TOP-10 UKRAINIAN ONLINE BOOKSTORE 2025

Rating of the Best Ukrainian Online Bookstores from Ukrainian Business Award

The Ukrainian online bookstore market in 2025 demonstrates high dynamics of development, combining the traditions of book culture with the latest digital technologies. Today, online stores are not limited to selling paper publications: they actively offer e-books and audiobooks, create loyalty programs, develop educational projects and attract millions of visitors every month. Ukrainian Business Award has prepared a rating of TOP-10 companies that set standards in this area. The assessment was carried out according to a set of criteria – from the assortment and diversity of genres to financial indicators, presence in social networks and customer reviews. This allowed us to create an objective picture and highlight the main leaders of the year.

The undisputed leader in terms of the number of titles is Yakaboo, whose catalog contains over 1.5 million items. This scale allows the platform to cover a wide variety of requests — from world bestsellers to narrow-profile academic publications. Much smaller, but still powerful catalogs are held by Bookstore “E” (almost 70 thousand titles) and Readeat (59 thousand), which form strong competition in the segment of high-quality and relatively wide selection. A somewhat more modest assortment is offered by Knygoland and Vivat, and the small indicators of ARFA and Stary Lev Publishing House are due to the emphasis on unique and niche books of their own production. Thus, giants with a hyper-wide offer and publishers who rely on authenticity coexist on the market.

Yakaboo stands out with the largest number of genres (24 directions), which confirms its status as a universal marketplace for readers of all interests. BUKVA is almost catching up with it with 22 categories, which allows it to cover a wide audience, including connoisseurs of fiction, business books and children’s publications. Readeat and Vivat show an average level, which focus on key segments, but already have a stable core of customers. Stary Lev Publishing House is limited to nine main categories, but is distinguished by the high quality of the selection of books. In contrast, KSD and Book24 demonstrate the least genre diversity, which reduces the attractiveness for demanding customers.

The “E” bookstore traditionally remains a flagship in the field of loyalty with 30 active discount and bonus programs. Its example demonstrates how a well-built strategy can retain customers even in a competitive environment. At the same time, Yakaboo and Knygoland also pay attention to this aspect, offering regular promotions and promo codes. Vivat and the Old Lion Publishing House look good, combining commercial discounts with the promotion of cultural initiatives. In contrast, KSD has only 4 active offers, which looks modest compared to its competitors, and this is where the potential for development is felt.

In terms of customer orientation, six companies received the highest score — 10 out of 10. These are ARFA, Vivat, Staryho Leva Publishing House, Knygoland, Readeat and KSD, which have proven that customer service and support are key factors for success. Yakaboo and Bookstore “E” have a score of 9, which is also a very high result. Only BUKVA received 8 points, and although this is not a critically low indicator, it indicates a lag behind competitors in response speed or personalization. In general, this criterion showed that Ukrainian bookstores strive to achieve the European level of service.

Bookstore “E” has the largest number of offline points (89 stores), which provides it with a strong brand and consumer trust throughout Ukraine. KSD also demonstrates a high level with 79 points of sale. The middle segment is occupied by Bookstore (50) and BUKVA (34), which provide customers with the opportunity to combine online and offline purchases. Vivat and Stary Lev Publishing House, which focus on publishing and online sales, have significantly fewer physical stores. At the same time, Yakaboo has only one offline point, and ARFA and Book24 are not represented in the physical space at all.

The most experienced are KSD (25 years) and Stary Lev Publishing House (24 years), which have become real brands of trust. At the same time, Yakaboo has become the largest online platform in the country in 21 years of existence. In the middle category are Knygoland and Knygarnya “E”, which have 18 years of operation each, as well as BUKVA with 16 years of experience. Younger companies, such as Readeat (2 years) and ARFA (1 year), are only forming their client base. Their prospects directly depend on the ability to quickly scale and brand recognition.

In the digital sphere, the best results were shown by Stary Lev Publishing House, ARFA and KSD, which received the highest score — 10. They have modern sites that are distinguished by speed, convenience and thoughtful UX design. BUKVA, Vivat and Readeat, which scored 9 points each, look very good. Yakaboo, Bookstore “E” and Book24 each received 8 points, which indicates a fairly high quality level, but with room for optimization. Only Knygoland received 7 points, inferior to its competitors in technical parameters.

Financial results demonstrate different dynamics among companies. The highest revenue volumes in 2024 were shown by Bookstore “E” (over 1 billion UAH) and KSD (over 1.1 billion UAH), confirming their leadership in the market. High results are also achieved by Stary Lev Publishing House (249 million UAH) and Vivat (279 million UAH), which are steadily increasing their turnover. Average growth is demonstrated by Knygoland and BUKVA, which significantly strengthened their positions in 2024. At the same time, Yakaboo’s indicators remain at a relatively low level, and some companies — ARFA and Book24 — do not disclose information about financial results. The revenue graph shows how large players consolidate their positions, while newcomers are just beginning to fight for the market.

The undisputed leader is Yakaboo, which has collected over 1.6 billion visits in a month. This allows it to remain the main online platform for millions of Ukrainians. The second place is taken by the Bookstore “E” with 1.4 million visitors, and the third is KSD with over 540 thousand customers. Vivat and Readeat, which have already reached hundreds of thousands of users, demonstrate quite high results. At the same time, ARFA and BUKVA have modest indicators, which is explained by their youth and relatively narrow audience.

In terms of the quality of reviews, KSD leads with an average score of 28.96, which indicates the scale and trust of the audience. BUKVA and Stary Lev Publishing House also have high results, which demonstrate the activity of the community around the brands. Bookstore “Е” and Vivat hold average positions, while Yakaboo’s score is much lower, which indicates problems with the customer experience. Young companies, such as ARFA or Book24, have a minimum number of reviews, so they cannot yet boast a strong reputation.

Stary Lev Publishing House is the most active in social networks with a score of 8. It is followed by ARFA, Vivat, Knygoland, Readeat and KSD with a score of 7, which allows them to effectively attract a new audience. Bookstore “Е” also has a stable level of presence. Yakaboo (4) and Book24 (1) pay significantly less attention to social networks, which reduces their potential for communication with a young digital audience.

According to the results of the expert assessment, the highest score — 5 — was received by Vivat and Yakaboo, confirming their importance for the market. Very close to them were Knygoland (4.8) and Knygarnya “E” (4.7). Readeat and KSD were slightly lower with an average score of 4.5. In contrast, BUKVA and ARFA received the lowest scores, which reflects their relative youth and limited scale of activity. Thus, the jury’s assessment generally correlates with other rating indicators.

The Ukrainian online bookstore market in 2025 was divided into several clear groups. The absolute leaders are Yakaboo, Knygarnya “E” and KSD, which set the tone for the entire industry. Medium-sized players, such as Vivat and Stary Leva Publishing House, demonstrate stable growth and increase recognition. New and niche projects like Readeat and ARFA are only forming their own audience, gradually building a development strategy. Overall, the rating confirmed: Ukrainians are increasingly actively buying books online, and competition is forcing companies to improve services, expand their offer, and implement modern sales technologies.

Analytics developed by Ukrainian Business Award with the support of analytical partners Serpstat, Clarity Project.

The members of our jury also reviewed the analytics and gave their expert assessments: Ilya Slavgorodsky (CEO — Ukrainian Business Award), Oleksandr Stepanov (HBD — Head of Business Development Department UBTA — Ukrainian Business & Trade Association) and Dmytro Savytsky (psychologist, consultant, business trainer, partner of Tomalogy-Supervisor).

Conclusion based on the Results of the Ukrainian Business Award: TOP-10 Ukrainian Online Bookstores 2025.

Summing up all the information, we can announce the nominees of the Ukrainian Online Bookstores 2025:

Place in the rating	Company	Balls	Balls %
1	Yakaboo	24,09428744	100,0
2	Книгарня “Є”	13,16877617	54,7
3	КСД	10,17207708	42,2
4	BUKVA	6,66837599	27,7
5	Книголенд	6,521330723	27,1
6	Vivat	6,403664433	26,6
7	Readeat	6,152817678	25,5
8	Видавництво Старого Лева	5,871549857	24,4
9	ARFA	3,663652491	15,2
10	Book24	3,283468128	13,6