SuperSummary is an online book resource center that provides in-depth guides for different types of books.
While reading books is fun, some prefer checking out the summary first. Sites like SuperSummary analyze books, presenting all information in bite-sized bits that are easy to digest.
SuperSummary summarizes the plot, characters, motifs, and other story aspects. However, while SuperSummary is affordable at $3 per month on the yearly plan, some people may still not want to pay that.
Furthermore, the platform has received negative reviews on Trustpilot about hidden subscription charges.
For these reasons, we have prepared a list of SuperSummary alternatives.
Read on for more.
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Quick Summary
Here’s a quick look at what we have in store for you.
- WikiSummaries – Offers the best free summaries for books
- Cliffs Notes – Value for money
- Shmoop – Best all-around book summary platform
- DOGO Books – Detailed reviews for children and teen books
- eNotes- Best platform for reviewing classical literature
- BookPage – Provides summaries for the latest publications
- Free Book Summary – User-friendly interface for easy navigation
- Novelguide – Offers the best breakdown of novel plots
- Poem Analysis – The best summary platform for poetry
- GradeSaver – Offers the best resources for students
Best Alternatives for SuperSummary Worth Trying
1. WikiSummaries – Best Free Summaries
WikiSummaries is completely free and has a huge library of literary works summarized for everyone interested.
One area where it differs from SuperSummary is how it allows contributions from people. This results in personalized summaries from people who have actually read the books.
Readers, authors, and publishers combine their efforts to describe books and journals accurately.
While the user interface isn’t as flattering as most alternatives, WikiSummaries still does the job very well.
All book summaries are categorized into different genres, like fiction, non-fiction, and business. You don’t need to create an account to access the book summaries either.
Each book summary comes with all the important details you need. There’s the title, author’s name, publication date, genre, page length, and quick chapter breakdown.
At the end of each review, people are welcome to give their input and ask questions. With this, productive book conversations are kept alive.
2. Cliffs Notes – Best Premium Alternative
Cliffs Notes costs almost as much as SuperSummary but offers more detailed book summaries.
The user interface is the first thing that catches your eye when you open Cliffs Notes. It’s cleaner and easier to navigate. The black and bright yellow make the text stand out more, so finding a book summary is easier.
But what stood out the most for me was the inclusion of test preparation resources. They are perfect for students preparing for all types of exams.
You can find tests for the ACT, GRE, Praxis, and SAT. By putting all the book summaries and tests into one place, users don’t have to open multiple websites simultaneously.
Cliffs Notes also focuses heavily on educational books more than fictional publications. It has detailed reviews of English literature, Biology, Economics, Anatomy, and Sociology, among others.
There are study guides on algebra, basic math, biochemistry, and calculus. However, you need to create an account before using Cliffs Notes.
The premium version comes with two plans. An annual plan costs $3 per month and is billed annually. The second one is the monthly subscription that costs you $9 every 30 days.
3. Shmoop – Best All-around Alternative
Shmoop has everything under one roof. Whether you want student guides or tutoring material for teachers, it’s all in there. You can even find resources for parents that they can use to help their kids study better at home.
The platform also has a special section for schools and districts where complete summaries of syllabuses are compiled. In short, compared to SuperSummary, Shmoop has done a better job of centralizing important learning resources.
Another area where Shmoop rivals the rest is the availability of courses. Over 400 customized courses covering all core subjects are available, making studying much easier. The courses are classroom-ready and can be accessed through multiple devices.
The book summaries on Shmoop are also accompanied by videos for people who may not like reading text. This is the kind of convenience and flexibility not found in most of the other alternatives.
As you may have guessed based on all the amazing resources on Shmoop, it’s not free. It has a wide range of pricing depending on the package you need. There’s a plan for student, teacher, and homeschool accounts. The Shmoop pricing page explains them in detail, so check it out.
4. DOGO Books – Best for Kid Books
The list wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t mention a book summary platform for kids, which is DOGO Books.
The site has thousands of guides and summaries for kids’ and teenagers’ books worldwide. Common novels include Divergent, Island of Blue Dolphins, Wings of Fire, and many more.
Unlike SuperSummary, which caters to different genres, a bulk of the books on DOGO Books belong to the fiction genre.
DOGO Books is easy to navigate and has a playful design to attract kids. The fonts used for the site title are thick, colorful, and eye-catching. The book summaries are also neatly arranged in different categories for easy access.
There’s a section for graphic novels, science fiction, biographies, and adventure.
Each book summary is accompanied by vital information. It shows the user ratings, the interest and reading level, the word count, the author, and the genre. Then, below all that, there’s a short but detailed synopsis of the book.
There’s also another section for user comments below the summary, where you can find helpful input on the book.
DOGO Books also provides quizzes around the books you have read. It’s a fun way of testing your book knowledge and how well you understood the characters and the themes.
The site is free, but you must create an account to access all the resources fully.
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5. eNotes – Best for Classical Literature
If you’re a fan of classical literature from Shakespeare, Dante Alighieri, or Charles Dickens, eNotes has everything you need.
eNotes is home to some of the most famous classical novels in the world. You can find titles like Macbeth and The Great Gatsby, all with detailed summaries from the best minds in literature.
The site itself is easy to navigate and uses simple colors and fonts to a great effect. Everything is legible, so you won’t spend too much time straining your eyes even when using smaller screens.
eNotes claims to have summaries of over 30,000 books. That makes it a valuable learning resource for students, teachers, and researchers.
Furthermore, there are special sections for study guides, homework help for students, and teacher resources. The student section alone features over 40,000 guides. Some popular books covered include 1984 by George Orwell and Life of Pi by Yann Martel.
Each book summary includes a comprehensive breakdown of the plot, the act scenes, and the characters. You also get a short quiz at the end to test yourself.
But all that is not for free. eNotes has two premium plans.
The monthly plan costs $7.49, charged every 30 days. Then there’s the cheaper annual plan, which costs $24.99, which translates to about $2 per month. So the long-term plan is cheaper than SuperSummary.
6. BookPage – Best for Discovering Books
BookPage is perfect for people who can’t keep their hands off books and need a constant fresh supply. It offers the best summaries for new books as soon as they hit the shelves.
The book summary platform has one of the most interactive interfaces that differ from the static SuperSummary layout. New book titles are animated and they zoom across the screen with interesting tags to get your attention.
Everything on the site is also arranged in neat categories to make access easier. Some notable categories include fiction, nonfiction, mystery, romance, and science fiction. There’s even a special section for children.
BookPage features a white background with colorful fonts; all books display the cover pages.
BookPage is also one of the few book summary sites that grants interviews to book authors. These sections provide writers a platform to promote their books and gain new readers.
There are different price plans on the premium version of BookPage. You can choose from personal, library, and bookstore plans. Each comes with a free trial period to get you started.
7. Free Book Summary – Easiest to Navigate
Free Book Summary has simplified how people find and locate book summaries. Besides book categories, there’s an alphabetical link that lets you search books based on the alphabetical order of their titles.
Free Book Summary leans heavily towards modern-day and classical novels. You will find George R. R. Martin’s works alongside literary works written by Charles Dickens. So, it caters to the needs of a diverse reading base.
There are countless study guides, similar to what SuperSummary offers. You can learn how to write essays and analyze any written literature.
When you open a book summary, you get all the important information you need for your study or reading. Each summary comes with a book title, author’s name, publication year, genre, language, setting, and characters.
Additionally, you get a full synopsis of the book, split into different chapters. But the most unique thing about Free Book Summary is the availability of audiobooks. For each book reviewed here, you get a complete audiobook you can listen to directly on the site.
Free Book Summary is free, but you must log in to access all the resources.
8. Novelguide – Best for Novels
Just like the name suggests, Novelguide mostly deals with novels. It provides all types of summaries and synopsis breakdowns for people who love knowing details about a book before reading.
Novelguide arranges content based on categories, but the fonts may be too small for most people with eye issues. However, it delivers where it matters most, which is providing detailed summaries.
Besides novels, Novelguide covers art, poetry, religion, music, and education sections, among many others.
Each book summary includes a description of the author and mentions other works they have created in the past. You also get a complete synopsis of what the book is all about.
Notably, each summary explores every theme in detail, providing students and researchers with everything they need for studying.
Novelguide also offers exam preparation tips for students across different subjects. There’s also a section advising people on making career decisions. The site is free; you don’t need to create an account to access important resources.
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9. Poem Analysis – Best for Poetry
Poem Analysis provides the best summaries for poetry.
The site’s overall layout is very similar to SuperSummary with a huge blue background.
Based on the site’s information, over 4,500 poems have been analyzed. Plus, approximately 80 million people have used the site so far. It features work from over 1,100 poets from around the world.
Poem Analysis also provides background stories to every poet that gets featured. This ranges from great names like William Wordsworth, Elizabeth Jennings, and William Blake.
It’s also a very reliable source for teaching people about poetry. It has a literary glossary that defines the sophisticated terms normally used in English poetry.
When you open a featured poem, you’re provided with all the background information regarding the poet and the publishing. There’s the central message, themes, speaker, emotions evoked, the poetic form, and the time period from which it is derived.
Then, each verse is broken down into smaller components with complete explanations for each bit.
Poem Analysis is free but has a premium version with two plans. The first one is the monthly plan, which costs $9.95, and the yearly plan runs $4.95 per month.
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10. GradeSaver – Best for Students
GradeSaver is focused on providing students with the best analytical tools for literary works.
It has a collection of detailed study guides that touch on different subjects. There’s no limit to what you can find on GradeSaver. Whether novels or poetry, everything gets a comprehensive description from people who have studied literature for years.
GradeSaver also provides essay editing services for students. It has large resources for teaching people how to write their school papers and edit their essays like professionals. Students can also find college application tutorials and cover letter writing.
Each book guide comes with a brief history of the author. Other details include the character list, themes, chapter sections, glossary, and book video.
The site isn’t as clean as SuperSummary, but navigating around it isn’t hard. There’s a search function for locating the exact title of the book you want. Plus, book categories can be accessed straight from the menu.
GradeSaver has a membership fee of $19.95 per month or $99.95 per year.
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Wrapping Up
Literary summaries are important to the reading culture, and these ten can help you in your work and otherwise.
If you want a free resource, I recommend WikiSummaries. It has a large library of books and receives frequent updates. Cliffs Notes is the most affordable premium alternative, which offers more than its peers.
That said, find the best summary site that fits your needs after going through it all.