Greatest e-book readers for 2024

Any e-book reader will allow you to cram a Magnificence and the Beast-sized library’s value of books in your pocket, however so will your telephone. An e-book reader affords a extra book-like studying expertise, with fewer distractions and fewer eye pressure, and plenty of embrace additional options, like adjustable frontlighting. Some actually are pocketable. Others are waterproof or supply bodily page-turning buttons, whereas a couple of even allow you to take notes.

I’ve been utilizing e-book readers for almost a decade, and I’ve gone hands-on with dozens, from the Kindle Paperwhite to lesser-known rivals just like the Pocketbook Period. Whether or not you need one thing your child can throw towards the wall or a water-resistant, warm-glow Kindle that received’t destroy your spa ambiance, these are the perfect e-book readers for everybody. 

Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.9 x .32 inches / Weight: 205 grams / Display screen space and backbone: 6.8-inch display, 300ppi decision / Storage: 16GB / Different options: IPX8 waterproofing, Bluetooth audio assist 

In the event you principally purchase ebooks from Amazon, you’ll desire a Kindle, and the Eleventh-gen Kindle Paperwhite is your best option for most individuals. Beginning at $139.99, it’s cheaper than the Kobo Libra Color — my high non-Amazon e-book reader, which I’ll dive into later — for most of the similar options. These embrace a big 300pi show and an adjustable heat white frontlight, which make for a transparent and pleasurable studying expertise. The latter additionally conveniently improves sleep by slicing down on blue gentle that interrupts melatonin manufacturing. 

That heat white frontlighting is a bonus over the cool white of the $99.99 base-model Kindle, and in contrast to the bottom Kindle, the Paperwhite has IPX8 water resistance. The $189.99 Signature Version Paperwhite additionally has an auto-adjusting frontlight and no lockscreen advertisements. It additionally has wi-fi charging, which is a uncommon characteristic to seek out in an e-reader.

Amazon is the most important on-line retailer on the planet, and it dominates the US e-book market, so Kindle house owners have entry to benefits house owners of different e-book readers don’t. A lot of Amazon’s {hardware} technique is determined by providing cut-rate reductions to tug you into its content material ecosystem. If in case you have Prime and purchase a whole lot of Kindle ebooks, the Paperwhite is your best option as a result of Amazon makes it extremely straightforward to purchase and skim its stuff. Its ebooks and audiobooks are sometimes on sale, and Prime members get extra free content material by way of Prime Studying. Rivals like Kobo supply gross sales, too, however it’s exhausting for them to supply reductions as steep as Amazon does.

There are downsides, although. The Paperwhite has lockscreen advertisements until you pay $20 additional to do away with them. It’s additionally too huge to carry comfortably with one hand. Maybe the Kindle Paperwhite’s largest flaw, although — which it shares with all Kindles apart from Hearth tablets — is that it’s not straightforward to learn books bought outdoors of Amazon’s retailer. Kindle e-book codecs are proprietary and solely work on Kindle. Not like Kobo and different e-book readers, Kindles don’t assist EPUB recordsdata, an open file format utilized by just about everybody besides Amazon. So, for instance, in case you usually store from Kobo’s bookstore (or Barnes & Noble or Google Play Books or many different e-book shops), you’ll be able to’t simply learn these books on a Kindle with out utilizing a workaround. There are methods to transform and switch file codecs so you’ll be able to learn on the Kindle and vice versa, however it’ll take a few additional steps.

Nonetheless, in case you don’t purchase your books elsewhere otherwise you don’t thoughts purchasing from Amazon, you’ll be more than pleased with the Kindle Paperwhite.

Learn our full overview of the Kindle Paperwhite.

Dimensions: 5.69 x 6.34 x 0.33 inches / Weight: 199.5 grams / Display screen space and backbone: 7-inch display, 300ppi (black-and-white), 150ppi (colour) / Storage: 32GB / Different options: Bodily page-turning buttons, waterproofing, Kobo Stylus 2 assist, Bluetooth audio assist 

The Kobo Libra Color is a superb different to Amazon’s e-book readers, particularly for readers outdoors the US or anybody who doesn’t wish to faucet into Amazon’s ecosystem. Kobo’s newest slate affords most of the standout options discovered on the Eleventh-gen Kindle Paperwhite — together with waterproofing, USB-C assist, and a 300ppi show — together with a couple of perks that make it extra useful and pleasurable to make use of.

The colour show is the obvious. The Libra Color makes use of E Ink’s newest Kaledio colour display expertise, which supplies soothing, pastel-like hues that also pop in direct daylight. It’s not as sharp as studying in monochrome — the decision drops to 150ppi when viewing content material in colour — however it’s a pleasant contact that makes viewing a wider vary of content material extra nice. E book covers and comics, whereas nonetheless muted, have an added layer of depth, even when the colours are nowhere close to as vivid as that of a conventional LED pill.

Moreover, the Libra Color works with the Kobo Stylus 2 (offered individually), which suggests you’ll be able to spotlight textual content with numerous colours or take notes utilizing Kobo’s built-in notebooks. You too can make the most of among the extra superior capabilities discovered within the Kobo Elipsa 2E, permitting you to unravel math equations, convert handwriting into typed textual content, and insert diagrams. This lets the Libra Color perform as a mini pocket book of kinds, although I wouldn’t use it as a major note-taking gadget for the reason that seven-inch show can really feel cramped to put in writing on.

The colour show is simply a part of the attraction, although. The Libra Color additionally lacks lockscreen advertisements — in contrast to the bottom Paperwhite — and packs bodily page-turning buttons, which really feel extra intuitive to make use of than tapping both aspect of the show. The speedy e-reader additionally helps extra file codecs, together with EPUB recordsdata, and makes it a lot simpler to borrow books from the Overdrive library system. Native assist for Pocket, in the meantime, means you’ll be able to learn your articles offline in case you’re somebody who makes use of the long-standing bookmarking app.

Nonetheless, at $219.99, the Libra Color prices $70 greater than the entry-level Paperwhite — and that’s with out Kobo’s $69.99 stylus, which is required for performing sure duties. That hole widens additional when the Paperwhite is on sale, which it frequently is. There’s additionally the truth that the Kobo can’t simply faucet into Amazon’s huge library of ebooks, which will be irritating in case you’ve amassed a group of Kindle titles through the years. It may be achieved, however you must convert file codecs utilizing third-party apps, which is difficult and might take time.

But when these issues don’t matter or apply to you, the Kobo Libra Color gives you the perfect digital studying expertise of all of the e-readers on our record. It’s my private favourite, if nothing else.

Dimensions: 6.2 x 4.3 x 0.32 inches / Weight: 158 grams / Display screen space and backbone: 6-inch display, 300ppi decision / Storage: 16GB / Different options: USB-C assist, Bluetooth audio assist 

The base-model Kindle ($99.99 with advertisements) is the perfect low-cost e-book reader. Its 300ppi decision makes textual content clearer and simpler to learn than the lower-resolution screens on different e-book readers in its value vary. Plus, it even has USB-C for comparatively quick charging. 

Studying on its six-inch display feels slightly extra cramped than it does on the bigger shows of the Kindle Paperwhite and Kobo Libra Color. Nonetheless, the flip aspect is that its small dimension makes it pocketable, gentle, and simple for small fingers to carry. Mixed with its comparatively reasonably priced value, the Kindle can also be the perfect e-book reader for youths — particularly within the youngsters model Amazon sells for $20 extra. It shares the identical actual specs however is ad-free with parental controls, a two-year prolonged substitute assure, and a case. It additionally comes with one 12 months of Amazon Children Plus, which grants youngsters entry to hundreds of children books and audiobooks without cost. After that, although, you’ll should pay $79 per 12 months.

The bottom Kindle doesn’t have additional conveniences just like the bodily page-turning buttons discovered on Barnes & Noble’s entry-level e-reader, the Nook GlowLight 4e. Nonetheless, you do get one thing extra vital: snappier responses. On a lot of the different entry-level e-book readers I examined, together with the GlowLight 4e, I needed to wait a couple of seconds after tapping the display for the web page to show. The Kindle, compared, provided no perceptive lag.

There are different tradeoffs. There’s no water resistance, in contrast to the Paperwhite, and battery life is nice, however it’ll final you three weeks tops — not months, just like the Paperwhite. And since it’s an Amazon e-book reader, you’re additionally locked into the Amazon ecosystem and should pay additional to do away with advertisements. But when you are able to do with out all of that, the Kindle delivers the necessities for underneath $100.

Learn my full overview of the Kindle.

Dimensions: 7.6 x 8.94 x 0.30 inches / Weight: 390 grams / Display screen space and backbone: 10.3-inches, 227ppi decision / Storage: 32GB / Different options: Handwriting to textual content conversion, magnetic stylus, Bluetooth audio assist 

Of all the massive e-book readers I examined, the Kobo Elipsa 2E stood out essentially the most due to its glorious note-taking talents. You possibly can straight write on pages, and the notes won’t disappear, which makes for a extra intuitive note-taking expertise than the Kindle Scribe, which solely helps on-page notes on choose Kindle titles. In any other case, you’re restricted to creating annotations on playing cards which are like disappearing sticky notes. 

You too can sync your notes with Dropbox or view them on-line, and Kobo may even convert handwriting to typed textual content. Amazon rolled out the same functionality for the Kindle Scribe, however it might solely convert handwriting to typed textual content if you export notebooks and never as precisely. In contrast, Kobo permits you to convert your handwriting not simply whereas exporting but in addition from inside a pocket book itself.

The Elipsa 2E additionally affords different useful note-taking instruments. Just like the Kobo Libra Color, it’s succesful, for instance, of fixing math equations for you. You too can insert diagrams and drawings, and it’ll routinely snap them into one thing that appears cleaner and nicer. There’s additionally an important choice of pen sorts and ink shades. 

True, the Kindle Scribe begins at $60 much less, however the Kobo Elipsa 2E comes with twice the storage. You can step as much as the 32GB Kindle Scribe if you need the identical storage capability, however that places it at basically the identical value because the Kobo. I like to recommend simply forking out the cash on the Elipsa 2E as a substitute.

I additionally suggest the Elipsa 2E over the Onyx Boox Observe Air 2 Plus, despite the fact that it, too, affords significantly better writing instruments than the Kindle Scribe. That’s as a result of it prices a whopping $449 and likewise isn’t as available within the US market. The Onyx Boox Observe Air 2 Plus additionally comes with too many distracting extras, like an easy-to-access music participant and the Google Play app retailer preinstalled so you’ll be able to obtain a number of studying apps, together with each the Kindle and Kobo apps. Nonetheless, Kindle and Kobo notes didn’t present up on the Onyx Boox Observe Air 2 Plus — and you’ll’t annotate their books wherever as simply as you’ll be able to on their respective units.

Observe-taking capabilities apart, the Kobo Elipsa 2E can also be an excellent e-reader, however it comes with the identical strengths and weaknesses as different Kobo e-readers. There’s assist for a variety of file codecs, however you’ll be able to’t simply learn Kindle books with out changing them first. Its 227ppi show can also be barely much less sharp than the 300ppi display discovered on the Kindle Scribe and the Kobo Libra Color. Nonetheless, the ten.3-inch display does stability issues out a bit and makes textual content simpler to learn, so it’s probably not a noticeable downside.

There are another e-book readers I examined that I didn’t characteristic above however are nonetheless value highlighting. Listed below are essentially the most notable:

In the event you’re in search of a non-Amazon different that’s extra reasonably priced than the Kobo Libra Color, the brand new Kobo Clara Color — the successor to the Kobo Clara 2E — is value a glance. At $149.99, the ad-free e-reader prices greater than the Kobo Clara 2E (which you’ll nonetheless purchase), however I feel it’s value the additional $10. It continues to supply the identical six-inch show and IPX8 waterproof design, however the e-reader now affords colour. Plus, it’s noticeably sooner — one thing I used to be pleased to see, contemplating the occasional lag on the Clara 2E typically bought on my nerves. You don’t get the Clara Color’s bodily buttons or stylus assist, however that’s a good tradeoff at this value level.

In 2023, Barnes and Noble launched the brand new Nook Glowlight 4 Plus. In the event you personal a whole lot of digital books from Barnes and Noble, this may very well be an excellent Kindle different. In any other case, I’d nonetheless suggest the Kobo Libra Color to all people else. The $199.99 Nook Glowlight 4 Plus is an efficient e-reader with rather a lot to supply, together with a beautiful 300ppi display, waterproofing, bodily page-turning buttons, and even a headphone jack. Nonetheless, it’s simply not as snappy, which makes setting it up, shopping for books from the gadget itself, and navigating the interface a gradual ordeal. It didn’t assist that the display typically froze, too, which meant I needed to restart the gadget whereas in the midst of a guide.

Lastly, I didn’t point out the Kindle Oasis, which has bodily page-turning buttons, a bigger display, and was thought of a high-end gadget when it launched in 2019. Amazon now not lists the ageing e-reader in its official Kindle lineup, nevertheless, and it lacks some options even the bottom mannequin affords, together with USB-C. That makes it much less interesting at $249.99 — that’s, assuming you’ll be able to even discover it in inventory. In the event you’re keen to pay that a lot for a high-end reader, I’d check out the Kobo Libra Color as a substitute.

Replace, June twenty eighth: Up to date to incorporate the Kobo Libra Color and Kobo Clara Color, in addition to to take away the Kobo Sage.