Kobo Books & Audiobooks vs Goodreads

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

1. [R5] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 4/5 · US Good App!: Easy to use with good features. My one complaint is that you can't mark a book as finished without having to thumb through the entire book. I have two iPads and download and read books on each one. The books will show on both devices in my library but will not show as finished on the device that I didn't use to read.
2. [R11] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 4/5 · US Great app but confusing payment system: The app is great! Runs nicely, dark mode, nice UI, and also has a dictionary option to look up unknown words! The only thing is the payment system. From what I can tell, a subscription only covers some books, and not all in its collection. Some ebooks and audiobooks you just have to purchase.
3. [R54] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 4/5 · US Good for reading, but: The reading experience with this app is good. You can sideload books as well as read books from Kobo. You can read with offline. The dictionary works well. I like that you can look up a word in the dictionary and also Wikipedia and Google if you are online. The Library management could use some work. You cannot sort you books by author, title or category. Kobo seems t
4. [R65] Goodreads 5/5 · US One location all things Book: Easy to use, great place research books, keep track of what I have read, what I want to read and read reviews.
5. [R17] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 5/5 · US Love it: I really enjoy using the Kobo app. It’s really easy and convenient to use.
6. [R25] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 2/5 · US Very buggy: If they want to compete with Kindle, they’ve got a long way to go. So many bugs…where to even start? Slow, stuttering render when opening a book. Sometimes randomly deciding to ask if I want to sync to the latest page every time I turn a page…even when I’m at the latest page. Trying to tap a link (like a footnote) near the edge or bottom of a page is an exercise in frustration, it
7. [R39] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 1/5 · GB Absolutely horrendous customer service: I’ve been a kobo customer for YEARS. But the customer services has got worse and worse to the point it wastes time and cases distress.
8. [R72] Goodreads 3/5 · US Great potential but needs minor upgrades!: This app has great potential for readers! But I feel that the app itself is outdated and a bit neglected on the technical side. I think if a bit more time was invested in the app to improve functionality and nuance it would be a great app! I already really like it but the lack of ease to move through the app sets it back. Makes it feel old.
9. [R7] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 1/5 · US Book Doesn’t Open: Your ebook app fails to open books that have been purchased, and downloaded. I cannot justify to myself the use of something whose purported utility is gravely wanting.
10. [R29] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 1/5 · US Only One Book in My Library Downloads: For whatever reason, this app refuses to download all but one of my books. I’ve deleted it, reinstalled it, etc and I still have the same issue.
11. [R43] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 1/5 · GB Keeps resetting my reading: I feel like I’m going crazy re reading the same pages over and over again, my book is factual and quite repetitive so it’s so confusing trying to work out where I got to. Sometimes it seems to skip multiple chapters back. It’s completely unusable.
12. [R67] Goodreads 1/5 · US What is happening?!: Books I’ve never heard of are randomly being added to my WTR. I only get recs for what’s popular, not relevant. Now, the app crashes upon opening every time. Deleted & redownloaded, still fails.
13. [R14] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 4/5 · US Kobo audiobooks: I like just paying a flat monthly fee and listen to as much as I’d like. The type of books I like are limited but still worth price compared to others. Wouldn’t pay more than current fee but I will continue to use for now.
14. [R55] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 1/5 · GB What am I paying for?: I’m confused as to why you have to pay a monthly fee and then pay full price on top of that for books? Why would I do that?! I’ll stick with Kindle and Audible!
15. [R74] Goodreads 5/5 · US The Rotten Tomatoes of Books!: Goodreads is my go to when looking for a book. If it doesn’t have 4 stars…. I am hesitant to pick it up.
16. [R95] Goodreads 5/5 · US Great book source!: I use this to keep a list of my “TBR” and it’s great for keeping up with what I read in a year!
17. [R15] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 3/5 · GB Helpful and speedy support but …: I had an initial problem with purchases showing up on my iPad but not on my iPhone. However, I got a response from Kobo support by return which fixed it. However, I find the inaccurate synching between tablet and phone infuriating.
18. [R21] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 3/5 · GB Impossible to log in: I have spent 4 days trying to log in. It says to log in with FNAC but won't accept the FNAC password and won't let me log in as a new user either. Going round in circles. Poor experience. Update: they reached out to me and even they can't understand it. So they have now escalated to a developer. I've upped my rating to 3 stars because their chat service was open and very h
19. [R63] Goodreads 3/5 · US With we could give half points: Switched to StoryGraph for 6 months. I like the rating and review system but it very clunky to use so I’m back to goodreads until they fix it or I find a better site to track my reading.
20. [R92] Goodreads 5/5 · US Great Book Tracker and Social Network: I Goodreads is a great app I use to find and share books. Tracking my reading progress and getting personalized recommendations makes it fun and easy. I enjoy connecting with other book lovers through their reviews and discussions, which often offer new insights. Plus, the annual reading challenge pushes me to explore different genres and discover new authors
21. [R1] Kobo Books & Audiobooks 1/5 · US Hard to cancel: I’ve canceled this account back on April 16, 2026. I received confirmation that it will take 48 hours to cancel. It’s now July and they’re still charging me!