Guardian journalism is independent. We earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.
Whether you’re on a budget, looking for an easy way to read when you travel, or want one for kids, here are our picks for the best ebook readers
In the UK? Check out our top-rated UK e-readers here.
Bookworms may still cherish the feel of leafing through pages, the whiff of new-book smell, and stacking their shelves with beloved tomes, but nothing beats an e-reader (ebook reader) for convenience.
You can bring your entire library on vacation without an extra suitcase. If you’re working through a 1,349-page novel such as Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy, your wrists will thank you. And unlike a phone, your e-reader won’t constantly interrupt you with news alerts and texts, so you can lose yourself in a new world or focus on learning something new.
Ebook readers evolve more slowly than say, smartphones, the latest batch are lighter, brighter, and more capable than ever. I evaluated six of the most popular models to see which belongs on your nightstand.
This article was updated for fall 2026. We have reorganized our e-reader guide, checked availability and pricing for all models, and given it a refresh. We’ve also noted the increased prices of Kindles due to rising memory and storage costs. We plan to test more models in the coming months.
What we like and dislike about every e-reader
More info: ebook reader questions and answers
If you’d rather borrow books from your local public library than Amazon, the Kobo Libra Colour is the ebook reader for you. The Libra integrates directly with OverDrive, makers of the Libby app, which makes it the easiest way to download ebooks from your public library.
The Libra Colour is fun to play around with and make your own. It has more fonts and font sizes to choose from than the Kindles I tested, and it’s possible to make subtler adjustments to the brightness and warmness, too. It also has physical buttons for turning pages or you can tap and swipe on the screen.
Unlike a Kindle, it’s also easy to load files you want. Dropbox and Google Drive integration make it painless to load your own books onto the e-reader. The Kobo stylus ($70 at Amazon, Kobo), lets you highlight and take notes, which was great for PDFs I couldn’t otherwise edit on the device.
In addition to its OverDrive access, Kobo has a well-stocked bookstore of its own. There were only two titles on my list that I couldn’t find and most of its ebook prices matched Amazon’s.
It’s a shame that … it costs so much. Its battery drained more quickly than some of the competition, too. Though it still lasts at least a month, like most ebook readers.
Display: 7in, 300 ppi (black-and-white content), 150 ppi (color content)
