Beanstack FAQs | Features, Reading Challenges & Support

What is Beanstack?

Beanstack turns independent reading into a shared, engaging experience through customizable reading challenges and gamification features. Educators and librarians create challenges that encourage daily reading, spark friendly competition, and celebrate milestones. Beanstack’s easy-to-use platform makes logging all reading—including print, digital, and audio— easy. Plus, digital badges and rewards keep the momentum going. Real-time insights help organizers measure impact, highlight achievements, and engage their communities year-round, building a lasting culture of reading without relying on quizzes.

Beanstack is used in schools and libraries, but we serve over 17 million readers globally.

Schools and Districts: Teachers, librarians, and administrators use Beanstack to build amazing reading cultures
Public Libraries: Librarians and community organizations run engaging year-round reading challenges and programs
Families: Parents and children participate in library or school reading programs from the convenience of their home.

Getting Started with Beanstack

The Beanstack app is available on Google Play and the Apple App Store. Once downloaded, search for your school or library’s name to start. You can also access Beanstack online by visiting your organization’s Beanstack login page. For schools, Beanstack integrates seamlessly with Clever and ClassLink, making it easy for students and staff to log in and start reading immediately.

Creating an account is simple! If you're using Beanstack with a K–12 school, you can often log in directly with Clever, ClassLink, or Google SSO. Public library users will need to register for an account. Contact your school or library to get access credentials; they may also provide you with a registration link specific to your organization.

Yes! For those accessing Beanstack through a public library, you and your family can keep track of reading logs and rewards and participate in library events all from one account. Family accounts make it easy to manage multiple readers with one login.

Using Beanstack Features

Logging your reading is a breeze! Whether you’re using the mobile or web app, individual readers or families can quickly scan a book’s barcode to add it to their digital reading log and track reading sessions in real time with our built-in timer. You can also manually input sessions whenever you like.

There's so much to explore in Beanstack:

Track reading progress and streaks
Participate in reading challenges
Climb leaderboards and enjoy friendly competition with friends and classmates
Join together to reach community-wide reading goals
Create activity badges to let readers register for library events and programs
Write and share book reviews
Earn badges and rewards for milestones and achievements
View detailed reading statistics and progress reports
For schools, get personalized insights, reading strategies, and recommendations with Book Talks with Benny.

Absolutely! We love gamification at Beanstack. You can amplify our built-in gamification features by rewarding readers—rewards or prizes double reader participation, confirming that extrinsic motivators lead to an intrinsic love of reading. The platform includes badges, challenges, leaderboards, and reward systems that make reading feel like play.

Reading Challenges and Programs

Beanstack supports various challenge formats, including:

Time-based challenges (minutes or hours read)
Book-based challenges (number of books completed)
Reading list challenges with specific book requirements
Summer reading programs
School-wide reading initiatives
Themed-reading challenges
Bingo reading challenges

Summer reading programs on Beanstack keep readers motivated. Participants log reading online or in the app to earn badges, rewards, and recognition, while leaderboards, themed activities, and even options for a readathon, reading fundraiser, or book reading competition boost engagement. Real-time reporting helps schools and libraries measure impact and encourage participation, making summer reading fun, easy to manage, and effective in preventing the “summer slide.”

For Schools and Educators

Instead of quizzes, Beanstack motivates students with gamification and positive reading accountability tools that support a growth mindset. This approach highlights the benefits of reading for students, building confidence, consistency, and lifelong engagement!

Yes! Teachers, librarians, and other staff members can log reading for their classes, students, independent reading groups, or themselves with just a few clicks. It's that simple!

You bet! Beanstack integrates with Clever, ClassLink, Google, and other top education platforms, making it easy to import student rosters and manage accounts.

Beanstack offers excellent classroom tools:

Student progress tracking and reports
Reading integrity verification without restrictive quizzes
Classroom library management tools

Pricing and Plans

We offer several Beanstack plans, the most popular of which is the Premium plan. We recommend the Premium plan for features that allow classroom library management, Book Talks with Benny, or partnerships with public library systems. Pricing varies based on organization size and needs. Contact Beanstack today for a custom quote that works for you!

No, we don't offer a free trial. We provide comprehensive onboarding and ongoing support to ensure your success from day one.

Plans vary by the features offered. Premium is the most popular and comprehensive offering:

Essential Plans: Core reading tracking and challenges
Plus Plans: Enhanced reporting
Premium Plans: Full access to Book Talks with Benny, classroom management, library partnerships, and advanced data insights

Technical Support and Troubleshooting

The best first step is to contact your school or public library staff for account support. They can help you log in, add or remove readers, or troubleshoot issues. If you’re a Beanstack account administrator, you can find resources in our Help Center or contact us directly at support@zoobean.com for assistance.

Absolutely! Beanstack offers a mobile app and a responsive web interface, so you can log reading and participate in challenges from anywhere. Take your reading adventures on the go!

Yes! Your Beanstack account syncs across all devices, so you can start logging on your phone and finish on your computer.

Data and Privacy

Beanstack collects reading logs, book information, and participation data to provide insights and track progress. All data handling follows educational privacy standards and regulations.

Data visibility depends on your account type:

Personal reading logs are private to your account
Teachers and librarians can view their students' or community members' progress
Administrators can access aggregate data for program evaluation

Getting the Most from Beanstack

Here are our favorite strategies for success:

Set collective and individual reading goals to keep readers on track.
Spark motivation with friendly competitions and active reading strategies that turn reading into long-term engagement.
Provide meaningful rewards and recognition to celebrate progress.
Subscribe to the Beanstack blog for fresh monthly ideas and strategies to elevate literacy.
Use data insights to understand reading patterns and showcase success stories.
Encourage family reading time and create opportunities for community-wide participation.
Integrate seamlessly with existing library and school programs.

We're pretty special! Here's what sets us apart:

Focus on intrinsic motivation rather than quiz-based systems
Strong gamification and community features that actually work
Comprehensive family and organizational account management
Integration with library and school systems
Proven track record in summer reading program success
A commitment to love, inclusion, and awesomeness in everything we do