Comparison
Kinolog vs Letterboxd
These are not the same kind of product, and most “alternative” lists pretend otherwise. Letterboxd is a social network built around films. Kinolog is a private diary that reads what you log and recommends from it. The right answer depends entirely on which of those you actually opened the app for.
| What you want | Kinolog | Letterboxd |
|---|---|---|
| Log films with ratings and notes | Yes, free, unlimited | Yes, free, unlimited |
| Friends, followers, a social feed | No, by design | Yes — its whole point |
| Public profile and shareable lists | No public pages | Yes |
| Recommendations from your diary | Yes, with the reason and the films it cited | No recommendation engine |
| Import a Letterboxd export | Yes, the whole export | n/a |
| Export your data | JSON or Letterboxd-compatible CSV, any time | CSV export |
| Watch dates, rewatches, tags | Yes, imported and native | Yes |
| Stats and a yearly wrapped | Free | Pro (~$19/yr) |
| Ads | None, ever | Removed with Pro |
| Price | Free; Plus $2.99/mo or $24/yr | Free; Pro ~$19/yr; Patron ~$49/yr |
Stay on Letterboxd if the community is why you are there
Reading a friend’s four-line review of something you both saw, following critics whose taste you trust, building lists other people actually browse — Kinolog does none of that and is not trying to. Letterboxd’s community is a decade deep and cannot be cloned by a feature list. If that is the part you would miss, the honest advice is to stay.
Switch if you want the diary to give something back
Plenty of people log hundreds of films a year and get nothing back but a list. Kinolog reads the diary: what you rate highest versus what you watch most, the decade you keep returning to, the word you reach for when a film lands, and what to watch tonight given two hours and no energy. Every claim shows the films it was counted from, so you can check it rather than trust it.
You are also not locked in either direction. The import takes the whole Letterboxd export, and the export gives you a Letterboxd-compatible CSV back — you can run both for a month and decide with real data. Longer version: Letterboxd alternatives in 2026, an honest guide, and the mechanics of moving are in how to import your Letterboxd history.
What actually comes across
Upload the ZIP from Letterboxd’s export and everything in it lands: ratings to the half-star, the date you actually watched each film, your review text, your own tags, rewatches, likes, your favourite four, and your watchlist. Titles the film database cannot identify wait in a review queue rather than being guessed at. A decade of history becomes a taste profile in about the time the upload takes.