Best Reading Apps

What is the best reading app for book clubs?

Fable is the best reading app for most book clubs: it is built around public or private clubs, the core app is free, and members can import their lists from Goodreads and Kindle. If your members read at different speeds, The StoryGraph's readalongs are safer, because comments stay locked until each reader reaches that point. Thus Far is a newer app built only around chapter-locked discussion.

By the Best Reading Apps editors · Checked 30 October 2026 · Desk research

Our pick

Price: Free

Fable

Our pick for running a book club

Thousands of free book and TV clubs, or start your own, with discussion organized into spoiler-free chapter rooms. Members get goals, streaks and stats, and can import their lists from Goodreads and Kindle.

The catch: Fable describes spoiler-free chapter rooms, but not comments that open up by each member's own progress, so agree on chapter checkpoints. Fable Plus costs $5.99 a month or $49.99 a year; the core app is free.

Also good

Best when members read at different speeds

The StoryGraph

Buddy reads, readalongs and book clubs where comments stay locked for each reader until they reach that point.

The catch: It is a tracker first, so club tools are one part of a larger app.

Best for chapter-by-chapter talk

Thus Far

Every post carries the chapter it was written at, and the feed stops at your bookmark. Joining a club is free.

The catch: It is a subscription, monthly or annual, after a one-month free trial; the same subscription hosts clubs and brings three friends in free. It is new, with 6 ratings on the US App Store, needs iOS 26 or later, and fills feeds with labelled app-generated Book Buddies unless you switch them off.

Best if your club already lives on Goodreads

Goodreads

Free book club groups for reading along and discussion, where most readers already have an account.

The catch: Groups are discussion boards, not progress-locked threads.

How to choose for your club

  • Everyone reads at the same pace and meets on a set date: Fable.
  • Members read at very different speeds: The StoryGraph, or Thus Far if you want a chapter-by-chapter feed.
  • Your members will not install a new app: a Goodreads group.

What about the member who fell behind?

Someone always arrives at the meeting a few chapters short. A recap up to their own page helps them join in without being spoiled. Magic Bookmark does this for supported titles on iPhone, in print, audio or ebook, and Kindle's Story So Far does it inside Kindle ebooks in the US. See how to get back into a book you stopped reading.

More on clubs and trackers

Our reading tracker picks cover the tracking side of these apps. Our sister site Best Book Tracker Apps compares trackers in more depth.

How do you set up a spoiler-safe club in any app?

  • Agree on checkpoints. Name the chapters for each meeting before you start, and post them where everyone can see them.
  • Use the app's structure. In Fable, post in the chapter room you have finished. In The StoryGraph, keep your progress up to date so locked comments open at the right time.
  • Label anything ahead of the checkpoint. If someone has raced ahead, they post in a separate thread or room marked with the chapter.
  • Plan for a mixed-format club. Some members will listen and some will read on paper. Chapter numbers work across formats better than page numbers.

Our note on Fable's spoiler-free chapter rooms compares the three approaches side by side.

Questions

How do you run a book club without spoilers?
Use an app that locks comments by reading progress, such as The StoryGraph's readalongs or Thus Far, and agree on chapter checkpoints for each meeting.
Is Fable free?
The core app is free. Fable Plus costs $5.99 a month or $49.99 a year.
Does Goodreads have book clubs?
Yes. Goodreads has book club groups for reading along and discussion, and the app is free.
What is Thus Far?
An iPhone app for no-spoiler book talk. You save the chapter you are on, and the discussion feed only shows posts written up to that chapter. It is a subscription with a one-month free trial, and the same subscription lets you host a club.
Can members read on paper and still use a club app?
Yes. Fable, The StoryGraph and Goodreads track progress by page or percentage, so the format does not matter. Thus Far can save your chapter from a photo of a paper page.

Sources

  1. Apple App Store (US), Fable: Track & Discuss Books, read 2 November 2026.
  2. Apple App Store (US), StoryGraph: Reading Tracker, read 2 November 2026.
  3. Apple App Store (US), Thus Far: No-Spoiler Book Club, read 2 November 2026.
  4. Apple App Store (US), Goodreads: Book Tracker & More, read 2 November 2026.
  5. Apple App Store (US), Magic Bookmark: Book Recaps, read 3 November 2026.
  6. Amazon News, How Kindle helps you stay immersed in every book you read (updated 2 July 2026), read 27 October 2026.