With millions of publishers offering alternatives to print, it's easier than ever to find your favorite books in accessible digital formats, and keep your entire library stored within eReaders or clouds. EReaders provide an environmentally friendly alternative to buying books, allowing you to store thousands of eBooks within the device that can be accessed and read instantaneously. Unlike print books, eReaders also offer helpful accessibility features too, making reading easier with glare-free adjustable displays, backlight, custom font faces and sizes, and inverted color displays.
Read more: Best Kindle: Which Amazon eReader is right for you?
Though nothing will replace the raw heft, smell, and smooth paper texture between your fingers as you turn the page of a good book, a good eReader can replicate a similarly comfortable feeling. Some eReaders even offer IPX8 hardware, so they can survive a quick dip in water and software tools for in-book notes, definition readings, and highlighting allowing you to save a list of new words and build up your vocabulary. With the saturated eReader market today, it's hard to decide which one will work best for you. Below, we've come up with our list of the best eReaders that can fit the needs of any reader, from affordable models with crisp clear displays, to expansive memory devices that can store an Alexandrian-Library amount of books.
Best eReaders: Our top picks
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite
The best of the best for most users
The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite offers the ultimate eReader experience with a long-lasting battery life, high definition display, and endless access to your favorite books.
- Affordable price
- Glare-free high resolution display
- Ten weeks of battery life
- Lower memory
- Less responsive
- More affordable version has lockscreen ads
The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite brings the ultimate eReader to users that feels gentle in your hands. The lightweight portable eReader is great for anyone just starting out and getting more familiar with the digital reading world, as it provides an intuitive thin and light book-like design, clear and easy-to-read adjustable illuminated display, and a long battery life that can last ten weeks.
Amazon crafted their Kindle eReader series with the intention of readability first. Weighing just 7.23oz, it's ergonomically designed shape provides a seamless reading experience reminiscent of holding a physical book. Its sleek flush-front design feels smooth to the touch. Open it up, swipe pages, and bask in its warm glow with its 17.27cm display and 300ppi (pixels-per-inch) for clearer text that makes reading easy on the eyes. This eReader isn't just environmentally friendly, but adaptable, making automatic brightness adjustments depending on how light shines on it. It's even IPX8 waterproof, so a little splash or rain won't harm it (you can dunk it up to two meters of water for an hour).
Read more: What Kindles are waterproof, and can I get them wet?
The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite also stands out with its impressive Accessibility Features. It has a VoiceView screen reader, Bluetooth connectivity, text-to-speech playback, optional custom formatting, and even allows you to invert it to a black and white display for easier reading. Paperwhite comes with a one-year limited warranty and either 8GB (about 3,000 to 6,000 books) or 16GB (6,000 to 12,000) specification models. Due to its incredible popularity, there are also many Kindle Paperwhite cases available to style it and make it your own.
Kobo Libra 2
Compatible with library apps, access eBooks from your local library
The Kobo Libra 2 offers a wider display that allows for vertical or horizontal reading.
- Large display with ergonomic design
- Huge 32GB memory storage
- Borrow books at the library
- Expensive
- Lower build quality
The Kobo Libra 2 is designed for readers who want to store a large library within their eReader device. The 32GB of storage allows for up to 24,000 eBooks or 150 Kobo Audiobooks, so you can have a lifetime’s worth of reading all in the palm of your hands. You can even sync your library card with it to borrow books from your local library, all done digitally.
The ergonomic design of the Kobo Libra 2 is like a ledger. Its wide 17.78cm high definition glare free screen size face uses E Ink Carta 1200 to deliver a clear reading experience. The Kobo Libra 2 has an adjustable brightness level and includes blue light reduction, so it doesn't strain your eyes if you prefer to read at night.
Though its touchscreen (common for most eReaders) has a fast responsiveness using its 1 GHz CPU processor speed, the Kobo Libra 2 also includes two front page-turning buttons making it easier to navigate when your hands are full. You can even read books in landscape (horizontally) or portrait mode (vertically) to your preference. Like the Kindle Paper White, it's also IPX8 water-resistant, so you can read it by the beach or when taking a bubble bath without too much anxiety.
PocketBook Touch HD 3
Small on size, big on features
The PocketBook Touch HD 3 offers a tinier eReader with high quality features like a high resolution touchscreen display, IPX8 waterproof grading, and a wide compatibility with multiple eBook file types
- Tiny and portable
- Wide range of eBook compatibility
- Lightweight
- Slower response
- Might be too small
- Fragile
The PocketBook Touch HD 3 makes a great pick for readers who want less clutter and bulk with the digital devices. The eReader measures at 10.79 x 0.787 x 16.12cm and weighs just 5.5oz, making for a lightweight and portable traveler's size little eReader. But don't let its small size fool you: it packs a punch with features like IPX8 waterproofing, 16GB internal memory, and a wide range of compatibility for book type file formats, so you don't have to worry if your file won't display.
The PocketBook Touch HD 3 boasts an internal memory storage of 16GB, enough to hold more than 6,000 books depending on their file size. The eReader is compatible with up to 19 books, two comic, and four graphic formats, including (but not limited to) EPUB, MOBI, FB2, DOC, and JPEG, so you won’t have trouble reading most file types for books. The 15.24cm glare free screen size includes eye-safe technology using its SMARTlight feature: an adjustable brightness setting and color temperature of the front light, so you can put less strain on your eyes when reading at night.
Amazon Fire Max 11
Displays big, stores big
The Amazon Fire Max 11 offers one of the largest eReaders on the market with an 11in display with high resolution
- Large 28cm screen
- Fast 4GB of RAM
- Up to 1TB of expandable memory
- Bulky
- Expensive
- Lower battery life
Readers who want a large screen and even more storage may be interested in Amazon's Fire Max 11, as it boasts a large 11in display with a high resolution that falls between 1080p to 1440p and includes an expandable memory slot of up to 1TB. The powerhouse eReeader doubles as a tablet, so it can stream movies, play video games, and even includes a magnetic keyboard case that allows you to take notes side-by-side with your reading.
For reading, the Amazon Fire Max 11 offers speedy performance in both fast processing speeds and extensive library capabilities with its memory storage. It uses Wi-Fi 6 and an octa-core professor built with 4GB of memory (similar to a laptop) for a seamless response when turning pages or downloading books. It comes with 128GB of internal storage (enough for tens of thousands of books) with an expandable memory storage using a separate micro-SD card at 1TB (enough to hold 337,920 copies of War and Peace.) The Amazon Fire Max 11 is a great choice for readers who want an all-in-one eReader that doubles as a workstation tablet; included with it, there's an optional stylus pen and keyboard case version, so you can take notes and highlight quickly.
Kindle Paperwhite Kids
A young reader's new best friend
The Kindle Paperwhite Kids is an eReader made just for kids with its tough design, two-year warranty, and parental controls
- Parental features
- Educational tracking tools
- High resolution and gentle lighting features
- Two-year warranty
- Slower responsive
- Wi-Fi connection needed for advanced features
"If it breaks, we replace it," is a nice two-year warranty guarantee offered with their Amazon Kindle Paper White Kids eReader, in the event that, well, your child breaks it. The best eReader for kids on the list is designed for children's use, with a durable exterior with magnetic cover to resist scratches, learning tools, and built-in parental features.
However, despite its durable form factor and overall friendly UI, this tablet is not a toy. The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Kids is an eReader made for reading. It does not include any apps, videos, or games, but instead, is built to establish healthy reading habits. It contains The Parent Dashboard, allowing parents to add books from their account to the child's library, see their reading progression, set a bedtime, and adjust age filters. A large 16GB storage capacity means they can put all their favorite books on the device, and read at any time of the day using the adjustable front light and dark mode reading feature that inverts the colors to a dark background with white text for easier reading at night.
The device also contains a Vocabulary Builder and Word Wise app to help children build an extensive vocabulary by learning new words and their meanings. There's also an OpenDyslexic app included to help children with dyslexia. Includes various kid friendly designs like Ocean Explorer, Space Whale, and Unicorn Valley.
Amazon Kindle (2022)
The economical choice in digital readers
Thinner, lighter and with a sharper display, this is an ideal affordable eReader - but there's no waterproofing.
- Affordable price under $100
- Glare-free high resolution display
- 10 weeks of battery life
- Lower memory
- Less responsive
- More affordable version has lockscreen ads
Anyone just starting out with eReaders who wants a more economical choice should check out the Amazon Kindle, 2022 release. Though it is just $100, the flagship eReader carries high standards including a crisp 300ppi resolution, 16GB of storage, and up to six weeks of long-lasting battery life.
The Amazon Kindle provides a lightweight display that is readable whether you're cozy snug in bed with an adjustable brightness or doing some glare-free afternoon reading in the sun. Its 15.25cm screen size and lightweight 5.56oz weight make it compact and tidy for easy storage to fit in your bags or suitcases, so it is accessible for quick reading. The Amazon Kindle also has numerous form-fitting compatible cases like a fabric or Nupro cover to help add extra protection to your Kindle.
The bottom line: What is the best eReader?
Amazon's Kindle Paperwhite offers the best in what eReaders have by providing a welcoming gradual shift for old school hardcopy book readers to an approachable and comfortable digital alternative reading experience. Ten full weeks of battery life, clear and legible font display, waterproofing, and a lightweight design make for a well-rounded enough for any eReader to enjoy.
We do acknowledge different use cases for different users however, and for portability and travel the Pocketbook Touch HD3 is a fantastic small option. The highly rated Kobo brand makes a great alternative to the Kindle line-up, with compatibility to library digital loaning services with the Kobo Libra 2 and huge storage available. And we can't forget the kids - the Kindle Paperwhite Kids is packed full of options designed to grow young reader's skills and durable enough for most minor accidents.
Which eReader is right for you?
When selecting an eReader you're going to want to think about your relationships with books. Do you own a ton? Do you like large sans-serif fonts? Do you tend to read everywhere and have to find good lighting or need to escape the rainfall? If you're like me with an extensive library of hundreds of books (and wanting to buy more) you'll want to look into the Amazon Fire Max 11 which has not only 128GB of internal memory, but 1TB micro-sd card slot in case you want to store even more books. Don't want to have to worry about constantly charging your device and just hone in on some immersive reading? The Kindle Paperwhite gives you 70 days on a full charge, plus a waterproof durability to add to the resilience of your eReader device.
What's the difference between an eReader and a tablet?
EReaders are like tablets, except they are specifically designed for reading digital books and other eBook file formats. Their display uses e-ink technology - that does not emit light - to simulate the feeling of reading a book. EReaders usually have anti-glare displays, a lightweight and more compact body, a lower price, and a higher battery life. You'll also notice that a few eReaders are waterproof, which is less common with tablets.
Tablets are multi-use instruments, with LCD or OLED displays for high resolution images and videos. Tablets have multiple applications that otherwise are unrelated to an eReading experience. Though tablets can have apps designed for reading eBooks (Apple's Books, Amazon's Kindle App, Libby/Overdrive) they're more often times used for multifunctional features like streaming videos, playing games, or social media.