Simkl leans hard into anime and auto-tracking from streaming sites via its browser extension. High Shelf covers movies, TV, and anime the way you'd expect, and adds books, games, and music without needing a separate tracker for any of it.
Free to use. Forever.
Both track movies, TV, and anime. The real split is automation versus breadth.
| Feature | High Shelf | Simkl |
|---|---|---|
| Movies | Yes | Yes |
| TV shows | Yes | Yes |
| Anime | Yes (as TV) | Yes, dedicated |
| Books | Yes | — |
| Video games | Yes | — |
| Music / albums | Yes | — |
| Browser-extension auto-tracking | — | Yes |
| Social feed & follows | Yes | Yes |
| One-click Simkl import | Yes | n/a |
No separate anime tracker, no separate book or game tracker — one profile.
Books, games, and music join movies, TV, and anime on the same profile and feed.
Import via Settings → Import — your watched movies and shows land matched against High Shelf's catalog.
Follow friends, see their activity, comment and like on entries and reviews — not just a personal watch count.
Simkl's browser extension, which auto-marks episodes watched straight from Netflix, Crunchyroll, and other streaming sites, removes manual logging almost entirely for people who watch on the sites it supports — a real convenience High Shelf doesn't currently replicate.
Its anime-specific metadata and community are also more specialized, built specifically around that audience rather than folded into a general TV catalog.
Sign up, then head to Settings → Import to bring your Simkl history over in a couple of clicks.
Download on the App StoreYes, via Settings → Import — your watched movies and shows match against High Shelf's catalog automatically.
No, not currently. Logging on High Shelf is manual, through the app or web, rather than auto-detected from streaming sites.
Anime shows and movies are tracked the same way as any TV show or movie — there's no separate anime-only section.
Yes — all five media types live on the same profile and feed.