Amazon Kindle Paperwhite vs Kindle Oasis: which ereader is right for you?

Take one look at the Amazon Kindle range in 2022 and you'll see the best Amazon Kindles are the Kindle Oasis followed by the Kindle Paperwhite.

The standard Kindle is a great product, but both of these models offer enhanced performance and features, making them a great choice if you can afford them.

But, nailing down which one will be ideal for your needs is tough, which is why we've created this feature to compare and contrast the Kindle Oasis and Kindle Paperwhite. We look at specs, design, features and performance, as well as the all-important price, to help differentiate the two.

We also present the best deals today on both of these top ereaders, in an attempt to help you bag the best bargain.

Best Amazon Kindle: Features

The first thing you need to know about the Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Oasis is simple: the former is the mid-level, ultra-popular version while the latter is the high-end premium Kindle. As such, the choice is quite easy and based on how much you can and want to spend on an ereader.

For a very reasonable price, the Kindle Paperwhite can do everything you need. There's waterproofing, a backlight on the 6-inch screen, a generous 8GB of storage (e-books are teeny tiny), and days of battery life. It's the ideal all-round ereader.

If you want to step things up, the Kindle Oasis comes with a larger 7-inch display (with the same 300ppi as the Paperwhite), a funky design with page-turn buttons, an adjustable warm light setting, and Bluetooth for audiobooks. 

Both of them excel at their core task – reading books and other media – and so it depends how many additional fancy features you want on top. 

• Read our five star Amazon Kindle Oasis review

Best Amazon Kindle: Design

For our money, the design of the Kindle Paperwhite is perfect: large enough to show a lot of text at once but small enough to be easy-to-hold in one handle at length or stowed away in a bag. Swiping between pages is super easy and that's what matters.

But that doesn't mean the Kindle Oasis is worse. For some, the additional features enabled by the design, like the dedicated page-turn buttons, are a must. While the Paperwhite is perfect in its simplicity, the Oasis is really attractive and feels premium in the hand.

Both the Paperwhite and Oasis come with a load of different case styles, too, and you're almost certainly going to want to buy one as unprotected Kindles are quite fragile, especially against loose keys in bags. 

One small note: If you're left handed (like I am!), the Oasis will automatically flip so that the page-turning buttons are on the correct side. 

• Read our Kobo Nia review – an affordable Kindle alternative 

Kindle Paperwhite vs. Kindle Oasis: Which is best?

Ultimately, the choice between the Paperwhite and Oasis comes down to how much you're willing to spend on the Kindle and whether the ultra-premium features, like the warm light settings, are important. 

For most people, we think the Paperwhite is enough: it's excellent for reading books, fits easily into most hands, weighs almost nothing, and the standard 8GB storage is easily enough to hold thousands of books. 

But for others, the Oasis and its impressive, thoughtful design is a better fit. If you have the extra cash to spare, we'd recommend grabbing Amazon's ultimate Kindle. 

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• The best Amazon Kindle deals