The Best StoryGraph Alternatives in 2026, Honestly Compared

If you’re leaving StoryGraph and want to keep a full reading tracker, Hardcover is the closest replacement. It imports your StoryGraph library, covers most of the same everyday tracking, and has the public API that StoryGraph’s own roadmap still lists as unbuilt. If the part that wore on you was choosing what to read rather than logging it, the answer changes, and that’s the gap Siftivo is built for.

We should say before the list that we build Siftivo. It’s second because someone leaving StoryGraph usually needs a new tracker first, and Siftivo is a lighter one. The claims about every other app trace back to its own site, store listing or help pages.

Why people look beyond StoryGraph

It helps to start with what StoryGraph does well, because you’ll be giving some of it up. It has the deepest reading stats of any mainstream book app, the strongest social reading tools among the trackers, quarter-star ratings, and content warnings detailed enough to grade by severity. We went through all of it in our head-to-head comparison.

If you’re looking anyway, the reason is probably one of four walls, and each one points at a different app.

• Discovery starts with filters you set. You pick from 14 moods, three paces, genres, page-count bands and publication year, on top of a reading preferences survey with reference reads. That’s precise on a night you know what you want. StoryGraph doesn’t advertise picking books from a short list of favorites alone.
• Some of what you need is still on the roadmap. StoryGraph’s own public roadmap lists offline mode on mobile, an API, ordered lists, private notes on books and author pages as not yet built.
• Device sync stops at Kobo. It doesn’t advertise Kindle sync or any library lending integration.
• Romance readers get no heat scale. StoryGraph doesn’t advertise a spice rating. Sexual content appears only as a content warning graded Graphic, Moderate or Minor.

Work out which wall you hit before you move anything. A reader who misses an API and a reader who is tired of the browse page need different apps.

1. Hardcover

Best for

a full tracker with an open API that imports your StoryGraph library

Price

Free, or Supporter at $4.99/mo or $49.99/yr

Platforms

Web, iOS, Android

Visit Hardcover

Hardcover is the nearest thing to StoryGraph built by someone else, and it imports from StoryGraph directly, along with Goodreads and a custom CSV. The tracking will feel familiar, with half stars, Did Not Finish and Paused statuses, a series tracker, a reading journal, goals by books, pages or hours, and a privacy setting on every book. Where it pulls ahead is openness. The public GraphQL API is on the free plan at 5,000 requests a day, readers have built Kobo and KOReader sync and an Obsidian plugin on top of it, and lists can be ranked. Its Vibes recommendations take a typed description and let you steer by world, series position and popularity, and every logged-in reader gets one built from their last five 5-star reads.

The catch is that StoryGraph’s stats go deeper, and on Hardcover the stats for any date range, creating your own Vibes and the personalized For You view all sit behind the Supporter plan. Ratings stop at half stars. Book clubs and buddy reads were still in team alpha testing as of Hardcover’s October 2026 report, so if you use StoryGraph’s buddy reads, you’d be giving them up for now. E-reader sync comes from community tools rather than Hardcover itself, and its FAQ says there’s no viable technical way to sync directly with Kindle.

2. Siftivo (ours)

Best for

picking what to read next from three books you love

Price

No paid plan

Platforms

Web, iOS

Visit Siftivo

Siftivo is for the reader whose StoryGraph problem was the browse page. There are no moods or paces to set. You give it three books you love at signup, and from then on each day brings three picks, every one labeled with the book of yours that earned it. The same reasoning shows up as a match badge on book pages and lists, with a line like “Because you loved Piranesi.” When a mood really does matter, you type it into search in plain words. You can mark a book card Not for me so it stops turning up in Picks and Today, and name up to three books on your taste page to steer away from, because the most useful recommendation is often no. Siftivo also has author pages, which StoryGraph’s roadmap still lists as unbuilt, and series pages that list the reading order, with a Next in Your Series rail on Today.

The catch is that Siftivo is a lighter tracker than StoryGraph, and we’d rather you hear that from us. It has half stars, not quarter stars, no reading charts beyond a journal heatmap and profile counts, no challenges or yearly goals, no buddy reads or book clubs, and no Kobo sync. There’s no Android app, the iOS app is iPhone only, and you can’t export your data. Its import reads a Goodreads export uploaded on the web, and it skips custom shelves and the DNF shelf.

3. Margins

Best for

typed vibe search and a beautiful phone library

Price

Free, or an optional subscription at $5.99/mo or $59.99/yr

Platforms

iOS, Android

Visit Margins

Margins comes at discovery from the opposite end of StoryGraph’s filters. You type a mood, plot, setting or vibe, something like “thriller with a love triangle,” and it hands books back, and you can even turn a Pinterest image or a photo from your camera roll into recommendations. It imports from StoryGraph, Goodreads and Fable, and since its September 2026 update it has quarter-star reviews, so you keep the precision you’re used to. The rest is about the ritual of reading, with a blocker that turns off social media and notifications while you read, a cover picker for your exact edition, and a library you can sort by color. It holds a 4.9 average on more than 19,000 US App Store ratings.

The catch is that Margins lives on your phone. Its site says “Now on iOS and Android” and doesn’t advertise a web app for tracking. Kindle sync isn’t shipped yet, it doesn’t advertise content warnings, spice ratings or data export, and it doesn’t publish what the paid subscription unlocks beyond premium features and priority support. Social means following readers and seeing what they read in Stories; there are no advertised clubs or forums.

4. Pagebound

Best for

per-book forums sorted by how far each poster had read

Price

Free, or Pagebound Royalty at $10/mo or $100/yr

Platforms

Web, iOS, Android

Visit Pagebound

Pagebound is the pick if what you’ll miss from StoryGraph is the conversation. Discussion lives on each book’s own forum rather than in a club, you can sort posts by how far the poster had read, and spoiler tags are tied to that progress, so you can join in halfway through a book. By default, spoiler-tagged posts for books on your TBR never reach your feed, which is chronological rather than ranked. The tracking holds up too: half stars with sub-ratings for enjoyment, quality, characters and plot, Interested, Paused and DNF statuses, and progress by page, time or percent. Quests give you themed reading challenges with badges, there are quarterly community readalongs, and you can export your library to CSV whenever you like.

Moving in is the weak spot, since its StoryGraph import is still in beta and only brings over books already in Pagebound’s library, so expect gaps. Pagebound has no algorithmic recommendations by design, which is a principled stance and also means discovery comes from forums, lists and Quests rather than anything that learns your taste. Per-read stats, the sub-rating breakdowns and the progress calendar are part of the paid Royalty tier.

5. Romance.io

Best for

steam levels and tropes, alongside your tracker

Price

Free; Supporter plan at $35/yr removes ads

Platforms

Web

Visit Romance.io

Romance.io fills the gap StoryGraph leaves for romance readers. Its database covers more than 600,000 romance books, which readers rate on a published five-level steam scale that runs from “glimpses and kisses” up to “explicit and plentiful,” and you can mix more than 300 content tags and tropes. Its find-similar search matches on tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types, not just genre. It imports your StoryGraph export and tracks what you’ve read with stats.

The catch is that it only does romance, so it can’t be your whole reading life. Readers assign the steam ratings, which means a newer or quieter book may not have one yet. It doesn’t advertise a mobile app, and we found none in a US App Store search. Many of its retailer links are affiliate links. Most people will use it beside a tracker rather than instead of one.

My pick

If you like StoryGraph and just want it from someone else, go to Hardcover. The import is direct, the tracking is close, and the API is there if you’re the kind of reader who wants one.

If you were tired of setting filters every time you needed a book, try Siftivo, and keep StoryGraph for your stats while you do. The two don’t compete for the same minute of your evening.

If you want a phone app that feels lovely to open and lets you search by vibe, pick Margins. If you’ll miss talking about books, Pagebound. If you read romance and spice level decides the book, add Romance.io to whatever tracker you land on.

What I’d do today

1. Name the wall you hit: filters, missing features, device sync or spice. That one answer picks the app.
2. If it’s tracking, make a Hardcover account and run the StoryGraph import, then spot-check your DNFs and tags before you stop logging in StoryGraph.
3. If it’s choosing, write down the three books you’d press into a friend’s hands and give them to Siftivo at siftivo.com. See whether tonight’s three picks beat the top of your TBR.
4. Run the new app alongside StoryGraph for a month. Nothing forces a clean break, and you’ll know by then which one you open first.