Letterboxd is a social network for film lovers to log, review, and curate movies on iOS and Android.
Product velocity
Maintenance
Daily rank 🇺🇸
#61
▼2Social Networking · free
Sentiment
4.3
119k reviews
Nemesis
IMDb: Movies & TV Shows
The App DNA
What makes this app unique?
Users want a centralized, design-forward space to track their personal viewing history and discover content through a trusted social circle.
For Film enthusiasts seeking a social-first tracking experience for personal movie history and community-driven discovery.
What does it look like?
Key features
Chronological log of watched films with date, rating, review, and tags, increasing switching costs via personal history.
Filters discovery based on user-selected services via JustWatch integration, gated behind Pro/Patron tiers.
Social stream showing friends' ratings and reviews, driving daily session frequency.
How much does it cost?
The freemium model gates utility features like streaming filters behind annual subscriptions while maintaining a free social core to maximize network effects.
Velocity
Maintenance developmentnew contentUX improvementsperformanceShow more...
With 10 releases over the observed window and a current gap of 91 days since the last update, the app operates at a maintenance cadence of approximately 0.11 releases per week. Development is currently focused on minor feature additions and stability, with the most recent major update occurring in late April 2026. The release pattern is stable but infrequent, suggesting a focus on long-term maintenance rather than rapid iteration.
Who built it?
User Sentiment
What do users think recently?
Fresh user feedback skews frustrated. Users appreciate the core movie logging and review writing experience remains the primary reason users stay engaged and social discovery features allow users to see what friends are watching and find new recommendations, but report frequent app crashes and loading failures following the latest update prevent users from accessing their accounts.
How are ratings & reviews evolving?
What users say, by theme
- The core movie logging and review writing experience remains the primary reason users stay engaged
- Social discovery features allow users to see what friends are watching and find new recommendations
- Frequent app crashes and loading failures following the latest update prevent users from accessing their accounts
76 of 178 recent reviews analyzed · high confidence · Frustrated overall
Read the full review analysisUnlock 2 more frustration themes and 2 user requests, each backed by review evidence.
Access the full report for freeCompetition
Competitive landscape for Letterboxd
How's the Social Networking market?
Letterboxd holds the #18 Free position in the US Social Networking category, but its #49 Grossing rank suggests a significant monetisation gap relative to its high user engagement. The platform maintains a 4.8-star rating on iOS, contrasting with a 3.0-star rating on Android, indicating a platform-specific stability disparity.
Read the market outlookThe rivals identified
By IMDb
IMDb serves the exact same core intent of film cataloging and discovery at a massive scale, representing the primary incumbent in the social film-tracking space.
- Provides deep industry-standard metadata and cast credits that Letterboxd lacks in its native interface
- Leverages a massive proprietary database that serves as the industry source of truth for film data
- Integrates direct ticketing and showtime purchasing flows that monetize the user intent immediately
TV Time: Track Shows & MoviesContender
trakt.TV Shows & MoviesContender
JustWatch - Movies & TV ShowsContenderUnlock the head-to-head verdict: where this rival wins, and where it loses.
Access the full report for freeThe Analyst's Read
Key takeaways for Letterboxd
Where is it heading?
The social film-tracking market is consolidating, with users increasingly demanding unified TV and movie experiences. Letterboxd's current maintenance-mode cadence leaves it exposed to specialized rivals like Serializd, which are successfully siphoning off users who desire a more comprehensive tracking tool.
- Frequent launch crashes post-update prevent account access, driving a decline in session frequency and user sentiment.
- The core movie-logging experience remains a strong retention anchor, keeping the platform competitive despite recent stability issues.
The SWOT
- Community-driven list curation creates high switching costs
- Premium-tier gating of JustWatch-powered streaming filters drives subscription revenue
- Expanding tracking to include television series would address the top user request
Next best moves
Ship auto-save functionality for review writing because data loss is a top-cited friction point → increase review completion rates
+ 1 more prioritized moveThe counter-intuitive read
Letterboxd's lack of TV-tracking is not a weakness…
Read the full takeFeature gaps
TV series and episode tracking (available in Serializd and TV Time but missing here) +1
Since the last report: Letterboxd has transitioned into a maintenance-heavy development cycle, with sentiment declining as critical launch-crashes and review-text data loss erode the daily habit loop.
Bottom line
Letterboxd must prioritize technical stability to defend its community-first position against utility-heavy rivals like IMDb. Resolving the current launch-crash and data-loss issues is the prerequisite for unlocking the growth potential of a TV-tracking expansion.
Unlock 2 critical frictions, 1 market threat, 1 more prioritized move and the analyst’s take.
Access the full report for freeFAQ
Is Letterboxd free to use?
How does Letterboxd compare to IMDb?
Can I track TV shows on Letterboxd?
What is a good alternative to Letterboxd for TV shows?
Sources
- [1] App Store, source
Report last updated