Best ebook readers for 2024

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

I’ve been utilizing e-book readers for practically 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 spoil 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 space and backbone: 6.8-inch display screen, 300ppi decision / Storage: 16GB / Different options: IPX8 waterproofing, Bluetooth audio assist 

When you principally purchase ebooks from Amazon, you’ll desire a Kindle, and the Eleventh-gen Kindle Paperwhite is the only option for most individuals. Beginning at $139.99, it’s cheaper than the Kobo Libra Color — my prime non-Amazon e-book reader, which I’ll dive into later — for lots of the similar options. These embrace a big 300pi show and an adjustable heat white frontlight, which make for a transparent and pleasing studying expertise. The latter additionally conveniently improves sleep by chopping down on blue mild 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 adverts. It additionally has wi-fi charging, which is a uncommon function to search out in an e-reader.

Amazon is the biggest on-line retailer on this planet, and it dominates the US e-book market, so Kindle homeowners have entry to benefits homeowners of different e-book readers don’t. A lot of Amazon’s {hardware} technique relies on providing cut-rate reductions to tug you into its content material ecosystem. If in case you have Prime and purchase a number of Kindle ebooks, the Paperwhite is the only option as a result of Amazon makes it extremely straightforward to purchase and browse its stuff. Its ebooks and audiobooks are sometimes on sale, and Prime members get extra free content material via Prime Studying. Rivals like Kobo provide gross sales, too, but it surely’s laborious for them to supply reductions as steep as Amazon does.

There are downsides, although. The Paperwhite has lockscreen adverts except you pay $20 further to eliminate 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 Fireplace 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. In contrast to Kobo and different e-book readers, Kindles don’t assist EPUB information, an open file format utilized by just about everybody besides Amazon. So, for instance, if you happen to typically store from Kobo’s bookstore (or Barnes & Noble or Google Play Books or many different e-book shops), you possibly can’t simply learn these books on a Kindle with out utilizing a workaround. There are methods to transform and switch file codecs so you possibly can learn on the Kindle and vice versa, but it surely’ll take a few further steps.

Nonetheless, if you happen to don’t purchase your books elsewhere otherwise you don’t thoughts buying from Amazon, you’ll be more than pleased with the Kindle Paperwhite.

Learn our full assessment of the Kindle Paperwhite.

Dimensions: 5.69 x 6.34 x 0.33 inches / Weight: 199.5 grams / Display space and backbone: 7-inch display screen, 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 various to Amazon’s e-book readers, particularly for readers outdoors the US or anybody who doesn’t need to faucet into Amazon’s ecosystem. Kobo’s newest slate presents lots of the standout options discovered on the Eleventh-gen Kindle Paperwhite — together with waterproofing, USB-C assist, and a 300ppi show — together with a number of perks that make it extra useful and pleasing to make use of.

The colour show is the obvious. The Libra Color makes use of E Ink’s newest Kaledio colour display screen know-how, which offers 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 — but it surely’s a pleasant contact that makes viewing a wider vary of content material extra nice. Guide 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 standard LED pill.

Moreover, the Libra Color works with the Kobo Stylus 2 (offered individually), which implies you possibly can spotlight textual content with numerous colours or take notes utilizing Kobo’s built-in notebooks. You may as well benefit from a few of 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 because the seven-inch show can really feel cramped to write down on.

The colour show is simply a part of the enchantment, although. The Libra Color additionally lacks lockscreen adverts — in contrast to the bottom Paperwhite — and packs bodily page-turning buttons, which really feel extra intuitive to make use of than tapping both facet of the show. The speedy e-reader additionally helps extra file codecs, together with EPUB information, and makes it a lot simpler to borrow books from the Overdrive library system. Native assist for Pocket, in the meantime, means you possibly can learn your articles offline if you happen to’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 if you happen to’ve amassed a group of Kindle titles over time. It may be executed, however you need to 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 listing. It’s my private favourite, if nothing else.

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

The bottom-model Kindle ($99.99 with adverts) 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 screen feels somewhat extra cramped than it does on the bigger shows of the Kindle Paperwhite and Kobo Libra Color. Nonetheless, the flip facet is that its small measurement makes it pocketable, mild, and straightforward for small arms 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 precise specs however is ad-free with parental controls, a two-year prolonged alternative assure, and a case. It additionally comes with one 12 months of Amazon Youngsters Plus, which grants youngsters entry to hundreds of youngsters books and audiobooks at no cost. After that, although, you’ll must pay $79 per 12 months.

The bottom Kindle doesn’t have further 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 essential: 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 number of seconds after tapping the display screen 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 sweet, but it surely’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 must pay further to eliminate adverts. But when you are able to do with out all of that, the Kindle delivers the necessities for underneath $100.

Learn my full assessment of the Kindle.

Dimensions: 7.6 x 8.94 x 0.30 inches / Weight: 390 grams / Display 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 probably the most due to its wonderful note-taking talents. You may immediately 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 can be like disappearing sticky notes. 

You may as well 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 will probably solely convert handwriting to typed textual content while you export notebooks and never as precisely. In contrast, Kobo helps you to convert your handwriting not simply whereas exporting but in addition from inside a pocket book itself.

The Elipsa 2E additionally presents different useful note-taking instruments. Just like the Kobo Libra Color, it’s succesful, for instance, of fixing math equations for you. You may as well insert diagrams and drawings, and it’ll routinely snap them into one thing that appears cleaner and nicer. There’s additionally an ideal collection of pen varieties 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 an alternative.

I additionally suggest the Elipsa 2E over the Onyx Boox Observe Air 2 Plus, although it, too, presents a lot better writing instruments than the Kindle Scribe. That’s as a result of it prices a whopping $449 and in addition 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 possibly can 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 anyplace as simply as you possibly can on their respective gadgets.

Observe-taking capabilities apart, the Kobo Elipsa 2E can also be e-reader, but it surely comes with the identical strengths and weaknesses as different Kobo e-readers. There’s assist for a variety of file codecs, however you possibly can’t simply learn Kindle books with out changing them first. Its 227ppi show can also be barely much less sharp than the 300ppi display screen discovered on the Kindle Scribe and the Kobo Libra Color. Nonetheless, the ten.3-inch display screen does steadiness 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 function above however are nonetheless price highlighting. Listed below are probably the most notable:

When you’re on the lookout for a non-Amazon various that’s extra reasonably priced than the Kobo Libra Color, the brand new Kobo Clara Color — the successor to the Kobo Clara 2E — is price a glance. At $149.99, the ad-free e-reader prices greater than the Kobo Clara 2E (which you’ll be able to nonetheless purchase), however I feel it’s price the additional $10. It continues to supply the identical six-inch show and IPX8 waterproof design, however the e-reader now presents colour. Plus, it’s noticeably sooner — one thing I used to be glad to see, contemplating the occasional lag on the Clara 2E generally 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. When you personal a number of digital books from Barnes and Noble, this could possibly be Kindle various. 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 effective e-reader with loads to supply, together with a stunning 300ppi display screen, 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 sluggish ordeal. It didn’t assist that the display screen generally froze, too, which meant I needed to restart the gadget whereas in the course of a e-book.

Lastly, I didn’t point out the Kindle Oasis, which has bodily page-turning buttons, a bigger display screen, and was thought-about a high-end gadget when it launched in 2019. Amazon not lists the growing older e-reader in its official Kindle lineup, nevertheless, and it lacks some options even the bottom mannequin presents, together with USB-C. That makes it much less interesting at $249.99 — that’s, assuming you possibly can even discover it in inventory. When you’re prepared to pay that a lot for a high-end reader, I’d check out the Kobo Libra Color as an alternative.

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.