I Like Movies vs Letterboxd

This page is written by the developer of I Like Movies. A comparison written by one side is not neutral, so it names where the other app is the better choice and does not score anything.

I Like Movies as a Letterboxd alternative

Letterboxd is the social network for film lovers. It is where film culture happens online: reviews, lists, diaries, and the pleasure of reading what someone sharper than you thought of the film you just finished.

I Like Movies is a different kind of app. It is built for deciding what to watch tonight and keeping the record afterwards, for films and TV together, privately, with the people you live with. This page lays out where each one fits.

Where Letterboxd is better

The community

Letterboxd has the largest film community on the internet. If you want your reviews read, want to follow critics and friends, or discover films through other people’s lists, nothing else comes close. I Like Movies has following and taste comparison between friends, not a public town square.

Reviews and film writing

Writing and reading reviews is the product on Letterboxd, and the culture around it is genuinely good. Here, notes go to your friends or stay just for you, and there is no public review at all.

A web app

Letterboxd also runs in the browser. I Like Movies is a phone app for iPhone and Android; there is no web version.

Years of diary culture

The Letterboxd diary, the year-in-review stats and the list ecosystem have had a decade to mature. A younger app does not have that depth of ritual around it.

What is different in I Like Movies

TV is in the same library

Letterboxd tracks films. I Like Movies tracks films and TV series in one library, down to individual episodes, and can tell a series that has ended from one between seasons.

Friends, not strangers

Ratings and notes reach the friends you follow and nobody else, and any note can stay just for you. Nothing you write is published, and there is no audience to perform for. Some people find that freeing; some people are on Letterboxd precisely for the audience.

A household shares one library

The people you live with can see each other’s watchlists, share one collection of what you own, and decide in a household chat.

An AI assistant you can ask in plain language

Ask for something short and funny for a Tuesday, or the film with the submarine and the cook, and it answers with real titles, filtered against what you have already seen and what streams in your country.

Streaming availability up front

Every title shows which services carry it in your country. Deciding and finding out you can actually watch it are the same step.

Feature by feature

Feature	I Like Movies	Letterboxd
Platforms	iPhone, Android	iOS, Android, web
TV and episode tracking	Yes, per episode	No, films only
Public reviews	No, notes go to friends or stay private	Yes, the core of the app
Community and lists culture	Friends and taste comparison	The largest film community online
Shared household library	Yes	No
AI recommendations	Yes, from your own ratings	No
Streaming availability	Yes, per country	Yes, on film pages
Import	Letterboxd, IMDb, Trakt and TV Time exports	Letterboxd is the source here
Price	Free, no ads	Free with ads; Pro and Patron tiers

Moving your library

Moving is direct: request your data export from Letterboxd, which arrives as a .zip file, and upload it in I Like Movies under Imports. Ratings, watched films and your watchlist come across together.

Nothing is sent back to Letterboxd and your account there is untouched, so trying the app costs nothing but the upload.

What I Like Movies does not do

There is no automatic tracking. Nothing scrobbles from a media server, a browser or a streaming app; you mark things watched yourself.
There are no public reviews. Notes go to your friends or stay just for you, and there is no feed of strangers to read.
There is no web app. The library lives on the server, but you reach it from the phone app.
There is no offline mode. The app needs an internet connection.
Imports read four kinds of export: a Letterboxd .zip, an IMDb .csv, a Trakt .zip and a TV Time export saved before that service closed. There is no importer for Simkl exports, and an import is a one-time copy, not a sync.

The honest verdict

If film reviews and the community around them are why you track films, stay on Letterboxd. It is the best at that, and this page will not pretend otherwise.

If you want films and TV in one private library, watchlists your household can see, and help deciding what to watch tonight, that is the problem I Like Movies is built for, and the Letterboxd import means you do not start from zero.

Questions people ask

Can I import my Letterboxd history into I Like Movies?

Yes. Request a data export from Letterboxd, which arrives as a .zip file, then upload that file in the app under Imports. Ratings, watched films and your watchlist are read from the export and matched against the film database.

Does Letterboxd track TV shows?

No. Letterboxd is built for films and does not track TV series. I Like Movies tracks films and TV in one library, at episode level.

Is I Like Movies a social network like Letterboxd?

Not in the same sense. You can follow friends, see what they watch and rate, and compare taste, but there are no public reviews and no feed of strangers. Letterboxd is a public community; I Like Movies is closer to a private library with friends attached.

Is I Like Movies free?

Yes, free with no advertising. Letterboxd is also free to use, with ads, and sells Pro and Patron subscriptions that remove ads and add statistics.

More comparisons: Trakt, Simkl, IMDb, Serializd, Maimovie, Moviebase, JustWatch, Matinee, Cronica, Flick. Or browse every guide and watch order.

The best-of roundups:

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