Publishing · alternatives
Alternatives to Kindle
19 publishing tools sit alongside Kindle in this directory. Below is what separates each from Kindle on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 19
- With a free tier
- 12
- Cheaper to start
- -
- Kindle starts at
- Free
Why people look past Kindle
Nothing on the record flags a reason to move. Kindle has a free tier. People still switch over fit and workflow, and those are not things a catalogue entry can measure, which is what the comparisons below are for.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Amazon self-publishing platform that is free to use, earning Amazon a royalty cut instead of a fee, with a hard price band and per-megabyte delivery cost governing the 70% rate
- Sold on a Free to publish; Amazon earns a royalty share rather than a fee model rather than Free app, revenue from book purchases and optional subscription.
Rakuten Kobo self-publishing platform paying a 70% royalty with no delivery fee deduction and no upper price cap, a materially different structure from Amazon KDP
- Sold on a Free to publish; Kobo earns a royalty share rather than a fee model rather than Free app, revenue from book purchases and optional subscription.
Amazon-owned book cataloguing, review and recommendation app
- Sold on a Free, no subscription or in-app purchases; funded by Amazon as a commerce and data feeder model rather than Free app, revenue from book purchases and optional subscription.
- 1 tier to Kindle's 2.
Ebook distribution aggregator that moved from a royalty-share model to flat-fee subscription pricing, so authors now keep 100% of the store royalty rather than splitting it with the platform
- Sold on a Flat-fee subscription, no commission on paid plans model rather than Free app, revenue from book purchases and optional subscription.
Android ebook reader app with a one-time purchase, deep format support and no subscription or store lock-in
- Publishes an entry price of $4.99/one-time, where Kindle does not.
- Sold on a One-time purchase, free ad-supported version available model rather than Free app, revenue from book purchases and optional subscription.
User-generated fiction publishing and reading app, owned by Naver alongside Webtoon
- Sold on a Free with ads; paid ad-free subscription and optional in-app coin purchases model rather than Free app, revenue from book purchases and optional subscription.
Every Kindle alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kindle (this page) | Free | Free app, revenue from book purchases and optional subscription | 2 | |
| Kindle Direct PublishingIf you are an author or publisher looking to publish and sell books rather than read them | Free | Free to publish; Amazon earns a royalty share rather than a fee | 2 | vs Kindle |
| Kobo Writing Life | Free | Free to publish; Kobo earns a royalty share rather than a fee | 2 | vs Kindle |
| Goodreads | Free | Free, no subscription or in-app purchases; funded by Amazon as a commerce and data feeder | 1 | vs Kindle |
| PublishDrive | Free | Flat-fee subscription, no commission on paid plans | 2 | vs Kindle |
| Moon Reader | Free, then $4.99/one-time | One-time purchase, free ad-supported version available | 2 | vs Kindle |
| Wattpad | Free | Free with ads; paid ad-free subscription and optional in-app coin purchases | 2 | vs Kindle |
| Webtoon | Free | Free to read on a delay; Webtoon Coins purchased to unlock early chapter access | 2 | vs Kindle |
| Kotobee | Free | Per licence per year | 1 | vs Kindle |
| Affinity Publisher | Free | Free, no licence fee | 1 | vs Kindle |
| Draft2Digital | Free | 10% of retail list price, no upfront fee | 1 | vs Kindle |
| Reedsy | Free | Free tools; freelancers quote per project | 1 | vs Kindle |
| Everand | $11.99/month | Per user per month, unlimited | 1 | vs Kindle |
| BookBaby | On request | One-time purchase per project | 3 | vs Kindle |
| Storytel | $14.99/month | Per user per month, unlimited | 1 | vs Kindle |
| Libro.fm | $14.99/month | Per credit per month, credits never expire | 1 | vs Kindle |
| Scrivener | On request | One-time purchase | 3 | vs Kindle |
| Atticus | $147/one-time | One-time purchase | 1 | vs Kindle |
| IngramSpark | On request | Free title setup, then per-unit print cost and revision fees | 1 | vs Kindle |
| Kobo | Free | Free store and app; hardware sold separately; optional subscription | 2 | vs Kindle |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the Kindle badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (12)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
- Kindle Direct Publishing , Free
- Kobo Writing Life , Free
- Goodreads , Free
- PublishDrive , Free
- Moon Reader , Free, then $4.99/one-time
- Wattpad , Free
- Webtoon , Free
- Kotobee , Free
What you would be giving up
Kindle is most often brought in for reading e-books purchased from the kindle store across a phone, tablet and dedicated e-reader with synced position, switching between reading and audiobook listening on titles with audible integration, subscribing to kindle unlimited for readers who consume many books from its included catalogue, reading downloaded books offline while travelling without a data connection. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If Kindle is broadly right and the question is cost, the Kindle pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the Publishing category lists everything the directory holds, and best publishing tools ranks them.
Kindle runs on ios, android, web. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about Kindle alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to Kindle?
- 19 other publishing tools are listed in this directory, led by Kindle Direct Publishing, Kobo Writing Life, Goodreads, PublishDrive. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to Kindle?
- 12 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Kindle Direct Publishing, Kobo Writing Life, Goodreads, PublishDrive, Moon Reader.
- Is there a reason to switch away from Kindle?
- Nothing in the data flags one. Kindle has a free tier. Fit and workflow are the usual reasons to move, and those are not things this record can measure.
- What would I give up by switching from Kindle?
- Kindle is most often brought in for reading e-books purchased from the kindle store across a phone, tablet and dedicated e-reader with synced position, switching between reading and audiobook listening on titles with audible integration, subscribing to kindle unlimited for readers who consume many books from its included catalogue, reading downloaded books offline while travelling without a data connection. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to Kindle?
- None of the publishing tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these Kindle alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Publishing, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare Kindle against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against Kindle covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every publishing tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Publishing category, 19 tools beside Kindle. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.