The 4 best e-readers in 2024

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The best e-readers cover the essentials for every type of reader.

Sarah Saril/Insider

Even if you swear by print and paper, e-readers are undeniably convenient and can make reading a lot more accessible. The best e-readers save you tons of shelf space by storing hundreds of books in one small device, and they can make buying your favorite titles a breeze thanks to their huge online stores packed with downloadable e-books. 

Choosing which to buy is no joke, though — you're picking a new companion for hours and hours of reading, after all. The Kindle Paperwhite is our top pick for most readers; it's one of the most affordable waterproof e-readers you can find and offers a ton of great features that really enhance the experience. Our budget pick, the Kindle 11th Generation, cuts back on some of those bells and whistles but still gives readers the core Kindle experience for a cheaper price. 

I've spent dozens of hours testing other Kindles and Rakuten Kobo e-readers to help you determine which is right for you. After submitting each model to tons of reading, furious page flipping, and weeks without charging, I've narrowed down my picks to the four best e-readers you can buy.

Top picks for the best e-readers

Best overall: Kindle Paperwhite - See at Amazon

Best that isn't a Kindle: Kobo Clara 2E - See at Amazon

Best for budget buyers: Kindle (11th Generation) - See at Amazon

Best for notetakers: Kobo Elipsa 2E - See at Walmart

Best overall

Put simply, the Kindle Paperwhite is the best e-reader for most people.

Sarah Saril/Insider

Kindles are the best e-readers on the market, and the Paperwhite is the best Kindle of them all. A perfect combination of premium features, an affordable price, a waterproof build, and a sleek design makes it our top choice for most readers.

Released in 2021, the latest Kindle Paperwhite has snappy performance, USB-C charging, and a beautiful 300 ppi glare-free display. As has become the norm for e-readers, it also has adjustable backlight temperature and brightness controls. 

Of all of the e-readers I've tested, the Paperwhite tops them all. It feels and looks premium without the premium price. It can handle rapid page turns without leaving afterimages, and all images load instantly and look crisp on the paper-like screen. Even before turning it on, its flush-front design makes for a seamless look, and it's waterproof to boot. As one of Amazon's newer Kindle releases, it also uses USB-C to charge and connect to your computer, meaning you can finally bin your micro-USB cables.

The Kindle Paperwhite is one of the most affordable e-readers available but doesn't forgo any features essential to comfortable reading. Starting at $140, it improves on the base Kindle in seemingly every way, from its larger screen to its waterproof design. It's also on sale often and has dropped to as low as $90 during deal events.

Check out our Kindle Paperwhite review.

Best that isn't a Kindle

With a Wi-Fi connection, you can buy books and audiobooks on your Kobo Clara 2E.

Sarah Saril/Insider

Rakuten's Kobo e-readers are comparable to Kindles for users who don't want to commit to Amazon's ecosystem. The Kobo Clara 2E is the most affordable model that still comes with a waterproof build. It's also made with over 85% recycled plastic if that's a quality you look for in tech products. 

After hours of testing the Kobo Clara 2E, I find it to be the best e-reader alternative to an Amazon Kindle. It has a 300 ppi glare-free, paper-like display that is easy on the eyes, with adjustable lighting temperature and brightness. Its recycled shell also makes the 2E very lightweight and comfortable to hold, with an ergonomic power button on the back that feels natural to use. 

But compared to a Kindle Paperwhite, this device falls short in one way: speed. The Kobo Clara 2E can sometimes feel sluggish, with performance stuttering when flipping through pages rapidly or loading many images. This difference is mostly negligible and won't feel disruptive to most users who aren't speed-reading, but it's something to be mindful of when making your purchase decision. 

Starting at $140, the Kobo Clara 2E costs the same as the Kindle Paperwhite but offers twice the storage capacity. That's notably a better value if you're willing to ignore the slight performance gap between the two.

Check out our Kobo Clara 2E review. 

Best budget

If you're looking for one place to store and read books, the 11th-generation Kindle is an excellent choice.

Sarah Saril/Insider

Choosing a cheaper e-reader doesn't mean you have to opt for a worse experience. The Kindle (11th Generation) is the most affordable model available, and it's well worth the $100. 

This Kindle is joyously simple, making it a great choice for the less tech-savvy or users who need fewer bells and whistles. In exchange for its lower price, it lacks waterproofing, light temperature adjustment, and automatic features like light page orientation. 

The essentials are still here though, like brightness settings, dark mode, a paper-like display, and a compact size that can hold hundreds of titles. As one of the newest releases in the Kindle lineup, the 11th Generation Kindle uses USB-C for charging. 

For $100, the Kindle (11th Generation) is an affordable investment that readers will love. It's also discounted regularly throughout the year, even dropping to as low as $65 during deal events. 

Check out our Kindle review.

Best for notetakers

The Kobo Elipsa 2E is an e-reader and notebook in one device.

Sarah Saril/Insider

The latest development in e-reader technology is the writable e-reader. They're pricey investments that not every user needs, but students and those who love to journal can really benefit from these capable devices. Both Kindle and Kobo have their own versions, and after extensive testing, I think the Kobo Elipsa 2E edges out Amazon's Kindle Scribe. 

Made of recycled plastic and recycled magnesium alloy, the Elipsa 2E is both lightweight and sturdily built, despite its large 10.3-inch screen and thin shape. It's a joy to write on with the included Kobo Stylus 2, with a smooth, paper-like feel that trumps an iPad and Apple Pencil any day. You can even write directly on book and PDF pages, a seemingly essential feature that Amazon's Kindle Scribe doesn't integrate. Unfortunately, the 2E doesn't use wireless charging for the stylus or e-reader, but at least both use USB-C. 

The main downside of the Kobo Elipsa 2E, and any writable e-reader available right now, is its hefty price. For $400, it's perhaps one of the most expensive notebooks you can buy. However, the appeal is undeniable for students or journalers — this one device can hold dozens of notebooks with lined, grid, or even dot pages, saving space, clutter, and waste of physical paper. 

It has limited use cases for the average reader but endless features for notetakers, including self-illuminated notebooks of any color temperature, a search bar for your notebooks, easy editing with a Lasso tool, the ability to convert your handwriting to typed text, and one tool to write, highlight, and erase. 

Check out our Kobo Elipsa 2E review.

How we test e-readers

When put to the test, these four e-readers came out on top.

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I used a handful of key evaluation points in order to test and select the best e-readers. The most heavily weighted factors were display, responsiveness/speed, price, and lighting customization. 

Display: The standard for e-reader screens in 2023 is 300ppi, so the Kobo Elipsa 2E lost a few points for its 227 ppi display — though not much since the difference isn't too noticeable. Otherwise, screen size also comes into consideration, the smallest being the Kindle (11th Generation) and the largest being the Kobo Elipsa 2E. For a solid, middle-of-the-road size, I recommend the Paperwhite or the Kobo Clara 2E. 

Responsiveness/speed: A slow e-reader is hard to ignore, even if you're not a speed reader. Of the four models I recommend, the Kobo Clara 2E is the slowest, with some pages leaving ghosting while others sometimes stutter before refreshing, but this is mostly a negligible occurrence. The fastest model is the Kindle Paperwhite, hands down. 

Price: Budget is one of the greatest constraints for many shoppers. Therefore, I only recommend the Kobo Elipsa 2E for those who can afford to spend the extra money since its use cases are hardly worth the $400 price tag for many (especially when a full-featured tablet isn't much more money). Alternatively, for folks looking to spend as little as possible, the Kindle (11th Generation) wins for being extremely affordable without compromising quality and performance. 

Lighting customizability: Thankfully, customizable lighting has become the norm for e-readers, no matter who makes them. However, the extent to which the lighting can be changed, from temperature to automatic features, is not yet universal, which sets some models apart. All of the e-readers I recommend offer temperature adjustment except for the Kindle (11th Generation), so nighttime readers may want to spend a little more to spare their eyes the stark blue light of a cold-lit screen. 

E-reader FAQs

You don't need a tabletop to write to take notes with the Elipsa 2E.

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What is an e-reader?

An e-reader is a tablet designed specifically for one purpose: reading e-books. The best e-readers are optimized with huge storage for books, incredible battery life, and a glare-free, paper-like display that uses E Ink technology. 

What should you look for in an e-reader?

The best e-readers range the gamut when it comes to feature sets and price points. Each has something different to offer readers, and there are some key features to look out for when choosing the right one for you. 

Waterproofing is one of the most important qualities that a premium model can offer, as it vastly increases the use cases for your device. Whether that means reading in the rain, in the bathtub, or near a clumsy toddler, it's a game changer that is well worth the money. If that's important to you, you'll want to nix the Kindle (11th Generation) and the Kobo Elipsa 2E from the running.  

Temperature adjustment is another great feature that can help you settle your eyes before sleeping by opting for warmer backlighting. Users who like to read in bed will seriously want to consider shelling out for this feature by skipping on the Kindle (11th Generation). 

In the end, which e-reader you decide to invest in depends on your budget and your needs. Since the Kindle Paperwhite walks the line between affordability and premium features, we recommend it for most readers. 

What is the difference between Kindle and Kobo?

When it comes to shopping for the best e-readers, the market is dominated by two brands: Amazon's Kindle and Rakuten's Kobo. Both offer comparable device lineups that cover a similar range of prices and capabilities. 

But despite how similar they look at a glance, both brands offer different interfaces, browsers, and overall ecosystems that can be polarizing, which is why I offer a specific non-Kindle recommendation above. 

Comparing the two, Kobo devices are overall less sleek. From their textured exteriors to their text-heavy menus, there's a lot more to take in with a Kobo device. If you'd like to break free from the minimalism of modern tech design, this may be a big plus for you. 

Kindles, however, are streamlined to the point where some devices even have a flush-front screen with no bezel. The menus are designed to have as little visual clutter as possible. Between the two, it's a matter of taste — outside of visual touches, the two otherwise offer the same general experience for readers. 

It's rare to find that a specific title isn't available on either the Kindle or Kobo store. Both also have their own subscription services: Kindle Unlimited and Kobo Plus. You can even borrow books from your local library for free with either device. 

The one major factor I suggest keeping in mind when choosing the best e-reader for you is Amazon Prime. If you're a member, you gain automatic access to a massive, rotating library of free titles that you can add to your Kindle e-reader or tablet — but these books aren't compatible with Kobo e-readers.

When is the best time to buy an e-reader?

The best time of year to buy an e-reader is during Amazon Prime Day, Black Friday, or Cyber Monday. It's during these events that tons of devices, our top e-reader picks included, drop to all-time low prices. 

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