Amazon Kindle Colorsoft and Colorsoft Signature Edition
to love about a Kindle if you’re a reader. If you’re looking for the best Kindle, you really can’t go wrong with any of the models. These Amazon-powered ebook readers let you bring
anywhere and typically give a month of battery life per charge. You can subscribe to get
. Our guide will help you decode the differences to find which Kindle is right for you.
I’ve owned all kinds of Kindles, from the newest Kindle Scribes to hand-me-down base Kindles without a front light. The latter came from a friend who noticed I had spent my entire postpartum summer glued to library books on my phone, and I still have it to this day. But after trying all of the latest Kindles, I can say it’s easy to spot the best one.
Read on to find out my favorite overall Kindle and my favorite Kindles for specific uses and younger readers. You can also check out my other
Updated August 2026: The second-generation Kindle Scribe has been updated to be our pick for students, and prices have been updated throughout.
Which Kindle Models Lost Amazon Support and Kindle Store Access?
What’s the Best Way to Buy or Sell an Older Kindle?
You came here to find out one thing: What is the best Kindle? The Kindle Paperwhite is Amazon’s most popular Kindle and our favorite after testing every model, thanks to its great range of features. You’ll get a large display with high resolution and warm lighting, and the technology inside has a fast and smooth performance. Amazon launched the
in late 2024, and it’s been our new favorite ever since. Whether you want to read more or are tired of carrying physical books, all the extra features are worth the price. The basic Kindle may seem enticing, especially with the fun new colors it offers, but the Paperwhite will serve you better in the long run, especially if you’re a nighttime reader like I am. The warm lighting is a great option on the eyes before bed.
If you already have a Paperwhite, the update isn’t so major that you need to upgrade to the newest model, but it’s the best to choose if you’re shopping for a brand-new Kindle. You’ll get a slightly larger screen and the highest contrast ratio on any Kindle, not just of the Paperwhites. The battery life also increased from two months to three months, and it has the thinnest form factor yet. The 12th-gen Paperwhite has two versions: the standard and the Signature Edition. The latter comes with auto-adjust brightness, wireless charging, and double the storage at 32 gigabytes. The regular Paperwhite is more than enough and easily one of the best Kindles to buy, but if you plan on buying the model without lock-screen ads, you may as well pay the extra $20 for the Signature Edition.
7 inches, adjustable warm light (Paperwhite); Auto-adjusting front light (Signature Edition)
7.4 ounces (Paperwhite) | 7.55 ounces (Signature Edition)
Up to 12 weeks; USB-C (both models), Wireless charging (Signature Edition)
Three-month battery (the longest Kindle offers outside the Scribes)
Students who want something digital to take notes on but who also love to read will love a Kindle Scribe. While there’s a new version of the Scribe out that’s also great, the best one is still the
This model has the same 10.2-inch (300 ppi) paperlike display as the first iteration, but it has a white border for a more notebook-style look, and the new
is not only included but also has a soft-tipped eraser at the end. Personally, this is my most-used Kindle because I love to scribble notes and ideas all day long. It’s easily my most-used Kindle and digital notebook because of the long battery life (12 weeks!) and the convenience of grabbing it for both my reading and note-taking needs. While I don’t have as many options and layouts as I would on a true digital notebook, the Kindle Scribe still offers a handful of options to help me free up most of the ideas jumbling around in my brain, and solid options for students.
The second-gen Scribe also packs new software capabilities, even if it’s the slightly older model. Active Canvas lets you write directly in the book you’re reading, though it won’t work like true annotation—instead, the notes will appear in a small square on the screen like a Post-It note. That means it’ll always be there if you resize the screen, but it didn’t feel as natural as our testers would’ve liked. There are now Expandable Margins as well that let you write notes in the side panel of books, which feels a little more intuitive, but still isn’t the full annotation experience you might want.
There are also a couple of generative artificial intelligence features. The Refined Writing tool transforms your notes into a script font, while Summarization will quickly summarize pages of notes into bullets with a script font that you can then share from the notebook tab. Both features work well, but I never find myself reaching for them. These new software features
onto first-generation Kindle Scribes if you alread