Most Kindle versus Kobo comparisons are written for an American audience, which matters more than it sounds. The single biggest practical difference between the two comes down to library books, and library borrowing works differently in the UK.
We sell cases for both, so we genuinely don't mind which you pick. Here's how to work out which one suits how you actually read.
Kindle or Kobo: which should you buy?
Get a Kobo if you borrow from the library or want to own your books in a standard format. Get a Kindle if you buy most of your books from Amazon and want everything to be effortless.
That covers most people. The sections below are for everyone who wants to know why, or whose reading doesn't fit neatly into either box.
The biggest difference: borrowing library books
Kobo has library borrowing built into the device. Kindle, in the UK, mostly doesn't.
Most UK library services lend e-books through Libby, which is OverDrive's app, or through BorrowBox. On a Kobo, that's built in: you sign in with your library card, browse your library's catalogue on the device itself, borrow, and read. The loan expires on its own and there's nothing to return.
On a Kindle it's messier. Amazon's arrangements in the UK are different from the US, and a number of UK library services state plainly that their OverDrive e-books can't be sent to standard Kindle e-readers at all. Some library systems have dropped Kindle support entirely.
So if free library books are a big part of how you read, this one factor probably decides it. Before you buy either, it's worth two minutes on your own local library's website to see what they support, because it does vary by authority.
What about buying books?
Kindle wins on convenience, and it isn't especially close.
Amazon has the largest catalogue, books arrive on the device seconds after you buy them, and Kindle Unlimited is a genuinely large subscription library if you read a lot of genre fiction. If most of your reading is bought rather than borrowed, that ecosystem is hard to beat.
Kobo has its own store and its own subscription, and it's perfectly good. It just isn't Amazon, and the catalogue reflects that.
The thing worth understanding is what you're buying into. Kindle books are tied to Amazon's format, so a library built up over a decade lives on Amazon's terms. Kobo reads EPUB, which is the standard format used by almost everything else, so books bought from Kobo, from an independent bookshop, or from a small press all work without conversion.
Whether that matters is a personal call. For a lot of people it's abstract. For anyone who dislikes the idea of a decade of books being locked to one shop, it's the whole argument.
Do you need a colour screen?
Probably not, unless you read comics, manga or illustrated books.
Both brands now sell colour e-readers. They use different technology but the practical situation is similar: colour e-ink is muted rather than vivid, and it's noticeably less sharp in colour than in black and white.
For ordinary novels, colour adds very little. Text is text. Where it earns its money is graphic novels, manga, cookbooks, children's books and non-fiction with photographs, and if that's a big part of your reading it's a real upgrade.
If it isn't, put the money towards a nicer black-and-white model instead.
Which is better for audiobooks?
Kindle, if you're already an Audible subscriber. Otherwise it's closer than you'd think.
Both support audiobooks over Bluetooth on most current models. The difference is the catalogue behind them, and Audible is the bigger one. If you've got a library of Audible credits already, that's a strong reason to stay in the Amazon ecosystem.
Worth knowing either way: audiobooks eat storage far faster than e-books, so if this is a priority, look at the higher-storage version of whichever you choose.
The things people don't mention
Three details that don't show up in most comparisons and are worth knowing before you spend the money.
- Lock screen adverts. The cheaper Kindle models show sponsored screensavers by default. You can pay extra to remove them or buy the ad-free version upfront, but the standard experience includes them. Some people never notice. Others find it maddening on a device they've just paid for.
- Physical page-turn buttons. Only some models have them, on both brands. If you read one-handed, in bed, or while eating, buttons are a bigger quality-of-life difference than any spec on the box.
- Accessories. Kindle has a vast accessory market. Kobo has almost none, because it's a smaller share of the market, so Kobo owners get far less choice in cases and covers. It's a small thing, but it's real, and it's the reason we make a Kobo case at all.
So which one should you get?
Sorted by the kind of reader you are:
- You borrow from the library constantly. Kobo, and it isn't a close call.
- You buy nearly everything from Amazon. Kindle. Don't overthink it.
- You have Kindle Unlimited or a pile of Audible credits. Kindle.
- You care about owning your books in a standard format. Kobo.
- You read a lot of manga or graphic novels. Either, but get a colour one.
- You have absolutely no strong feelings. Kindle. The ecosystem is smoother and you'll spend less time thinking about it, which is worth something.
Both are genuinely good devices. Neither choice is a mistake, and the reading experience on a decent model of either is excellent.
Whichever you pick, put a case on it
An e-reader is a thin sheet of glass and plastic that lives in a bag, and a cracked e-ink screen isn't repairable in any economic sense.
We make cases for both, in Kindle and Kobo Clara versions, largely because almost everything else on the market is a dark grey rectangle. Our guide to choosing an e-reader case covers how to work out which model you've ended up with and what to look for.
If you're still carrying paperbacks alongside the e-reader, a book sleeve handles those, and most people do end up reading both.
One last thought
Check your local library's website before you decide anything else. For a lot of UK readers that single answer settles the question, and it's the one thing most comparison articles won't tell you.