An alternative to Goodreads, and how to take your shelves with you

Why readers look for an alternative to Goodreads

Goodreads is where most readers' shelves have lived for years. It is free, it has groups for almost any kind of book, and its yearly Reading Challenge is a habit for many people. It is also owned by Amazon: its privacy notice says that Goodreads LLC is a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc.

Why readers look elsewhere differs from person to person. One would rather use an app that does not belong to Amazon. Another wants more detailed statistics about what they read, or a way to search by mood. A third is mostly after something other than a list: a person who recommends a book for them. Different apps answer different reasons, so it is worth knowing which is yours.

The StoryGraph, Time to Read and Goodreads side by side

Goodreads' owner is from its privacy notice. Prices and The StoryGraph's import are from each app's page on the UK App Store (Goodreads, The StoryGraph), read on 29 October 2026.

What is The StoryGraph? An app for keeping track of what you read, with charts about your reading, streaks, and goals for books, pages and listening. Its App Store listing calls it ‘an independent, Goodreads alternative’. Most of it is free, and there is a paid Plus.

Time to Read is a different sort of app. It grew out of a book subscription: what subscribers liked most was that a book had been chosen for them, and that part became an app. Your shelves are there too, and beside them is Ask. You write one sentence about what you are in the mood for. Readers whose shelves overlap with yours read it and each choose one book, with a reason, usually within the hour. When too few readers are around, the Reading Desk, the app's own editors, answers under that name, and it always says so.

What to look for before you switch

• Your books come with you. Check how the new app imports: from the Goodreads file, from a link, or only by hand. A switch that means typing in five hundred books does not happen.
• What happens to your data. Read who owns the app and what its privacy policy says it does with your reading history. It tells a company a lot about you.
• What it costs, now and later. Free with a paid tier, free outright, or a subscription after a trial. Look at what the free part leaves out.
• What you actually want from it. A list and a yearly goal, charts about your reading, or somebody who suggests your next book. The best tracker in the world will not tell you what to read on Friday.

Taking your Goodreads shelves with you

You can move your Goodreads books to another app in two ways: with Goodreads' export file, or with an app that reads your public shelf from its link. The export first. Goodreads' help pages put it on the website, not in the app.

1. On goodreads.com, go to My Books.
2. Under Tools on the left, click Import and export.
3. Under Export, click Export Library. With a large library it can take a few minutes.
4. A link appears with the date of your export. Use it to download a .csv file.

What you do next depends on where you are going.

• To The StoryGraph. Its listing says it imports your currently-reading, read, to-read and did-not-finish shelves, and that shelves you made yourself become tags.
• To Time to Read. You do not need the file. Paste the link to your public Goodreads profile and the app reads your shelves from there. If your profile is private, make it public on Goodreads first, or add your books another way: by scanning the barcode, or by photographing a full shelf.

The export steps are as Goodreads' help page gave them when we last read it in full, on 14 October 2026.

Moving from The StoryGraph

The StoryGraph has an export too, and it is on the website, app.thestorygraph.com, rather than in its app. Tap your avatar, then Manage Account, and under Manage Your Data choose Export StoryGraph Library. When the CSV file is ready, download it.

Time to Read reads that file. You choose it when you add books, and your books land on your shelves Reading, Want and Read. More about those three shelves, and about scanning and photographing, is in which reading tracker app suits you.

What you lose and what you keep

A reading list moves house. A community does not.

Your books come with you to Time to Read. Your reviews, friends and groups on Goodreads or The StoryGraph do not: they belong to the platform they are on. What another app takes over exactly is on that app's own site, so check before you start.

You do not have to close your Goodreads account to start somewhere else. Time to Read only reads your shelf; nothing changes on your account. So you can keep the old one for a while and see which you open more often. Going back is possible too: Goodreads can import a .csv file, as long as each book has an ISBN.

Time to Read is a subscription after seven free days. If you would like to try it, download the app.