# Goodreads 17 Hacker News commenters recommended Goodreads and 33 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months. **Verdict:** People recommend it for finding books, tracking reading, and joining a large community of readers, though many say its ratings and recommendations are unreliable. ## Why people recommend it - Large community of active readers (2 comments): "It's good if you are part of that community which was built around specific shared interests" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48818092)) "But it is huge, passionate forum for active readers of all stripes." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47735104)) - Tracks reading progress and library (2 comments): "Use goodreads to track progress and add my friends who are readers to provide motivation and goal visualization." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45875794)) "I do enjoy that it syncs my reading progress / library with Goodreads" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49512663)) - Good for finding related books (2 comments): "You can go to the page for a representative book and then start browsing the "readers also enjoyed" list." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47546549)) "barely more effective than a keyword author search, but for all its failings thats still going to have better book discovery" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48814067)) ## What people warn about - Ratings and recommendations are unreliable (4 comments): "I've been burned too many times by highly rated books that weren't that good." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45840133)) "A random sampling of books that a random group thinks are good isnt a good recommendation engine." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48813758)) "I just recently read a really mediocre book with a 4.7/5 rating on Goodreads" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49017237)) - Owned by Amazon, quality declined (3 comments): "Goodreads is owned by Amazon." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49524924)) "Goodreads is now an amazon marketing website filled with astroturf and review bombing." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47736294)) "Goodreads used to be great, but have gone down hill since Amazon bought them." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49144350)) - Reading challenge pressures readers (2 comments): "The chase of more and more books because of my Goodreads friends' goals is what got me reading 70 books a year, and abhorring the experience." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48888599)) "My biggest pet peeve is the Goodreads reading challenge, I cringe at it every year." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46475601)) - Little development, dated technology (2 comments): "Goodreads is declining because its old tech was less attractive to younger readers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49513932)) "Goodreads seems to be get so little development attention these days" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48813190)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Shelvy Books](https://hackerapproved.com/p/shelvy-books.md): 9 recommend - [Hardcover](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hardcover.md): 8 recommend - [LibraryThing](https://hackerapproved.com/p/librarything.md): 6 recommend - [StoryGraph](https://hackerapproved.com/p/storygraph.md): 5 recommend - [BookWyrm](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bookwyrm.md): 5 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.goodreads.com/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Goodreads", https://hackerapproved.com/p/goodreads/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).