An e-reader is the rare gadget that makes you use your phone less. Its E Ink screen looks like printed paper, it is readable in full sun, it has no notifications, and the battery lasts weeks instead of hours. It is also one of the easiest holiday gifts to get right: almost anyone who reads, from a teenager working through a fantasy series to a grandparent who wants bigger type, will use one every day.
This year is a little unusual. Amazon just redesigned its whole Kindle line: the new 6-inch Kindle is already shipping, while the new Paperwhite and Colorsoft are on preorder for Oct. 28, according to Tom’s Guide. Prices are up, too. Wirecutter notes that memory shortages pushed Kindle prices about $40 above their launch prices, so the 2024 models and their 2026 replacements now cost the same.
We compared six e-readers you can buy and get this week, from the $149.99 Kindle (2026) to the $499.99 Kindle Scribe (3rd Gen), including two Kobo models for people who would rather not live inside Amazon’s store. Specs come from the Amazon listings and the reviews cited below, and prices, ratings, and sales ranks are snapshots from Amazon’s U.S. listings on Oct. 22, 2026. Expect prices to move around Black Friday.
What to look for
Kindle or Kobo. This is the big decision, because your books stay with the store you buy them from. Kindles tie into Amazon’s huge store, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible. Kobos read the open EPUB format and let you borrow library books right on the device through OverDrive, and they show no lock-screen ads.
Screen size and color. A 6-inch reader fits in a coat pocket; a 7-inch screen shows more words per page. Color E Ink makes covers, comics, and highlights look like soft, printed color, but it drops to 150 pixels per inch in color, half the sharpness of black-and-white text.
Warm light and waterproofing. An adjustable warm light is easier on the eyes at bedtime, and an IPX8 rating means a dunk in the bath or pool is fine. The cheapest Kindle has neither; every other pick here has both, except the Scribe, which has a warm light but no water rating.
Buttons and a pen. Physical page-turn buttons make one-handed reading easier, and a stylus lets you write in the margins or take notes. Only the Kobo Libra Colour has buttons built in, and only the Kindle Scribe comes with a pen in the box.
How we chose
Expert testing first. We started from the current picks of Wirecutter (updated Oct. 1, 2026) and The Verge, plus Wired’s review of the new 2026 Kindle and TechRadar’s review of the third-generation Kindle Scribe. Every pick here is recommended or reviewed in at least one of them.
Then what people actually buy. The Kindle Paperwhite was No. 1 on Amazon’s Kindle E-readers Best Sellers list when we checked, and both Kobo models carry Amazon’s Choice badges with hundreds to more than 1,000 bought in the past month.
And only what ships now. Every pick is in stock on Amazon today. The new Paperwhite and Colorsoft are covered in their own section below, because no one has published a full review of them yet.
Quick pick guide
Best overall: Kindle Paperwhite (2024): a sharp 7-inch screen, warm light, waterproofing, and up to 12 weeks of battery, for $199.99.
Best small and light: Kindle (2026): the most pocketable Kindle Amazon has made, now with a flush screen, for $149.99.
Best color Kindle: Kindle Colorsoft: color covers and highlights, ad-free, for $289.99.
Best for writing and notes: Kindle Scribe (3rd Gen): an 11-inch screen and a pen that never needs charging, for $499.99.
Best non-Amazon e-reader: Kobo Libra Colour: color, page-turn buttons, and stylus support, for $259.99.
Best for library books: Kobo Clara BW: OverDrive built in, waterproof, and warm light, for $159.99.
Comparison at a glance
| Model | Screen | Storage, water, battery | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kindle Paperwhite | 7 in., 300 ppi | 16 GB, IPX8, up to 12 weeks | $199.99 |
| Kindle (2026) | 6 in. | 16 GB, not waterproof, up to 6 weeks | $149.99 |
| Kindle Colorsoft | 7 in. color | 16 GB, IPX8, up to 8 weeks | $289.99 |
| Kindle Scribe | 11 in., pen included | 32 GB, not waterproof, up to 12 weeks | $499.99 |
| Kobo Libra Colour | 7 in. color, page buttons | 32 GB, IPX8, about 4 weeks | $259.99 |
| Kobo Clara BW | 6 in., Carta 1300 | 16 GB, IPX8, up to 53 days | $159.99 |
Prices from Amazon’s U.S. listings on Oct. 22, 2026. Color screens are 300 ppi in black and white and 150 ppi in color. IPX8 means waterproof. Battery figures are the makers’ own ratings, which assume about half an hour of reading a day. Amazon ratings: Paperwhite 4.6 stars, Kindle (2026) 3.8, Colorsoft 4.5, Scribe 4.4, Libra Colour 4.4, Clara BW 4.5.
Kindle Paperwhite (2024): best e-reader overall
The Kindle Paperwhite (2024) is the e-reader most people should buy. The Verge calls it the best choice for most people, and Wirecutter names it its upgrade pick: a bigger, faster, waterproof step up from the basic Kindle. It is also Amazon’s best seller, No. 1 in Kindle E-readers when we checked, with more than 10,000 bought in the past month.
Per the Amazon listing, it has a 7-inch, 300-ppi display, 16 GB of storage, an IPX8 rating (tested in 2 meters of fresh water for an hour), and up to 12 weeks of battery on a charge over USB-C. It weighs 211 grams. The front light runs from white to amber; Wirecutter counts 24 steps of color temperature, which you can set to follow sunset. The faster screen is the other big change from older models, with page turns that register almost instantly.
Amazon sells and ships it at $199.99, and it holds 4.6 stars across more than 22,000 ratings.
Trade-offs: like every Kindle, it reads Amazon’s formats and makes EPUB files a send-to-Kindle chore, and the standard model shows ads on the lock screen until you pay to remove them. There are no page-turn buttons. And a redesigned Paperwhite arrives Oct. 28 at the same $199.99 price; see the section below if you can wait a week.
Kindle Paperwhite (2024)
Our best overall pick: a 7-inch waterproof Kindle with warm light, for $199.99.
Kindle (2026): best small and light e-reader
The Kindle (2026) is the newest Kindle and the one you can carry anywhere. Amazon’s announcement says books open 30% faster than on the previous model, and the 6-inch screen now sits flush with the case instead of inside a raised bezel. Wired found the new body a quarter inch shorter than the 2024 Kindle and cites Amazon’s figure of 4.9 ounces for the plastic version, against 5.56 for the 2024 model. The power button has moved to the side, so you stop switching it off with your palm.
Per the Amazon listing, it has 16 GB of storage, up to six weeks of battery, and a back panel you can open to swap in a new battery. It comes in Ube (purple) and Graphite, with lock-screen ads. Amazon sells and ships it at $149.99. An ad-free Kindle Aluminum with 32 GB costs $189.99.
Trade-offs: it is not waterproof and has no warm light, which Wired found too blue for bedtime reading in dark mode. Early buyers are less happy than with the old model: it has 3.8 stars across about 280 ratings, and battery drain is a common complaint. The 2024 Kindle, still Wirecutter’s top pick, sells for the same price if you would rather have the proven model.
Kindle Colorsoft: best color Kindle
The Kindle Colorsoft is the Kindle to get if you read comics, graphic novels, cookbooks, or travel guides, or if you simply like seeing your book covers in color. Wirecutter found its color more vibrant and saturated than Kobo’s color e-readers, though still nothing like a tablet screen. You can highlight passages in yellow, orange, blue, or pink.
Per the Amazon listing, it has a 7-inch screen at 300 ppi for black-and-white text and 150 ppi in color, 16 GB of storage, an adjustable warm light, IPX8 waterproofing, and up to eight weeks of battery. It weighs 215 grams. This listing is the ad-free version, sold and shipped by Amazon at $289.99, and it holds 4.5 stars across about 3,000 ratings with an Amazon’s Choice badge.
Trade-offs: color E Ink is dimmer and a bit grainier than black and white, and some reviewers find its text less crisp than the Paperwhite’s. There are no buttons or stylus support. The redesigned Colorsoft, a little lighter, arrives Oct. 28 at the same $289.99.
Kindle Scribe (3rd Gen): best for writing and notes
The Kindle Scribe (3rd Gen) is a reader and a paper notebook in one. TechRadar calls it the best note-taking Kindle yet and says it may have the best display on any e-paper writing tablet. You can write in the built-in notebooks, jot notes on book pages as the text shifts to make room, and import PDFs and Word files from Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive to mark up.
Per the Amazon listing, it has an 11-inch, 300-ppi screen with an auto-adjusting, warmth-adjustable front light, 32 GB of storage, and up to 12 weeks of reading or three weeks of writing per charge. It is 5.4 mm thin and weighs 400 grams, and the included pen has an eraser and a shortcut button. AI tools can search, summarize, and tidy up your handwriting. Amazon sells it at $499.99, with 4.4 stars across about 500 ratings and more than 2,000 bought in the past month.
Trade-offs: it is expensive, it is not waterproof, and TechRadar found the tall 11-inch body awkward to hold in one hand. Wirecutter thinks dedicated digital notebooks do more for the money. A version without the front light costs $429.99, and the color Scribe Colorsoft is $629.99.
Kobo Libra Colour: best non-Amazon e-reader
The Kobo Libra Colour is the most versatile e-reader here and The Verge’s top non-Amazon pick. It has a 7-inch Kaleido 3 color screen (300 ppi in black and white, 150 in color), two physical page-turn buttons that work in either hand or in landscape, and IPX8 waterproofing. Add Kobo’s Stylus 2, sold separately, and it becomes a small notebook that can highlight and annotate books in color and convert handwriting to text.
Like every Kobo, it has no lock-screen ads, reads EPUB files, and borrows library books straight from OverDrive. Per Wirecutter, it has 32 GB of storage, double the Kobo Clara models. Amazon lists it at $259.99, sold by Kobo and shipped by Amazon, with an Amazon’s Choice badge, more than 400 bought in the past month, and 4.4 stars across about 290 ratings.
Trade-offs: it costs $60 more than the Paperwhite before you add the stylus, its colors are muted, and moving an existing Kindle library over takes third-party tools. A few Amazon reviewers report ghosting, faint traces of the previous page.
Kobo Clara BW: best for library books
The Kobo Clara BW is Wirecutter’s pick for anyone who does not want to buy into Amazon, and it is the easiest e-reader here for borrowing library books: link your library card once, and you can check out ebooks from OverDrive right on the device. Its 6-inch E Ink Carta 1300 screen turns pages about as fast as a Kindle, per Wirecutter, and the body is made mostly of recycled plastic.
Per the Amazon listing, it has adjustable brightness and color temperature (Kobo calls it ComfortLight PRO), a dark mode, IPX8 waterproofing, 16 GB of storage, and Bluetooth for Kobo audiobooks. Amazon lists it at $159.99, sold by Kobo and shipped by Amazon, with an Amazon’s Choice badge, more than 1,000 bought in the past month, and 4.5 stars across about 670 ratings.
Trade-offs: Kobo rates the battery at up to 53 days at low brightness, but Wirecutter got only a few weeks with heavier use, less than a Kindle. Some reviewers report occasional freezes that need a restart, and it cannot read Kindle Store books.
Should you wait for the new Kindles?
Maybe, if you want a Paperwhite or Colorsoft. Per Amazon’s announcement, the redesigned Paperwhite ($199.99) and Colorsoft ($289.99) are thinner and lighter, with flush, color-matched fronts and a higher-contrast display, at the same prices as the 2024 models above. Signature Editions ($249.99 and $319.99) add an aluminum back, 32 GB, an auto-adjusting light, and pins for a charging dock and a $79.99 cover with page-turn buttons. They ship Oct. 28, according to Tom’s Guide.
There are good reasons to buy now, though. The 2024 models are in stock, proven, and have tens of thousands of ratings, while full reviews of the new models are still weeks away. And if you already own a 2024 Kindle, Wirecutter does not recommend upgrading.
Bottom line
For most readers, the Kindle Paperwhite (2024) is the best e-reader: a sharp, fast 7-inch screen, warm light, waterproofing, and up to 12 weeks per charge for $199.99. If you want the smallest, cheapest Kindle, the Kindle (2026) costs $149.99 and slips into a pocket. The Kindle Colorsoft adds color for $289.99, and the Kindle Scribe (3rd Gen) is the one to get if you want to write as much as you read. Outside Amazon’s world, the Kobo Libra Colour is the most versatile reader you can buy at $259.99, and the Kobo Clara BW makes borrowing library books effortless for $159.99.
As a gift, any of them is a safe bet. Just match the store to the reader: a Kindle for someone who already buys Kindle books, a Kobo for a library regular.
Further reading
Kindle Paperwhite (2024)
Our best overall pick: waterproof, warm light, up to 12 weeks of battery. $199.99.