Publishing · pricing
Goodreads pricing
Goodreads publishes a single tier. Below is what it costs, what it covers, and how that compares with the publishing tools listed alongside it.
As of 1 September 2026, Goodreads pricing is free. Figures are the vendor's list prices as recorded on this page's last check; the vendor's site is the final word.
- Entry price
- Free
- Model
- Free, no subscription or in-app purchases; funded by Amazon as a commerce and data feeder
- Tiers
- 1
- Free tier
- Yes
Goodreads plans, side by side
Every published tier in ascending order of price, with the number of features each one lists. An absence here means the record does not itemise it, not that the tier lacks it.
| Plan | Price | Features listed | Step up from the tier below |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | Free | 3 | Entry tier |
Where Goodreads stops being free
Goodreads, Free
- Full cataloguing, review and group features at no cost
- No ads sold directly within the reading experience beyond Amazon purchase links
- No premium tier exists
No paid tier on record
Goodreads lists a free tier and no priced tier above it in the record we hold.
What the product covers
The full Goodreads feature record, grouped as the catalogue groups it. This is the product as a whole; the record does not map every feature onto a specific tier.
Other
- Reading tracking and shelves
- Reviews and ratings
- Reading Challenge
- Groups and discussions
- Author profiles and Q&A
- Kindle and Amazon purchase links
People bring Goodreads in for a reader wanting a personal log of books read with ratings and notes over time, someone checking aggregated reviews before buying or borrowing a book, a book club coordinating discussion in a dedicated group space, a reader setting and tracking an annual reading goal through the reading challenge feature. If that is not the job you are buying for, the alternatives to Goodreads are worth a look before you commit to a tier.
How that compares in Publishing
Too few publishing tools in this directory publish a starting price to quote a meaningful median, so the table below is a like-for-like list rather than a ranking.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Rated | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goodreads (this page) | Free | Free, no subscription or in-app purchases; funded by Amazon as a commerce and data feeder | - | |
| Everand | $11.99/month | Per user per month, unlimited | - | vs Goodreads |
| Kobo | Free | Free store and app; hardware sold separately; optional subscription | - | vs Goodreads |
| Scrivener | On request | One-time purchase | - | vs Goodreads |
| PublishDrive | Free | Flat-fee subscription, no commission on paid plans | - | vs Goodreads |
| BookBaby | On request | One-time purchase per project | - | vs Goodreads |
| Kindle | Free | Free app, revenue from book purchases and optional subscription | - | vs Goodreads |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry, they are not reviews hosted on Softwr. How each figure is used is set out on the Goodreads badges page.
Before you pay for Goodreads
Three things this page cannot tell you, and all three change the bill. The record carries a price and a billing period but not the unit - per-seat and flat-rate pricing are indistinguishable in this data, so a five-person team may be looking at five times the figure above. It carries no annual rate, so any discount for paying yearly is not something this page can quote. And it carries no trial length.
What it can tell you is the shape of the ladder: a single tier at Free. Because there is a free tier, the cheapest way to answer the rest is to use it before paying anything.
Goodreads runs on ios, android, web, and is published by Amazon.com, Inc. of Seattle, Washington, United States. The full record is on the Goodreads review, and the rest of the category is under best publishing tools.
Goodreads pricing questions
- How much does Goodreads cost?
- Goodreads publishes a single tier, Goodreads, at Free.
- Does Goodreads have a free plan?
- Yes. The Goodreads tier costs nothing and covers full cataloguing, review and group features at no cost, no ads sold directly within the reading experience beyond amazon purchase links, no premium tier exists.
- Which publishing tools can I use without paying?
- 5 of the 8 publishing tools listed alongside Goodreads have a free tier: Kobo, PublishDrive, Kindle, Wattpad, Webtoon.
- What am I actually paying for with Goodreads?
- The record lists 6 features across 1 area: other. In practice it is brought in for a reader wanting a personal log of books read with ratings and notes over time, someone checking aggregated reviews before buying or borrowing a book, a book club coordinating discussion in a dedicated group space.
- Does Goodreads charge per user?
- The record carries a price and a billing period for each of its 1 tiers, but not the unit that price is charged in. Per-seat and flat-rate billing look identical in this data, so check the vendor's page before budgeting for a team.
- Are these Goodreads prices current?
- They are what the catalogue entry holds, refreshed when the entry is. Vendors change pricing without notice and nobody at Softwr re-verifies each tier by hand, so treat this as a structured summary and the vendor's own pricing page as the authority.
- What should I compare Goodreads against before paying?
- The closest publishing tools in this directory are Everand, Kobo, Scrivener, PublishDrive. Each has a side-by-side comparison with Goodreads covering price, platforms and features.