E-Readers · owner-verdict comparison

Kobo Clara BW vs Kobo Clara Colour: what real owners say

Real owners lean toward the Kobo Clara BW: 81% of 458 owners recommend it, vs 60% of 321 for the Kobo Clara Colour.

Verdicts aggregated from Reddit, enthusiast forums, and YouTube owner comments — affiliate reviews excluded. Sample sizes differ; judge accordingly. How we score

Kobo Clara BW

81%of 458 owners recommend
81% recommend · 11% neutral · 8% don't
Owners praise
  • Crisp, sharp, high-contrast screen
  • Compact, light and pocketable
  • Easy sideloading and library support
Owners complain about
  • Build feels cheap and plasticky
  • Uneven lighting or yellow tinge
  • Ghosting on page turns
Full owner report →

Kobo Clara Colour

60%of 321 owners recommend
60% recommend · 15% neutral · 25% don't
Owners praise
  • Color covers, comics and highlighting
  • Compact, light and portable
  • Easy sideloading and library support
Owners complain about
  • Grainy texture, lower B&W contrast
  • Freezing, crashing and bugs
  • Dark screen needs backlight on
Full owner report →

Which should you buy?

Get the Kobo Clara BW if
  • ✓Readers who mainly read novels and plain text
  • ✓People wanting a pocketable one-handed reader
  • ✓Library and Libby users leaving the Amazon ecosystem
  • ✓Night readers who want warm front light
Skip it if
  • Manga, comic, and PDF readers needing a bigger screen
  • People who want physical page-turn buttons
Get the Kobo Clara Colour if
  • ✓Readers who want color covers, comics or color highlighting
  • ✓People leaving Amazon who want library and Libby support
  • ✓Those wanting a compact, pocketable color reader
  • ✓Night readers who like a dimmer, warm screen
Skip it if
  • Purists reading mostly B&W text who want maximum sharpness
  • Manga and graphic-novel readers needing a larger screen

What Kobo Clara BW owners say

“I have to say 6" is the way to go. Most comfortable for reading”
— @moltenbullet on YouTube
“Kobo it is then , i will not fed these greedy leeches from amazon”
— @devilhaque on YouTube
“the screen lighting is too uneven to work for me when in any kind of the night mode warm color. I am loving going back to such a smaller size device though.”
— PixelSquish on Reddit

What Kobo Clara Colour owners say

“Thank you kobo for the ease of use for someone with thousands of ebooks already in a (non-amazon) library.”
— @ljroberts83 on YouTube
“I have the same one and I’m so in love with it!! everyone hates the screen but for me I can read perfectly and the colour is huge for me”
— @log81427 on YouTube
“I just bought The Witcher omniubus, and it is basically unreadable on my Kobo Clara Colour. The font is far to small for comfortable reading. There is a zoom option, but that is not a good experience with eInk.”
— davyyd on Reddit

Kobo Clara BW vs Kobo Clara Colour: frequently asked questions

Is the Kobo Clara BW or the Kobo Clara Colour better?

Real owners lean toward the Kobo Clara BW: 81% of 458 owners recommend it, vs 60% of 321 for the Kobo Clara Colour.

Who should get the Kobo Clara BW?

Owners point the Kobo Clara BW at readers who mainly read novels and plain text, and people wanting a pocketable one-handed reader.

Who should get the Kobo Clara Colour?

Owners point the Kobo Clara Colour at readers who want color covers, comics or color highlighting, and people leaving Amazon who want library and Libby support.

What do owners complain about?

The most-cited downside of the Kobo Clara BW is build feels cheap and plasticky. For the Kobo Clara Colour, it's grainy texture, lower B&W contrast.