Chicago Public Library vs StoryGraph
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Chicago Public Library
Manage your library account, search the catalog, and discover new titles. Track borrowed items, place holds, and find events. Use your digital library card for in-person checkouts.
- Manage checked out items
- Place holds on materials
- Renew borrowed items
- Search library catalog
- Track reading history
- Browse new titles
- Find library events
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Which branch has the book I want? What's available now from my For Later shelf? When are my DVDs due? Use CPL's app to manage your account and find new titles. Features: - See what you have checked out - Place holds - Renew materials - Search the CPL catalog - Keep track of what you've read and would like to read - Browse new and on order titles - Find upcoming events at your preferred location - View hours, locations and contact information - Use the app to show your library card when checking out materials in person - Scan the barcode of a book, DVD or CD to search for it in CPL's catalog
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.
- 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
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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
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: StoryGraph at 4.5 against Chicago Public Library's 3.5. StoryGraph also leads on review sentiment (70% vs 32%) and ratings volume (3.6K vs 64). Chicago Public Library'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
Both are free to download. StoryGraph sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Chicago Public Library asks for nothing beyond the download.
StoryGraph holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: StoryGraph has 3.6K ratings behind it against 64, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 32% of Chicago Public Library's written reviews are positive against 70% of StoryGraph's.
Chicago Public Library ships an update every 2 months, StoryGraph monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Chicago Public Library | StoryGraph |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.5 (64 ratings) | 4.5 (3.6K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 31.9% of reviews | 70.3% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 64 | 3.6K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Freemium |
| Best chart rank | — | #40 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 22 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | City of Chicago | The StoryGraph |
Customer experience
Chicago Public Library
StoryGraph
User reviews
Chicago Public Library
From 64 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Intuitive and helpful app
- 📚 Love the library and audiobook features
- ✨ Pretty good app for a government agency
- ✅ Easy to reserve books and see waitlist
- 🚀 Seamless public library experience
Room to improve
- 🐛 Constantly logging out
- 🐛 Cannot log back in
- 🐛 App not opening
- 🐛 Takes user out of audiobook browser
- 🐛 Confusing ebook download process
StoryGraph
From 3.6K App Store ratingsWhat 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
Chicago Public Library
Reported bugs
27 issues- App is CONSTANTLY having issues
- Logs me out and I can’t get back in
- Often miss holds due to no notifications
- Repeatedly logged out, or can’t log in at all
- Not opening since 4/2/2024
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- Logs me out constantly
- Takes me out of the browser and I have to go through all the steps to get back
- Confusing downloading a held ebook
- Logs me out a lot
- Cannot log in, doesn't load, can't search books
- App asking for username, not accepting card ID
- Cannot create an account, error messages
- App logs you out if you switch to another app
- App doesn’t seem to have been updated to accommodate the iPhone 12 mini
- Borrowing ebooks or audiobooks requires multiple apps to synchronize
- App does not have availability by branch location
- App does not alert you when items are due, overdue or holds available
- App shows book is available but without a location
- On order and new releases are no longer available
- Clunky on iPad, awkward in portrait view
- Slow to respond on iPad
- Cannot locate feature showing exact location of a desired book
- No iPhone X screen size update
- Crashes every time I attempt to open “for later”
- App will not refine search
- Accept and deny buttons reversed
- Crashes every time I try to login
Requested features
14 requests- Add notifications for holds
- Add library card to Apple Wallet
- Improve audiobook browser experience
- Provide direct download links for ebooks
- Display library alerts prominently
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- Allow users to create usernames
- Update app for iPhone 12 mini
- Improve ebook/audiobook synchronization
- Add page counts for books
- Add pass to Apple Wallet
- Add Passport version of CPL Library Card
- Allow reserving computers via app
- Add notifications for book due dates
- Improve interface/design of app
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
Chicago Public Library
No in-app purchases
StoryGraph
- The StoryGraph Plus Monthly$4.991 Month
- The StoryGraph Plus Annual$49.991 Year
Questions
Is Chicago Public Library free?
Is StoryGraph free?
Which has better reviews, Chicago Public Library or StoryGraph?
Do Chicago Public Library or StoryGraph have ads?
Which is updated more often, Chicago Public Library or StoryGraph?
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