Comparison

StoryGraph vs TBR

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

Head to head
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 • 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

About

TBR

Easily track books you want to read, are currently reading, or have finished. Rate and review books, log favorite moments, and discover new reads. Set yearly reading goals and celebrate milestones with fun animations.

Highlights
  • Track books (to-read, reading, finished)
  • Rate and review books
  • Log favorite moments and quotes
  • Browse public ratings and genre-specific insights
  • Set custom yearly reading goals
  • Earn achievement stickers
  • Pro features: tropes, playlists, adaptations
Features
Read full description

Got a growing TBR list? See great book recommendations, but forget them later? Meet TBR Bookshelf! Easily track books you want to read, are currently reading, or have finished with no limits. Rate and review books once you’ve read them and log your favorite moments using our quick and intuitive rating system. Browse public ratings to see a book’s POV, tropes, reread rate, and up to four genre-specific ratings. For example, Romance tracks Spice, Fluff, Humor, and Tear. All ratings are anonymous, so you can be honest with your reviews. Within our rating system, you can log: * Reading format * 5 Star Rating including half stars * Up to four genre ratings * If you would reread a book * DNF (Did Not Finish) * Favorite characters and quotes * Series and standalone books * Pro quotes and annotations (Paid Subscription Required) * Any additional thoughts about the book Celebrate your reading milestones with special book confetti and earn stickers for completing books and certain book tropes. Exclusive Pro features include: * Book tropes * Book playlists to track songs (cannot be played within the app) * POV format and amount * TV show and movie adaptation ratings * Four seasonal ratings All users can create custom yearly reading goals. When you finish a book, it is automatically added to your yearly reading goal bookshelf. Pro users can also fully customize their bookshelves with color themes, bookshelf items, and layouts. TBR Bookshelf makes managing your TBR list fun, easy, and satisfying. Track books, set reading goals, log quotes, and discover new reads all in one place. With customizable shelves, anonymous ratings, and a supportive community, staying on top of your reading has never been more enjoyable. Join TBR Bookshelf, a woman-owned and operated company, BookTok’s favorite, and trusted by millions of readers. TBR Bookshelf is free to download and use. No account or sign-up is required. TBR Bookshelf Pro includes a 7-day free trial and then options for a monthly plan ($4.99), a 6-month plan ($19.99), or a yearly plan ($29.99). All other features remain free indefinitely. A subscription will be applied to your iTunes account at the end of your free trial. Subscriptions automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can cancel anytime in your iTunes account settings. Any unused portion of a free trial will be forfeited if you purchase a subscription. These prices are for United States customers. Pricing in other countries may vary. Note: This app is for tracking your reading journey. Reading is not available within the app. Privacy Policy: http://jordanpetersonstudio.com/tbr-bookshelf-privacy-policy/
Terms of Service: http://jordanpetersonstudio.com/tbr-bookshelf-terms-of-service/

Screenshots

StoryGraph4 screens
TBR4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: StoryGraph at none against TBR's shown. StoryGraph also leads on iOS requirement (14 vs 16.6). TBR's advantage is update cadence (every 8 days vs every 3 weeks). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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 and TBR sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for StoryGraph against 4.5 for TBR. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3.5K and 4.3K respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 70% and 70% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

StoryGraph ships an update every 3 weeks, TBR every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
StoryGraph versus TBR: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStoryGraphTBR
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (3.5K ratings)4.5 (4.3K ratings)
Positive reviews70.3% of reviews70.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings3.5K4.3K — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 8 days — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#23 — better#44
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS14 — better16.6
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB87 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperThe StoryGraphTBR - Bookshelf, LLC

Customer experience

StoryGraph

All ratings3,533 ratings
Positive85.7%
Neutral5.0%
Negative9.3%
Written reviews1,010 reviews
Positive70.3%
Neutral12.3%
Negative17.4%

TBR

All ratings4,340 ratings
Positive88.7%
Neutral5.0%
Negative6.3%
Written reviews976 reviews
Positive70.5%
Neutral10.5%
Negative19.1%

User reviews

StoryGraph

From 3.5K 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

TBR

From 4.3K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Easy to use
  • 👍 Cute and visually appealing
  • 📚 Helpful for tracking reading progress
  • 🌟 Unique rating system

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
  • 🔒 No account/sync option to prevent data loss
  • 💰 Too many features locked behind paywall
  • 🔍 Limited book database, hard to find some titles

Bugs and requests

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

TBR

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Books disappearing from shelves
  • Inability to edit read dates
  • Search function not working properly
  • Crashing when trying to access certain features

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to organize books by series
  • Option to view other users' reviews and ratings
  • Customizable bookshelves and themes
  • Sync across multiple devices
  • More genre/category options for ratings

In-app purchases

2 purchases

StoryGraph

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

TBR

Subscriptions3
  • Pro Access7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Pro Access7 Days trial$19.996 Months
  • Pro Access$29.991 Year
One-time7
  • 1500 Gems$2.99
  • 4500 Gems$5.99
  • 20,000 Gems$9.99
Show 4 more
  • Gift 6 Months$19.99
  • Gift 1 Year of Pro$29.99
  • Lifetime Purchase$119.99
  • Gift Lifetime Pro$119.99

Questions

Is StoryGraph free?
StoryGraph is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is TBR free?
TBR is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, StoryGraph or TBR?
StoryGraph and TBR are both rated 4.5 out of 5 on the App Store, from 3.5K and 4.3K ratings respectively.
Do StoryGraph or TBR have ads?
TBR shows ads; StoryGraph does not.
Which is updated more often, StoryGraph or TBR?
StoryGraph ships an update every 3 weeks, and TBR every 8 days. Most recently, StoryGraph was updated on September 24, 2026 and TBR on September 23, 2026.
Which is more popular, StoryGraph or TBR?
StoryGraph currently peaks at #23 in the App Store charts, and TBR at #44. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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