Not sure if a Kindle Colorsoft is worth the cash? Here are 4 alternative color ereaders to consider — including a 5-star standout

The Amazon Kindle Colorsoft is an outstanding color ereader — in our review, we awarded it four and a half stars, calling the scrolling and zooming “kind of amazing” and declaring it “the fastest, smoothest e-reader [we’d] ever used, whether reading in color or just black and white text”.

Right now, the standard version has a tasty 36% discount in the Amazon Prime Day sales (and the Colorsoft Signature version, with twice as much storage, has 21% off), but before you hit that buy button, maybe you want to check if this is truly the best ereader for your needs? If so, you’ve come to the right place.

• View the full Amazon Prime Day sale

If you’re intent on a color ereader, the biggest competitor is probably Kobo. At regular prices, the Kobo Clara Colour would have the budget-friendly edge over the Colorsoft, but it’s pricier right now. However, if you’re in the market for something more feature-rich, check out the Kobo Libra Colour. This one earned a perfect five stars in our review, and it has the edge over the standard Colorsoft because you can use it for scribbling down notes as well as reading (although you will need to purchase a stylus). If you wanted to do that on a Kindle, you’d need the Colorsoft Scribe, which is — spoiler — the priciest option in this guide, by a significant margin, and almost the same price as buying a Kindle, a Kindle Scribe and a Kindle Colorsoft separately.

Another option is the Boox Go Color 7 Gen II, but we’d struggle to recommend it because the display just isn’t quite up to scratch — it has a yellow tinge, and the text lacks sharpness, which is unforgivable given the high price. Read on for the best prices on all the key color ereader options, or hop to the bottom of the page for a specs comparison table, so you can see how they match up.