As a BookTok girl who’s always adding to her “To Be Read (TBR),” I love anything that will help me keep track of the books I’m reading and offer me a space to discover new books. From browsing bookstores, scrolling on TikTok for recommendations, and swapping books with friends, I love discovering new ways of finding my must-read books and in turn, logging those books.
Like many readers, I turned to Goodreads to track my progress, see what my friends were reading, add to my TBR, and read reviews left by other users. I loved seeing my progress in my current read and scrolling through reviews of my most recently read book to see others’ opinions and thoughts. However, The StoryGraph offers users a different experience for readers.
Founded and owned by Nadia Odunayo, a Nigerian woman, The StoryGraph provides an Amazon-free alternative to Goodreads. As one of the most popular book-logging apps, Goodreads has faced criticism recently over its lack of updates since being purchased by Amazon. There’s also been concern over the app’s targeted review-bombing. Readers are now turning to other platforms and apps that can offer similar experiences to Goodreads.
The StoryGraph is the best all-in-one platform for every book lover. There are personalized recommendations, tracking and insightful statistics, and a comprehensive set of filters. Their machine-learning AI provides spot-on reading preferences and finds your next favorite book based on your mood, favorite topics, and themes after completing a quick, detailed survey.
The StoryGraph has been praised for innovative features that Goodreads lacks. You can rate books using quarter or half stars, mark books as “Did Not Finish” and “Owned”, and set content warnings. Users can record private notes alongside their progress updates in the reading journal. You can set filters to search for book recommendations by mood, genre, pace, and more, leaving you with personalized, accurate suggestions. There’s also an “out of your comfort zone,” section that suggests books that based on your preferences, you wouldn’t usually pick up, which truly gives you a diverse array of suggestions.
One of the most interesting features is the simple tracking and insightful statistics data that it complies based on your reading habits. From pie charts showing what moods and genres you read to graphs detailing your reading activity, it presents your reading habits in a fun, easily digestible form. If you’re into book clubs (which are so in for 2024), you can “buddy read” with friends and track each other’s progress. While buddy reading, friends can even add live reactions to specific parts of the book which are blocked until you reach that point in the book, so there’s no fear of spoilers!
Despite its small team, The StoryGraph makes frequent updates to the app based on user insights. You can even upload your Goodreads data to The StoryGraph, which is extremely easy and fast. While The StoryGraph lacks the social impact and sense of community that Goodreads has, more and more readers are making the switch, which helps grow its budding social spaces. The app now has over two million users. With the growing number of users coupled with its frequent improvements, there’s no telling how The StoryGraph will improve and develop.
While Goodreads remains the top book-logging app, The StoryGraph is just as good, if not better, in my opinion. The personalized recommendations, insightful analysis, detailed book tracking, and accessibility make The StoryGraph worth downloading if you haven’t already.
While it’s still early in the year, now is the best time to make the switch and try it out. You never know what books you might discover.
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