Two great reading platforms. Different strengths. Here's an honest look at both so you can pick the right one.
Credit where it's due. StoryGraph built something genuinely useful, and we respect the work Nadia Odunayo has done as an independent developer.
StoryGraph's mood and pace graphs are best-in-class. If visualizing your emotional reading journey is your top priority, StoryGraph nails it.
Community-driven content warnings help readers avoid triggering material. This is a genuinely valuable feature that StoryGraph pioneered.
StoryGraph is independently owned, not part of Amazon. That matters to a lot of readers, and we share that value.
Beautiful reading stats with genre breakdowns, page counts over time, and yearly summaries. A real step up from Goodreads.
StoryGraph is great for solo readers. bookshelves.me is built for readers who want to read together.
See who's reading what right now. Live presence indicators show active members in your book clubs and workspaces. No other reading platform does this.
Pre-configured spaces for classrooms, study groups, book clubs, and corporate teams. Set up a reading group in under a minute with the right structure already in place.
Role-based permissions (owner, admin, member, viewer), reading assignments, progress tracking across groups. Built for teachers, team leads, and club organizers.
Dedicated spaces for group reading with kanban boards, shared collections, and collaborative notes. Think of it as Notion meets your book club.
| Feature | StoryGraph | bookshelves.me |
|---|---|---|
| Reading tracking | ||
| Reading stats & analytics | ||
| Mood/pace tracking | ||
| Format breakdown (print/ebook/audio) | ||
| Fiction / non-fiction split | ||
| Content warnings | ||
| Book recommendations | ||
| Reading challenges | ||
| Buddy reads | ||
| Real-time presence | ||
| Workspace templates | ||
| Classroom management | ||
| Team/org workspaces | ||
| Book clubs with live presence | ||
| Kanban reading board | ||
| Collection sharing | ||
| CSV/bulk import | ||
| Author profiles | ||
| Ad-free experience | ||
| Open source | ||
| Mobile app | ||
| API access |
= partial or in development. Last updated March 2026.
Prioritize mood and pace tracking above all else
Need community-driven content warnings
Want deep reading stats and visualizations
Read solo and don't need collaboration tools
Run a book club, classroom, or reading group
Want real-time collaboration and presence
Need workspace templates for teams or schools
Want kanban boards and flexible organization
Care about author verification and rich metadata
Export your data from StoryGraph as CSV, then import it into bookshelves.me. Your reading history, ratings, and shelves come along. No books left behind.
It depends on what you need. If your priority is mood/pace tracking and content warnings, StoryGraph is hard to beat. If you want collaboration, workspaces, book clubs with live presence, or classroom management, bookshelves.me is the better choice. Many readers use both.
Yes. Export your StoryGraph library as CSV from your StoryGraph settings, then use our import tool to bring everything over. Your books, ratings, dates, and shelves will be preserved.
bookshelves.me has a generous free tier for personal use. Premium features like team workspaces, classroom management, and advanced collaboration start at affordable monthly plans. Check our pricing page for details.
Not yet in the same community-driven way StoryGraph does. This is a feature StoryGraph handles better right now. We're exploring ways to add it in the future.
The biggest difference is collaboration. StoryGraph is designed for individual readers to track and analyze their reading. bookshelves.me is designed for readers who want to read together — through book clubs, classrooms, teams, and reading rooms with real-time presence.
Free to start. Import your library. See what collaborative reading feels like.
No credit card required