StoryGraph vs Goodreads vs Highstreett: who owns each
Goodreads belongs to Amazon: it is run by Goodreads LLC, which its own privacy policy calls a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc., and it pays its way partly with ads. StoryGraph is a small UK company, The StoryGraph Limited, controlled by one individual, with two individual shareholders and no investor on the register, and it pays its way with an optional subscription instead of ads. If who owns your reading history matters to you, that is the difference. Highstreett, which we built, isn’t a reading tracker at all; it’s in the table so you can see where it fits. Last verified 10 September 2026.
Disclosure
Highstreett is our product, and its column in the table is our own claim, held to the same ownership test as the other two.
| StoryGraph | Goodreads | Highstreett | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who runs it | The StoryGraph Limited, UK company 08021619 | Goodreads LLC, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc. | Us: a founder-owned UK company |
| Control, on the record | One individual holds 75% or more of the shares and votes; a 2021 filing lists two individual shareholders, and there is no investor or corporate holder | Amazon, since the acquisition it announced on 28 March 2013 | We haven't published our company number on this site, so this is the one cell with no register citation behind it |
| How it pays its way | An optional Plus subscription, and no ads | Ads, including interest-based ads and ads served through third-party networks | Not a tracker, so there is no subscription to sell you |
| Price | Free; Plus is £3.49 a month or £34.99 a year on the UK App Store | Free, with ads | Free |
| Your reading data | Its privacy policy shares data only with service providers and its own staff, and says nothing about ads or selling data | Its privacy policy says what it collects may be linked to your Amazon account and used by both | Not a reading tracker: there's no library to hold |
| Recommendations | In-house machine learning from the moods, pace and ratings you log | An engine launched in 2011 that learns from what's shelved together and who liked what | Describe the book you want in a sentence; no reading history needed |
| Moving your library | Imports a Goodreads export, free according to its own app listings, and exports your library as a CSV | Exports your library as a CSV from the desktop site | Nothing to move |
Who owns Goodreads
Amazon announced it was buying Goodreads on 28 March 2013, on terms it didn’t disclose. Today the site is run by Goodreads LLC, and its privacy policy says Goodreads LLC is a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc. and that Amazon’s own privacy notice governs what it collects. If you have an Amazon account, the policy says what Goodreads gathers may be linked to what Amazon holds about you and used by both. Goodreads sits inside Amazon’s books business, alongside Kindle.
It carries ads: interest-based ones, which you can switch off in its settings, and ads served through third-party networks. It closed its public API to new developers in December 2020, and in March 2026 it added a Did Not Finish shelf, which readers had asked for for years.
Who owns StoryGraph
The StoryGraph Limited is a UK company, incorporated in April 2012 and registered in London as company 08021619. Its register of people with significant control shows one individual holding 75% or more of the shares and votes. Its 2021 confirmation statement lists two individual shareholders, with 75 and 25 shares, and no filing since has changed that. There is no investor and no corporate holder anywhere on the register, and its founder told the Guardian in February 2025 that StoryGraph had taken no investment.
It is very small: its accounts for the year to April 2025 show an average of two employees. It pays its way with StoryGraph Plus, which adds extra stats and charts, and it presents Plus as what keeps it independent and ad-free.
Moving from Goodreads to StoryGraph
- On the Goodreads website, rather than the app, go to My Books, then Import and export, then Export Library, and download the CSV.
- In StoryGraph, import that file. StoryGraph’s own app listings put the import among its free features.
- Your read, currently reading, want to read and did-not-finish shelves come across, and custom shelves become tags.
Your friends and groups stay on Goodreads, and the Goodreads export has no column for the date you started a book, so start dates can’t come across. Leaving StoryGraph later works the same way: it exports your library as a CSV too.
Where Highstreett fits
Highstreett isn’t a tracker, and you don’t log anything: you describe the book you want in a sentence and get suggestions, with buy links to independent bookshops wherever one has the book. It works alongside either app: track in StoryGraph or Goodreads, and use Highstreett when you want your next book without a reading history behind it.
On a page about ownership, our own column has to meet the same test, and it doesn’t fully: we’re a founder-owned UK company, but we haven’t published our company number on this site, so there’s no register citation behind that claim yet.
The honest bit
Ownership isn’t the only thing that matters in a tracker. Goodreads has by far the bigger community: its app listing says it has more than 75 million members, against StoryGraph’s own figure of more than 5 million readers, so reviews and friends are thicker on the ground there. And StoryGraph’s size cuts both ways: two employees means no investor pushing for growth, and also very little slack if something goes wrong.
Describe the book you want next
Highstreett finds your next book from a description rather than a reading history, and points you to an independent bookshop that has it.
Questions
Is Goodreads owned by Amazon?
Yes. Amazon announced it was buying Goodreads on 28 March 2013, and Goodreads' own privacy policy says the company that runs it, Goodreads LLC, is a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc.
Who owns StoryGraph?
The StoryGraph Limited, a UK company (08021619). One individual holds 75% or more of its shares and votes, a 2021 filing lists two individual shareholders, and there is no investor or corporate owner anywhere on the register. It is not owned by Amazon or by any other company.
Is StoryGraph free?
Mostly, yes. StoryGraph Plus, which adds extra stats, charts and priority support, costs £3.49 a month or £34.99 a year on the UK App Store, and the web version offers a 30-day free trial with no card needed.
Can you import Goodreads to StoryGraph?
Yes. Export your library as a CSV from the Goodreads website (My Books, then Import and export), then import the file into StoryGraph. StoryGraph's own app listings put the import among its free features, and your shelves come across, with custom shelves turned into tags.
- Best book recommendation apps, for the wider field, including LibraryThing, in the same ownership table
- Using AI for book recommendations, if you’re weighing ChatGPT or Gemini instead of an app
- Independent alternatives to Amazon for books, for buying what you track without going through Amazon