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If you’re the kind of person who finishes a book and immediately thinks, Okay, but what am I reading next. Welcome. You’re among friends 🙂 Let’s dive in and cover some of the best book tracking apps out there!

At CurrentlyBooked, we are BIG fans of keeping track of what we’re reading. There is something ridiculously satisfying about looking back at a year and seeing all those little book covers lined up together.

But here’s the question… What is the best book tracking app in 2026?

For years, Goodreads has pretty much been the name in book tracking apps. It’s where many of us started, where we keep our never-ending TBRs, and where we go to see what everyone else is reading.

But Goodreads isn’t the only option anymore.

Two of the biggest alternatives worth knowing about are StoryGraph and Literal, and they each take a very different approach to tracking your reading life.

So we decided to break down all three and figure out which one is actually worth using.

And before we go any further… you absolutely do not have to choose just one.

You can use Goodreads for your social bookish life, StoryGraph for stats, Literal for tracking, and Libby for actually getting the books from your library. (Honestly? That sounds pretty reasonable to us.)

Let’s get into it.

Quick Comparison: Goodreads vs. StoryGraph vs. Literal

	Goodreads	StoryGraph	Literal
Best for	Book community & discovering popular books	Stats & personalized recommendations	Simple tracking & bookish community
Free version	Yes	Yes	Yes
Reading challenge	Yes	Yes	Yes
Detailed stats	Basic	⭐ Excellent	Good
Mood-based recommendations	Not the focus	⭐ Excellent	Limited
DNF tracking	Yes	Yes	Yes
Half/quarter-star ratings	No	Yes	No
Custom shelves/tags	Yes	Yes	Yes
Book clubs/social features	⭐ Excellent	Yes	⭐ Excellent
Reading journal	Limited	Yes	Yes
Highlights/quotes	Yes, especially with Kindle	Yes	⭐ Excellent
Goodreads import	—	Yes	Yes
Ads	Yes	No	No
Paid option	No paid tier for core tracking	StoryGraph Plus	Optional supporter memberships
Overall vibe	The OG	The data nerd	The cool new kid

So…which one wins?

Well, that depends entirely on what kind of reader you are.

Goodreads: The OG Book Tracking App

Let’s start with the obvious one.

Goodreads is still the giant in the room.

Goodreads launched in 2007 and describes itself as the world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations. Its biggest strength has always been its enormous community. You can see what your friends are reading, read thousands of reviews, browse upcoming releases, create shelves, track your reading goal, and generally fall down a bookish rabbit hole for approximately three hours.

Sound familiar? Yep.

What Goodreads does really well

The community is HUGE.

This is probably Goodreads’ biggest advantage over its competitors.

If a new book is getting all over BookTok or Instagram, chances are you’ll find an enormous number of reviews on Goodreads. If you’re trying to decide whether a book is worth picking up, there is no shortage of opinions.

And if you have friends who read? There’s a good chance they’re already there.

Goodreads also has an established reading challenge that lets you set a yearly goal and see your progress throughout the year. Goodreads’ 2026 challenge continues to emphasize reading goals, friends, recommendations, and even counts Kindle books toward your challenge when your Amazon account is linked. Let’s face it…Goodreads is just EASY! And I love it for that <3

Goodreads is also great for…

Keeping a massive TBR.

Let’s be honest: some of us don’t want a manageable TBR.

We want a TBR that could qualify as its own small library.

Goodreads makes it incredibly easy to save books you’re interested in and organize them into shelves.

You can also create custom shelves, which is one of the features that keeps Goodreads useful even if you’re not obsessed with the rest of the platform.

And Goodreads finally added a DNF shelf!

This deserves its own mention because readers have been asking for it for YEARS.

In 2026, Goodreads officially rolled out a Did Not Finish shelf, allowing readers to mark books they abandoned without having to create their own custom DNF shelf. You can also record your progress before setting a book aside.

As someone who firmly believes that life is too short to finish a book you hate…

👏👏👏

The downside?

Goodreads can feel a little…old school. And hey…I’m not saying that’s a bad thing.

It has the largest community of the three, but the experience isn’t necessarily the sleekest or most modern.

And while Goodreads has personalized recommendations, its biggest strength is still its massive database and community rather than incredibly detailed reading analytics.

If you’re looking at your reading habits and thinking, I want to know what percentage of my books were mysteries, how many pages I read, what moods I tend to gravitate toward, and whether I read more slowly when a book is over 400 pages…

Goodreads probably isn’t going to scratch that itch.

Goodreads is best for:

Readers who want to see what everyone else is reading
Book clubs and social interaction
Huge numbers of reviews
Building a giant TBR
Annual reading challenges
Following authors and friends
Readers who already have years of reading history stored there

Our verdict: 4/5

Goodreads may not be the newest or flashiest option in terms of the best book tracking apps, but there is a reason it has remained the biggest name in book tracking.

StoryGraph: For the Reader Who Wants ALL THE STATS

If Goodreads is the social butterfly, StoryGraph is the reader who has a spreadsheet for their spreadsheet.

And we mean that lovingly. You know Katie and I love us a good spreadsheet!

StoryGraph’s biggest selling point is its incredibly detailed reading statistics.

You don’t just track what you read.

You can dig into how you read.

StoryGraph tracks things like moods, pace, genres, formats, pages read, fiction vs. nonfiction, ratings, and more. Its recommendation system also lets you search based on the kind of book you’re in the mood for.

The mood-based recommendations are SO good

This is probably the feature that makes StoryGraph stand out the most in terms of the best book tracking apps.

Instead of simply saying, “You liked this book, so here are five more books like it,” StoryGraph lets you get much more specific.

You can basically say:

“I want something emotional, adventurous, fast-paced, and maybe a little dark.”

And StoryGraph can use those preferences to help narrow down your options.

Which is honestly perfect for those moments when you know exactly what kind of reading mood you’re in but cannot figure out what book fits it.

The stats are next level

If you love looking at your end-of-year reading recap, StoryGraph is going to make your little bookish heart very happy.

You can see charts and breakdowns of your reading habits, including the number of books and pages you’ve read, genres, moods, formats, languages, ratings, and more.

And if you upgrade to StoryGraph Plus, you can create custom charts, use additional stats filters, compare different segments of your reading history, and create custom wrap-up graphics. The current Plus price is $49.99/year, with a 30-day free trial.

StoryGraph also has…

Half and quarter stars.

This may sound like a tiny thing.

It is not.

Because sometimes a book is not a 4.

It’s a 3.75, and you KNOW IT. If you’re a reader and a serious rater….you know that star rating on GoodReads bothers you…

StoryGraph lets you get much more specific with your ratings. And that matters when it comes to best book tracking apps!!

You can also mark books as DNF, mark books as owned, create custom tags and lists, participate in reading challenges, keep reading journal entries, and use its buddy-read features.

Another huge plus: importing from Goodreads

If you’ve spent YEARS building your Goodreads library, you don’t have to start from scratch.

StoryGraph allows you to import your Goodreads data, including your currently-reading, read, to-read, and DNF shelves. Custom Goodreads shelves can also be brought over as custom tags.

That makes experimenting with StoryGraph pretty painless.

The downside?

If you’re looking for the enormous social ecosystem of Goodreads, StoryGraph can feel quieter.

And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Some people will LOVE that.

But if you want to see what hundreds of thousands of people are saying about a brand-new release, Goodreads still has the advantage simply because of its size.

StoryGraph is best for:

Readers who LOVE stats
Readers who want personalized recommendations
Mood readers
Readers who like half and quarter stars
People who want detailed reading recaps
Readers looking for a Goodreads alternative
People who want content warnings and more detailed book information

Our verdict: 4.75/5

If you are the person who gets weirdly excited about a pie chart showing your reading habits…

You need StoryGraph.

Literal: The Cool New Kid on the Block

Okay, let’s talk about Literal.

Literal is newer to the book-tracking conversation, but it has a really interesting approach.

Where StoryGraph is heavily focused on data and Goodreads is heavily focused on its enormous community, Literal seems to be trying to create more of a social reading experience.

Think:

“What if book tracking felt a little more like Letterboxd?”

Literal describes itself as a book tracker designed for everyday use, with native iOS and Android apps, real-time syncing, custom shelves, reviews, reading goals, statistics, book clubs, and social following.

Literal is really easy to use

One of Literal’s biggest selling points is speed.

The company specifically emphasizes being able to mark a book finished in essentially one tap, and the app syncs across iPhone, Android, and the web.

That sounds like a small thing.

But if you’re a busy reader who just wants to log a book and move on with your life, simple is good.

Literal also has a strong social side

You can follow other readers, see what they’re reading, join book clubs, and interact with reviews.

It also has a feature called Moments, which lets you save highlights and quotes from books. Literal treats those moments as a first-class part of the reading experience rather than just another field attached to a book.

If you love collecting quotes from books, this is a really appealing feature in best book tracking apps!

And it’s completely free to track your books

Literal says its core tracking features will remain free, with no ads or usage limits.

There are optional supporter memberships (currently $40/year for Plus or $80/year for Supporter) but those are designed to support the platform rather than lock basic reading-tracking features behind a paywall.

You can also import your existing library

This is another big deal for anyone who has spent years building a Goodreads library.

Literal supports importing from Goodreads and StoryGraph, so you don’t have to manually add hundreds of books one at a time.

The downside?

Literal is smaller.

And when you’re comparing a newer platform with Goodreads, that’s going to matter.

You won’t necessarily find the same sheer volume of reviews and community activity that you can find on Goodreads.

Literal also doesn’t currently have the same depth of mood-based reading analytics that makes StoryGraph so appealing.

And if you’re a hardcore stats person?

StoryGraph still wins that battle.

Literal is best for:

Readers who want a clean, modern tracker
People looking for a Goodreads alternative
Readers who love social features
People who collect favorite quotes and highlights
Book club readers
Readers who want something simple and ad-free
People who want to import their Goodreads or StoryGraph library

Our verdict: 4/5

Literal is definitely one to watch.

So…Which Book Tracking App Is Actually the Best?

Here’s the thing.

There isn’t one “best” app for every reader.

It really depends on what you’re hoping to get out of your tracker.

🏆 Best for the biggest bookish community: Goodreads

If you want the largest collection of reviews, friends, authors, book discussions, and reading challenges, Goodreads is still the winner.

It’s also the easiest choice if your friends already use it.

📊 Best for stats: StoryGraph

If you want to know everything about your reading habits, go with StoryGraph.

It is hands-down the most data-focused of the three.

And if you’re a mood reader who frequently thinks, I need a fast-paced thriller but I don’t want anything TOO dark and I need it to be under 350 pages…

StoryGraph is basically your personal book matchmaker.

💬 Best for social reading: Literal

If you want your book tracker to feel like a social space — and you love sharing reviews, quotes, reading moments, and book club conversations — Literal is worth trying.

It’s also probably the most interesting option for someone who wants something that feels fresh and modern.

Our Favorite? You Don’t Have to Pick Just One.

Here’s where we’re going to give you permission to be a little ridiculous.

You don’t have to choose.

Personally, I think there is a pretty compelling argument for using different apps for different purposes.

You could keep your Goodreads account because you’ve already built years of reading history there.

You could use StoryGraph when you want to dive into your stats or figure out what to read next based on your mood.

And you could use Literal if you want a more modern, social reading experience.

And then there’s…

Libby.

Because none of these apps actually solves the most important problem:

How do I get this book for free from my library?

😂

Libby remains one of our favorite apps for actually reading books, while Goodreads, StoryGraph, and Literal are primarily about tracking and discovering them.

So really, our dream setup might look something like this:

Libby: Give me the book. (You can even track your books if you’re diligent with tags. I am not 😅)

Goodreads: Let me see what everyone thinks about it.

StoryGraph: Tell me what kind of mood this book is going to put me in.

Literal: Let me talk about it with my bookish friends.

Honestly?

We’re not mad about it.

Final Verdict

If you’ve been using Goodreads forever and you’re perfectly happy with it, you don’t need to switch.

Goodreads is still a perfectly functional and incredibly useful book tracker and its ENORMOUS community is something the newer apps simply can’t replicate overnight. It’s here to stay.

But if you’ve been feeling like your Goodreads experience is a little stale, StoryGraph is the first alternative we’d try.

Its detailed stats, mood-based recommendations, content warnings, flexible ratings, DNF tracking, and personalized approach make it a genuinely compelling alternative.

And if you want something newer and more community-focused, give Literal a try.

The best part?

You can import your existing Goodreads library into both StoryGraph and Literal, so experimenting doesn’t mean saying goodbye to all those years of carefully tracked books.

Because really, the goal isn’t to find the “correct” book tracking app.

It’s to find the one that makes you want to keep reading.

And THAT is something we can get behind.

Our Currently Booked Quick Take

Goodreads: The OG. Best for community, reviews, friends, and a massive book database.

StoryGraph: The stats queen. Best for data, moods, recommendations, and reading analytics.

Literal: The cool new kid. Best for modern tracking, social reading, quotes, and book clubs.

Libby: Still the MVP when your goal is actually getting the books. 😉

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The Best Book Tracking Apps of 2026: Goodreads vs. StoryGraph vs. Literal

Quick Comparison: Goodreads vs. StoryGraph vs. Literal