Finest e book 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 gives a extra book-like studying expertise, with fewer distractions and fewer eye pressure, and plenty of embody further options, like adjustable frontlighting. Some actually are pocketable. Others are waterproof or provide bodily page-turning buttons, whereas just a few 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 gained’t wreck your spa ambiance, these are the very best 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 help 

When you largely 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 prime non-Amazon e book reader, which I’ll dive into later — for most of the identical options. These embody a big 300pi show and an adjustable heat white frontlight, which make for a transparent and pleasant studying expertise. The latter additionally conveniently improves sleep by reducing 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 seek out in an e-reader.

Amazon is the biggest on-line retailer on the earth, 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 is determined by providing cut-rate reductions to drag you into its content material ecosystem. When you have Prime and purchase a variety 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 means of Prime Studying. Rivals like Kobo provide gross sales, too, however it’s arduous 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 do away with them. It’s additionally too large to carry comfortably with one hand. Maybe the Kindle Paperwhite’s greatest flaw, although — which it shares with all Kindles other than Fireplace tablets — is that it’s not straightforward to learn books bought exterior 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 help EPUB recordsdata, an open file format utilized by just about everybody besides Amazon. So, for instance, when you typically store from Kobo’s bookstore (or Barnes & Noble or Google Play Books or many different e book shops), you may’t simply learn these books on a Kindle with out utilizing a workaround. There are methods to transform and switch file codecs so you may learn on the Kindle and vice versa, however it’ll take a few further steps.

Nevertheless, when you don’t purchase your books elsewhere otherwise you don’t thoughts procuring from Amazon, you’ll be very happy with the Kindle Paperwhite.

Learn our full evaluate 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 help, Bluetooth audio help 

The Kobo Libra Color is a superb various to Amazon’s e book readers, particularly for readers exterior the US or anybody who doesn’t need to faucet into Amazon’s ecosystem. Kobo’s newest slate gives most of the standout options discovered on the Eleventh-gen Kindle Paperwhite — together with waterproofing, USB-C help, and a 300ppi show — together with just a few perks that make it extra useful and pleasant to make use of.

The colour show is the obvious. The Libra Color makes use of E Ink’s newest Kaledio colour display screen expertise, which gives 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. 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 (bought individually), which implies you may spotlight textual content with varied colours or take notes utilizing Kobo’s built-in notebooks. It’s also possible to reap the benefits 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 types, although I wouldn’t use it as a major note-taking machine because the seven-inch show can really feel cramped to write down on.

The colour show is barely 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 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 help for Pocket, in the meantime, means you may learn your articles offline when you’re somebody who makes use of the long-standing bookmarking app.

Nevertheless, 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 repeatedly is. There’s additionally the truth that the Kobo can’t simply faucet into Amazon’s huge library of ebooks, which might be irritating when you’ve amassed a group of Kindle titles through the years. It may be finished, however it’s a must to convert file codecs utilizing third-party apps, which is hard and might take time.

But when these issues don’t matter or apply to you, the Kobo Libra Color provides you with the very best digital studying expertise of all of the e-readers on our checklist. 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 help, Bluetooth audio help 

The base-model Kindle ($99.99 with adverts) is the very best 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 worth vary. Plus, it even has USB-C for comparatively quick charging. 

Studying on its six-inch display screen feels a little bit extra cramped than it does on the bigger shows of the Kindle Paperwhite and Kobo Libra Color. Nevertheless, the flip aspect is that its small measurement makes it pocketable, mild, and straightforward for small arms to carry. Mixed with its comparatively reasonably priced worth, the Kindle can also be the very best 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 yr of Amazon Youngsters Plus, which grants youngsters entry to 1000’s of youngsters books and audiobooks at no cost. After that, although, you’ll must pay $79 per yr.

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. Nevertheless, you do get one thing extra vital: snappier responses. On many of the different entry-level e book readers I examined, together with the GlowLight 4e, I needed to wait just a few 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 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 must pay further to do away with adverts. But when you are able to do with out all of that, the Kindle delivers the necessities for below $100.

Learn my full evaluate 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 help 

Of all the big e book readers I examined, the Kobo Elipsa 2E stood out essentially the most due to its glorious note-taking skills. You’ll be able to straight write on pages, and the notes is not going to 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. 

It’s also possible to 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 may solely convert handwriting to typed textual content while you export notebooks and never as precisely. Against this, Kobo enables you to convert your handwriting not simply whereas exporting but in addition from inside a pocket book itself.

The Elipsa 2E additionally gives different useful note-taking instruments. Just like the Kobo Libra Color, it’s succesful, for instance, of fixing math equations for you. It’s also possible to insert diagrams and drawings, and it’ll mechanically snap them into one thing that appears cleaner and nicer. There’s additionally an amazing collection 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 primarily the identical worth because the Kobo. I like to recommend simply forking out the cash on the Elipsa 2E as an alternative.

I additionally advocate the Elipsa 2E over the Onyx Boox Word Air 2 Plus, regardless that it, too, gives 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 Word 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 may obtain a number of studying apps, together with each the Kindle and Kobo apps. Nevertheless, Kindle and Kobo notes didn’t present up on the Onyx Boox Word Air 2 Plus — and you may’t annotate their books wherever as simply as you may on their respective gadgets.

Word-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 help for a variety of file codecs, however you may’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. Nevertheless, 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 here are essentially the most notable:

When you’re searching 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 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 gives colour. Plus, it’s noticeably sooner — one thing I used to be comfortable to see, contemplating the occasional lag on the Clara 2E generally received on my nerves. You don’t get the Clara Color’s bodily buttons or stylus help, however that’s a good tradeoff at this worth level.

In 2023, Barnes and Noble launched the brand new Nook Glowlight 4 Plus. When you personal a variety of digital books from Barnes and Noble, this may very well be an excellent Kindle various. In any other case, I’d nonetheless advocate the Kobo Libra Color to everyone else. The $199.99 Nook Glowlight 4 Plus is an efficient e-reader with quite a bit to supply, together with a beautiful 300ppi display screen, waterproofing, bodily page-turning buttons, and even a headphone jack. Nevertheless, it’s simply not as snappy, which makes setting it up, shopping for books from the machine 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 machine whereas in the midst 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 machine when it launched in 2019. Amazon not lists the ageing e-reader in its official Kindle lineup, nevertheless, and it lacks some options even the bottom mannequin gives, together with USB-C. That makes it much less interesting at $249.99 — that’s, assuming you may even discover it in inventory. When you’re keen 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.