There’s nothing like curling up with a good book, especially when it’s cold out. While it’s hard to beat the feeling of an actual book, they take up space. Thankfully, e-readers exist, and the Amazon Kindle is one of the best in the market.
But there are so many Kindles to choose from. How do you know which one to go for? Here are the best Amazon Kindles to check out, depending on your personal needs and preferences.
Best overall Kindle
Kindle Paperwhite (2024)
- Lightweight and compact
- Multiple colors
- Adjustable light temperature
- Waterproof
- Fastest performance
- Colors are more expensive
Why you should buy this: With a 7-inch glare-free screen with built-in temperature adjustable light and 12 weeks of battery life, the Paperwhite is perfect for most people.
Who’s it for: Those who want an e-reader for any environment and don’t need color.
Why we chose the Kindle Paperwhite (2024):
The Kindle Paperwhite (2024) is the best overall Kindle for most people.
The 7-inch is a great size because it offers plenty of space for your book’s text, but it is still very compact and portable. The body is made with recycled materials, and it’s quite lightweight and easy to hold. It comes in three colors too: the standard black, a bold Jade green, and a bright pink Raspberry. It’s even waterproof, so you can read your favorite titles by the pool or in the bath.
With a 7-inch glare-free e-ink display, it has 300 pixels per inch (ppi) resolution, so text is sharp and crisp, and you can still get plenty of detail on book covers. The Paperwhite also has an integrated light, and you can not only adjust the brightness but the temperature as well. So you can make the screen appear warmer when you need it, such as when reading before bed, or change it so it’s easier to read outdoors.
The Paperwhite has 16GB of storage, which is more than enough for all the books you may want to read. Browsing the Kindle store is easy and fast, and the Paperwhite also has 20% faster performance than before, so turning pages is even quicker. A single charge of the battery will also last around 12 weeks.
While we haven’t had a chance to try out the new Kindle Paperwhite (2024) ourselves just yet, we have had experience with its predecessor, and know how it functions thanks to also spending time with the Kindle Colorsoft — which is basically a Paperwhite with a fancy screen. We'll update this when we've had more time with the new Paperwhite, but rest assured, we already know this one is good.
Best budget Kindle
Kindle (2024)
- Matcha color is fantastic
- Super portable
- Brighter display than predecessor
- Faster page turning
- Great battery life
- Very little changes from predecessor
- Increased price
Why you should buy this: When you just need a basic e-reader with access to Amazon’s Kindle store, this gets the job done.
Who’s it for: Anyone who doesn’t need anything too fancy with their Amazon Kindle e-reader.
Why we chose the Kindle (2024):
The Kindle (2024) is a fantastic e-reader that gets the job done if you just need the basics.
The 6-inch size of the Kindle is incredibly portable, as it can easily fit into a coat pocket or bag. It’s also made with mostly recycled plastic, so it’s super lightweight. And while you can get it in a basic black color, there is also a very nice Matcha green this year, in case you want some color.
The 6-inch e-ink display has 300 ppi, so text is sharp and crisp, and book covers are detailed. There is also a front light on the Kindle, though you can’t adjust the temperature like the Paperwhite, and it’s not waterproof. However, the basic Kindle (2024) has a light that’s 25% brighter than its predecessor, making it easy to read anywhere at any time.
You get 16GB of storage on the Kindle (2024), which should be plenty for all the books you could want to read. And with access to the Kindle bookstore, Prime Reading, and Kindle Unlimited, this basic Kindle can provide you with hours of reading. A single charge will also last about six weeks.
Best color Kindle
Kindle Colorsoft
- Color screen
- Long battery life
- Water-resistant shell
- Wonderful reading experience
- Easy software
- Slow performance when reading color sources
- Awkward power button location
- No dark mode
Why you should buy this: It has everything we love about the Kindle, now in glorious color.
Who’s it for: People who love reading comics, graphic novels, magazines, and any other material that focuses more on artwork.
Why we chose the Kindle Colorsoft:
On the surface, the Kindle Colorsoft looks similar to the Paperwhite. After all, it has a 7-inch screen, and the front of the device looks pretty much the same. And they both have integrated front lights and adjustable temperature.
But the magic behind the Colorsoft is, well, the color e-ink screen. In monochrome mode, the Colorsoft has 300 ppi like other Kindle models. But when it’s in color mode, it dips down to 150 ppi, but you can view the reading material in color. Of course, the tradeoff is a slower refresh rate in this mode, but hey, it’s the first Kindle with a color screen, making it perfect for comics, magazines, and other artwork-heavy reading material.
The Colorsoft is far from perfect. You may encounter some issues with zooming in on magazines, and the page transitions are a bit more jarring in color versus monochrome. But this is special because it’s the first Kindle with color, after many years of Amazon making Kindle devices. If you’re heavy on reading comics and magazines, then this is the Kindle for the job.
A single charge on the Colorsoft will last around eight weeks. It also has 32GB of storage, which is double that of other Kindle models, and it’s IPX8 water resistant, so you can still use it around water if you’re careful. Unfortunately, it only comes in one color, which is black.
Best large Kindle
Kindle Scribe (2024)
- Large glare-free e-ink display
- Includes Premium Pen
- New AI notebook tools and Active Canvas feature
- Multiple colors
- Expensive
- No color screen
Why you should buy this: Sometimes reading isn’t enough, and you need to annotate your books, or just take notes.
Who’s it for: Those who want to handwrite notes and mark up their books while reading.
Why we chose the Kindle Scribe (2024):
While we haven’t had a chance to fully review the latest Amazon Kindle Scribe (2024) yet, we have used the previous generation, and the two models are close enough that we feel comfortable recommending this already.
The Kindle Scribe offers the largest e-ink display on a Kindle, with a 10.2-inch glare-free screen. With a tablet-like size, the Kindle Scribe is perfect for taking notes with the included stylus, and the display even feels like paper.
With the Kindle Scribe, you can access the Kindle bookstore, Prime Reading, and Kindle Unlimited like the other Kindles. But it also has a built-in notebook app with AI notebook tools to help you summarize your notes and even convert handwritten words into script. And when you write directly on book pages, the new Active Canvas feature will automatically create spaces for your notes and adjust the text alongside them.
The new Premium Pen now has a customizable shortcut button for your convenience, and there is a soft-tipped eraser, which adds to the pencil and paper feel of the Scribe.
Since the Scribe is also a digital notebook, yes, you can import documents easily with the Send to Kindle feature. Supported document types include PDF, DOCX, ePub, JPG, PNG, HTML, TXT, and more.
The Kindle Scribe lasts around 12 weeks on a single charge. You can also get the new Scribe in 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB, making it the perfect Kindle if you need to take notes while reading.
Best Kindle for kids
Kindle Kids (2024)
- Encourages healthy reading habits for kids
- Includes two-year worry-free guarantee
- Six months of Amazon Kids+ included with purchase
- Bonus cover with fun art for kids
- Curated content evolves as kid grows
- Just a standard Kindle (2024)
Why you should buy this: Help kids build a healthy reading habit with a device that will evolve as they grow.
Who’s it for: Parents who want to encourage their children to read more.
Why we chose the Kindle Kids (2024):
If you want to build some healthy reading habits for your children, then the Kindle Kids (2024) is a great way to do so.
The Kindle Kids (2024) is pretty much just a standard Kindle (2024), but with some extra goodies for kids. When you purchase the Kindle Kids (2024), you also get a six-month Amazon Kids+ subscription and a kid-friendly cover with fun artwork.
With the Amazon Kids+ subscription, your child can access an entire library of kid-friendly classics, from chapter books to graphic novels. The content that your kids can access is based on the age range, so it will automatically evolve as your child grows and matures.
According to Amazon, kids will read over an hour a day, on average, when using a Kindle since there are no games, apps, or other distractions. And since this is a basic Kindle, it has a front light and dark mode, so kids can read anytime, anywhere. A single charge will last around six weeks.
And since this is designed for kids, the Kindle Kids (2024) has a two-year worry-free guarantee. That means if it breaks, contact Amazon, and it will replace it for free.
Frequently Asked Questions
Amazon Kindles used to be quite restricted with the formats you could read, but those days are firmly behind us. Amazon has also recently embraced EPUB files, opening Kindles up to some of the best sources for free e-books — without the need for conversion. Kindles support the following file formats:
- Microsoft Word (.DOC, .DOCX)
- HTML (.HTML, .HTM)
- RTF (.RTF)
- Text (.TXT)
- JPEG (.JPEG, .JPG)
- GIF (.GIF)
- PNG (.PNG)
- BMP (.BMP)
- EPUB (.EPUB)
This is an eternal question, and it's a good one. The answer is primarily comfort-based. The OLED and LCD screen technology used on our phones and tablets is gorgeous, but staring at them for hours at a time can be tiring on our eyes. The e-ink technology used in e-book readers, like the Kindle, has been specially created to be easier on the eyes and also has the benefit of being easily legible even in bright sunlight. Unlike your phone's screen, e-ink screens don't have glare, so they're just as easy to read on a sunny day as your favorite paperback book.
Also, e-book readers don't come with the same distractions as a smartphone or tablet, so you're able to properly seal the world away while you read.
