A Goodreads alternative that's about your books, not your feed
Goodreads is a social network about books. Volumes is everything else Goodreads is used for, done privately: track what you're reading, scan in the books you own, remember who borrowed what, keep the quotes you loved, and plan what's next. No profile, no feed, no ads and no account.
Goodreads is Amazon's social reading site, built around reviews, friends and recommendations. Volumes is one private app for your reading and your shelves: progress, loans, quotes, series and statistics.
Volumes and Goodreads, feature by feature
Feature
Volumes
Goodreads
No account needed
YesKept in your own iCloud
NoAccount needed
Not tracked across apps
Yes
Yes
No ads
Yes
NoListing says it contains ads
Native Mac app
YesNative on iPhone, iPad and Mac
NoiPhone and iPad apps, plus the website
Barcode scanning
YesOne book or a whole shelf
YesCover scanner and ISBN search
Track who borrowed a book
YesPlus hand-over links
No
Record which shelf a book is on
Yes
NoOwned-book details removed in 2022
Save your own quotes
YesPhotograph the page
PartlyPublic quotes pages
Import from Goodreads
YesAlso StoryGraph, LibraryThing
Not listedNot applicable
Export your library
NoComing soon
YesCSV, from the website only
No subscription or paid tier
YesEverything included
YesFree, with ads
Android or web
NoComing soon
YesAndroid and web
YesPartlyNoNot mentioned in their own listing or help pages
Under the library title on iPhone, the gear on iPad, and ⌘, on a Mac.
Import from Another App
Tap Choose a File and pick the export. Or share the file to Volumes from Files or Mail.
Add to My Library
Check the count, then add. Volumes tells you what came in and anything it couldn't use.
What to expect
Comes across
Title, authors, ISBN, publisher, page count and publication years
Read and currently reading, with the date you finished
The date you added each book
Your own shelves, as lists
Stays behind
Star ratings, reviews and private notes
Earlier rereads (the export only has your last read date)
Owned copies
Want-to-read books come in as not started, rather than onto a list
Books already in your library are skipped, so importing twice is safe. Want to see it first? Try a sample library.
Which is for you
An honest choice
Choose Goodreads if…
You want to follow friends, read reviews and post your own.
You read mostly ebooks or library books and don't need a catalogue of what you own.
You need Android or the web.
Choose Volumes if…
You want to track your reading privately, with no profile, feed or account.
You want your shelves catalogued too: scan a whole shelf, and know where every book is.
You lend books and want to remember who has them.
You want to keep quotes from a photographed page, with the page number.
You want your library on your Mac as well as your iPhone and iPad.
Privacy and price
What it costs you
Goodreads
An account is needed. Goodreads is owned by Amazon, and its App Store listing says it contains advertising.
Free.
Volumes
No account and no ads. Your library is kept in your own iCloud, and Volumes doesn’t track you across other apps or websites. The privacy policy sets out the little that leaves your device.
Free on the App Store, with no subscription.
Goodreads
What you leave behind, and what comes with you
Your friends, reviews, ratings and the Reading Challenge stay on Goodreads: Volumes has no social side, by design. Your books come with you, with what you've read and when you finished it, the date you added each one, and the shelves you made.
Nothing stops you keeping Goodreads for its community and using Volumes for your own library. You can even add a book to Volumes straight from a Goodreads page with Share.
Questions
Good to know
Can I import my Goodreads library into Volumes?
Yes. Export your library from goodreads.com on a computer (My Books, then Import and Export), then in Volumes open Settings and tap Import from Another App. Books already in your library are skipped.
Will my ratings and reviews come across?
No. Volumes brings across your books, what you've read and when, the date you added each book, and your shelves as lists. Ratings, reviews and private notes stay in Goodreads.
Does Volumes have reviews or a social feed?
No. Volumes is private. There are no profiles, followers or public reviews.
Can I get my books out of Volumes later?
A full library export is coming soon. Until then you can share any single book or quote, and your library lives in your own iCloud rather than on our servers.
What do I need to run Volumes?
An iPhone or iPad with iOS 26 or later, or a Mac with macOS 26 or later. Volumes is free on the App Store.
Everything else
Everything else in Volumes
Your reading, your shelves, your loans and your quotes, in one private app on iPhone, iPad and Mac.
