Best Bookly alternatives: reading trackers and book note apps (2026)

Bookly is one of the best-known reading trackers on phones. You start a timer when you sit down to read, and it turns those sessions into statistics: pages per hour, time per book, streaks and progress toward a yearly goal. You can save thoughts and quotes alongside each book. For readers who are motivated by numbers, it makes the habit visible, and a streak can be a surprisingly good reason to read ten more pages before bed.

People look elsewhere for a few reasons. Bookly is tracking-first, so notes are a side feature rather than the heart of the app. Many of its fuller statistics sit behind a subscription at the time of writing. And the quotes you save mostly stay where you saved them, with little to help you review or remember them later.

The right alternative depends on what you want more of: better tracking, more social reading, or notes you actually return to.

Bookly alternatives at a glance

Basmo: the closest like-for-like switch

Basmo covers much of what Bookly does, with a reading timer, goals and statistics, and puts a little more weight on journaling. You can write notes about each session and capture quotes. If you like Bookly's approach but want a journal feel, Basmo is the natural first try. The journal format suits readers who want to reflect on how a session went, not just log that it happened. Its fuller feature set is tied to a subscription at the time of writing.

Bookmory: a lighter tracker with a calendar view

Bookmory combines a reading timer and progress tracking with a calendar of what you read and when, plus room for quotes and short memos. Readers often describe it as simple and pleasant. It is a good choice if Bookly felt busy and you mostly want a clean log. Seeing your reading laid out by day is also a gentle nudge to keep a habit going without a goal hanging over you.

StoryGraph: stats and recommendations

StoryGraph is a tracker built around charts and discovery. It breaks your reading down by mood, pace, genre and length, and recommends books based on what you actually enjoy. It can import a Goodreads history. It has a free tier and an optional subscription. It is not a note-taking tool, but if Bookly's statistics were your favorite part, StoryGraph may be the best replacement. Its recommendations are a bonus Bookly does not really offer: tell it what you liked and it suggests what to read next.

Goodreads: the big shared catalog

Goodreads, owned by Amazon, is still where many readers keep their shelves, write reviews and set a yearly reading challenge. Its strength is its size: friends, reviews and lists for nearly every book. Its apps have changed little over the years, and it offers almost nothing for notes or timing. Use it for the social record, not for remembering what you read. Plenty of readers keep a Goodreads shelf out of habit and do their real note-taking somewhere else.

Literal: shelves and highlights with a social layer

Literal pairs reading shelves with highlights and quotes you can share and browse. It is aimed at readers who like to see what others are reading and keep their favorite lines in a tidy profile. It feels more modern than Goodreads and more personal than a plain tracker. Review of saved quotes is not its focus, so treat it as a place to share lines rather than a place to study them.

Fable: reading with other people

Fable, the social reading and book-club app, is built for reading together. You can join or start clubs, discuss chapters and follow other readers' lists. If what you missed in Bookly was other people, Fable is the answer. It is not a tracker or a notes tool, and it does not try to be. For many readers, a good club does more for a reading habit than any statistic, because someone is waiting to hear what you thought of chapter six.

Highlighted: scan the lines you love

Highlighted focuses on one job: pointing your camera at a printed page and saving the passage as text. For readers of paper books who mostly want a collection of quotes, it is quick and focused. Beyond collecting, it does less with your quotes than a full reading library would. If you want the quotes organized by chapter or brought back later, you will need something more.

GleanNote: notes first, with tracking built in

GleanNote is a reading companion built around what you take away from a book rather than how long you spent reading it. You add books by search, ISBN scan or manual entry and track each one as Currently Reading, Completed or To Read. Inside each book, notes are filed by chapter.

Capturing is quick. Photograph a page, select the passage you want and on-device text recognition turns it into a note, or type and paste a highlight with your own comment. Notes are stored on your device first and work offline, with no sign-in needed unless you want cloud backup on Premium.

What Bookly does not do is bring those quotes back. GleanNote's free Daily Digest resurfaces a few of your own notes each day, and flashcard decks built from your notes help with the ones worth recalling. To be clear about what it is not: there is no reading timer, no page-per-hour statistics and no social feed. If those are what you want, pair it with a tracker or pick one above.

Pick by use case

• You want the Bookly experience with a journaling angle: Basmo
• You want a simple log with a calendar: Bookmory
• You love reading statistics and better recommendations: StoryGraph
• Your friends are already there and you want the shared shelf: Goodreads
• You want to read with a group: Fable
• You want to show off your favorite lines: Literal
• You want a quick way to save quotes from paper: Highlighted
• You want notes organized by chapter that come back to you each day: GleanNote

Many readers end up with two apps: one to track and share, and one to keep and revisit what they learned. That split is often calmer than forcing a single app to do both. Ask yourself one question before switching: a year from now, do you want to know how many hours you read, or what you took away? The answer tells you which kind of app to put first.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best free alternative to Bookly?

For tracking and statistics, StoryGraph and Goodreads are the usual free picks. For notes from books with daily review, GleanNote is free to use.

Can I use a reading tracker and a notes app together?

Yes. A tracker keeps the habit and the statistics, and a notes app keeps what you learned. As long as each has a clear job, two apps are easier to live with than one that does both halfway.

Does GleanNote have a reading timer?

No. It tracks each book's status and focuses on capturing and revisiting notes. If timing sessions matters to you, keep a tracker such as Bookly or Basmo alongside it.

Which app is best for saving quotes from physical books?

Any app with camera text capture helps. Choose one that also files quotes by book and chapter and brings them back later, so the collection does not become a pile you never reopen.