The best Kindle 2024: which Amazon ereader should you buy?

The list in brief 1. Best overall 2. Best budget 3. Best for a big screen 4. Best for audiobooks How to choose How we test

The best Kindle is still just an electronic book, plain and simple, and that's what makes it great. For reading made simple, you can't beat the sharp e ink display of the best Kindle ereader. Unfortunately, Amazon has let its Kindle go without an update for a very long time, and there are fewer Kindles to buy right now. That just makes this choice easier. 

The best of the bunch is the Kindle Paperwhite. It's simple and affordable, yet durable enough that you can take it anywhere, even to the beach or into the pool. Yes, you can relax with your electronic books in the tub, because the Kindle Paperwhite is water resistant.

The Kindle Oasis, Amazon's premium Kindle, is no longer available in the US and we don't recommend buying an import model. Instead, buy the Kindle Paperwhite for the same water resistance and sharp display. 

If you want a lot more power, the Kindle Scribe is in a class by itself. It is more than just a gigantic Kindle ebook reader, it can also let you take notes and write journal entries with an included stylus. Amazon even has a section of the Kindle book store just for books you can write upon. 

Want to cut to the chase and find out which Kindles are the absolute best? Below, you’ll find a roundup of our choices. You can also jump to a more detailed review of each Kindle further down the page, and our price comparison tool will help you find the best deals.

Best overall

Best overall

The Kindle Paperwhite hits the sweet spot between price and performance: it's water resistant and has a better backlight than the basic Kindle. Battery life is excellent, too. Look for great sales on this Kindle, it's been around along time.

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Best budget

Best budget

The basic Kindle is just fine for most people, as long as you won't get it wet. Amazon upgraded the backlight so it's almost as bright as the Kindle Paperwhite, and the screen is just as sharp.  It also comes with 16GB of storage, which is plenty.

Read more below

Best for a big screen

Best for a big screen

Whether you want to read on a big screen, or you want to write, doodle, and journal, the Kindle Scribe is a powerful Kindle for all of your reading and writing needs. It isn't water resistant, so take care, but its features put this Kindle in a whole different class, not to mention its huge display. 

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Best for audiobooks

Best for audiobooks

The Signature Edition offers upgrades over the standard Paperwhite, including wireless charging and an auto-adjusting light. It also offers 32GB of storage, making it ideal for storing audiobooks. 

Read more below

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Below you'll find details for each of the best Kindles in our list. We've tested each one extensively, so you can be sure that our recommendations can be trusted.

Our expert review:

The Amazon Paperwhite is the ideal electronic book reader, and you can take it just about anywhere you might take a regular old book. You can read in the bathtub, or by the pool, with less worry than you'd have holding a paperback, because the Paperwhite can get wet, no problem. 

You can read in bed and the Paperwhite will adjust to a warm backlight to make your eyes more comfortable. Reading on a Kindle's ultra-sharp display is already more comfy than reading on your phone or iPad, and the Paperwhite has plenty of backlight for reading any time, day or night. 

You can also read while you travel, because the Kindle Paperwhite comes with 16GB of storage. That's enough to pack a full library, but if you also enjoy listening to audiobooks from Audible, you'll have space for a bunch of titles to go alongside your texts. 

Read the full Amazon Kindle Paperwhite review

Our expert review:

The base model Kindle is no slouch, and recent upgrades have made it maybe the best bargain-priced Kindle ever. Keep an eye on that price, too, because Amazon loves to put this ereader on sale whenever it throws a Prime Day party. 

The screen on the Kindle is now just as sharp as every other Kindle display, a full 300 pixels per inch (to compare, the mighty iPad Pro is only 265 ppi). That's the best upgrade you can give a reading device, and the only feature the Kindle is lacking compared to the more expensive Kindle Paperwhite is water resistance. Don't get this Kindle wet. 

Otherwise, you still get 16GB of storage, which is plenty of space for a ton of books, magazines, and even audiobooks. The battery also lasts and lasts on Kindle devices, so you can count on a month of daily reading with this Kindle. If you want something brighter that you can also take to the beach, go for the Paperwhite. The Kindle is still great for reading during the day on dry land. 

Read the full Amazon Kindle (2022) review

Our expert review:

The Kindle Scribe is an amazing device when you realize all it can do. It's a full-fledged Kindle with the biggest reading screen, but it doesn't sacrifice that great Kindle sharpness, so text still looks super crisp. If you like reading on a screen the size of an iPad but want Kindle comfort, the Kindle Scribe is your best bet. 

You can also write on the Kindle Scribe, and Amazon has been steadily improving the writing and doodling features, adding more pen styles since launch. There's also a special section of the Kindle book store with books you can write on if you own a Kindle Scribe. The selection is mostly crossword puzzles and semi-blank daily journals, but it's growing and shows a lot of potential. 

The Scribe may seem pricey for a Kindle, but it's a great deal for a writing tablet this size, and Amazon does love to put Kindle devices on sale. If you want to take notes, especially if your textbooks are available for Kindle, this is the only Kindle to buy. 

Read the full Amazon Kindle Scribe review

Our expert review:

If you love audiobooks along with your reading and you can splurge a bit, the Kindle Paperwhite Signature edition is worth considering. For a bit more (still less than the fancy Kindle Oasis), you get twice the storage space. This Kindle Paperwhite can also charge wirelessly, if you have a bedside charger that you like, though the battery should also last weeks, just like every other Kindle. 

That extra storage space comes in handy if you like audiobooks. A long, unabridged book is usually between 100-200MB of storage space, so having tons of long books or podcast episodes can add up quickly. The Kindle Paperwhite is a great vacation and travel device, and having the extra space means you definitely won't run out, no matter how long you're away. 

Otherwise, this is the exact same Kindle Paperwhite, with the same water resistance and the same sharp display. It's not quite as bright and premium as the Kindle Oasis, but it's much brighter than the base model Kindle. 

Read the full Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition review

The basic Amazon Kindle is a fine ereader, and will likely be enough for most people. If you like to read in the bath, or if you take your Kindle to the beach, you'll want a Kindle Paperwhite. That device can get wet, it can even handle a little salt water. 

All Kindle ereaders can hold thousands of books, but if you plan on using your Kindle for audiobooks, you should upgrade to a model with 32GB or more storage.

No, not if you already have a library of books for your kids, or if you have specific books in mind you want them to read. It isn't worth the premium just for the colorful cover, so make sure you'll put the Kindle Kids Unlimited library to good use, or else it's worth buying the non-Kids version. 

We're not including the Kindle Kids options on this list because the Kindle you get isn't different if you buy the 'Kids' version. If you get the Kindle Paperwhite Kids, you get the exact same Kindle Paperwhite.

We read. We read a lot, and we read every day. We use our Kindle devices to read books from Amazon, and we also use accounts from our local libraries to load free ebooks onto our Kindle. We also have a selection of documents and files that we use to test the clarity of the Kindle display, and the ease of transferring our own files. 

We are also avid audiobook fans, and keep a subscription to Audible that feeds us new books monthly. We use our Kindle for listening to books, and occasionally for reading and listening at the same time, depending on content. 

We read at all times of day, on the train, by the bed, in the bath, and wherever we find the time. We love to read, and we test our Kindle devices doing what we love.