The first question when buying an e-reader isn’t about the screen: it’s about where you buy your books. A Kindle reads books from the Kindle Store and works well with Kindle Unlimited; a Kobo reads EPUB natively, the format most other shops use. Once you’ve picked a platform, the rest is a matter of size, colour and budget. We’ve selected seven models on sale in Italy today, from the €155 base Kindle to the Kindle Scribe for those who also want to write, with prices checked on 10 November at MediaWorld and Euronics.
In brief
- The best choice for almost everyone: Kindle Paperwhite, €209.99 at MediaWorld. 7” screen, warm light, waterproof and up to 12 weeks of battery life.
- The cheapest: Kindle (2026 model) with a 6” screen, €154.99 at MediaWorld.
- The best for those who don’t want to be tied to Amazon: Kobo Clara BW, €169.99 at MediaWorld (€169 at Euronics).
- The best in colour: Kobo Clara Colour, €189.99 at MediaWorld (€189 at Euronics), or the Kindle Colorsoft at €299.99 if you live in the Amazon ecosystem.
- The most complete for reading and note-taking: Kindle Scribe, €519.99 at MediaWorld, or the Kobo Libra Colour at €269.99 with the stylus sold separately.
Before you choose: Kindle or Kobo?
With a Kindle you buy and read from the Amazon store, get access to Kindle Unlimited and Prime Reading, and send your own files with “Send to Kindle”, which also converts EPUBs. What you can’t do is copy an EPUB onto the device and open it directly.
With a Kobo the starting catalogue is the Kobo Store, but the real strength is native support for fifteen formats, including EPUB, PDF, MOBI and the CBZ and CBR comic formats. If you already have a library of EPUBs, buy from several shops or borrow from digital libraries, a Kobo is more convenient. If your books are already on Amazon, switching platforms makes little sense.
A note on prices: Kindles are sold in “with ads” and “without ads” versions, and list prices change. Always check which of the two you’re putting in your basket.
Kindle (2026 model): the cheapest
Today’s price: €154.99 at MediaWorld (16 GB, with ads). The 32 GB version with a recycled-aluminium back and no ads costs €194.99, also at MediaWorld.
The new 6” Kindle has a 300 ppi screen that renders text like a printed page, weighs 158 grams and lasts about six weeks on a charge. It charges via USB-C in under two hours, Wi-Fi also works on 5 GHz, and books open faster than on the previous model.
There are two drawbacks, and they are what separates the base model from the Paperwhite: there’s no adjustable colour temperature for the light (the front light is white only) and it isn’t waterproof. If you read in bed with the lights off, the white pages start to tell after an hour; if you read in the bath or on the beach, you need a different model. The USB-C cable isn’t included in the box.
Who it’s for: people who read on the sofa or on the train, want the smallest and lightest device possible and don’t want to spend more than €155.
Kindle Paperwhite: the best choice for almost everyone
Today’s price: €209.99 at MediaWorld (2024 model, 16 GB, with ads).
The 7” 300 ppi anti-glare screen is more comfortable than the 6” one, because it fits more text on a page and you turn pages less often. Here you get an adjustable warm light, waterproofing (IPX8, up to two metres for an hour) and a stated battery life of 12 weeks. For fiction it’s the best-balanced device: the difference from the base Kindle shows every day, while the difference from the pricier models mostly comes down to extras.
One thing to know: on 1 October Amazon unveiled the new Paperwhite 2026, with a thinner, lighter body, at €209 for the 16 GB version and €259.99 for the 32 GB Signature Edition with an aluminium body, automatic lighting and magnetic charging. The new model is available for pre-order with a gradual rollout, and as of today MediaWorld still sells the 2024 model at the same price. If you find the 2026 in stock at the list price, go for that; if you need a Kindle right away, the 2024 is a good machine and the list price is identical.
Who it’s for: people who read a lot, including in the evening and while travelling, and want a Kindle that will last for years with no compromises.
Kobo Clara BW: the best alternative to Kindle
Today’s price: €169.99 at MediaWorld, €169 at Euronics.
The Clara BW has a 6” E Ink Carta 1300 screen, 16 GB of storage (about 12,000 books), IPX8 waterproofing and ComfortLight PRO, which adjusts brightness and colour temperature. Kobo claims up to 53 days at half an hour of reading a day. It costs €15 more than the base Kindle, but includes two things the Kindle lacks: warm light and water resistance.
Bluetooth lets you listen to Kobo Store audiobooks with headphones, and Pocket support lets you read articles saved from the web. The screen is smaller than the Paperwhite’s, so you see a little less text per page.
Who it’s for: people who buy EPUBs from several shops, who want a waterproof e-reader with warm light for under €170, and who don’t want to depend on Amazon.
Kobo Clara Colour: the cheapest way into colour
Today’s price: €189.99 at MediaWorld, €189 at Euronics.
Same shape as the Clara BW (6”, 174 grams, 16 GB, IPX8), with an E Ink Kaleido 3 colour screen. For comics, covers, magazines and manuals with diagrams the difference is obvious. The trade-off is technical: text keeps its 300 ppi, but colour content is at 150 ppi, so images look less sharp and less vivid than on a tablet. If you only read black-and-white fiction you don’t need it, and the Clara BW costs €20 less.
Kobo claims up to 42 days of battery life per charge, somewhat less than the Clara BW. It offers the same reading features as the other Kobos and also supports comics in CBZ and CBR format.
Who it’s for: people who read comics, graphic novels or illustrated books and don’t want to spend close to €300.
Kobo Libra Colour: the big screen with buttons
Today’s price: €269.99 at MediaWorld, €268 at Euronics (white version).
The Libra Colour has a 7” Kaleido 3 screen (1264 × 1680 pixels), 32 GB of storage (about 24,000 books) and IPX8. Unlike the Claras, it has physical page-turn buttons that are easy to use one-handed, and the screen rotates between landscape and portrait. It works with the Kobo Stylus 2 pen, sold separately, for annotating and underlining books and taking notes.
It costs about €80 more than the Clara Colour. For someone who just wants to read, that difference doesn’t pay for itself; it’s worth it if you love the buttons, the 7” screen or need the stylus.
Who it’s for: people who read a lot one-handed, students who want to underline and annotate, and anyone who wants the most complete colour Kobo.
Kindle Colorsoft: colour within the Amazon ecosystem
Today’s price: €299.99 at MediaWorld (listing “Kindle Colorsoft 2025”, no ads).
It’s the equivalent of the Paperwhite with a 7” colour screen. Text stays sharp at 300 ppi, while images drop to 150 ppi. Amazon recommends it for comics, graphic novels and illustrated books. It costs €90 more than the Paperwhite, and in our view that outlay only makes sense if you really do read a lot of colour content. For classic fiction the Paperwhite is better value for money.
Amazon has also unveiled the Colorsoft 2026, again at €299.99, with an LED-guided front light and micro-baffles to reduce eye strain, and the 32 GB Signature Edition at €329.99 (on sale at MediaWorld at that price). Check the release date before buying the previous model.
Who it’s for: people who already have the Kindle Store as their library and read comics, magazines and books with lots of images.
Kindle Scribe: for reading and writing
Today’s price: €519.99 at MediaWorld (2026 model, 32 GB, with front light). There is also a 16 GB version without a front light at €449.99.
The Scribe is an 11” e-reader that doubles as a notebook. Amazon quotes a thickness of 5.4 mm and a weight of 400 grams; the premium pen is included and needs no charging. It has writing tools with several pen colours and a highlighter, a notebook with search and AI-based summaries, and Google Drive and OneDrive integration for importing and exporting PDFs. We covered it in our piece on the Italian launch of the new Kindle Scribe.
Our view: it’s a niche purchase. At €520 it costs as much as a good tablet, and anyone who mainly wants a tablet for studying, gaming or watching video would do better to read our guide to the best tablets. The Scribe makes sense if you read and take notes every day and want a distraction-free screen. As an alternative, the Kobo Libra Colour with the Stylus 2 is much cheaper, but its writing features are simpler.
Who it’s for: students, professionals and anyone who works a lot with PDFs and notes.
How to choose
How much do you read? If you read only a few books a year, a 6” model is enough. If you read every day, the 7” of the Paperwhite or the Libra Colour is more comfortable, because it needs fewer page turns.
Do you read in the bath, by the pool or on the beach? Then waterproofing isn’t a detail: of the models in this guide, the Paperwhite and all the Kobos have it. The base 6” Kindle doesn’t.
Do you need colour? Only for comics, magazines, manuals and children’s books. Colour costs more money and brings some compromises: 150 ppi images and slightly less contrast in black and white than on monochrome screens. For a novel you don’t need it.
Ads or no ads? Kindle versions with ads cost less and show promotional messages; those without don’t. The €154.99 Kindle and the €209.99 Paperwhite in this guide are the with-ads versions; the aluminium Kindle and the Colorsoft are ad-free.
Storage: 16 GB is enough for thousands of books. You need 32 GB mainly if you listen to a lot of audiobooks or keep many comics, which take up more space.
Frequently asked questions
Can I read Kindle books on a Kobo, or vice versa?
No, not directly. Books bought on Amazon are protected and can only be read on Kindle devices and apps. Likewise, books bought from the Kobo Store are read on Kobos and in the Kobo app. Unprotected EPUB files read natively on Kobo and, on Kindle, after conversion with “Send to Kindle”.
Is a colour e-reader worth it?
It depends on what you read. Text stays at 300 ppi, but colour images are at 150 ppi and less brilliant than on a tablet. For comics and magazines colour is a real advantage; for fiction it isn’t.
16 or 32 GB?
For books alone, 16 GB is more than enough: Kobo quotes about 12,000 books on the Clara. Storage can’t be expanded with cards, so if you expect to have lots of audiobooks or comics it’s worth stepping up to 32 GB.
How long does the battery last?
It depends on use: brightness, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth drain it. Amazon quotes about six weeks for the base Kindle and 12 for the Paperwhite, Kobo up to 42 days for the Clara Colour and 53 for the Clara BW. These are estimates at about half an hour of reading a day.
Can I borrow books from libraries?
Yes, but it depends on the device and on your library’s service. Before buying, check which platform your local library uses and whether it’s compatible with the e-reader you’ve chosen.
Prices checked on 10 November 2026 at MediaWorld and Euronics. Online prices can change within a few days.
Written by the SpazioiTech newsroom with the help of AI tools, from facts verified across at least two independent outlets, and checked before publication. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Translated from the Italian original. Read in Italian
