Comparison

NetGalley Shelf vs StoryGraph

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

NetGalley Shelf

Access and review digital books and audiobooks provided by publishers and authors. Discover new titles, download them for offline reading, or stream audiobooks directly within the app. This platform is designed for book advocates and industry professionals to provide valuable feedback.

Highlights
  • Access digital review copies
  • Listen to audiobooks
  • Download books for offline reading
  • Stream audiobooks
  • Discover new titles
  • Request and review books
Currently charting
Read full description

NetGalley Shelf is a reading and listening app for NetGalley members. NetGalley helps publishers and authors promote digital review copies and audiobooks to book advocates and industry professionals. Publishers make digital review copies and audiobooks available for the NetGalley community to discover, request, read, and review. NetGalley does not sell any content, including books or audiobooks. Each book on NetGalley is provided to specific members by the publisher directly, at no cost to the NetGalley member. Books on the NetGalley site are used for review and promotional purposes only. Users of the NetGalley Shelf app will need to register as NetGalley members on NetGalley.com or NetGalley.co.uk, then all your approved NetGalley books and audiobooks will automatically appear in this app. No need to press Download on the NetGalley website! Reading is easy and convenient using the NetGalley Shelf app. Download approved books for access on the go, or start listening right away with streaming for audiobooks.

About

StoryGraph

Track your reading habits with insightful stats and personalized book recommendations powered by AI. Discover new books based on mood, pace, and genre, and connect with friends for shared reading experiences.

Highlights
  • Import Goodreads data
  • Personalized book recommendations
  • Track reading habits with stats
  • Discover books by mood and pace
  • Read with friends (buddy reads)
  • Custom reading challenges
  • Content warnings for books
Features
Read full description

Import your Goodreads data: We will import all of your currently-reading, read, to-read, and did-not-finish shelves. Any custom shelves will be mapped to a custom tag on The StoryGraph. Simple tracking and insightful stats: Easily track and learn about your reading habits with our wide range of charts and graphs. See how your reading develops over time and use that to help you pick better books. Get smart personalized recommendations: Our machine learning AI is like your trusted go-to friend for book recommendations. It'll understand your reading preferences and find the best books for you. Discover books by mood: In the mood for something adventurous, funny, and fast-paced? What about a darker, slower, more emotional read? Mix and match our comprehensive set of filters to choose your next perfect book. Read with friends: Add live reactions to specific parts of the book without fear of spoilers. Comments are locked for other participants until they reach that point in their reading. Don't have people to read with? We’ve got machine learning-powered suggestions for great reading buddies. Reading Challenges: Want to read one book from every country in the world? Or how about read a book per week across a range of genres? Our reading challenges feature help you set up personal goals or join in with others. Custom Tags: Enhance your book tracking and discovery by making use of our custom tags feature. You can search and filter books by your tags and share curated lists with friends. Content Warnings: When you review a book, you can let us know if there's any content within it that might be triggering for others. Then, when searching for your next read, all of this information is at your disposal. Features: • Import your Goodreads account • Sync with Kobo • Reading charts and graphs • Streaks • Favorites • Buddy reads • Readalongs • Book Clubs • Personalized machine learning recommendations • Follow your friends to see what they're reading • Annual reading, page, and listening goals • Search/browse books by mood, pace, and more • Custom tags • Lists to share with your friends or the public • Create your own reading challenge or join in with others • Dark Mode • Barcode Scanner • Giveaways • Browse similar books • Find similar users • Half and quarter star ratings • Built-in DNF (Did Not Finish) functionality (including tracking pages read) • Progress updates with built-in reading journal • Author-approved and user-submitted content warnings Want to support an independent, Goodreads alternative? Consider upgrading to Plus! • Keep the platform ad-free: You'll help The StoryGraph stay independent! • Custom Charts: Create your own pie and bar charts. • Extra Stats Filters: Filter down your stats to a custom time period, or view stats for your fiction or nonfiction reads, your custom tags, any particular mood or genre, and more. • Custom Wrap-Up Graphics: Pick any custom date range and instantly generate shareable graphics for your reading. • Compare Stats: Compare any two stats segments of your StoryGraph library, whether that's a particular year against a custom time period, your To-Read Pile against your owned books, or a combination of several other options. You can also compare any stats segment with any segment from any other user — mix and match however you like. • Exclusive Charts: When comparing your reading across two different years, see exclusive year-on-year charts on the number of books read and their genres. • Shape the roadmap: You get to vote and comment on upcoming features as well as submit official requests for new ones • Priority Support: Your support tickets and requests for book information updates will be handled first Privacy Policy: https://app.thestorygraph.com/privacy Terms of Service:https://app.thestorygraph.com/terms-of-service

Screenshots

NetGalley Shelf4 screens
StoryGraph4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: StoryGraph at 70% against NetGalley Shelf's 20%. StoryGraph also leads on rating (4.5 vs 2.1) and update cadence (monthly vs every 6 months). NetGalley Shelf's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. StoryGraph sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. NetGalley Shelf asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

StoryGraph holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 2.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: StoryGraph has 3.6K ratings behind it against 87, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 20% of NetGalley Shelf's written reviews are positive against 70% of StoryGraph's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

NetGalley Shelf ships an update every 6 months, StoryGraph monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 4, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
NetGalley Shelf versus StoryGraph: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNetGalley ShelfStoryGraph
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.1 (87 ratings)4.5 (3.6K ratings) — better
Positive reviews19.9% of reviews70.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings873.6K — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
Best chart rank#184#34 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size24 MB3 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperNetGalley, LLCThe StoryGraph

Customer experience

NetGalley Shelf

All ratings83 ratings
Positive15.7%
Neutral16.9%
Negative67.5%
Written reviews301 reviews
Positive19.9%
Neutral17.3%
Negative62.8%

StoryGraph

All ratings3,594 ratings
Positive85.6%
Neutral5.0%
Negative9.4%
Written reviews1,039 reviews
Positive70.3%
Neutral12.4%
Negative17.3%

User reviews

NetGalley Shelf

From 87 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Works fine for some users
  • 👍 Keeps user logged in
  • 👍 Audiobooks work well
  • 🚀 Able to read ebooks

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Narration speed issues
  • 🐛 Confusing interface
  • 🔒 Login issues
  • 🐛 Bookmarks and positions don't sync
  • 🐛 No built-in dictionary

StoryGraph

From 3.6K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 User-friendly interface
  • 🚀 Excellent reading stats and data visualization
  • 💡 Innovative features like buddy reads and reading challenges
  • 👍 Clean and modern design
  • 💡 Independent company, not owned by big tech

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
  • 🐛 Slow performance and loading times
  • 🐛 Issues with importing data from other platforms
  • 🐛 Missing some basic features like custom shelves/lists
  • 🐛 Confusing navigation and UI in places

Bugs and requests

NetGalley Shelf

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Login issues
  • Downloading issues with audiobooks
  • Books disappearing from shelf
  • Inability to remove expired books
  • Inconsistent behavior when opening books

Requested features

7 requests
  • Add ability to write reviews within the app
  • Improve audiobook playback controls
  • Add font size adjustment
  • Implement dark mode
  • Sync reading progress across devices
Show 2 more
  • Add highlighting and note-taking features
  • Improve organization and sorting of books

StoryGraph

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App crashes or freezes when trying to update reading progress
  • Incorrect book details and page counts
  • Login issues where users get logged out frequently

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to track re-reads and multiple editions of books
  • More robust social features like following friends, liking reviews
  • Barcode scanning to easily add books
  • Customizable reading challenges and goal tracking
  • Dark mode option

In-app purchases

None

NetGalley Shelf

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

StoryGraph

Subscriptions2
  • The StoryGraph Plus Monthly$4.991 Month
  • The StoryGraph Plus Annual$49.991 Year

Questions

Is NetGalley Shelf free?
NetGalley Shelf is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is StoryGraph free?
StoryGraph is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, NetGalley Shelf or StoryGraph?
StoryGraph is rated higher. NetGalley Shelf averages 2.1 out of 5 from 87 ratings, while StoryGraph averages 4.5 from 3.6K ratings.
Do NetGalley Shelf or StoryGraph have ads?
Neither NetGalley Shelf nor StoryGraph shows ads.
Which is updated more often, NetGalley Shelf or StoryGraph?
NetGalley Shelf ships an update every 6 months, and StoryGraph monthly. Most recently, NetGalley Shelf was updated on November 3, 2026 and StoryGraph on November 4, 2026.
Which is more popular, NetGalley Shelf or StoryGraph?
NetGalley Shelf currently peaks at #184 in the App Store charts, and StoryGraph at #34. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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