StoryGraph: Reading Tracker Reviews

by Peanutbutterluv

I saw this new reading app being suggested on TikTok so I thought to check it out. I downloaded StoryGraph and began to create an account and decided to also import my info from Goodreads. It stated that it may take some time and I’ll receive an email once complete. While waiting, I took their book recommendation survey and was really enjoying it and getting exciting to play around on StoryGraph . I got an email saying the import was done as well. Once I finished the survey, StoryGraph got stuck on a loading page. It wouldn’t change and so I force closed StoryGraph . I went to re-open StoryGraph and the loading screen was still their even after I force closed it. I waited and eventually it opened back up to the homescreen but it logged me out. I tried logging back in, but an error popped up saying that the page isn’t working. As a new user, this puts me off and I cannot say whether I’ll continue to use or even attempt to navigate StoryGraph as it isn’t working at all. Please fix it!

by Hershey96

Going to need a lot of work to adequately compete with goodreads. The stats are great, but that’s about the only improvement. The interface is confusing, and certain pages can only be accessed by several unintuitive clickthroughs. The look of the whole thing just feels outdated as well. The fact that everything, including going “back” to a page, scrolls from the right is just weird. There are lots of covers, page info, and correct editions missing from this database, and searching editions by ISBN has yet to actually work correctly for me. Importing from goodreads made a mess of all of my information; thankfully I don’t have a large library so it only took an hour or so to manually update all of the books that inexplicably were marked as being audiobooks. (The edition noted on goodreads appears to have been fully disregarded in some cases). The reading tracking also needs work. It automatically marks ALL pages as being read on the final day of reading unless you manually track throughout. And it has to be *throughout* because there seems to be no way to back date entries, it will only allow me to add one “journal entry” per day, even if I update it to be for a day last week.

by Jd64491

I am a fan of StoryGraph . I like how it focuses on the topics the reviewers put it under rather than ratings. I also like the stats feature it provides and how comprehensive it is. However, I imported my data from goodreads since I’d been using that app to track my reading for about 5 years. The dates when I read things is one of the most important things I keep track of, but the imported books do not say the correct dates for when I read things. Because of this, I can’t look at any of the stats for the books I imported data for. In 2020, I read over 100 books but StoryGraph says I read 1. This past year I read about 34 books and the stats only show data for the most recent ones I put in manually. Because of this, I don’t know how likely it is that I will consistently be using StoryGraph over goodreads.

by Dimebizzle

This is better than Goodreads in my opinion. The homepage is accessible and easy to navigate. I like the quiz at the beginning so that your recommendations are personalized and you can change it at any time. It is quite obvious that the creator loves to read and knows what their doing. It also has reading challenges just like Goodreads. There is stats that shows you what genre, author, mood, ect. that you read the most; which I don’t think goodreads has. Another thing that this has that goodreads doesn’t is detailed reviews. Instead of 1 star increment ratings, it’s in increments of .25. You can also fill out a checklist about the book and submit that with the review. And one of the most useful things is that if you already have an account on goodreads, you can transfer all of your information to this app. There are a few small things, though. The page count on books is always around 20 pages over what the actual page count is. And since this is a smaller reading app, there isn’t any actual author reviews or anything. This is obviously not the apps fault though.
Great app overall!

by Mowilk

I really love a lot of aspects of StoryGraph’s functionality around reviews since it gives a much fuller picture than a simple star rating. Personally that’s a much bigger draw for me than the ability to give fractional stars, but since they’re there I do also make good use of them. I haven’t made use of the reading challenges yet, but that’s on my list for this year.

There are a few weird things with the design of StoryGraph that make it difficult to find things. For some reason, I always have a hard time remembering how to get to my own reviews to look at and edit them. I also have not been able to finish any of the handful of books I started after seeing them on their recommendation engine. Perhaps I just need to get more reading history into it, but the books I’m being recommended all seem to have very mediocre ratings and few to no reviews. On the one hand, it’s nice to not be recommended just a list of NYT bestsellers, but their current recommendation algorithm seems to be swinging too far in the other direction.

by Kalynobyrne

I love so many things about this all! I love that you can do half and quarter stars and all the options when reviewing! I love the break down of stats! The main thing I don’t like is that you can’t see whole follows you! This makes me extremely uncomfortable! I also love connecting with people over reading and have friends and being able to interact with them on a site like this I love! I am able to do that on goodreads which I really appreciate and feel like I can create more of a community! I love being able to interact with my friends and see what they are reading and if it’s a book I love I love being able to comment on their update. I know the creators have said they don’t want this to be a social media website which is why they won’t let you see who your friends are. But I think the social aspect of reading is really fun! I truly love StoryGraph so much and it has so many amazing features but I really hate that you can’t see who you’re friends are and who is following you. It makes me extremely uncomfortable as a woman.

by Biiig Water Guzzler

Absolutely great app! I love being able to visually see my books in graphs and being able to compare. I also love the reading journal feature and the fact that content warnings are very transparent. AND the recommendations are always great!!
I do however wish there was a way to create groups or “book clubs” to get book recommendations from people or chat with them. I know there’s the buddy read feature, but that requires you to already know users reading the same book as you. Would love for this app to connect similar readers to create virtual book club spaces.

by AppDeeDee

I just realized almost all reviews are within past couple of days so there is my evidence :)

StoryGraph has a simple streamlined also uncluttered interface. I like the general minimalist aesthetic which plays a big part for continued use as a new user. I am impressed with the recommendations as I have been building a small ‘library’, online or offline. The books fall neatly into the niches I am currently focusing on while bearing surprise factor to expand on my own list. This is a gem for sure.

I guess it really depends on the longevity of those apps, growth potential, user base…Last Goodread replacement seems to be out of the cyberspace before I get to check it out (after I first learned about it some years ago)…At least I am a front runner for this one!

So maybe share some findings, 1st, StoryGraph doesn’t stay signing in, so it’s a bit inconvenient having to type credential every time. 2nd the Current On…section is like a young adult gold mine, pretty irrelevant to my reading selection. So no idea what’s the algorithm behind…

Question is if I start to add data to this, how long will they stay on? Also how good is the archive StoryGraph is searching? How solid is the search/display algorithm? The order of the search results are quite interesting…

by Aemcfadden

My only issue with StoryGraph thus far is that it never updates my most read authors stats and the one author it is showing is not accurate either. Just wondering if this was a bug or if there are plans to modify it in the future? Otherwise, StoryGraph has been a game changer! The amount of stats available are incomparable to those on Goodreads and it offers a more clean design. Plus, StoryGraph is more focused on reading whereas Goodreads became almost like another social media app rather than its intended purpose to track your reading. I love that this app is adding in the friends and buddy features but there doesn’t feel like I need to care about what other people are reading.

by SilverFire2

App is hanging when I update one of my reviews, I need to restart StoryGraph . Also UI/UX notes: - i went back to goodreads for a bit because I didn’t even realize StoryGraph had ratings. I feel like ratings and reviews need to move up from the bottom of the page. - I’m sure you’re aware, but performance needs to improve. One of my main gripes with goodreads is it is super laggy. But the iOS app for this app is similarly laggy when eg opening a book’s page. I’m a software dev so I know how hard this is to fix, but I still wanted to flag. - When I sort my “to read” list, click into a book, switch the edition, and then come back out to the list, the sort is reset. - Please let me sort my lists by rating.

by Cindy Mayweather

I listed everything I love in the “what kind of books do you like to read?” section of the reading preferences, and now every time I view my recommendations, it’s like StoryGraph is saying “and we love you, too.” Just good books I am consistently eager to read.

As someone who never got over the whole thing with Jinni (if you were there, you *know*), I feel immense relief knowing I can get good recommendations without fearing that one day they will sell my data to the highest bidder and leave me high and dry.

And frankly, it’s just better than the competition. They get readers. They are readers. They listen.

by Ry Nicole Roberts

The this app is the best reading app I’ve ever used. I’m able to track my reading progress/stats, join challenges that help me find new reads that are outside of my comfort zone, and search for books based on my current mood. I have a “The this app Plus” account so I have a few extra features as well, but a favorite is the personalized similar book suggestions. If you’re looking for an alternative to goodreads (or any other reading tracker), I can’t recommend the this app enough.

by Wookieandkiera

Such a perfect app for keeping track of the books you read! I love that StoryGraph is fast and works well. I love being able to give .5 and .75 ratings. The book recommendations are great, I’ve discovered a lot of books that I am really interested in through that feature.

After using Goodreads for years and being so sick and tired of the slowness of StoryGraph I am SO glad that I switched to this app (and it was so easy! Exporting my Goodreads info only took like 2 minutes to do).

I would highly, highly recommended trying out StoryGraph.

by Person #hippopotomus

Hi this app, first of all I love your app, but this review is going to just be a suggestion of a feature to add! It is already 5 stars for me but this is just an extra I would love to see!

“Pending” owned books
I love that there is a “Mark as owned” feature, but I order so many books online and sometimes I forget which books I’m still waiting on to arrive. I would love it if there was a “Pending” owned feature so I could keep track of which books I’ve ordered but haven’t arrived yet.

by Alfjsgak

I’ve been using and loving Goodreads for years and just decided to take the plunge and try out this app, and I love it! It’s a bit of a learning curve but has so much more cool info, and you can import all your historical GR data to get started!

I love all the pie charts for genre, book format read, etc. One suggestion, I wish the little book listings more easily showed which edition/format you have selected. Many of my books aren’t the correct edition/format I actually read but you have to drill down a couple levels to see that. But overall I highly recommend StoryGraph!

by K80dino

I love StoryGraph. It’s great to be able to track my reading progress, see my monthly stats, and keep up with what my friends are reading.
The only issue I’ve seen with it is that the interface can be a bit messy. Selecting one of the tabs at the bottom takes you to a new page. This means that going between tabs has you ending up with a ton of pages that you need to close or hit the back arrow to get to. Just keeping them as separate tabs that save where you are on that page (as you see with social media apps like Instagram or Pinterest) would make it a much easier app to use. Hopefully this made sense :)

by Iamangieh

this is such a cool tool that I now use every day! I heard about StoryGraph on BookTube and was intrigued because of all the stats it provides. I used to have to manually log all my stats on a Google Sheet made by another BookTuber and it was kind of a hassle. now, I get to use this awesome app that does that and so much more. THE alternative to Goodreads because I really don’t want to give more money to Bezos than what he already gets from me for Prime (so I can watch Invincible, of course). also, super amazing that it was founded by a poc! thank you for all that you do, Nadia Odunayo and Rob Frelow. ps. their team of librarians are very fast to answer or correct anything that is brought to their attention.

by WARNING DONT DOWNLOAD

I love StoryGraph! I was trying to find an app that would help me get more into reading and I stumbled upon good reads. When I got that app I was severely disappointed and frustrated with StoryGraph design. It was hard to use and didn’t motivate me to track my reading in anyway. I was searching for an alternative app to get me into reading and I stumbled upon this app! I fell in love immediately! It’s so user friendly and motivates me to track my progress, not only that it gives amazing suggestions off of what you like to read. It even has different folders where you can store the books you have in your library, books you need to read, and books you are currently reading. I really love this app!

by Lwestb01

I’ve been searching high and low for an alternative to Goodreads—for some reason, I wanted *all* of the same features so that I didn’t feel as if I were missing out on something. What I didn’t realize is how much those features drive me up a wall!

I genuinely love this app because it has helped me fall back in love with reading, not just *talking* about reading. Its goals are fun but not obnoxious to check in with, its catalogue is ever-growing, and its design is far more relaxing than Goodreads.

Additionally, it means a lot to me that this app is independent. I plan to subscribe after I finish cataloguing my library, and I urge you to do so as well. It’s not often that we find a website & amazing group of designers like the team behind this app. They are transparent, creative, and hold a relationship with those that frequent the site. Cheers to more reading, with more vivacity than ever!

by MagneticCrow

Beautiful app with fast, clear UI and fun reading tracking graphs and other features. I love how StoryGraph shuffles my tbr, to help remind me of books I’ve been meaning to read and haven’t thought about in a while. Also, the recommendations are really top notch, and the rating system is so much more useful than just a star system for helping me figure out what I’m in the mood for. I hate apps that show me nothing but an arbitrary star reading up top.

My one ask is that I wish it was easier to figure out who’s following me, or to find my friends who are using StoryGraph . But all in all I’ve deleted goodreads, I’m all in for this app now.

by Amr524

StoryGraph is an amazing reading tracker, saves stats, allows you to create tags & host challenges, and includes content warnings. This is a great alternative to other apps that are owned by giant corporations. The best part is the dev team is constantly asking for feedback and making users asks a reality!

by Shaeliza

StoryGraph was created by and is run by a Black woman who cares about having content warnings and more thorough reviews, not a wealthy bald white guy that doesn’t pay taxes. Just download it. Just do it. Import your good reads information and never look back.

by Sheyenne126

So much better than every other tracking app/site that I’ve used. The stats are amazing and the book recommendations are actually accurate!

by Mszngrace

I’ve been a huge fan of the this app for as long as it’s been around - I vastly prefer it over GoodReads - and StoryGraph version does not disappoint! The user experience is friendly and easy to navigate, and the features are always improving.

by Potato 71

I love this app - I’ve been using it for over a year now and the ability to track my reading more closely, set ratings on a .25 increment, and do reading challenges has immensely helped me reach my reading goals. Can’t wait to see what this app has in store for its future.

by Drunkonvogue

There are a million reasons why this app is the superior reading tracker but let me give you six specific ones that convinced me to leave all other platforms for good:

1) They allow you to give .5 ratings and mark your books as DNF.
2) You can easily add trigger and content warnings to your reviews.
3) You’re able to participate in a plethora of reading challenges (and create custom ones for you and your friends).
4) Choose to be as social as you’d like! It’s not forced on you.
5) They have personalized reading recommendations you can tailor to your mood.
6) THEY VALUE YOUR INPUT AS A USER!

I’m hooked and you will be too!

by Somebodythatiusedtoknow

StoryGraph is truly the best for tracking your reading habits and getting personalized recommendations of books you actually want to read, and not just the same top 10 best sellers listed over and over. The developers of StoryGraph have been super helpful and receptive to feedback. I appreciate how they want to make this an app that works with you and your needs.

by Alexandra Casison

I discovered this app back in March and I have fallen in love with it ever since! I’m so excited that we finally have an official app for it! This platform is definitely designed with readers in mind. It’s has an amazing user interface and it’s easy to connect with fellow readers. The recommendations are helpful and it’s always fun discovering something new!

by Cdemi12

The this app app is perfect and functions just like the website. It is a proper native app built by such a small team, and they deserve a lot of credit. The description in StoryGraph Store is very robust and helpful for new users who’ve never heard of The this app. It’s a great app and makes it easy to use The this app from any device. Love it!

by Eecooldog

I’ve been using story graph for about 6 months now and I LOVE it!!!! The recommendations are always spot on, it’s so easy to keep track of everything and my favorite feature by far is the statistics and graphs that it puts together for you to show what you have read!!! I cant recommend this enough

by Thebuh

If you enjoy reading - you 100% need StoryGraph!
Beautiful layout, killer recommendations, easy-to-use format, tons of fun reading challenges, and my favorite feature: loads of reading analytics for understanding your reading trends! I’ve been using this app for about a year and I love being able to track and tag the books I’m planning to read, own, or have read recently all in one place. Highly recommend!

by Maddieb7749

I have been using the this app website for about 6 months after years of being a die hard Goodreads user. These recommendations are so much better and I love the reading challenges features, reading preferences, and that you can graph your pages and books over time. They are constantly adding and improving features. So excited to have it in StoryGraph Store now, and StoryGraph itself works beautifully.

by Jashana

I have been using the beta version of StoryGraph and also using the website for many months now and I LOVE IT. It is far superior to Goodreads and the developers actually LISTEN to feedback and are always working to improve it even more.

I love that it isn’t a “social media” thing. The recommendations feature is great and being able ti use quarter stars for ratings… as well as the detailed review prompts… it’s truly stellar!

by KimzeyC

I love love love this! I was using this app since the beta times. I am so happy it has an app! Using the web as a shortcut was amazing, it honestly felt like an app anyways but I’m so happy for this. I highly recommend it! It’s sleek, powerful, and overall just great!