Goodreads: Book Tracker & More is an established books app that is completely free. With a 4.8/5 rating from 905.1K reviews, it shows polarized user reception. Users particularly appreciate comprehensive book tracking, though missing half-star ratings remains a common concern.

What is Goodreads: Book Tracker & More?

Goodreads is the dominant social platform for book tracking and discovery, serving as a critical discovery layer for the Amazon ecosystem. It leverages a massive database of user reviews and a powerful social graph to maintain its #5 Free category ranking. However, the platform is currently facing a "legacy trap," where its massive user base is increasingly frustrated by a lack of modern UI standards and core feature updates.

Current Momentum

v2.74 · 1w ago

Active

Goodreads introduced the highly requested Did Not Finish (DNF) shelf in the latest Android and iOS updates. This feature rollout occurred across both platforms within a two-week window.

Active Nemesis

Bookmory - reading tracker

Bookmory - reading tracker

By Dong su Mun

Other Rivals

Wattpad - Read & Write Stories
Hoopla: Your Library Anywhere
Everand: Audiobooks & Ebooks
Readwise
Bookshelf
Inkitt: Books, Novels, Stories

7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸

Books
#4

Rating Pulse 🇺🇸

Recent User Mood

What makes this app unique?

What Does It Look Like?

What Are The Key Features?

Barcode ScannerDifferentiator

Scan book covers or barcodes in bookstores to instantly view reviews and add to reading lists

Reading ChallengeDifferentiator

Gamified annual goal setting to encourage and track reading progress

Goodreads Choice AwardsDifferentiator

Annual voting platform for readers to select and celebrate the best books of the year

Book Tracking & ShelvingBasic

Organize books into custom shelves like 'Want to Read', 'Currently Reading', and 'Read'

How much does it cost?

Free
  • Free service for all users

The app operates as a free community-driven service, leveraging its massive user base and integration with Amazon to drive book discovery and sales.

Who Built It?

Goodreads app icon

Connecting readers through a massive social database of book reviews and recommendations. Serving as a primary discovery engine for the Amazon ecosystem.

Portfolio

1

Apps

Explore the full Goodreads report

Portfolio breakdown, audience, momentum, and every app published by Goodreads.

Go deeper

What do users think recently?

High confidence · Latest 100 of 905.1K total reviews analyzed

How did the latest release land?

Overall
4.8/ 5
(905.1K)
Current version
4.8/ 5
+0.0 vs overall
(716.4K)
Main signal post-update: comprehensive Book Tracking.

What is the recent mood?

Mixed

Recent user voice shows a mixed sentiment. Users appreciate comprehensive book tracking and social connectivity, but report missing half-star ratings and outdated ui and lack of dark mode.

What Users Love

Comprehensive Book Tracking
Social Connectivity

What Frustrates Users

Missing Half-Star Ratings
Outdated UI and Lack of Dark Mode

View the full user-sentiment analysis

Mood gauge, ratings & review-volume history, every praise / complaint / request, and sentiment over time.

Go deeper

What is the competitive landscape for Goodreads: Book Tracker & More?

How's The Books Market?

How does it evolve in the Books market?

Rank progression

90 active rankings tracked — 30-day window

The rivals identified

The outtake for Goodreads: Book Tracker & More

Strengths to defend, gaps to attack

Core Strengths

  • Unrivaled social graph and community database
  • Deep integration with Amazon/Kindle ecosystem
  • High brand authority via Choice Awards
  • Massive existing user base (900k+ ratings)

Critical Frictions

  • Outdated UI/UX and lack of Dark Mode
  • Inflexible 5-star rating system (no half-stars)
  • Technical bugs in progress syncing and login
  • Slow feature development cycle

Growth Levers

  • Modernize visual tracking (calendars/charts) for social sharing
  • Implement granular rating systems to match competitors
  • Expand gamification to include short-term streaks or badges

Market Threats

  • User migration to StoryGraph and Fable
  • Bookmory's high release velocity (26 updates in 6 months)
  • Mobile-first serialized platforms like Inkitt capturing younger users

What are the next best moves?

high

Implement Half-Star Ratings

This is the #1 high-frequency complaint theme and a primary reason users cite for switching to StoryGraph.

high

Launch Dark Mode and UI Refresh

Users explicitly state the current UI 'burns retinas' and feels 13 years out of date, creating a significant aesthetic gap with Bookmory.

medium

Fix Progress Syncing Bugs

Medium-frequency complaints indicate the app is 'useless' when it fails to save reading progress, compromising its core utility.

Feature Gaps vs Competitors

  • Visual Reading Calendar (available in Bookmory)
  • Granular reading statistics like pages per day (available in Bookmory)
  • Half-star ratings (available in StoryGraph as per user reviews)
  • Direct digital lending/reading (available in Hoopla/Everand)

Key Takeaways

Goodreads remains the 'default' book app due to its Amazon-backed social moat, but it is currently vulnerable to a mass exodus. If I were the PM, I would prioritize a UI overhaul and half-star ratings immediately to stop the churn toward 'aesthetic' competitors like Bookmory and StoryGraph.

Where Is It Heading?

Declining

Mixed mood with high-frequency complaints about UI stagnation and missing half-stars — indicates a frustrated power-user base.

Added 'Did Not Finish' (DNF) shelf in recent updates — shows some responsiveness to long-standing user requests.

Explicit user mentions of migrating to StoryGraph and Fable — suggests the social moat is no longer sufficient to prevent churn.

FAQ

Is Goodreads still the best app for tracking books in 2026?
Goodreads remains the largest platform for book tracking due to its Amazon integration and massive community. However, recent user sentiment is mixed; while it excels at social discovery, many users now prefer competitors like StoryGraph for more detailed statistics and modern interfaces.
What is the difference between Goodreads and Bookmory?
Goodreads focuses on social networking and Amazon-synced reviews. Bookmory is a 'nemesis' that wins on aesthetics, offering visual reading calendars and granular daily stats that Goodreads lacks. Bookmory also updates much more frequently to address user requests.
Does the Goodreads app have dark mode yet?
As of the latest data, Goodreads does not support dark mode. This is a top user complaint in 2026, with many reviewers describing the interface as outdated and difficult to use in low-light settings compared to modern alternatives.
What are the best free alternatives to Goodreads?
StoryGraph and Fable are the most cited alternatives in user reviews, praised for superior UI and features like half-star ratings. Bookmory is also a strong alternative for users who want visual tracking and reading calendars.

Disclosure: Independent intel to help mobile builders succeed.

AI-powered analysis with editorial review, built from publicly available sources. Marlvel.ai is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Goodreads: Book Tracker & More, its developer, the app publisher, Apple, or Google Play. All trademarks, logos, and screenshots referenced remain the property of their respective owners.

What's new

Goodreads has shifted from a position of unchallenged dominance to a defensive stance, actively acknowledging the threat of churn to agile competitors and beginning to address long-standing feature requests.

shifted

From Market Leader to Legacy Trap

added

Formalized Competitive Threats

declined

Emergence of Half-Star Rating Complaints

added

Did Not Finish (DNF) Shelf

added

Feature Gap Analysis

Cite this report

Marlvel.ai. “Goodreads: Book Tracker & More Intelligence Report.” Updated Apr 16, 2026. https://marlvel.ai/apps/goodreads-book-tracker-more

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