Amazon has led the way with its Kindle lineup when it comes to reading e-books and interacting digitally with our favorite stories. The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is one of the most popular e-readers on the market and has been since its release. The best Kindles have a lot to offer, but not everyone wants to go with an Amazon product. If you’re one of those people you may be wondering what the best Kindle alternatives may be. There are quite a few brands out there making quality e-book readers, and we’ve tested them out. In the process we’ve made our selections for the best Kindle alternatives.
The best Kindle alternatives in 2024
Buy the if you want the best Kindle alternative overall.
Buy the if you want the best Kindle alternative for reading ebooks.
Buy the if you want the best premium Kindle alternative.
Buy the if you want the best Kindle alternative for all-purpose use.
Buy the if you want the best Kindle alternative for kids.
Kobo Libra 2
Best Kindle alternative overall
Kobo
Pros
Cons
Glare-free display
Slow to startup
Ergonomic design
Support for audiobooks
Kobo is a Japanese brand that makes high-quality and stylish e-book readers. The Kobo Libra 2 been among our best e-book readers for some time, and Kobo even manages to place other devices on the list. The Libra 2 comes with a fast display with deep contrast and quick page turns. It’s always glare-free, and it has ComfortLight Pro adjustable brightness and blue light reduction technology to limit eye strain. The Libra 2 is fully waterproof, so you can do your e-reading at the beach, by the pool, or anywhere else you may prefer.
The Barnes & Noble Nook Glowlight 4e is intentionally simple. B&N has left out a lot of the frills you find in the some of the best tablets in order to make an affordable e-book reader, and in the process it has made the best Kindle alternative for reading e-books. This device isn’t going to be that great at anything else, but if you simply want to get lost in a book for hours at a time, this is the Kindle alternative for you.
Specifications
Display
6-inch touchscreen
Battery life
Up to 4 days
Boox Note Air 3
Best premium Kindle alternative
Boox
Pros
Cons
Simulates reading on paper
Expensive
Note-taking functionality
Large 10.3-inch display
If you’re looking to treat yourself with a new e-reader, the best premium Kindle alternative is the Boox Note Air 3. It’s sleek and incredibly refined, and it offers a distraction-free reading experience with exceptional black and white contrast for sharper text and better focus. It comes with a ton of power, as it features an 8-core processor. This will come in handy if you plan to use the Note Air 3 for things like note-taking or marking up documents, as it allows you to write on documents in addition to its capabilities as an e-reader.
Specifications
Display
10.3-inch touchscreen
Battery life
Up to 4 weeks
Apple iPad (10th-gen)
Apple
Best Kindle alternative for all-purpose use
Pros
Cons
Beautiful display
Poor battery life
Colorful lineup
Expensive
Large app ecosystem
If you’re looking for a device that can do more than just e-reading, the Apple iPad (10th-gen) is the best Kindle alternative for all-purpose use. This is much more of a tablet than an e-reader, and as such, you’ll be getting all sorts of additional functionality. You’ll have a plethora of apps at your disposal, and the beautiful display is as immersive when watching movies as traditional e-readers can be when reading books. Apps available include things like the Kindle App and Apple Books, so you can rest assured you’ll have access to e-books with the iPad.
Specifications
Display
10.9-inch Liquid Retina touchscreen
Battery life
Up to 10 hours
Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Pro
Best Kindle alternative for kids
Amazon
Pros
Cons
Robust parental controls
Poor battery life
Access to books, movies, and more
Full HD screen resolution
The Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Pro is more than a great e-reader for kids. It’s also one of the best tablets for kids, and we think it’s the best Kindle alternative for kids. It’s made for kids ages 6-12 and has access to thousands of ad-free books, games, videos and apps. It’s also set up for parents to stay in control of the device. Kids can request apps and e-books, while parents must approve purchases and downloads. The web browser has built-in controls to help filter out inappropriate sites and let you block specific ones. The Amazon Fire HD Kids Pro can reach up to 12 hours of life on a single charge, and its 10.1-inch display comes in at Full HD resolution.
Specifications
Display
10.1-inch touchscreen
Battery life
Up to 12 hours
How we chose these Kindle alternatives
We love to read as much as the next bookworm, and we’ve put a lot of e-book readers to use because of it. When considering the best Kindle alternatives we leaned on our knowledge of the Kindle lineup and what makes it so popular. We compared those features to other e-readers, and came away with a the list of the best Kindle alternatives you’ll find above. We placed a strong emphasis on e-readers we’ve used ourselves, with a secondary emphasis on affordability, screen resolution, and battery life, as we feel these competence in these areas are important when it comes to getting yourself an e-reader that makes for one of the best Kindle alternatives.
This article is managed and created separately from the Digital Trends Editorial team.
Andrew has been writing professionally for more than 20 years and has been writing about tech for three of them. His focus at Digital Trends is on deals writing and covering the year’s major sales events. His work in the tech realm also includes contributions to Sporting News and Pocket-lint.
In his spare time Andrew enjoys skateboarding, road tripping, and moonlighting as a fiction writer and independent filmmaker. You can read his books, blog, and other stories at https://wildlyon.com.
Kindle Paperwhite goes on sale before Prime Big Deal Days
One can never read too many books, but one can definitely own too many books. If your shelves are getting full, you may be considering an e-reader. And as it turns out, we came across a fantastic offer on one while looking through Amazon deals:
For a limited time, you’ll be able to order the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition for $210. At full price, this model sells for $265.
Best prepaid phone deals: Android, iPhone, flip phone
While many of the best phone deals include great cell phone plan deals when you purchase them, sometimes the best phone plan is a prepaid one. Many of the best phones come in at unaffordable prices these days, and prepaid phones make a great option for budget shoppers and those who don’t want to make the commitment a phone contract can demand. We’ve tracked down all of the best prepaid phone deals to make finding some savings a little easier. You can read onward for those details, and if you’d like to see some other affordable phone options before deciding on a prepaid phone be sure to check out all of the refurbished iPhone deals, iPhone SE deals, iPhone 14 deals, Samsung Galaxy S22 deals, and Samsung Galaxy S23 deals taking place right now.
Straight Talk Samsung Galaxy A03s -- $40, was $60
Samsung makes some of the best phones on the market, and while the Galaxy A03s might not fall under that banner, it is a great budget phone. It has a 6.5-inch HD+ with a 60Hz refresh rate, which is pretty solid, and the 3GB of RAM is not too bad either. That said, it only has 32GB of internal storage, although that can be upgraded with a MicroSD card, so it's not so bad. The phone comes paired with a Straight Talk plan, which you can get for as low as $15 a month.
Hurry! The 10.2-inch iPad has a $100 discount pre-Prime Day
Ahead of the core Prime Day deals season next week, all major retailers are launching some great early discounts. Right now, Best Buy has the pick of the early Prime Day iPad deals with $100 off the Apple iPad 10.2-inch 9th generation. It usually costs $330, but right now it’s down to $230, which is a fantastic price for a still highly relevant tablet. If you’re keen to learn more, keep reading and we’ll take you through exactly why this iPad could be the one for you.
Why you should buy the Apple iPad 10.2
Still considered to be one of the best iPads for anyone on a budget, the Apple iPad 10.2 continues to offer great performance at an even more affordable price. In our Apple iPad 10.2 review, we cited how much we loved its great battery life, powerful internals, and amazing software support. It still has a lightning port, which feels increasingly dated with the rise of USB-C, and the display could be brighter, but those are all reasonable trade-offs in this price range.
