Given that I wanted to escape the Amazon ecosystem and I wanted a 6-inch e-reader with maximum openness and format support, I had basically two choices: PocketBook Verse Pro and Kobo Clara BW. In the end, I actually ended up buying both, just to see which one I like more. So today I’m going to tell you about the differences that I see between them, but also how they compare to the old Paperwhite.

PocketBook Verse Pro

PocketBook is definitely not a major global player, but has been relatively successful especially in Europe. The Verse Pro model from 2023 uses an E-Ink Carta 1200 display with 300 PPI, which is a noticeable step-up from Paperwhite’s 212 PPI. The display is also whiter, so there is definitely a much more paper-like feel. A huge plus is PocketBook’s USB-C charging and IPX8 waterproof rating. It also offers by far the best format support: Paperwhite does not support EPUB natively, which is a remnant of the format wars when Amazon was pushing the MOBI format. Verse Pro supports over 20 formats, of course including EPUB, MOBI, PDF and a bunch of others. It will read whatever you throw at it.

Unlike either the Kobo or Kindle, PocketBook also has physical buttons. Most modern readers did away with buttons, which is a shame. That said, PocketBook buttons are at the very bottom of the device and are quite tiny, which makes them difficult to use. The build feels quite premium, no creaks or flexes when you hold it and use it.

The default OS experience is fine, albeit not amazing. There are no major issues, but the UI sometimes feels a little unfinished. I also didn’t like that a significant portion of the home screen is dedicated to random tips from the PocketBook store; I understand the need to promote more books and sell through their shop, but that should not be at the expense of the user experience. PocketBook’s home page experience is comparable to that on a Kindle: Close to half of your screen are ads.

One more slightly annoying thing about the PocketBook is that when it goes to deep sleep, it takes a few seconds to wake up. After waking up, the device feels fairly responsive.

Kobo Clara BW

Kobo is perhaps the only serious global competitor to Amazon in e-readers, and their offering is quite polished. The Clara BW model (not to be confused with the many other Clara models) is from 2024 and uses a slightly newer Carta 1300 E-Ink display, also with 300PPI. I have spent a lot of time comparing the displays of the PocketBook and the Kobo, and I’m struggling to find differences. Kobo’s display is supposed to have higher contrast, but in reality I am struggling to see any practical differences. Kobo feels a little nicer overall, but the difference is so subtle (and sometimes depends on lighting conditions too) that I think there may be more variation between individual Kobo units than between the two models.

Kobo also charges via USB-C and has an IPX8 rating too. The format support is quite wide, and even though it “only” supports 20 formats, it probably won’t limit you in any way.

In terms of physical build, the Clara BW is definitely more plasticky than the PocketBook. Don’t get me wrong, both are made of plastic, but the Kobo just looks a little cheaper. However, it doesn’t creak or flex, which is a good sign. Unlike PocketBook, it has no physical buttons apart from the power button at the back. On the upside, despite the cheaper looking build, it’s actually more pleasant to hold the Kobo. Maybe it’s the rounded corners, the slightly textured body or the very slightly bigger space at the bottom for your thumb, but the ergonomics of holding the e-reader are very different, at least to my hands. Note that this completely changes the moment you put on a cover, which you absolutely should.

The default OS experience is definitely more polished than with PocketBook, and mostly feels a little faster too. It’s not a night and day difference, but it’s something. Kobo also has an ad for the Kobo shop on the home screen, but it is minuscule compared to what you’re getting in the other devices.

KOReader

One of the universal recommendations in the online e-reader communities was to install KOReader on whichever reader you get. At first I found the KOReader interface a little spartan, but the customizability and little extra features make up for it. I installed KOReader on both devices, which was a fairly straightforward process in both cases once you find the right forum post from the KOReader wiki. I highly recommend at least trying it out, you can always delete it and never look back.

Having KOReader on both devices also gave me perfect comparison conditions: The same book loaded in the same reader interface, using the same fonts and rendering settings. One of the things I wanted to test was the speed of page turns. I don’t think it realistically matters, as turning a page in a physical book usually takes longer than turning a page on an e-reader, but this is one of the small things that could easily get annoying. Below you can see a video where I test them side by side, turning the pages of the same Alice in Wonderland EPUB file. It seems that Kobo Clara BW is slightly faster when turning pages than the PocketBook Verse Pro, but the difference is probably only noticeable in a direct comparison.

Sending books to your e-reader

I have already talked about my pipeline for reading online articles on my e-reader, which is made possible by KOReader’s integration with Wallabag (another good reason to use it). However, Wallabag is not really meant for books. I buy or download books from various sources, so having an easy way of getting my books onto the device is crucial. And I can tell you, connecting my reader to a notebook via a cable is not it!

PocketBook has a system really similar to Send-To-Kindle: You get an @pbsync.com address that is connected to your PocketBook Cloud account, and books sent to that address will be downloaded to your Pocketbook e-reader when you connect to Wi-Fi. Setting this up is really easy and fast, and it has worked flawlessly for me. Indication of which books are in your PocketBook cloud storage and which are downloaded on the e-reader is a bit confusing, but you quickly get used to it.

Kobo does not have an e-mail -> e-reader pipeline out of the box, and you need to hack your way into achieving something similar. One way is to use KOReader’s integration with Calibre (in case you have a Calibre server running somewhere available - I don’t). KOReader also supports Dropbox, FTP and WebDAV, and you can in fact set up an email alias for sending files into Dropbox, so this is a viable option. It is definitely more fiddly than PocketBook’s native support, but you can make it work.

There are also dormant integrations with Dropbox and Google Drive that are available through NickelMenu (which will get installed with KOReader if you go with the most common option). You can read up on this at Jacob Tender’s blog. I tested it and it does work, although it has some limitations and is definitely more complex to set up.

Frontlight comparison

All three readers that I tested have a frontlight for reading in low light situations, a feature that I absolutely love. Paperwhite only has one type of frontlight, which emits a fairly cold light. PocketBook and Kobo allow you to adjust the color temperature of the frontlight (both natively and in KOReader), which is especially nice when reading before bedtime. I tested all readers and did not see any major differences: The maximum light intensity was similar across all three readers. Kobo had a somewhat warmer tint both on coldest and warmest settings compared to PocketBook, which is apparent from the photo below. If getting the warmest frontlight is important to you, points for Kobo. Otherwise I call this a wash.

Which one will I keep?

Owning three e-readers (even if one is effectively end-of-life) was never my goal, so my plan is to sell one of them and keep using the one that fits me the best. I bought the PocketBook first, then started having second thoughts (the grass must be greener over at Kobo!), thinking Kobo will be a superior device after all. The truth is, they are very close in nearly every aspect. In the end, I think I will stick with the PocketBook: the email integration is smoother, the differences in ergonomics disappear when you put the cover on, and if Kobo’s display is better, I can’t really appreciate the difference.

So what about the Paperwhite?

One of the most shocking discoveries of this whole comparison is that the 11-year-old Paperwhite model is actually still a decent e-reader. Yes, the micro-USB charging port is annoying, you will need to charge much more often and the display is not the best you can get, but the reading experience is still smooth and most of you will probably forget that you are reading at 212 PPI instead of 300 PPI after a while. In fact, I did a comparison of page-turn speed between Kobo Clara BW and the Paperwhite, and unless I was turning really fast, the Paperwhite was mostly keeping up with the Kobo!

There aren’t many categories in consumer tech where an 11-year-old device would still be quite serviceable, but I have to say that e-readers seem to hold up exceptionally well. If you’re considering upgrading your e-reader (and you are not making a category jump, such as opting for a color e-ink display), maybe test it before you buy it and see if it’s worthwhile. You might not be missing out on that much!

Put the phone down

First, a brief detour into my browsing and reading habits. I subscribe to a lot of feeds (check out my blogroll!) and going through my RSS reader gives me a similar dopamine hit to scrolling on social media - except I’m mostly learning something new rather than just being entertained. But it also means I spend a lot of time staring at my phone and reading articles on it, which is definitely not a good way to read anything, and it does not feel great either. Besides, you’re one notification away from being pulled out of your reading.

The allure of the phone is strong: everything is at hand and frictionless. If I want to replace it with something else, it has to be similarly easy to use. This rules out using a computer, since I don’t always have one with me and the startup time is considerable even on modern machines. I guess that leaves me with the only option: printing everything on paper and reading that way.

Okay, I’m kidding, but the solution is a bit like paper: it’s an e-ink reader. I currently have a Pocketbook Verse Pro and I love reading on it. The goal would be to have an easy way of taking anything noteworthy (and usually long-form) and transferring it to my e-reader. Most importantly, this is not a Pocketbook-specific solution: in fact it will work on any reader with KOReader installed, meaning it could be your Kobo or Kindle too.

It sounds like a lot of hassle

It does, but let me explain. Once everything is set up, this is actually a very smooth experience. Frictionless.

There are two major sources of friction:

1. Getting the content into the e-reader
2. Removing the content from the e-reader once finished (keeping things tidy)

Conveniently, both problems are solved by Wallabag, which will be familiar if you know Pocket or Instapaper. Wallabag is an open-source “read it later” app, and it is by design self-hosting-friendly, even though you can use it as an online service directly from wallabag.it too. It will serve as the home for all content worthy of proper reading and thus be the backbone of this setup. And because KOReader already integrates with Wallabag, receiving and archiving articles is quite seamless.

The one-tap solution

The end state looks like this: I am going through my RSS feeds on my phone, and if I see something long-form that I’m interested in, I tap on the “Star” button and move on until I have enough articles to read. In a few minutes, I can pick up my e-reader, sync new articles and start reading said articles. During the next sync, the already finished articles will be removed from my device (unless I mark them as not finished).

The one remaining missing piece is a Python script that periodically fetches newly starred (“favourited” in FreshRSS speak) articles from FreshRSS and pushes them to Wallabag. Below you will find both instructions on how to set the whole pipeline up, and the code for the script.

The way the script works is by connecting to FreshRSS to fetch favourited articles, comparing it to a local list of already processed articles, and adding the new ones to your Wallabag instance to be picked up by KOReader. It’s a really simple script that ties this all together. It will also keep producing rotating sync.log files to make any potential troubleshooting easier.

Below is a breakdown of what happens under the hood:

Setting up the pipeline

Pre-requisites

• A server or computer (with Python 3 installed) to run the script periodically.
• FreshRSS 1.27 or newer with Fever API enabled
• Wallabag 2.6.13 or newer
• KOReader on your e-reader

FreshRSS setup

First, you have to enable API access in your FreshRSS instance. Make note of your user’s API password. You can verify if the Fever API is enabled by going to https://foo.bar/p/api/, assuming https://foo.bar/ is the root path to your FreshRSS instance.

Wallabag setup

Next, you have to set up API keys to access your Wallabag instance. Log in to Wallabag and go to API clients management section, where you need to create a new client. I personally created separate clients for my Python script as well as for my KOReader and Wallabagger extension (see below), but you could reuse the same client credentials if you prefer. Note down the Client ID and Client secret.

Sync script setup

The script for syncing articles between FreshRSS and Wallabag can be found in this GitHub repo. Download the .py file and the config.json.example to your server, put them in the same folder, rename the latter to config.json and update its values. You should also chmod 0600 the config.json file or otherwise make sure that it’s safe from prying eyes, since it will store your API credentials.

Tom, you dummy, why not just use a .env file? Everyone knows that’s where secrets go!

Yes, and you’d typically load it using python-dotenv — a module you’d install via pip, which may not even be installed on your machine. Writing my own parser for dotenv files would unnecessarily inflate the length of this script and could lead to unforeseen bugs on different systems. The goal here was to make this as portable as possible, requiring nothing but a Python interpreter, which is almost universally available. This is simply the path of least resistance, and as long as you keep the permissions tight, it is as safe as a .env file.

Okay, now as long as you’ve edited your config correctly, you can try running the script to see if you can connect to both APIs. You should see something like this:

[2025-11-25 23:30:02] INFO: Starting FreshRSS → Wallabag sync
[2025-11-25 23:30:02] INFO: Previously synced: 0 articles
[2025-11-25 23:30:02] INFO: Found 0 starred articles in FreshRSS
[2025-11-25 23:30:02] INFO: No new starred articles to sync. All up to date!

Now it’s time to go to FreshRSS, mark an article as favourite, and re-run the script to see if it gets synced to Wallabag.

Tom, I see you’re storing the previously synced article IDs in a local json file. That’s kind of dumb!

It is! But also it’s beautifully simple and functional. A setup using SQLite would surely be more scalable, but how many articles will you favourite per year? Dozens? Hundreds? This probably gives the script centuries before it starts becoming a problem. Let’s not overengineer things.

Now that your script is up and running, don’t forget to add it to your cron, or a similar solution to periodically run it. I’m using Synology’s Task Scheduler and have set the frequency to 15 minutes.

KOReader setup

Now that articles are getting beamed up to Wallabag, it’s time to set up your e-reader. KOReader supports Wallabag natively, and it’s easy to set it up using the official wiki. I highly recommend saving the empty settings and editing the Lua file on your computer. Typing all the credentials on the e-reader keyboard is no fun.

Once you have Wallabag set up, syncing should download the articles:

I also highly recommend going to Wallabag settings in KOReader, open the section Remote mark-as-read settings and enable the following options:

• Mark finished articles as read
• Mark 100% read articles as read
• Auto-upload article statuses when downloading

This will automatically delete any read articles from your e-reader and mark them as read in Wallabag whenever you sync. You do not have to manually clean anything up - brilliant!

[Bonus] Wallabagger setup

Now that we have a pipeline that feeds our e-reader, we might as well use it in other useful ways. Wallabagger is a Chrome and Firefox extension that saves articles directly to your Wallabag instance. This gives you freedom to shoot any articles you got sent or found in newsletters etc. straight to your e-ink device.

When you install Wallabagger, you have to set it up to connect to your Wallabag instance (hit Check URL) and then provide Wallabag client credentials. You should also tick the option Retrieve content from the browser by default when saving page, otherwise Wallabagger will only save the link itself and some metadata.

Support open-source!

All of this is possible only thanks to open-source developers of the above applications. While you can subscribe to Wallabag’s hosted solution and support them that way, I suspect many of my readers will dabble in self-hosting.

Below are links to the Liberapay accounts where you can support the applications:

• Wallabag
• KOReader
• FreshRSS