The 5 best book tracking apps in 2026

A book tracking app does three jobs. It remembers what you’ve read and what you want to read next. It helps you decide what to pick up. And, if you want it to, it connects you with other readers. Most apps are strong at one or two of those and so-so at the third, which is why "which one is best?" doesn’t have a single answer.

This is our shortlist of five apps worth trying in 2026, with what each one genuinely does well and where it falls short.

How we picked

We looked for apps that are actively maintained, let you bring your existing library in (or at least don’t trap it), and do the basics well: shelves, ratings, reviews and some way to see your reading over time. Then we asked what each app is best for, because that’s what should decide your choice.

StoryGraph: best for stats and choosing by mood

StoryGraph made its name by asking how a book feels. Readers tag moods (dark, hopeful, funny), pace and whether a story is plot- or character-driven, and you can filter by those when you’re deciding what’s next. It also tracks content warnings submitted by readers and offers quarter-star ratings.

Its reading stats are the other big draw: charts of your moods, genres, pages and pace over time, which many readers love poring over. StoryGraph also has buddy reads for small groups, with comments locked to the page where they were written, and larger readalongs with discussion checkpoints.

Worth knowing: it’s funded by an optional paid tier (StoryGraph Plus) rather than ads. Its community and social features are lighter than Goodreads’, which some people see as a plus and others miss.

Choose it if you love data about your own reading and want recommendations shaped by mood.

Goodreads: best for the biggest community

Goodreads has been around since 2007 and is owned by Amazon. Its biggest advantage is sheer size: almost every book has ratings and reviews, there are groups for nearly every genre and niche, and authors are active through the Goodreads Author Program and Ask the Author Q&A. The yearly Reading Challenge and Year in Books are popular, and if you read on Kindle the integration is convenient.

Worth knowing: ratings are whole stars only, the site shows ads, and the design has changed relatively little over the years. Goodreads added a Did Not Finish option in 2026, which readers had requested for a long time.

Choose it if you want the widest pool of reviews and discussion, or you’re deep in the Kindle ecosystem.

Hardcover: best for an indie, enthusiast-built tracker

Hardcover is an independent app funded by readers who pay for an optional supporter membership. It’s popular with people who want a modern-feeling tracker built by a small team that talks openly about its roadmap. It has lists, moods, tags, reading goals and a yearly recap, and it imports from Goodreads and StoryGraph. It also offers an API, which appeals to readers who like to tinker.

Worth knowing: ratings go to half stars rather than quarters. At the time of writing, book clubs and buddy reads are listed on Hardcover’s public roadmap as being in testing, and collaborative lists recently arrived as a supporter feature.

Choose it if you like supporting an indie team, want an active public roadmap, or plan to build things on top of your reading data.

Fable: best for clubs that read inside the app

Fable is built around social reading. Clubs can set reading milestones, and discussion rooms keep conversation organised by chapter so people who are behind can avoid spoilers. Fable also sells ebooks you can read in the app, with highlights and comments shared with your club if you choose.

Worth knowing: Fable shows ads unless you pay for Fable Plus. As of October 2026 it doesn’t offer a library export, so if you build up years of history there it’s harder to take with you. (You can still move by making a simple spreadsheet; our Fable switching guide shows how.)

Choose it if your book club wants to read and discuss in one place, and you’re happy to buy ebooks through the app.

Shelfola: best for spoiler-safe social reading and honest ratings

This is ours, so weigh this section accordingly. Shelfola is a free book tracker and reading community with no ads. The things we’ve focused on:

• Ratings you can trust. Quarter stars, plus review-bomb protection: ratings from brand-new accounts and before a book’s release don’t count toward its score, readers who finished the book count fully, and every book page shows how its score was built.
• Spoiler safety everywhere. Reviewers tag spoilers by chapter, so you see everything up to where you are. Buddy reads stamp every message with a page and keep it locked until you’ve logged that far. They work on their own or inside clubs, which add checkpoints for each section.
• A quieter social experience. A Following tab that’s only the readers you follow, everything newest first with no engagement ranking. Notifications are bundled, held overnight and capped at 3 non-essential emails a day by default.
• The tracking basics. DNF with how far you got, rereads, moods, pace and content warnings, series in reading order, your own tags and lists, editions and translations grouped under one book (switch editions and your progress carries over), private reading stats, reading challenges and a Year in Books.
• Small pleasures. A Daily Book Puzzle where you guess the day’s book in six tries.

Shelfola installs from your browser on phone or computer, works offline and scans ISBN barcodes. It imports Goodreads, StoryGraph and Hardcover export files and any spreadsheet, with a preview before anything is saved and one-tap undo.

Worth knowing: it’s new, so the community is much smaller than Goodreads’, and there’s no native app-store app: you install it from the browser instead.

Choose it if you read with friends or clubs and hate spoilers, care about whether ratings are fair, or just want a calm, ad-free place for your books.

Also worth a look

Two more, briefly. LibraryThing is a long-running service focused on cataloguing your own collection, popular with serious collectors. BookWyrm is open-source and federated, so you can join a community-run server rather than a company’s. Both are good fits for specific needs, which is why they’re mentions rather than picks.

How to choose

Ask yourself one question: what do you want the app to do for you?

• "Help me decide what to read." StoryGraph’s mood filters and recommendations are excellent. Shelfola’s search also filters by mood and pace and lets you exclude content warnings.
• "Show me what everyone thinks." Goodreads’ scale is hard to beat.
• "Let me read with my friends." Shelfola and StoryGraph both lock buddy-read comments to the page; Fable is strong if you also want to read the ebook together.
• "Give me something indie I can tinker with." Hardcover.

The good news is that switching is cheap. Goodreads, StoryGraph and Hardcover all let you export your library as a CSV file, and most trackers import those files. If you want to try somewhere new without losing your history, start with how to export your Goodreads library, keep the file somewhere safe, and import it wherever you like. You can always import it somewhere else later.