The Best E-reader To Buy Right Now

Any ebook scholar will fto you cram a Beauty and nan Beast-sized library’s worthy of books successful your pocket, but truthful will your phone. An ebook scholar offers a much book-like reference experience, pinch less distractions and little oculus strain, and galore see other features, for illustration adjustable frontlighting. Some really are pocketable. Others are waterproof aliases connection beingness page-turning buttons, while a fewer moreover fto you return notes.

I’ve been utilizing ebook readers for much than a decade, and I’ve gone hands-on pinch dozens, from nan Kindle Paperwhite to lesser-known rivals for illustration nan PocketBook Era. Whether you want thing your kid tin propulsion against nan wall aliases a waterproof, warm-glow Kindle that won’t ruin your spa ambiance, these are nan champion ebook readers for everyone.

Dimensions: 7 x 5 x .3 inches / Weight: 211 grams / Screen area and resolution: 7-inch screen, 300ppi solution / Storage: 16GB / Other features: IPX8 waterproofing, Bluetooth audio support

If you mostly bargain ebooks from Amazon, you’ll want a Kindle, and nan 12th-gen Kindle Paperwhite is nan champion prime for astir people. It’s $70 cheaper than nan Kobo Libra Colour — my apical non-Amazon e-reader — yet offers galore of nan aforesaid features, including a freely 7-inch 300pi show pinch rich | opposition levels. Unlike Amazon’s entry-level Kindle, it besides features IPX8 h2o guidance and an adjustable lukewarm frontlight that reduces bluish light, which tin interrupt melatonin production. The $199.99 Signature Edition Paperwhite besides supports wireless charging, a uncommon characteristic successful an e-reader.

Amazon dominates nan US ebook market, truthful Kindle owners person entree to advantages that owners of different ebook readers don’t. Much of Amazon’s hardware strategy depends connected offering cut-rate discounts to propulsion you into its contented ecosystem. If you person Prime and bargain a batch of Kindle ebooks, nan Paperwhite is nan champion prime because its ebooks and audiobooks are often connected waste astatine Amazon, and Prime members get much free contented done Prime Reading. Rivals for illustration Kobo connection sales, too, but it’s difficult for them to connection discounts arsenic steep arsenic Amazon.

There are downsides, though. The Paperwhite includes lockscreen ads unless you salary $20 to region them, and its size tin make one-handed reference uncomfortable. More significantly, for illustration each Kindles, it uses a proprietary format and doesn’t natively support EPUB, nan unfastened modular utilized by astir different ebook stores. If you often shop from Kobo’s bookstore, Barnes & Noble, aliases Google Play Books, you’ll request to convert and transfer record formats successful bid to publication them connected a Kindle. If you mostly instrumentality pinch Amazon, though, you’ll beryllium much than happy pinch nan Paperwhite.

Dimensions: 5.69 x 6.34 x 0.33 inches / Weight: 199.5 grams / Screen area and resolution: 7-inch screen, 300ppi (black-and-white), 150ppi (color) / Storage: 32GB / Other features: Physical page-turning buttons, waterproofing, Kobo Stylus 2 support, Bluetooth audio support

The Kobo Libra Colour is simply a awesome replacement to Amazon’s ebook readers, peculiarly for readers extracurricular nan US aliases anyone who prefers not to bargain into Amazon’s ecosystem. It offers galore of nan standout features recovered connected nan 12th-gen Paperwhite — including waterproofing, USB-C, and a 300ppi show — on pinch a fewer other perks. Most notably, it uses E Ink’s latest Kaleido colour technology, delivering soft, pastel-like hues that still popular successful nonstop sunlight. Resolution drops to 150ppi erstwhile viewing color, but it still makes viewing a wider scope of contented much pleasant, moreover if images aren’t astir arsenic vivid arsenic those connected a accepted tablet aliases nan Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition.

Unlike Amazon’s Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition, nan Libra Colour besides useful pinch a stylus (sold separately), letting you item successful aggregate colors, annotate books, and usage Kobo’s integrated notebooks. It borrows immoderate much precocious devices from nan Kobo Elipsa 2E, too, including handwriting-to-text conversion and math-solving, allowing it to double arsenic a mini integer notebook. It besides includes beingness page-turn buttons, lacks lockscreen ads, supports much record formats (including EPUB), and makes borrowing from OverDrive libraries comparatively straightforward. A caller update moreover provides support for Instapaper, letting you prevention articles, blog posts, and different contented for offline viewing.

However, astatine $229.99, nan Libra Colour costs $70 much than nan entry-level Paperwhite — and that’s without Kobo’s $69.99 stylus, which is required to execute definite tasks. The spread widens further erstwhile nan Paperwhite is connected sale, which happens much frequently. The Libra Colour besides can’t easy entree Amazon’s ebook library, either, truthful longtime Kindle users whitethorn request third-party devices to person their purchases. Still, if those things don’t matter aliases use to you, nan Libra Colour offers nan astir versatile and enjoyable reference acquisition of immoderate e-reader connected this list. It remains my individual favorite.

Dimensions: 6.2 x 4.3 x 0.32 inches / Weight: 158 grams / Screen area and resolution: 6-inch screen, 300ppi solution / Storage: 16GB / Other features: USB-C support, Bluetooth audio support

The base-model Kindle ($109.99 pinch ads) is nan champion inexpensive ebook reader. Its 300ppi solution makes matter clearer and easier to publication than nan lower-resolution screens connected different ebook readers successful its value range. Plus, it has USB-C for comparatively accelerated charging.

Reading connected its six-inch surface feels a small much cramped than it does connected nan larger displays of nan Kindle Paperwhite and Kobo Libra Colour. However, nan flip broadside is that its mini size makes it pocketable, light, and easy for mini hands to hold. Combined pinch its comparatively affordable price, nan Kindle is besides nan champion ebook scholar for kids — particularly nan Amazon Kindle Kids Edition, which costs $20 more. The kid-friendly type shares nan aforesaid specs but is ad-free pinch parental controls, a two-year extended replacement guarantee, and a case. It besides includes six months of Amazon Kids Plus, which grants kids entree to thousands of children’s books and audiobooks for free. After that, though, you’ll person to salary $79 per twelvemonth (or $48 pinch Amazon Prime).

The guidelines Kindle doesn’t person other conveniences for illustration nan waterproofing, which you’ll find successful the entry-level Kobo Clara BW and aforementioned Kindle Paperwhite. You besides don’t get nan beingness page-turning buttons recovered connected entry-level e-readers for illustration Barnes & Noble’s Nook GlowLight 4e (though nan Kindle is simply a batch snappier than nan Nook). And because it’s an Amazon ebook reader, you’re besides locked into nan Amazon ecosystem and person to salary other to region ads. But if you tin do without that, nan Kindle delivers nan essentials for nether $110.

Dimensions: 7.6 x 8.94 x 0.30 inches / Weight: 390 grams / Screen area and resolution: 10.3-inches, 227ppi solution / Storage: 32GB / Other features: Handwriting to matter conversion, magnetic stylus, Bluetooth audio support

Of each nan ample ebook readers I’ve tested, nan Kobo Elipsa 2E stood retired nan astir because it’s a bully e-reader pinch coagulated note-taking abilities. You tin constitute straight connected pages conscionable arsenic successful a beingness book. The Kindle Scribe lets you annotate book pages arsenic well, but it’s complicated, involving resizable matter boxes that messiness up nan page formatting and forestall you from doing basal things for illustration circling words. In contrast, taking notes connected nan Elipsa 2E feels acold much intuitive and natural.

The Elipsa 2E offers different adjuvant note-taking devices and capabilities. Like nan Kobo Libra Colour, it’s capable, for example, of solving mathematics equations for you. You tin besides insert diagrams and drawings, and it’ll automatically threat them into thing that looks cleaner and nicer. You tin besides sync your notes pinch Dropbox aliases position them online and person handwriting to typed text. The Kindle Scribe offers nan second capability, too, but again, Kobo does it faster and amended wrong nan original notebook archive alternatively than connected a abstracted page. The only point missing from nan Elipsa 2E is nan Scribe’s note-summarization feature, but that’s a tradeoff I americium okay pinch fixed really overmuch easier it is to return notes.

Note-taking capabilities aside, nan Kobo Elipsa 2E is besides a bully e-reader pinch nan aforesaid strengths and weaknesses arsenic different Kobo devices. There’s support for a wide scope of record formats, but you can’t easy publication Kindle books without converting them first. Its 227ppi show is besides somewhat little crisp than nan 300ppi surface recovered connected nan Kindle Scribe and nan Kobo Libra Colour. However, nan 10.3-inch surface balances things retired a spot and makes matter easier to read, truthful it’s not a noticeable drawback. Plus, nan Elipsa 2E comes pinch an adjustable lukewarm ray for nighttime reading. That’s a characteristic rival e-readers pinch much precocious note-taking capabilities — including nan $409.99 Onyx Boox Go 10.3, which lets you insert links to notes — lack.

There are immoderate different ebook readers my colleagues and I person tested that I didn’t characteristic above, but are still worthy highlighting. Here are nan astir notable:

The Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition is nan first Kindle to characteristic E Ink’s colour surface technology, and it stands retired from different colour e-paper devices pinch customizations. It offers improved contrast, much vibrant colors, and faster surface refreshes. With a $279.99 value tag, it’s nan astir costly Kindle exemplary presently disposable that doesn’t support a stylus for note-taking, and it includes premium features for illustration wireless charging that are convenient but not really basal for a instrumentality pinch months of artillery life. If you want a colour surface and want to instrumentality pinch Amazon, nan Colorsoft Signature is your champion option. - Andrew Liszewski, Senior Reporter

Amazon precocious introduced a much affordable replacement to nan $279.99 Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition called nan Kindle Colorsoft. It’s $30 cheaper and delivers a astir identical reference experience, but lacks wireless charging and only offers 16GB of storage. That’s plentifulness of abstraction for ebooks, but it mightiness not beryllium capable if you ain a batch of schematic novels. The entry-level Kindle Colorsoft besides supports Amazon’s caller “Send to Alexa Plus” feature, which lets you nonstop notes aliases documents to Amazon’s Alexa Plus adjunct for summaries, to-do lists, reminders, aliases brainstorming. After a time of testing, I recovered it useful overall, though it sometimes lacked nuance.

The biggest drawback for me, arsenic a bedtime bookworm, is nan deficiency of an auto-adjusting beforehand light, which tin make nighttime reference overmuch easier (however, its brightness and colour somesthesia tin beryllium manually adjusted). Given that nan Colorsoft Signature Edition costs conscionable $30 more, complete pinch a beforehand ray that adjusts erstwhile nan room gets dim, 32GB of storage, and wireless charging, I’d opt for that alternatively if you’re successful Amazon’s ecosystem. Unless nan modular Colorsoft goes connected waste for less, it’s not a awesome worth astatine its regular price.

If you’re looking for a non-Amazon replacement that’s much affordable than nan Kobo Libra Colour, nan Kobo Clara Colour — nan successor to nan Kobo Clara 2E — is worthy a look. At $159.99, nan ad-free e-reader costs much than nan Kobo Clara 2E, but I deliberation it’s worthy nan other $10. It continues to connection nan aforesaid six-inch show and IPX8 waterproof design, but nan e-reader now offers color. It’s besides noticeably faster — thing I was happy to see, considering nan occasional lag connected nan Clara 2E sometimes sewage connected my nerves. You don’t get nan Clara Colour’s beingness buttons aliases stylus support, but that’s a adjacent tradeoff astatine this value point.

Last year, nan institution besides announced a white version for nan aforesaid value that touts a somewhat larger 1,900mAh artillery (up from 1,500mAh connected nan achromatic model), which Kobo says tin past complete a period connected a azygous charge.

In 2023, Barnes and Noble released nan Nook Glowlight 4 Plus. If you ain a batch of integer books from Barnes and Noble, this could beryllium a bully Kindle alternative. Otherwise, I’d still urge nan Kobo Libra Colour to everybody else. The $199.99 Nook Glowlight 4 Plus is simply a bully e-reader pinch a batch to offer, including a beautiful 300ppi screen, waterproofing, beingness page-turning buttons, and moreover a headphone jack. However, it’s conscionable not arsenic snappy, which makes mounting it up, buying books from nan instrumentality itself, and navigating nan interface a slow ordeal. It didn’t thief that nan surface sometimes froze, too, which meant I had to restart nan instrumentality while successful nan mediate of a book.

Despite each nan advantages of E Ink show technology, your smartphone is astir apt still a much convenient instrumentality for reference fixed really pocket-friendly it is. The Boox Palma 2 is simply a smartphone-sized E Ink instrumentality that’s conscionable arsenic easy to gaffe into a pocket, but pinch much capabilities than an e-reader. Its 6.3-inch E Ink show is awesome for reference books, but nan $299.99 Palma 2 besides runs Android 13, truthful you tin instal productivity apps for illustration email and messaging — assuming you’ve sewage entree to Wi-Fi, of course, because nan compact e-reader lacks cellular connectivity. If you already person nan original Palma, nan sequel isn’t worthy nan upgrade. But if you’re looking for a smaller replacement to Kindles and Kobos, nan Palma 2 could beryllium worthy nan splurge. - Andrew Liszewski, Senior Reporter

The $409.99 Onyx Boox Go 10.3 is different ad-free ebook scholar you tin usage to return notes. It’s fantabulous arsenic a note-taking device, and it offers an impressively wide scope of penning devices and much prebuilt notebook templates than Kobo’s Elipsa 2E. Jotting down notes utilizing nan built-in notebook felt much akin to penning connected insubstantial arsenic well, and its slim creation makes nan instrumentality consciousness much for illustration a accepted notebook. Like each Boox devices, it besides provides speedy entree to nan Google Play Store, truthful you tin download aggregate reference apps — including some Kindle and Kobo apps. The slate’s crisp 300ppi show is sharper than that of nan Kobo Elipsa 2E, too, which is simply a plus.

However, compared to nan easy-to-use Elipsa 2E, nan Go 10.3 lacks a beforehand ray and has a steeper learning curve. Notes you return connected a Kindle aliases Kobo instrumentality won’t transportation complete (and vice versa), and you can’t annotate books successful either app utilizing nan Boox. I besides felt for illustration entree to Google Play tin beryllium a double-edged beard arsenic it grants easy entree to distracting apps, including games, streaming services, and TikTok. It’s excessively slow to usage nan latter, but it’s accelerated and comfortable capable that I recovered myself playing astir pinch nan Word Search app acold excessively often. For maine personally, I request my e-reader to beryllium devoid of specified distractions — it’s 1 of nan biggest things that distinguishes it from a tablet, aft all. But if you’ve sewage much self-control than I do, nan Go 10.3 could beryllium worthy a look.

In April, Boox introduced nan Go Color 7 Gen II, which retails for $279.99. This water-resistant e-reader offers a 300ppi show that drops to 150ppi erstwhile displaying colour content, overmuch for illustration its Kobo and Kindle rivals. However, akin to nan Kobo Libra Colour, this ad-free exemplary offers physical-page turning buttons and supports note-taking. A stylus isn’t included, truthful you’ll request to walk an other $45.99 for Boox’s pressure-sensitive InkSense pen if you want to return notes. And, for illustration different Boox devices, it runs connected Android, giving you entree to a wide scope of apps and online bookstores done nan Google Play Store.

While I appreciated not having to sideload my Kindle and Kobo library, on pinch greater elasticity to fine-tune colour settings, I yet for illustration nan Kobo Libra Colour. In my testing, nan Go Color 7 Gen II felt frustratingly sluggish by comparison to nan Libra Colour, which is disappointing fixed nan Boox costs $50 more. Responsiveness is simply a halfway portion of nan reference acquisition for me, truthful I’d only urge Boox’s exemplary to readers who worth having Android app elasticity complete performance.

The $629.99 Kindle Scribe Colorsoft is Amazon’s first colour e-reader that’s besides designed for note-taking. In her review, my workfellow Victoria Song praised its thin, lightweight design, agelong artillery life, and minimal ghosting effect. However, she thought nan 11-inch show feels excessively ample for reference aliases note-taking, and that nan muted E Ink colors limit nan entreaty for artists who want to tie things beyond basal doodles. It’s besides a shame that galore of its champion note features — including in-line penning and nan AI-powered summarization and hunt devices — don’t widen to different archive types, specified arsenic PDFs.

Update, February 20th: Adjusted pricing / readiness and added a mention of Amazon’s caller “Send to Alexa Plus” feature. Andrew Liszewski besides contributed to this post.