A Goodreads alternative that times your reading
Goodreads catalogues what you read. Pagehour times it: start, read, stop on your page, and see your pace and the date you'll finish. Bring your Goodreads shelves over free.
Free to download. No account, no ads. Goodreads import is free.
What is the difference between Pagehour and Goodreads?
Goodreads is a free social catalogue: shelves, reviews, friends and recommendations. Pagehour is a reading tracker built around time: you start a timer, read, stop on the page you reached, and it shows your pace, your finish date and your streak. Pagehour has no ads and needs no account.
| Feature | Pagehour | Goodreads |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Timing reading sessions and seeing progress | Book tracking, recommendations and reviews |
| Reading timer | Yes, full screen, survives the app closing | Not listed |
| Pace and finish date | After every session, e.g. “31 pages · 23 min · finish Oct 9” | Not listed |
| Streaks | Daily streak by your local calendar day; today and yesterday can be backfilled free | Not listed (yearly Reading Challenge instead) |
| Audiobooks | Log listening minutes; finish estimate from the book's length | Not listed |
| Reviews, friends, recommendations | No | Yes |
| Getting your data out | CSV or JSON export in the app, free | CSV export on the website only (“Desktop only”) |
| Ads | None | Google Play listing says “Contains ads” |
| Account | None; your library stays on your phone | Needed to keep shelves |
| Price | Free; optional Pro $29.99/yr (7-day trial) or $4.99/mo | Free; no in-app purchases listed |
“Not listed” means the official listing doesn't mention it; it isn't proof the feature is missing.
What does Pagehour look like in use?
This 96-second walkthrough shows the Android app on a demo library. It times a session, rates a book in half stars, fixes a book's details, imports Goodreads shelves and backs up to a file. It ends with where Goodreads is stronger.
Read the transcript
- Pagehour vs Goodreads. A reading tracker that times your sessions.
- Goodreads keeps your shelves. Pagehour times your reading.
- Start, read, stop. Enter the page you reached and see your pages, minutes and finish date before you save.
- Every saved session counts. Save one and today joins your reading streak.
- Rate in half stars. Tap a star, or tap its left half. Here: 3.5 of 5.
- Wrong page count? Fix it. Change title, author, pages or cover. The pages left and finish estimate update.
- Bring your Goodreads shelves. Pick your exported CSV and your finished, reading and want-to-read books come across.
- Back up to a file. Share a JSON or CSV copy of your library, or restore from a backup.
- Where Goodreads is stronger. Friends: see their reviews and updates, and recommend books to them. Discovery: personalised recommendations and popular book lists. Community: online book clubs, the Reading Challenge and the Choice Awards. Reviews: rate and review any book for other readers to see.
- Pagehour: Reading Tracker. pagehour.com
The demo build opens the timer at about 23 minutes so the recording stays short. A real session counts real time.
Can I move my Goodreads library to Pagehour?
Yes. Export your library as a .csv file on the Goodreads website (My Books → Import and export → Export Library), then open Pagehour, go to You → Import from Goodreads, and choose the file. The import is free, runs on your phone, and skips books you already have, so you can run it again later.
Your read, currently-reading and to-read shelves land in Finished, Reading and Want to read, with your star ratings, page counts, dates read and private notes. Books on a shelf named like “did-not-finish” or “dnf” go to Didn't finish. The whole import happens in one step: if anything fails, nothing is changed. The step-by-step guide to exporting your Goodreads library shows every column and what happens to it.
What do readers complain about in other Goodreads alternatives?
In recent 1–2 star App Store reviews of other reading trackers, the loudest complaints are streaks that reset, lost progress, books marked finished on their own, long sign-up questionnaires and constant upgrade prompts. Here is what reviewers wrote, word for word, and how Pagehour handles each.
| App | What the reviewer wrote | What Pagehour does |
|---|---|---|
| Bookmory, 1★ | “My reading streak randomly reset and I faithfully logged every day. I logged last night at 95 today and today it says 2 days.” | A day counts in your local calendar day, fixed when you save. Sessions past midnight, daylight-saving changes and time-zone travel are covered by tests. Today never breaks a streak. |
| Bookmory, 1★ | “the app deleted all my audio books progress and streaks... Everything past two days is gone.” | Your library is stored on your phone with tested upgrade steps, and you can export every book, session and note to CSV or JSON, free, whenever you like. There is no cloud backup yet, so export before you delete the app. |
| StoryGraph, 2★ | “I put in a book and it automatically says I've finished it.” | Reaching the last page never marks a book finished. You confirm it, and rate it then. |
| Bookly, 1★ | “I saw an ad for this app... got asked more questions than I have at most job interviews.” | Setup is a welcome screen and three questions: your goal, when you read, and your current book (which you can skip). |
| Bookly, 1★ | “Constantly asking to be paid. Pop up for premium at every stage.” | One short card about Pro, shown once on your third day of reading, and you can dismiss it. After that, plans only appear when you tap a Pro feature. |
For prices, trials and features of StoryGraph, Fable, Bookly, Bookmory and Margins, see best book tracking apps compared.
Is Pagehour free?
Yes for the core: the timer, logging, unlimited books, Goodreads import, CSV or JSON export and the finished-book share card are free, with no ads. Pagehour Pro adds full history beyond 30 days, logging missed days up to 60 days back (the first one is free), and streak freezes you earn: one for every 7 days you read, up to 3 banked.
| Plan | Price | Free trial |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | n/a |
| Pro, yearly | $29.99 / year | 7 days |
| Pro, monthly | $4.99 / month | None |
When is Goodreads the better choice?
Stay on Goodreads if you mainly want reviews, friends' updates, recommendations, the Reading Challenge community or the Choice Awards. Pagehour has none of those social features; it is for the reading itself.
Many readers keep both: Goodreads for reviews and discovery, Pagehour for the daily habit. A Goodreads export is a .csv copy of your library, and you can import a fresh export into Pagehour later without creating duplicates.
Ready to see your own finish date? Install Pagehour, import your Goodreads file, and time tonight's reading.
Sources
- Goodreads: Book Tracker & More, App Store (US): description, features and in-app purchases, checked 28 September 2026.
- Goodreads on Google Play: “Contains ads” label, checked 28 September 2026.
- Goodreads Help, “Import or export your books” (article dated 14 July 2026): export is “Desktop only”, checked 28 September 2026.
- Reviewer quotes: iTunes Customer Reviews feed for the US App Store, most recent reviews, pulled 26 September 2026.
- Pagehour behaviour: the app's own code and tests (streak rules, Goodreads importer, paywall), as of 15 October 2026.