The Best Ereaders For 2025

Screen size: 6” | Display type: Black/white and colour E Ink | Resolution: 300 dpi achromatic & white, 150 dpi colour | Capacity: 16GB| Battery life: Up to 42 days (30 min. daily, 30% brightness, Wi-Fi/BT off) | Waterproof rating: IPX8 (submergible to 6 feet for 60 minutes) | Warm light: Yes | Lock surface ads: No | Text formats: EPUB, EPUB3, FlePub, PDF, MOBI, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, TXT, HTML, RTF, CBZ, CBR

Read our afloat Kobo Clara Colour review

Our erstwhile prime for this category, nan Kobo Clara 2E was an fantabulous ereader pinch a crisp display, a lukewarm glow and responsive, intuitive touch controls each housed successful a waterproof creation that felt premium. When Rakuten announced nan Clara would beryllium updated, I worried we’d spot Kobo instrumentality pinch superfluous revamping to warrant an inflated price. Thankfully, that’s not nan case. The Kobo Clara Colour not only adds colour and a faster processor, it’s conscionable $10 much than nan erstwhile generation.

As nan sanction suggests, this ereader adds colour to nan page, lending a small vibrance to book covers, tables and graphs, and moreover nan panels of schematic novels. The exertion comes from E Ink, successful nan shape of nan Kaleido 3 module that incorporates a colour select furniture connected apical of nan modular achromatic and achromatic microcapsule layer. That results successful 2 different resolutions connected 1 screen: 150 dpi for colour and 300 dpi for text.

Full-color pages punctual maine of comic book creation from nan ‘60s, muted but saturated. Color makes book covers much enticing and adds a small assortment to headings, and tables successful immoderate non-fiction books. It’s surely not a necessary feature, but it adds vibrance and it’s fun. 

There is simply a flimsy quality successful clarity betwixt nan colour and non-color type of nan Clara. If you look closely, you tin spot a spot of sound connected nan achromatic parts of nan page. That's owed to nan added colour select layer. It's not distracting and only thing I noticed erstwhile comparing nan 2 generations side-by-side. but if absolute clarity is your superior goal, you whitethorn beryllium amended disconnected pinch a non-color ereader.

Probably nan much useful upgrade present is nan dual 2GHz processor, a bump from nan Clara 2E’s 1GHz CPU. There’s a noticeable betterment successful nan velocity of nan page turns and navigating from nan paper to nan page and backmost again is astir instantaneous. As pinch nan 2E, nan Colour seldom mistakes a swipe for a pat aliases a page move motion for a paper request.

The adjustable lukewarm beforehand ray is still present (it’s really a small warmer connected nan Colour) and makes reference astatine nighttime easy connected nan eyes. The operating strategy is nan same, pinch intuitive entree to nan Kobo store, your individual books and titles from your section room via Overdrive. You tin customize your reference acquisition pinch options for font, font size, statement spacing, margins and truthful on. Kobos don’t person a measurement to prevention a group of show settings for illustration nan Kindle does, truthful I’d emotion to spot that added pinch early OS upgrades. But for now, nan customizations are conscionable capable to get your book really you want it to look.

The Colour is astir identical successful style and size, and has nan aforesaid premium consciousness arsenic nan 2E, though nan integrative has a grainier finish. The bezels are noticeably little flush pinch nan surface now, though that didn’t change my reference enjoyment.

Now that it costs $150, nan Kobo Clara Colour is $40 much than nan guidelines exemplary Kindle. But nan waterproof build, lukewarm beforehand light, responsive controls and deficiency of ads (which costs $20 to get free of connected Amazon's device) make it worthy it. And, successful awesome news for nan right to repair crowd, it’s moreover designed to be user-repaired erstwhile it falls extracurricular of warranty done a business pinch iFixit. 

Rakuten still makes nan Kobo Clara BW, which is astir identical to our erstwhile "best overall" pick. It doesn't suffer from nan flimsy clarity nonaccomplishment that nan colour overlay presents, but it besides still has nan older processor.   

Of course, if you already ain a upland of Kindle books, you whitethorn want to instrumentality pinch Amazon's system. In that case, nan champion Kindle is Amazon's Kindle Paperwhite. It costs $160 and was precocious updated pinch a much powerful processor and caller E Ink tech that makes it exceptionally speedy while displaying high-contrast text. The lukewarm ray is awesome and nan flush beforehand surface feels premium.

One much consideration, now that Amazon now has its ain colour exemplary too, is nan Colorsoft. The original costs $280, which is importantly much costly than nan Clara Colour and moreover nan Paperwhite Signature Edition. In July, Amazon released a slightly cheaper colour exemplary for $230. It has little storage, nary wireless charging and nary auto-adjusting front-lights, but costs $30 little than nan original.

Screen size: 6” | Display type: Black/white E Ink | Resolution: 300dpi | Capacity: 16GB | Battery life: 6 weeks | Waterproof rating: None | Warm light: No | Lock screen ads: Yes | Text formats: Kindle Format 8 (AZW3), Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; PDF, DOCX, DOC, HTML, EPUB, TXT, RTF, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP done conversion

If you conscionable want to publication books, and person nary request for nan perks that nan fancier ereaders bring (color, waterproof rating, lukewarm light, etc), past nan guidelines exemplary Kindle is for you. The six-inch, non-flush show is housed successful a textured integrative that feels little premium than, say, nan Paperwhite aliases moreover nan 2 Kobos connected our list, but still feels plentifulness durable. And it’s mini capable to fresh successful a overgarment aliases backmost pouch making it very travel-friendly.

It’s unfortunate that nan 2024 exemplary is $10 much than nan 2022 exemplary erstwhile not overmuch has changed, but it's still nan cheapest ereader from immoderate of nan awesome manufacturers. And if we cognize 1 point astir Amazon, it’s that nan institution loves a bully sale, truthful you’ll apt find it connected discount if you tin clasp retired for Prime Day aliases Black Friday deals.

The scholar is simply a no-frills gateway to nan champion of what nan Kindle ecosystem has to offer, including Kindle Exclusive titles, pinch books by established authors arsenic good arsenic newer, self-published writers; Kindle Unlimited offers nan widest action of immoderate subscription-based reference work retired there; and Audible Originals is made up of narrated titles and podcasts you tin only perceive done a Kindle instrumentality aliases Amazon-owned app.

If you for illustration to move betwixt audiobooks and ebooks, Kindle is nan measurement to go. When you bargain some iterations of a title, you not only get a discount, but nan Whispersync characteristic lines up wherever you are successful nan e-printed type pinch nan narration, too. Say you perceive for an hr and past want to publication – nan synchronization lets you prime up on-screen wherever you near disconnected audibly. (Though we should constituent retired that you can’t perceive and publication simultaneously connected nan aforesaid device.) In tests, nan characteristic was reasonably accurate, getting maine adjacent capable connected nan page aliases successful nan audio to fig retired my spot.

Page turns are quicker connected nan caller exemplary but I’m disappointed that there’s still nary measurement to set nan zones and responses to touchscreen gestures, for illustration location is connected some Kobo and Boox devices. Kindles each person a very constrictive portion connected nan near for going backmost a page and I’m perpetually missing it and going guardant instead. Though swipes mostly activity well.

Probably nan astir noticeable missing characteristic is nan 6-inch screen's deficiency of lukewarm light. Compared to immoderate ereader pinch that option, nan surface connected nan modular Kindle appears harsh and bluish, but it’s still acold easier connected your eyes than a telephone aliases tablet screen. There’s plentifulness of customization for nan font, size and margins, too. You tin moreover prevention your settings arsenic a “theme,” thing not offered by different devices. I created 1 pinch larger matter and wider statement spacing called “tired eyes.”

Some group won’t beryllium bothered by nan fastener surface ads that travel modular connected this Kindle (unless you salary $20 to region them). They’re reasonably innocuous, mostly promoting Kindle book deals aliases circumstantial titles (it’s not for illustration you’ll spot promos for TVs aliases robotic excavation cleaners). Personally, I for illustration being capable to group nan slumber surface to nan book screen of what I’m presently reading, but it’s easy to get complete that if each you want is simply a much convenient measurement to devour books astatine nan lowest price.

Screen size: 7” | Display type: Black/white and colour E Ink | Resolution: 300 dpi achromatic & white, 150 dpi colour | Capacity: 32GB | Battery life: Weeks | Waterproof rating: IPX8 (submergible to 6 feet for 60 minutes) | Warm light: Yes | Lock surface ads: No | Text formats: EPUB, EPUB3, FlePub, PDF, MOBI, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, TXT, HTML, RTF, CBZ, CBR

When Kobo came retired pinch nan caller Clara Colour, it besides debuted nan new Libra Colour, which mightiness beryllium nan much breathtaking of nan 2 devices. In summation to colour exertion from nan E Ink Kaleido sheet and an upgraded processor, nan Libra now has stylus support. It’s nan only ereader connected this database pinch that feature, making it a batch for illustration a mini E Ink tablet — but each of its caller features really make it a amended ereader.

When I wrote astir nan erstwhile procreation ereader, nan Libra 2, I was impressed by really comfortable it was for reading. None of that has changed; nan buttons and auto-rotating surface accommodate nan instrumentality to conscionable astir immoderate reference position you chose and nan bladed design, textured backmost and soft-touch integrative springiness it a premium feel. 

Kobo’s interface is astir nan aforesaid present arsenic pinch different models, nicely organized to fto you easy find your existent sounds aliases browse and hunt caller titles from Kobo’s shop aliases your section room successful nan Overdrive tab. The customizations for ray and matter fto you get nan page looking conscionable really you for illustration it, but location aren’t truthful galore options that it feels for illustration you’re penning code.

The caller features adhd to nan experience. In color, book covers each look much enticing — though, if your TBR database is already 3 feet long, this won’t not thief things. The caller processor makes waking from sleep, turning pages, navigating nan paper and changing predisposition zippy fast.

Then there’s nan position compatibility. Try arsenic they might, immoderate caller technologies don’t yet beat their real-world counterparts. That’s mostly really I consciousness astir styluses — I’m conscionable a large instrumentality of pen connected paper. But Kobo’s stylus makes it truthful nosy to item matter and scribble notes successful nan margins of a book that I’m starting to travel around. Plus, it neatly and magnetically attaches to nan broadside truthful it doesn’t get lost.

Pressing and holding nan fastener connected nan broadside of nan stylus highlights matter while flipping it astir erases. I accidentally pressed nan fastener a fewer times erstwhile I was trying to write, but I sewage utilized to nan placement aft a fewer minutes of utilizing it. You tin prime from 4 different highlighter colors and position your written notes and spotlighted matter successful nan notes conception of immoderate title — which I could spot being beautiful useful for book nine reads, schoolhouse assignments aliases conscionable refreshing yourself connected a past publication earlier you dive into nan sequel.

Note-taking successful nan margins aliases straight connected nan matter worked connected each book I tried. Though I should constituent retired that if you alteration nan font size successful a book, your handwritten notes will beryllium converted to a sticky note-type box. Going backmost to nan original font restores your original annotations.

The Kobo Libra Colour is $30 much costly than nan Libra 2, but you get a batch for $220. If it were conscionable an ereader, nan beautiful colors, responsive reference experience, accelerated page turns and easy highlights would make it worthy nan price. But you besides get features that make it much than conscionable an ereader, for illustration Dropbox and Google Drive integration, a beta web browser and free-writing and text-converting notebooks.

Of course, nan stylus costs other and you won’t get features for illustration notebooks and penning successful nan margins without it. Together, nan group costs $290, which is simply a sizeable $110 cheaper than nan precocious updated (and astir popular) stylus-enabled ereader nan Amazon Kindle Scribe. It's besides cheaper than Kobo's ain 10-inch model, nan Elipsa 2E. The Scribe has a, 10.2-inch surface and nan Elipsa 2E has a 10.3-inch screen. That's a bully size for penning but, for me, is simply a small large for an ereader. The Libra Colour connected nan different manus has conscionable nan correct features astatine nan correct size, positive immoderate extras that agelong its usefulness. Amazon utilized to person an ereader pinch buttons successful nan Kindle Oasis, but that exemplary has been discontinued. 

Screen size: 6” | Display type: Black/white E Ink | Resolution: 300dpi | Capacity: 32GB | Battery life: 12 weeks | Waterproof rating: IPX8 | Warm light: Yes, car adjustable | Lock screen ads: No| Text formats: Kindle Format 8 (AZW3), Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; PDF, DOCX, DOC, HTML, EPUB, TXT, RTF, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP done conversion

Read our afloat Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition review

When I reviewed nan caller Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, I was struck by nan elevated reference acquisition it provided. It’s remarkably fast, nan matter is wonderfully crisp and it has a premium creation that feels awesome to hold. Amazon was capable to amended page move and scrolling speeds for some nan modular Paperwhite and nan Signature Edition by giving them caller processors and utilizing an oxide thin-film transistor furniture to alteration faster changes connected nan page. The furniture besides allows for amended show clarity than different transistor layers.

Both nan modular and Signature models person lukewarm beforehand lights that formed a beautiful glow crossed a surface that’s a small larger now astatine 7-inches (up from 6.8 past time). The artillery life is longer, promising up to 12 weeks (instead of 10), meaning you’ll seldom request to complaint your ereader. Despite that, nan Paperwhite models are really 3 millimeters thinner than nan erstwhile procreation (and conscionable a touch heavier).

With nan Signature Edition, you besides get auto-adjusting beforehand lights that dim aliases brighten arsenic daylight fades aliases you move from room to room. The retention capacity goes up from 16GB to 32GB, truthful moreover if you download a full bunch of audiobooks, you aren’t apt to tally retired of abstraction excessively quickly. And finally, you get a wireless charging action for nan periodic occasions erstwhile it’s clip for a refill. All of those features are bully to have, though not basal — but for anyone who wants to publication ebooks successful nan astir luxe measurement possible, nan Signature exemplary is nan 1 to spell for.

If you want an acquisition that’s nearly arsenic deluxe, but don’t request nan wireless charging, auto-adjusting lights and other capacity specs, nan non-Signature Paperwhite is still noticeably much premium than nan modular Kindle, pinch a larger screen, ultra-crisp matter and a luxurious build. Plus you still get entree to each nan perks that only Kindles offer, for illustration Goodreads integration, Kindle Exclusive titles, Kindle Unlimited subscription books and Whispersync tech that lines up your audio and ebook sounds truthful you tin switch betwixt nan 2 formats. 

There's besides nan Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Kids, which is nan aforesaid gadget, but comes pinch a cover, a longer warranty and a six-month subscription to Amazon Kids+. 

Screen size: 7” | Display type: Black/white and colour E Ink | Resolution: 300 dpi achromatic & white, 150 dpi colour | Capacity: 64GB | Battery life: Weeks | Waterproof rating: splash-resistant | Warm light: Yes | Lock surface ads: No | Text formats: PDF, CAJ, DJVU, CBR, CBZ, EPUB, EPUB3, AZW3, MOBI, TXT, DOC, DOCX, FB2, CHM, RTF, HTML, ZIP, PRC, PPT, PPTX, PNG, JPG, BMP, TIFF

Color E Ink screens are nan “new” point successful ereaders — moreover though nan tech has been commercially disposable since around 2010. E Ink announced its Kaleido 3 show successful 2022, and pinch nan correct operation of colour saturation and clarity, it’s now appealing capable for wide consumption. Now Boox, Kobo and, at last, Amazon each person models pinch colour screens.

The Boox Go Color 7 (available from Amazon and Boox) is simply a earthy prime to supplant our erstwhile victor successful this category, nan Boox Page. The Go Color 7 not only adds color, it besides comes pinch double nan retention capacity, an other gig of RAM and ships pinch Android 12. The backmost is now textured alternatively of slick, an upgrade my accident-prone fingers are grateful for, and nan processor is faster too, going from a 2.0Ghz octa halfway CPU to a 2.4Ghz chip. This each comes astatine nan aforesaid $250 database value arsenic nan Page. The artillery has nan aforesaid 2,300mAh capacity, but ereader batteries past nan bid of a fewer weeks, truthful an upgrade successful that section wasn’t really necessary.

Since nan Go Color 7 runs connected a fork of Android 12, it acts much for illustration a tablet than a accepted ereader. Like each Boox devices, this attack is champion suited for nan tech-savvy. Unlike a Kindle aliases Kobo, which travel preconfigured pinch a shop to bargain books, arsenic good arsenic easy borrowing from your section room system, Boox ereaders connection small hand-holding successful setup and usage. While location is simply a store, it’s made up of nationalist domain titles — astir group will publication books by uploading ePubs manually. Or, much likely, you’ll publication connected a third-party ereader app for illustration Kobo, Kindle, Libby and others, which you’ll download from nan built-in Google Play store.

Boox’s built-in ereader app, NeoReader, is nicely featured pinch a bully magnitude of power complete nan look of nan text. But it only handles DRM-free ePub files from sites for illustration Project Gutenberg aliases publishers for illustration Tor. If you want to publication ePubs pinch integer authorities management, which dress up nan immense mostly of existent ebooks, you’ll request to usage a different app. Ironically, I’ve been utilizing nan ereader app from PocketBook (a rival company) to publication nan DRM ePubs I acquisition from 3rd parties.

The Go Series readers are impressively customizable, pinch programmable buttons and fine-tunable settings. Boox users person created APK files to tweak and amended nan acquisition further. The instrumentality moreover has a microphone and speakers, and tin tally apps for illustration Spotify. In short, nan Go Color 7 tin do acold much than a emblematic ereader can, if you’re consenting to experiment.

The acquisition is enhanced pinch a soft, adjustable beforehand ray pinch somesthesia power that makes for pleasant low-light reference and nan flush, glare-free, surface is lush and detailed. Like each colour ereaders, you do springiness up a modicum of clarity to accommodate nan colour array, and nan warmth is noticeably much yellow. I only noticed nan opposition erstwhile I group comparable ereaders side-by-side and, really, it’s nan quality betwixt a super duper crisp surface and only a ace crisp screen.

The soft and muted colors person a saturated look for illustration watercolors aliases aged comic book illustrations. Comparing nan aforesaid book screen connected nan Kobo Clara Colour and this, nan Boox hues do look a touch grainier and little rich. But that’s a mini sacrifice if you request an ereader that tin do acold much than conscionable transportation your books around.

Screen size: 6.13” | Resolution: 300 dpi | Capacity: 128GB | Water resistant: Yes, splashes and spills | Warm light: Yes | Lock surface ads: No | Text formats: PDF, CAJ, DJVU, CBR, CBZ, EPUB, EPUB3, AZW3, MOBI, TXT, DOC, DOCX, FB2, CHM, RTF, HTML, ZIP, PRC, PPT, PPTX

Boox has nan widest scope of formats of immoderate ereader institution I’ve tested — and nan Boox Palma is nan astir fun. It’s nan aforesaid size and style arsenic a smartphone and, successful a batch of ways, it acts for illustration one, too. The location surface is simply a muted black-and-white type of what you mightiness find connected a modular Android telephone — you tin moreover adhd widgets. Like astir Boox devices, it tin download and tally apps from nan Google Play Store and has speakers to play euphony and videos. The E Ink surface (a Carta 1200) renders matter crisply, but images, peculiarly moving ones, look grainier and rougher than they would connected a existent phone’s LCD aliases OLED screen. That said, nan video value is nan champion I’ve seen connected an E Ink screen, acknowledgment to a package betterment Boox calls Super Refresh Technology.

The latest procreation of nan Palma adds an upgraded processor, a fingerprint unlock fastener and ships pinch Android 13, each of which should make it moreover much capable. But make nary mistake, it’s not going to switch your phone. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are nan only connectivity and nan 16MP camera is conscionable for making archive scans you tin person to PDFs. But nan phone-like build is comfortingly acquainted and nan E Ink surface is beautiful to read. At $280, it’s much costly than a modular ereader — and moreover immoderate E Ink tablets — but it’s a highly portable measurement to publication Kindle, Kobo, Google Books and different ePubs, while besides handling elemental games and apps for illustration a smartphone. If you’re sick of nan glow of your handset, nan Boox Palma is simply a charming alternative.