The best bookshelf app in 2026: nine apps compared

Updated 3 November 2026

All nine apps compared

Goodreads checked on 3 November 2026: App Store listing, goodreads.com/about/us, help.goodreads.com/s/article/000001100. The StoryGraph checked on 3 November 2026: App Store listing, roadmap.thestorygraph.com/requests-ideas/posts/reading-timer, roadmap.thestorygraph.com/requests-ideas/posts/storygraph-currently-reading-widget, roadmap.thestorygraph.com/requests-ideas/posts/monthly-book-wrap-up. Hardcover checked on 3 November 2026: App Store listing, hardcover.app/supporter, roadmap.hardcover.app, docs.hardcover.app/api/graphql/schemas/readingjournals. Bookmory checked on 3 November 2026: App Store listing, play.google.com/store/apps/details. Fable checked on 3 November 2026: App Store listing, fable.co/blog/fable-reading-challenges-for-january-2026, help.fable.co/article/187-whats-included-in-fable-plus, help.fable.co/article/91-can-i-read-books-on-my-laptop-can-i-access-my-club-discussion-on-a-computer. LibraryThing checked on 3 November 2026: App Store listing, blog.librarything.com, librarything.com/topic/376363, play.google.com/store/apps/details. Libib checked on 3 November 2026: libib.com/pricing, App Store listing. Bookshelf checked on 3 November 2026: getbookshelf.com, App Store listing.

How we compared the apps

We checked each app on 3 November 2026 against its own website, help centre, roadmap or App Store and Google Play listing, and the sources for each app are linked under the table. A feature counts only when the app's own pages state it, and the table says Not stated where we could not confirm one. Book Nook's entries were checked against its iPhone, Android and web code on the same day.

The 16 features are price, platforms, books shown on a bookshelf, shelf themes and decorations, barcode scanning, a reading timer, a timer on the Lock Screen, reading statistics, a year in review, reading goals, reading challenges, book clubs, following friends with a feed, ratings, home screen widgets and import.

The best app for each need

Best for a bookshelf you can see: Book Nook

Book Nook is the only one of the nine apps that shows your books on a bookshelf. Each book stands on a wooden shelf as its cover or its spine, and you drag books along a shelf or onto another one to arrange them. You can lean a book at an angle, lay books flat in a stack, keep as many bookshelves as you like and show any of them on your public profile. The other eight apps show lists or grids of covers. Your books keep their places on the shelf when you switch to the List or Mosaic view. More about virtual bookshelf apps.

Best for an aesthetic bookshelf: Book Nook

Book Nook has five shelf themes: Simple, Dark Academia, Cottagecore, Coquette and Matcha Cafe. The theme editor builds your own from the wall, back panel, board and frame colours, a frame style (boards on the wall, a panelled case, a cabinet, an open arch or a Victorian pediment), the board thickness and edge, a back pattern and the title font. You can turn on lights under the shelves, set their brightness, and place any of 65 decorations, such as plants, candles, lamps and dragons, between the books. The Real book sizes switch draws each book at its edition's height, from a mass market paperback to an oversize book. Ideas for an aesthetic bookshelf.

Best for cataloguing the books you own: Book Nook

Book Nook adds a book by scanning the barcode with the camera, by searching title or author, or by hand with your own cover photo. Each book goes on the bookshelf you add it from, so you can lay out every real shelf in your home as it stands. List and Mosaic views search by title or author and sort by title, author, recently added, rating or progress.

Book Nook scans on iPhone, Android and the web with no limit on books. Libib's free plan stops at 5,000 items, and Bookmory and Bookshelf have no web app. How to catalogue a home library by scanning barcodes.

Best for tracking reading with a timer and statistics: Book Nook

Book Nook's reading timer records each session with the minutes and pages you read. On iPhone the running timer shows on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island as a Live Activity; on Android it shows as a notification with Pause and Stop. You can start it without opening the app from Control Center, the Lock Screen or the Action button on iPhone (iOS 18 or later), and from Quick Settings or a widget on Android.

The sessions feed the statistics: minutes and pages over time, a reading calendar, streaks, genres, a ratings chart, a daily minutes goal and a yearly books goal, all free. A daily reminder on iPhone and Android names the book you are reading. It is on at 6:00 PM by default, you can change the time or turn it off, and it is skipped on a day you have already saved a session.

Of the nine apps, Book Nook, Bookmory and Bookshelf have a reading timer. Bookmory keeps full statistics for Premium, and StoryGraph, Hardcover and Fable keep their deeper statistics for paid plans. Reading timer apps compared and what a reading tracker should record.

Best for a year in review: Book Nook

Book Nook makes a Reading Wrapped for each month and for each year: the books you finished, your time with a book in minutes per day or per month, and your three favourites by rating with your average. The pages are 9:16 for Instagram Stories and TikTok, shared from the phone apps or saved on the web.

Book Nook's monthly and yearly Wrapped are free with no ads and include the minutes and pages from its reading timer. Goodreads, StoryGraph, Hardcover, Fable, LibraryThing and Libib have no reading timer. How Reading Wrapped works.

Best for reading with friends and book clubs: Book Nook

Book Nook is the only one of the nine apps with both a reading timer and book clubs. A club reads one book at a time, and each member's page comes from their own copy, in any edition. A strip on the club shows where every member is, and a comment from a member further ahead stays folded until you reach that page or tap it. The Start a private book club button on any book page starts a private club with that book and opens the invite sheet.

There are also reading challenges with a goal and a deadline that any reader can create, a yearly reading challenge, and nooks, which are groups with a thread of posts. The feed shows what the readers you follow are reading, finishing and reviewing, with likes and comments. Reviews and threads on every book page have spoiler tags, and reviews, posts and finished books earn points and stamps for your public profile.

Goodreads has groups and the yearly Reading Challenge, StoryGraph has book clubs, buddy reads and readalongs, Fable has book clubs and TV clubs with spoiler-free rooms, and LibraryThing has groups and forums. Book Nook's clubs work on iPhone, Android and the web, where Fable's help centre says its clubs cannot be used on a computer yet, and Book Nook folds each comment by the page it was written at. Book club apps compared and reading challenge ideas for 2027.

Best on Android: Book Nook

Book Nook runs on Android 8.0 or later with the same bookshelves, scanner, timer, statistics, Reading Wrapped, clubs and import as the iPhone app. The Bookshelf widget shows your bookshelf on the home screen. It is placed at 4 by 2 cells and resizes from 4 by 2 up to the whole screen. Other widgets show the book you are reading with a Read button, today's minutes with your streak, your yearly goal, and the running timer. A Quick Settings tile starts the timer on your last book. Goodreads, StoryGraph, Hardcover, Bookmory, Fable, LibraryThing and Libib also have Android apps; Bookshelf runs on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Bookshelf widgets on iPhone and Android.

Best on the web: Book Nook

Book Nook's web app at trybooknook.com has the bookshelves and theme editor, barcode scanning with your computer's camera, the reading timer, statistics, Reading Wrapped, the feed, clubs, challenges, nooks and import, synced with the phone apps. Goodreads, StoryGraph, Hardcover, LibraryThing and Libib also run on the web. Fable's help centre says its clubs cannot be used on a computer yet, and Bookshelf uses the web for sharing collections.

Best free app with no ads: Book Nook

Goodreads, Bookmory and Fable show ads, and StoryGraph, Hardcover, Bookmory, Fable, Libib and Bookshelf keep features for paid plans of $3.49 to $9 a month. Book Nook is free with no subscription, no paid tier and no ads, and every feature in the table is included. Free Goodreads alternatives and StoryGraph alternatives.

The nine apps one by one

1. Book Nook

Book Nook runs on iPhone and iPad (iOS 17 or later), Android and the web. Beyond the features covered on this page, it has:

• A reading status for each book (to be read, reading, finished or did not finish), page progress, and ratings in quarter stars.
• Lock Screen widgets on iPhone for your daily goal, your streak and your current book.
• A list of new releases, out this week and coming soon, and a page for every author and series.
• Import from Goodreads, StoryGraph and Fable, and export of all your data as a JSON file at any time.

Join Book Nook free on the web.

2. Goodreads

Goodreads is a book site with more than 150 million members, owned by Amazon since 2013, with shelves, half-star ratings, reviews, groups, the yearly Reading Challenge and seasonal challenges. It is free with ads, on iPhone, Android and the web. Book Nook adds a bookshelf you can see, a reading timer on the iPhone Lock Screen and as an Android notification, detailed statistics, monthly Reading Wrapped, and spoiler-safe book clubs, with no ads. Book Nook vs Goodreads and Goodreads vs StoryGraph.

3. The StoryGraph

The StoryGraph is an independent reading tracker known for charts and recommendations by mood and pace, with book clubs, buddy reads and Wrap-Ups. It is free, with Plus at $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year, on iPhone, Android and the web. Book Nook adds a bookshelf you can see, a reading timer with a Live Activity, home screen widgets and every statistic free. Book Nook vs The StoryGraph.

4. Hardcover

Hardcover is an independent book tracker with lists, tags, a reading journal, a yearly recap and a public API. It is free, with Supporter at $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year, on iPhone, Android and the web. Book Nook adds a bookshelf you can see, a reading timer, book clubs, reading challenges, monthly Reading Wrapped and widgets, all free. Book Nook vs Hardcover.

5. Bookmory

Bookmory is a reading journal for iPhone and Android with a note editor, a reading timer with a Live Activity, an Annual Rewind and tracking of loans and purchases. It is free with ads, with Premium at $3.49 a month or $30.99 a year for sync, full statistics and custom themes. Book Nook adds a bookshelf you can see, a web app, friends, a feed, book clubs and challenges, with sync and statistics free. Book Nook vs Bookmory.

6. Fable

Fable is a social app for book clubs and TV clubs, owned by Everand (Scribd) since 2025, with an ebook store and Monthly Wraps. It is free with ads, with Plus at $5.99 a month or $49.99 a year, on iPhone and Android. Book Nook adds a full web app with clubs, a bookshelf you can see, a reading timer and every goal and statistic free. Book Nook vs Fable.

7. LibraryThing

LibraryThing has catalogued books since 2005, drawing records from over 2,000 libraries, and handles books and other media with collections, tags, groups and forums. It is free, on the web with iPhone and Android apps. Book Nook adds your catalogue drawn as a bookshelf, a reading timer, monthly Reading Wrapped, book clubs that fold comments by page, and a feed. Book Nook vs LibraryThing.

8. Libib

Libib catalogues books, films, music, video games and board games, at home and in schools and small libraries. Its free plan holds up to 5,000 items, and Pro, at $9 a month or $99 a year, adds lending and patrons, on iPhone, Android and the web. Book Nook adds a bookshelf you can see with no limit on books, a reading timer, goals, friends and book clubs. It also makes a Reading Wrapped for every month and year. Book Nook vs Libib.

9. Bookshelf

Bookshelf (Bookshelf: Book Tracker & List on the App Store) is an app for iPhone, iPad and Mac with collections, reading sessions with a Live Activity, notes and an AI librarian (Book Chat) with limited free use and unlimited use in Gold. It is free, with Gold at $6.99 a month, $29.99 a year or $79.99 once. Book Nook adds Android, a full web app, books standing on themed shelves and book clubs, all free. It also has a feed of what the readers you follow are reading and challenges any reader can create. Book Nook vs Bookshelf.

How to switch to Book Nook

1. Export your library. On the Goodreads desktop site, open My Books, then Import and export. On StoryGraph, open Manage account, then Manage your data. Fable has no export button, so on a computer add the ShelfBridge or Fable Exporter extension to Chrome, sign in to fable.co and run it to save a CSV file.
2. Get Book Nook on iPhone, Android or the web. Getting started offers the import after you sign up. Later, on iPhone or Android open the Profile tab, tap the settings icon at the top right, then Import books; on the web open Settings, then Import books under Library.
3. Choose Goodreads, StoryGraph or Fable and pick the file. Book Nook shows every book before it comes in.
4. Choose where the books go: bookshelves named after each status, after your own shelves, or one bookshelf. Statuses, ratings, dates and written reviews come across, and the import can be undone for 7 days.

From Hardcover, Bookmory, LibraryThing, Libib or Bookshelf, import a Goodreads or StoryGraph export if your library started there, or scan your books with the barcode scanner one shelf at a time. The full steps for moving from Goodreads.