Goodreads has been the leading reading tracking website for years. It’s a magical place where you can track your reading, set goals, find new books, and even connect with other readers. As an avid reader with a large library, Goodreads has been a lifesaver for me in the past. Being able to able to create custom shelves has helped me stay organized, and reading others’ reviews of popular books has helped me find the right books for me. StoryGraph is newer to the scene, so why switch?
For one, while the core of the site is similar to Goodreads, StoryGraph is super in tune with analytics. It tracks the genres you’re rating most favorably, authors you’ve liked, and even the types of stories you are reading. All of this data is then presented to the user clearly, and with easy-to-navigate charts to help you find your next favorite book.
So what’s the deal? Is it best to stick with the classic? Is StoryGraph really as helpful as it claims? Does it make sense to switch to a new platform? Let’s find out!
The Basics
Both StoryGraph and Goodreads allow you to create custom shelves, track your reading, and review your latest read.
Both sites also claim to help you find your next favorite book. But do they actually?
After scrolling through both sites for a while the short answer is yes! They both recommend books to you, however, StoryGraph seems to be doing it better.
While StoryGraph suggests books based on your personal reading analytics, Goodreads recommends books based on popularity first. So if you’re someone who is only interested in keeping up with the newest bestsellers, Goodreads is great. However, if you’re more interested in finding specific books that you know you’ll love, Storygraph is by far the better option.
Ease of Navigation
Sometimes you just wanna add a book to your TBR quickly before you forget, or quickly find the title of the book you can’t remember but want to recommend to a friend. You don’t want to be fighting the website to do what you need to do when you’re in a hurry. So, I rummaged around the website and the app for both StoryGraph and Goodreads to see which was the most user-friendly in this regard.
Storygraph was by far a lot easier to manage overall. It was intuitive, fast, and updated quickly while Goodreads was a little clunkier. It’s also worth noting that I’ve been a Goodreads user since 2016, so I have experience navigating the app, and I still found Storygraph the obvious winner.
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Searchability
Book cravings are real! It’s not uncommon to have a hankering for a very specific type of book. Maybe you want to read books that take place at the circus, or mystery books that take place in Wisconsin. Whatever your book craving is, it’s important that your book website be able to recommend books for that specific niche.
Goodreads is easily the best at this. They do have the unfair advantage of having been around longer, so they have more users tagging more books, but it is so much easier to find specific books in niche genres through Goodreads.
Storygraph just has fewer results, which means that even though the books fit the niche there, are far fewer titles to choose from.
The Results
I have been a die-hard Goodreads fan since 2016, but after spending time with Storygraph, I think I might make the switch. It’s just so much more user-friendly, and I was recommended so many books that I’m actually interested in. I loved being able to see my reading data and was even surprised by it a bit. Turns out I like mystery and suspense more than I thought, especially if it overlaps with fantasy and science fiction. Who knew?
While the Goodreads reading challenge helps me stay motivated to read, it’s really the only thing that makes me want to keep using Goodreads after seeing the alternative.
But my data!
If you, like me, have been a Goodreads user for a while, but are looking to make the switch, you’ve probably been concerned about losing your reading history. I know the feeling. My Goodreads has every book I’ve read since 2016 logged, and that’s well over 300 books!
Luckily, StoryGraph has an easy way to move your Goodreads catalog over to its database. It only takes a couple of minutes! So if that’s what’s holding you back from making the switch, you don’t even have to worry about it.
In Summary
StoryGraph is a great alternative to Goodreads! It’s less cluttered, intuitive, data-driven, and ready to help you find your next favorite book. It’s also updated much more regularly so new features are rolling out all the time.
For a more in-depth review of Storygraph, make sure to read this review.
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