Book Discovery (BookWyrm, StoryGraph)

The 2024-26 story is the Goodreads exodus: Amazon-owned Goodreads is stagnating; users have migrated to BookWyrm (FOSS / federated), Shelfmark (OSS / self-host), StoryGraph, and Hardcover. For tracking and stats see Reading Tracking & Stats; for clubs see Book Clubs & Communities.

Self-host & FOSS first

If you don't want Amazon (or any closed-source SaaS) holding your reviews, ratings, and reading history, the FOSS path is real and growing fast in 2026.

• ★ ★ BookWyrm — free OSS; ActivityPub-federated; "Mastodon for books"; you can run your own instance and follow readers across instances. Book-shape activity feed, lists, reviews, reading goals, import-from-Goodreads CSV. The default for federation-comfortable readers in 2026.
  • https://github.com/bookwyrm-social/bookwyrm
• ★ Shelfmark — newer OSS / self-host Goodreads alternative; cleaner UI than BookWyrm; social book tracking; Goodreads CSV import. Smaller community but actively growing.
  • https://shelfmark.app
• ★ Booklore — newer self-host book tracker + library; combines library hosting and tracking. See Self-Host Libraries.
• Aurelius / Bookmatic — emerging self-host shelf trackers; small, watch-this-space.
• ★ Calibre custom columns — free; "started", "finished", "rating", "review" columns; poor-man's tracker. See Self-Host Libraries.
• Obsidian / Logseq book log — free; Markdown / Dataview-based personal shelf.

Hosted contenders (paid + free, closed source)

• ★ StoryGraph — paid + free; Black-woman-founded indie alternative to Goodreads; closed source but data exports cleanly; exceptional stats (mood / pace / page count); AI recommendations; readathons; buddy reads. The most-recommended non-Amazon Goodreads alternative if you don't want to self-host.
  • https://www.thestorygraph.com
• Hardcover — paid + free; modern UI; growing fast 2024-26; activity feed; lists; serious indie competitor. Free tier is generous. Closed source but exports are honest.
  • https://hardcover.app
• Literal.club — paid + free; book-club-flavoured; smaller community.
• LibraryThing — paid + free; the original power-user catalogue (since 2005); deep metadata; aging UI but loyalists love it.

Goodreads (data-give-up — secondary)

• Goodreads — free; Amazon-owned; the largest catalogue and review base; UI hasn't been meaningfully updated in a decade; the "we know we should leave but our 10 years of reviews live there" reality. Still useful for discovery via reviews, but export your data regularly and consider it a search engine, not a home. Goodreads CSV import works in StoryGraph, Hardcover, BookWyrm, and Shelfmark.

Daily-deals / discovery (free)

• ★ BookBub — free; daily ebook deals tailored to genres you follow; the single most effective way to fill a $1.99 ebook hoard. Newsletter-flavoured; no app needed.
  • https://www.bookbub.com
• EarlyBird Books — free; similar deal newsletter.
• The Fussy Librarian — free; same.
• Riffle / Bookperk — variations.

AI / algorithmic recommendations

• ★ Self-host LLM "what should I read next" — point a local Llama / Qwen at your reading-log Markdown file. Free + private. See Self-Host AI / LLM.
• StoryGraph AI suggestions — free; mood + pace based.
• Whichbook — free; choose-your-own-adventure-shape filters (cheerful → sad, short → long, etc.).
• Five Books — free; expert-curated 5-book lists per topic.
• NotebookLM — free; upload your "books I loved" list and ask for similar suggestions. See AI PDF Q&A.
• Claude / ChatGPT — paid + free; "based on these 10 books, what should I read next?"

Indie / community-curated (free)

• Loan Stars (libraries-recommended), Readers' Advisory, Book Riot lists.
• ★ Reddit r/suggestmeabook, r/books, r/Fantasy, r/AsianLiterature etc. — free; among the best free recommendation sources online.
• Substack book newsletters — see Newsletter & Substack.
• Hacker News "Best books" threads — free; non-fiction / tech-flavoured.

Federation / data ownership

• ★ ★ BookWyrm is the only meaningful federated book network in 2026. AT-Protocol-shape Bluesky book apps are emerging (e.g., Skylights, Booksky) but small in 2026.
• ★ Export your data from anywhere — most platforms support CSV / JSON. Goodreads CSV import is supported by StoryGraph, Hardcover, BookWyrm, and Shelfmark.

Pick this if…

• Default federated / FOSS: BookWyrm.
• Self-host with modern UI: Shelfmark (or Booklore for library + tracking in one).
• Hosted, deep stats, paid+free: StoryGraph.
• Hosted, modern UI, growing community: Hardcover.
• Sticky with Goodreads for the catalogue: Goodreads (export regularly, treat as search).
• Daily ebook deals: BookBub.
• Algorithmic recs (private): local LLM over your reading log.
• Power-user metadata catalog: LibraryThing.