A Hardcover alternative for reading more, not logging more

Most people searching for a Hardcover alternative already left Goodreads once and want to be sure they picked the right home for their reading. The honest short answer: Hardcover is a strong social catalog, and ReadFirst is not trying to be one. ReadFirst is for the other half of the problem, finding the time to read in a day full of feeds.

We make ReadFirst, so we are not neutral. We checked every fact about Hardcover on its App Store page and website on 20 October 2026.

What is Hardcover?

Hardcover is an independent book tracking and social reading app from Hardcover LLC. It describes itself as built for readers, not algorithms, and is often named as a modern Goodreads alternative. The founders have written that the app started after Goodreads closed its API, and Hardcover offers a public API of its own.

You can build lists and tags, rate and review books, see what your friends are reading and choose whether your profile is public, private or friends only. It also has reading goals and stats. It runs on iPhone, iPad, Apple silicon Macs and the web at hardcover.app.

Hardcover is free to download with in-app purchases. As listed on the US App Store on 20 October 2026, the Supporter plan costs $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year.

Hardcover vs ReadFirst at a glance

Where Hardcover is a great choice

Hardcover is a great choice if your reading life lives in lists. You can sort books with your own tags, write reviews, follow what friends finish and keep a public profile that feels like a reading diary for others to browse.

It also suits readers who care about where their data goes. Hardcover is independent, it has a web version you can use on any computer, and its public API means developers and tinkerers can build on their own reading data. If you want to catalog hundreds of books and share opinions about them, Hardcover is made for that.

ReadFirst has none of the social or review features. If ratings and friends are central for you, Hardcover is the better catalog.

Where ReadFirst is different

ReadFirst is built for the reader who has a good list and still does not read enough. A catalog tells you what you want to read. ReadFirst makes room for it in your day. Here is how.

• Your book opens your apps. You choose the apps and websites to lock with Apple Screen Time. To open them, you read a page of a printed book and take a live photo of the last page you read. See read to unlock for the full flow.
• Pages become minutes. Your rule sets the price, for example one page gives you 15 minutes in your apps. The minutes only run while you use the locked apps. Read more than the rule asks and the extra minutes go into a bank for later that day, up to 5 hours.
• A tracker that follows the habit. A book tracker with barcode scan and cover photo, a reading clock with a Live Activity, a daily page goal and a streak with one grace day a month.
• Stats you can feel. Reading stats for your week, month and year, with your best day, best week, books finished and share cards in story and square sizes. 60 medals mark the milestones along the way.
• No account. The page photo is checked on your iPhone and never saved. Your books and reading sync with iCloud between iPhone and iPad.

Can you use both?

Yes, and for many readers that is the best setup. Keep Hardcover as your catalog: your lists, ratings, reviews and the friends whose taste you trust. Use ReadFirst for the daily habit: the books on your nightstand, the pages you read before the feed and the streak that keeps you coming back.

There is no link between the two apps. ReadFirst has no import from Hardcover or Goodreads, so you add the books you are reading now by barcode scan, cover photo, title search or by typing them in. When you finish a book in ReadFirst, you can rate it in Hardcover as usual.

If you only want to track your printed reading for a while, set your minutes per unlock to 0. In Track only mode, every page counts for your book, your goal and your medals.

Which one should you choose?

Choose Hardcover if:

• You want an independent, modern catalog with lists, tags and reviews.
• You like seeing what your friends read and sharing your profile.
• You want a web version or access to your data through an API.

Choose ReadFirst if:

• You read printed books and want to read more of them each week.
• Your phone tends to win the quiet moments of your day.
• You want a private tracker with a daily goal, a streak, widgets and medals.