Hardcover has a smaller community than Goodreads. Douban Books suits Chinese-language readers and a large regional review community. Goodreads, Douban Books and Hardcover all offer ratings and reviews, so the community question is mostly about which readers you want to hear from. BookWyrm is a decentralized social network built on ActivityPub, so readers join independent servers, and the community they find depends on the server they join.

Openness, data and price

Open Library is the open option here. Its code is on GitHub under AGPL-3.0, and anyone can edit its catalog. Goodreads, Libib and Douban Books are closed source, and the ranking lists Hardcover, The StoryGraph and Booklogr as not open source. BookWyrm publishes its code on GitHub, but its license, the Anti-Capitalist Software License v1.4, is not counted as open source by the Open Source Initiative. Prices differ as well. Hardcover is free with an optional Supporter plan at $4.99 a month, The StoryGraph's Plus plan costs $49.99 a year, and BookWyrm is free software funded by Patreon and Open Collective donations.

Our picks from the ranking

The ranking places the products covered here in this order:

• Goodreads (91.0): reading shelves and reviews from a large community.
• Open Library (88.5): free books, an open catalog and a reading goal.
• Douban Books (84.0): Chinese-language reading lists and reviews.
• Hardcover (83.0): social book tracking with Goodreads imports.
• apprun.icu* (78.0): finding new books and tracking reads in a browser.
• The StoryGraph (81.5): detailed reading statistics and charts.
• Libib (81.0): cataloging a physical book collection.
• BookWyrm (79.5): reading tracking and reviews without one operator.
• Google Books (76.5): previewing and searching books before buying.
• Booklogr (73.0): reading logs and reviews on a lighter service.

What to do next

Write down the job you want the app to do, such as logging books, finding new ones or cataloging a shelf. Sign up for the free tiers of the two services that match that job, and compare how each one records status and ratings. If you plan to move an existing library, check the import options, since Hardcover imports from Goodreads, The StoryGraph or a CSV file. If the code matters to you, Open Library is the open option here, while Libib and Goodreads are closed source.