Pricing
The free tier is permanent and covers unlimited book tracking, Reading Room sessions and history, library organisation, and reading stats. No credit card required. Free users can add recommendation packs whenever needed; Forewords Plus is $4/month or $30/year, with dedicated US, UK and EU prices.
Start free. Add credits when needed, or go unlimited.
Tracking, shelves, stats, ratings and imports are identical on both plans. The Plus difference sits entirely in AI-driven discovery and reader insights.
Forewords Free
$0no card, no trial
No subscription required
Unlimited tracking, organisation and reading stats, plus Reading Room sessions, history, and 100 personalised recommendations.
- Unlimited book tracking — no library size cap.
- Unlimited custom shelves and tags.
- Half-star ratings, trait tags, and notes.
- Reading Room - DND, optional timer, and session history.
- Reading stats and history.
- Goodreads and CSV imports.
- Library exports.
- Barcode scanner.
- AI-generated content warnings.
- 100 AI recommendation credits.
Forewords Plus
$30per year · or $4/month
Save 38% with annual billing
Unlimited personalised recommendations and deeper insights into how you read.
- Everything in Free.
- Unlimited personalised recommendations.
- Advanced insights — archetype, taste fingerprint, and evolution.
- Priority access to new features.
- Direct support from me when something breaks.
Upgrade in-app. Cancel anytime.
Free users can add 250 credits for $5 — no subscription, no expiry. Each pack is a one-off purchase, and you can buy another whenever you need one.
How it lines up against the paid alternatives
StoryGraph and Fable are good products charging fair prices for what they do. The price gap isn’t a knock on either of them — it’s a different strategy for how reading apps should make money long-term.
Forewords Plus
$30
per year
Unlimited AI taste recommendations and reader insights. Also $4/month.
StoryGraph Plus
$49.99
per year
Advanced stat filters and custom graphs on top of the free tier. Mood and pacing analytics are the headline.
Forewords has the lower annual price
Fable Premium
$69.99
per year
Social reading with premium book clubs, exclusive content and the most active community in the category.
Forewords has the lower annual price
Pricing for StoryGraph and Fable from their public pages at time of writing. As far as I can tell from their pricing pages and community posts, what each tier includes can change — check their sites for current detail.
Feature comparison
Free vs Plus, against the two paid tiers most readers ask about. Where Forewords is missing something today (content warnings, mood analytics) I’ve marked it directly rather than fudging the row.
| Feature | Forewords Free | Forewords Plus | StoryGraph Plus | Fable Premium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual price | Free | $30/year or $4/month | $49.99 | $69.99 |
| Unlimited book tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Custom shelves & tags | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Per-trait rating tags | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| AI taste-based recommendations | 100 credits + optional 250-credit packs | Unlimited | No | No |
| Reader insights / taste fingerprint | Basic | Full | No | No |
| Mood & pacing analytics | No | No | Yes (their headline feature) | Light |
| Content warnings | AI-generated by severity | AI-generated by severity | Yes (the category benchmark) | Limited |
| Reading stats & history | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Reading Room | DND, optional timer, history | DND, optional timer, history | No | Daily streaks, not session timer |
| Goodreads CSV import | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Book clubs & social reading | No (by design) | No (by design) | Light | Yes (their headline feature) |
| Platforms today | iOS and Android | iOS and Android | iOS, Android, Web | iOS, Android, Web |
Why Plus exists, and why I want it to disappear
The long-term plan for Forewords is that everything is free, funded by affiliate revenue when readers buy books through the app. Bookshop.org is the default buy link, with Amazon supported alongside it for readers who already live in that ecosystem.
Plus exists for one reason: AI recommendation runs cost real money on every request, and at small user numbers I can’t cover unlimited recommendations from affiliate revenue alone yet. Plus funds that usage while the affiliate model grows, with generous safeguards against automated abuse.
That’s the bet. Whether it pays off depends on whether enough readers buy books through Forewords to fund the AI side of the product, and that depends on me getting the product to a point where readers want to. None of which is guaranteed — but it’s the reason Plus remains deliberately affordable, and why the free tier is a real product rather than a teaser.
Disclosure: Forewords earns a small commission when readers buy books through Bookshop.org or Amazon links in the app. Bookshop.org is the default. That commission is what funds the long-term plan of making Plus features free.
Pricing FAQ
Is Forewords actually free?
Yes. The free plan includes unlimited book tracking, full library organisation, AI-generated content warnings, Reading Room sessions and history, reading stats, per-trait rating tags, and 100 AI recommendation credits. No credit card is required for the free plan.
What's in Forewords Plus, exactly?
Plus is $4/month or $30/year in the US (with regional UK and EU pricing) and adds unlimited personalised recommendations, AI-generated reader insights, priority access to new features, and direct support from me. Everything else — tracking, shelves, stats, imports — is identical to the free plan.
How does Forewords Plus compare to StoryGraph Plus and Fable Premium?
Forewords Plus is $30/year in the US, below StoryGraph Plus at $49.99/year and Fable Premium at $69.99/year. The category benchmarks are good products charging fair prices for what they do; I just have lower costs and a different long-term plan. I’ve written longer breakdowns in Forewords vs StoryGraph and Forewords vs Fable if you want the full feature-by-feature view.
Why is Plus so cheap?
My long-term plan is to make every feature free, funded by affiliate revenue from book purchases through Bookshop.org and Amazon. Plus exists mainly as a safeguard against AI recommendation credit over-consumption while that business model matures. As affiliate revenue grows, Plus features will move down to the free tier rather than the other way around.
Is there a free trial of Plus?
There isn't a separate trial, because the free tier already includes 100 AI recommendation credits. If you want more recommendations without subscribing, Free users can buy non-expiring packs of 250 credits whenever needed.
Can I cancel any time?
Yes. Choose monthly or annual billing and cancel through the store or billing provider you subscribed with. You'll keep Plus features until the end of the period you've already paid for.
Do you offer refunds?
Refunds are handled under the policy of the store or billing provider you subscribed with. You can also contact hello@forewords.app if you need help locating the right route.
Will iOS pricing be the same as Android?
Yes. The same regional monthly and annual prices are intended across iOS, Android, and web, subject to each store's local price tiers and taxes.
What happens if I run out of free recommendation credits?
Tracking, shelves, stats, ratings and imports keep working exactly as before. Free users can buy a non-expiring 250-credit pack whenever needed, or upgrade to Plus for unlimited recommendations. You don't lose any data or get locked out of your library.
What does "AI recommendation credit" actually mean?
One Free credit surfaces one personalised book recommendation. The Free allowance lets you try 100 recommendations; Plus recommendations are unlimited, with generous safeguards against automated abuse.
Are there hidden costs, ads, or upsells inside the free tier?
No ads, no tracking pixels, and no email upsell sequences. When the original 100 recommendation credits run out, Free users can buy non-expiring 250-credit packs whenever needed or choose Plus. Tracking, shelves, stats, ratings, imports, and exports remain free.
Do you offer a lifetime deal or one-time purchase?
There isn't a lifetime Plus deal. Each 250-credit pack is a one-off, non-recurring purchase, and Free users can buy another whenever needed. Plus remains a monthly or annual subscription.
Start with the free tier
Track unlimited books, organise your library, log per-trait ratings, use Reading Room, and try 100 AI recommendations on your shelves. If you outgrow that, Plus is one tap away inside the app.
Questions about pricing? Email hello@forewords.app — it goes to me directly.