Products · Product
Goodreads
Raised as a usability problem by 80 people on Hacker News over 17 years (2010–2026), in 35 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads in the last 5 years.
Every issue, all time, most people first
Hard to search books by rating and similar readers' likesUnreviewed
20102026- Recommendations are poor despite the large amount of ratings data2023-06-30
- Lacks basic search filters, so users can't find books by year, genre or votes2021-04-17
- Search is horrible, so the user has to eventually dig to find books2020-09-12
Books marked read as soon as opened, and editing dates is hardUnreviewed
20102026- Series list shows a book as unread though it was read, confusing progress tracking2023-06-30
- Books marked read as soon as opened, and editing dates is a navigational nightmare2021-04-16
- Hard to find upcoming releases and series order, leading to reading books out of order2020-09-13
Interface is cluttered and distractingUnreviewed
20102026- Interface is considered bad and confusing to use2026-06-17
- Interface is bloated and clunky to use2023-08-31
- Interface is terrible, with no clear way to see read books2020-09-12
App and website load slowlyUnreviewed
20102026- App is slow and crashes often2023-06-30
- App and website have slow load times, frustrating to use2021-09-17
- Website and Android app UI and UX are horrible and performance is very slow2020-09-12
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- Interface is considered bad and confusing to use2026-06-17
- Couldn't get the Goodreads library export to download on mobile2025-03-02
- Right-clicking on links often doesn't work because they are JavaScript links2025-03-02
- Search field is de-emphasised and hidden below the fold, hard to find2025-03-02
- Search dropdown results open the current page in a new tab instead of the result2025-03-02
- Adding a game to a list or tagging it takes three clicks2024-10-03
- App feels laggy and janky on Mac compared to Apple Books2024-07-12
- Can't find any way to ask developers or community questions2023-12-18
- The app is almost unusable for the person2023-12-18
- Book titles contain spoilers, so searching reveals plot twists2023-12-17
- Can't find the profile ID on mobile; the link opens the app without showing it2023-10-12
- Poor user experience that the commenter tolerates for occasional use2023-08-31
- Interface is bloated and clunky to use2023-08-31
- Commenter says Goodreads has interface problems, though gives no specifics2023-08-31
- Groups are hard to browse and discover because the interface is especially bad2023-08-31
- Website is user-hostile and dark-pattern infested for book reviews2023-08-31
- Hard to find the last page read and update it; UI is confusing2023-07-19
- Painful interface with poorly designed forms and errors reported to users2023-07-05
- Goodreads UX is only barely serviceable to use2023-07-03
- Site is clunky and not pleasant to use2023-07-03
- Getting good results from the site takes more and more effort as it declines2023-06-30
- Took about 20 minutes to find how to switch an edition2023-06-30
- App is slow and crashes often2023-06-30
- Recommendations are poor despite the large amount of ratings data2023-06-30
- Accidental touch while scrolling pops up a modal covering most of the screen demanding a rating2023-06-30
- Series list shows a book as unread though it was read, confusing progress tracking2023-06-30
- Merging incorrect duplicate listings is a painful, tedious process2023-06-08
- Searching for anything specific is nearly impossible; good reviews don't surface2022-12-29
- Reviews are cluttered with gifs after nearly every sentence, making them hard to read2022-02-28
- Magic-link login is confusing and must be repeated every time; links fail behind firewall2022-02-28
- Cataloging books on Goodreads is slow, and shelves/tags are slow to use for locations2021-09-22
- App and website have slow load times, frustrating to use2021-09-17
- Lacks basic search filters, so users can't find books by year, genre or votes2021-04-17
- UX on mobile feels clunky and tasteless to use2021-04-16
- Books marked read as soon as opened, and editing dates is a navigational nightmare2021-04-16
- Goodreads loads much slower on phones than on desktop browsers2021-04-16
- Site is clunky and awkward to use, though the author says it is not broken2021-04-16
- Site is slow to respond when interacting with it2021-04-06
- Managing shelves is slow, requires reloads instead of instant drag and drop2020-09-13
- Hard to find upcoming releases and series order, leading to reading books out of order2020-09-13
- Can't open each search result in a new tab from the dropdown2020-09-13
- Home tab opens blank except a search bar and a find-friends button2020-09-12
- Two search fields cause users to pick the wrong one and get no results2020-09-12
- No straightforward way to assign books to same-named authors; must use hacky extra spaces2020-09-12
- Pages load so slowly the user avoids visiting the site2020-09-12
- Search is horrible, so the user has to eventually dig to find books2020-09-12
- Search bar sits below the fold, making it harder to start searching2020-09-12
- Slow page loading and a convoluted, hard-to-navigate UI2020-09-12
- Groups take multiple clicks to do anything and lack a posting timeline2020-09-12
- Website and Android app UI and UX are horrible and performance is very slow2020-09-12