Should I buy a Kindle Scribe or a Kindle Scribe Colorsoft? Here's what you need to know

Kindles aren't just for reading — Amazon also makes a couple of Kindles that you can scribble notes on.

The Kindle Scribe and Kindle Scribe Colorsoft both have a generous, glare-free e-ink screen you can use for reading or writing; they're billed as streamlined, minimalist productivity tools that help you stay focused.

We've been impressed with both e-readers — the Kindle Scribe holds a coveted spot in our best e-readers ranking.

However, there are some compromises involved in choosing one of these models rather than a reading-only option.

If you're not sure which one to buy, or whether a different Kindle altogether might fit your needs more closely, you're in the right place.

In this guide, I'll provide a handy overview of the Kindle Scribe and Scribe Colorsoft, including how the specs match up and any major downsides for each model, as well as how they compare to the wider Kindle lineup.

I'll also round up the different iterations so you can see your options and what they cost.

Let's get started...

Kindle Scribe — Overview The Kindle Scribe is Amazon's black-and-white e-reader with writing support included.

We're on our third generation, released in the US in late 2025 and in other territories in early 2026.

We awarded it an impressive 4.5 stars in our Kindle Scribe (2025) review .

Probably because it had already had a relatively recent update, the Kindle Scribe wasn't included in the big refresh the rest of the range enjoyed in October 2026 (we now have a classic Kindle 2026 , a Kindle Paperwhite 2026 and a Kindle Colorsoft 2026 ).

The Scribe is basically a Kindle, except that if you want to take notes, you can grab the stylus and scribble down your thoughts.

That's probably simplifying it a bit too much — there are a number of writing features to explore, including an adjustable-size Quick Notes pad, various workspace templates, AI-powered handwriting conversion and summary creation tools, and the ability to add notes onto a book (with text wrapping around it) or in a margin column.