The 6 best Amazon Kindle alternatives, tested by our editors
Alternative e-readers from Kobo and Boox are some of our favorites.
Rakuten Kobo Clara BW
$119.98
$139.99
To pick the best Amazon Kindle alternatives, we tried models from brands like Kobo and Boox, and kept the following criteria in mind when using them:
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Many of our top picks come from Rakuten Kobo, an Amazon Kindle competitor, with other options coming from brands like Boox and Apple. Below each recommendation I share specifications you should know when shopping.
If you are looking for a low-cost e-reader this is the one to get. It’s Kobo’s lowest-priced e-reader and is very similar to a kindle, with a glare-free black and white screen design that’s perfect for reading text.
You can purchase books directly from the Rakuten Kobo store, rent books from your local library with the built-in Libby/Overdrive app or read ebooks you’ve purchased from other stores. The device is compact and lightweight, and is IPX8 waterproof — well-suited to travel.
Although it’s a bit pricer, you can also get it in a colour version — the Kobo Clara Colour.
NBC Select contributing writer Maria Cassano tested this color e-reader for a few weeks after the brand sent her one to try out — she recommends it to any avid reader. It’s easy to read books from the Kobo store and the public library, plus you can read online articles by syncing the device with the Pocket app.
But the color touchscreen, page-turning buttons and note-taking stylus (sold separately) are what really solidified this e-reader as one of Cassano’s favorites. You can read more in her Kobo Libra Colour review.
NBC Select commerce editor Jordan Bowman has been testing the Boox Palma 2 for over three weeks — it’s now his go-to device for reading any and everything.
I say everything because, unlike our recommendations from Kobo, the Boox Palma 2 is not strictly an e-reader — it’s actually a stripped-down Android phone with an e-reader-style black and white display. That means you can do anything you would normally do on your phone (TikTok included), but the slow screen lends itself most to reading.
It is compact and pocketable, much more than our other recommendations. Bowman uses it to read articles online and on apps like Libby, Shonen Jump and more. “The written word is your oyster when it comes to the Palma 2,” says Bowman. You can learn more in our Boox Palma 2 review.
I’ve mentioned Libby multiple times already: it’s a free public library app that makes it easy to rent ebooks (and audiobooks) from your local library’s catalog. I’ve used it for over five years to read books on my phone, tablet or e-reader — it’s available on every device we recommend here. All you have to do is sign in with your library card, then you can search your library’s collection, place holds, checkout titles and send them to your device(s). It’s my favorite way to discover new books and audiobooks.
This is Kobo’s best e-reader for note-taking. It comes with the Kobo Stylus 2, which has a convenient built-in highlighter button and eraser cap. You can use the stylus to write and annotate any ebook or document you have on the device. It’s also easy to import and export files to your Dropbox or Google Drive account. Plus, the larger 10-inch screen is much more comfortable to write on than the brand’s smaller devices.
Outside of note-taking, the Elipsa 2E works similarly to the other Kobo e-readers on this list — you can read all kinds of ebooks and also listen to audiobooks by pairing any wireless earbuds.
I use an iPad and the Libby app anytime I want to read a graphic novel or comic book. I linked the lowest-priced iPad, the iPad (A16), above, but really any iPad can handle comics and graphic novels — I personally use an older iPad Air (4th Generation) for this kind of reading.
While e-readers like the Kobo Libra Colour have color displays, none can match the vivid, colorful screen of an iPad. And for graphic novels and comics, where half the fun is enjoying the artistry and detail in each illustration, a high-resolution screen is a must, in my experience.
The downside is battery life: this iPad (A16) gets up to 10 hours of battery life — that’s nothing compared to the days or even weeks of our other picks.
Regardless of the type of e-reader you are shopping for, there are a few things to keep in mind as you shop.
E-readers from brands like Amazon and Kobo are mostly restricted to a single bookstore: the Kindle store or the Kobo store respectively. While both brands also support alternatives like the Libby app, these traditional e-readers are more limited than devices like the Boox Palma or Apple iPad.
If you are looking to read any and everything: news articles, library books, comic books or internet PDFs, a device that runs Android or Apple software may be more flexible than a traditional ereader. But if you are an ebook purist, traditional e-readers have the simplest interface and longest battery life.
A big, colorful screen is best, right? Not always. How sharp and crisp text and imagery appears on your screen depends on a few things: screen size, brightness, resolution and pixels-per-inch (PPI) to name a few. If you are just reading ebooks, a simple e-reader like the Rakuten Kobo Clara BW is more than enough. But if you really want colorful comic book pages to pop, something like a tablet will render each page with more detail and resolution than a color e-reader display.
I am a reporter at NBC Select who covers technology and fitness including stories on fitness trackers, running shoes, over-ear headphones and more. I’ve been using Amazon Kindle devices and Kindle alternatives for years, including some of the recommendations above. For additional perspective, I spoke with other NBC Select staffers about their experience using e-readers outside of Amazon Kindle.
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