The Kindle Just Jumped Up In Price, So Try These 4 Used E-Readers Instead

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Clearly, no electronic device is safe from the global RAM crisis – affectionately referred to as RAMaggeddon — because among the many devices that Amazon is raising prices on, it's now hiking up the Kindle's price. Specifically, the 16GB Kindle and 16GB Kindle Paperwhite. These are going from $110 to $150 (a 36% increase) and from $160 to $200 (a 25% increase), respectively. These prices aren't insignificant considering the rising costs of typical groceries. It's becoming so oppressive that many are unable to afford their favorite hobbies.

As widespread as the Kindle is, it's not the only e-reader out there with access to your favorite books. Some are more affordable, and it's even cheaper if you opt to pick up a used or refurbished model. Pre-owned electronics might not sound as appealing as something brand new with all of the new features, but if it lets you read books without issue, whether it's new or not shouldn't matter. Less so if the device is still supported by the manufacturer with software and security updates. Honestly, whether there's any point in buying a Kindle after the price hikes is up to you, but smart money might be to look for alternatives.

The battery on an iPad might not last as long as the one in a Kindle — since you would obviously use it for more than just reading — but it's a good option for e-reading, nonetheless. Apple still supports the ninth-generation iPad from 2021 with software and security updates, and it's even compatible with iPadOS27. If you ever peruse BackMarket, you can find a refurbished ninth-gen iPad for around $147, which is still $3 cheaper than the new Kindle price and significantly cheaper than the Kindle Paperwhite.

For that price, you're getting 64GB of storage — the 256GB version is considerably more expensive — a camera, Wi-Fi and 4G connectivity, a 10.2-inch LED backlit display, and the ability to do a whole lot more than just read. Of course, that could be a bit of a distraction when you want to just read your favorite books, but an iPad is more responsive and versatile than a simple e-reader. Not to mention, if you're a comic book fan and like to purchase comics off the Kindle app — short of collecting physical issues — reading comics on an iPad is unrivaled.

If you're a frequent bidder on eBay, you can find a Nook Glowlight 4 Plus for around $100, which isn't just cheaper than both versions of the Kindle that Amazon is raising the price on, but it also undercuts the price Barnes & Noble sells it for new by nearly $100. The Nook Glowlight 4 Plus has 32GB of storage versus the Kindle's 16GB, letting you store thousands of books. So, unless you want some shelf trophies, you don't need to take up space in your home with physical books for a while. To get storage like that, you would need to drop $250 on the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition.

The Nook and Kindle share the same 300 ppi resolution, but the Nook's display is a smidge larger at 7.8 inches versus the Kindle's even seven. And with just about any book Barnes & Noble sells being available for the Nook, you likely won't be missing out on anything you desperately want to read. Bottom line: the Nook Glowlight 4 Plus, especially used, is a viable option.

If you happen to want a color e-reader, the Kobo Klara Colour isn't a bad choice. You can find it on eBay for about $170, which is cheaper than the Kindle Paperwhite but more expensive than the standard Kindle, and other than having a color display, it's more akin to the standard Kindle. It just depends on how much you value the color screen and whether you think the Kobo over the Kindle is right for you. It has a six-inch display like the standard Kindle, but it's an inch smaller than the Kindle Paperwhite. Meanwhile, it has 16GB of storage space, which is identical to both Kindle models.

One of the nice things about Kobo over Kindle is that it syncs with Storygraph in the same way that Kindle syncs with Goodreads. So as you progress in a novel, Storygraph will automatically track it. For the uninitiated, Storygraph is an amazing book-tracking app that lets you rate books in quarter stars (3.25 and 3.75, for example), as opposed to Goodreads' whole numbers. Because, as every feral reader knows, some books are great, but they're not quite four stars.

The Amazon Fire is a solid option for anyone who wants a tablet but doesn't want to pay iPad prices because not only can you read your favorite books and graphic novels with the Amazon Fire HD, but you can also download other apps to distract yourself from the arduous journey known as life. As of May 2026, Amazon discontinued support for Amazon Fire devices released in 2012 and earlier, but you can find a refurbished 13th gen, like the Fire HD 10, on eBay for about $85, and it's still supported by the retail giant. Compared to its normal $154 retail price, that's a good deal.

The Fire HD 10 from 2023 comes with 32GB of storage, giving you plenty of space for books and anything else that doesn't use cloud storage. It also has a 10.1-inch 1920 x 1200 display, which is considerably larger than any Kindle, and that would be nice for reading or streaming Prime Video. It's unlikely that it's as responsive as an iPad, but no Kindle is, so if reading is the primary goal, that shouldn't be an issue. If anything, it's supposed to be roughly 25% faster than the previous generation.

The first step to curating this list was avoiding overlap with e-readers to replace your old Kindle. Next, we wanted to make sure we selected devices that had similar or equal specs to the Kindles that Amazon is raising the price on and ensure that our choices were cheaper than their comparable models because otherwise you might as well buy the more expensive Kindle. Lastly, we wanted to make sure our recommendations were actually available, so we only link out to retailers that have these devices in stock (at the time of writing), and we chose devices that still receive software updates from their manufacturer.