Why now
Why we keep getting asked for a reMarkable alternative
The reMarkable 2 was the obvious recommendation in 2022. The Paper Pro was the obvious upgrade in 2024. In 2026 the picture is messier, and the reasons readers ask for a reMarkable alternative cluster around three things that haven’t been fixed.
The first is the app stack. reMarkable’s tablets run a closed OS that doesn’t let you install third-party apps. If your workflow lives in Notion, Obsidian, GoodReader, or anything resembling an Android app, reMarkable is a wall. The second is the price-to-feature ratio at the top of the line. The Paper Pro recently went from $579 to $629 in the US, which lands it above the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft, a device that does color e-ink writing and a full Kindle library at the same money. The third is build philosophy. The Paper Pro is glass-and-metal. It looks beautiful. It also doesn’t survive a desk drop the way a flexible-screen e-ink tablet does, and replacement is a full repurchase.
None of these are deal-breakers on their own. Together they’re the reason “remarkable alternatives” is one of the highest-volume queries in this category. People aren’t searching because reMarkable got worse. They’re searching because the rest of the market caught up.
Criteria
What we looked for in a real reMarkable alternative
The temptation when comparing e-ink tablets is to flatten everything into a spec sheet. Resolution, refresh rate, pen pressure levels. Those numbers matter, but they aren’t what makes one of these devices the right one for a given reader. Five criteria do most of the work.
- Writing feel. The single thing reMarkable still nails. Any alternative has to come close, or it’s not in the conversation.
- Ecosystem. What can you read, sync, annotate, and export, and does it cooperate with the rest of your stack.
- Reading-versus-writing balance. Some of these devices are writing slates with reading bolted on. Others are readers that learned to write. The match matters.
- Price. Specifically, price-per-frustration-fixed. A cheaper alternative that fixes the wrong frustration is still the wrong device.
- Build and serviceability. Pen tip wear, screen durability, repairability. Cost of ownership over three years, not the sticker price.
Pick 1
Supernote A5 X2 Manta, the one for organizers
The Supernote A5 X2 (Manta) is the cleanest “if reMarkable but better” pick. It’s a 10.3-inch monochrome writing tablet with a Carta 1300 Mobius display, which is a flexible plastic-substrate panel rather than glass. It weighs 375 grams, lighter than the reMarkable Paper Pro, and the matte plastic chassis takes a desk drop the way the Paper Pro doesn’t.
Two things put the Manta on this list. First, the writing feel. Reviewers consistently describe it as more “ballpoint pen” where reMarkable is more “pencil,” and the Manta uses ceramic pen tips that don’t wear down the way the Marker’s plastic tips do. Over three years the running cost difference is real, not theoretical. Second, the OS treats organization as a first-class feature. You can build clickable Tables of Contents, mark sections with custom headings, star important pages, and link between notebooks. None of that is dramatic on its own, but for anyone who’s tried to find a specific note from six months ago on a reMarkable, it’s the difference between a working knowledge system and a deep folder of PDFs.
Where the Manta loses: it’s monochrome, with no front light. In a dim room you’re working with the same constraints as paper. If you read at night, this is the wrong device. At $459 base it’s also the cheapest of the four picks here.
Pick 2
Boox Note Air5 C, the one for app-stack people
The Boox Note Air5 C is the answer to the first frustration directly. It’s an Android 15 tablet with an e-ink display, which means the Google Play Store, which means whatever you currently run on a regular tablet you can probably run here. Notion, Obsidian, Kindle, Kobo, Libby, GoodReader, Drafts. It’s all on the device.
The display is a 10.3-inch Kaleido 3 panel, which gives you color (1240 by 930 at 150 PPI) without dropping the monochrome reading and writing experience to do it. The mono resolution stays at 2480 by 1860 at 300 PPI, sharp enough that reading on it doesn’t feel like a compromise. Writing happens with the Boox Pen3, which has 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity and tilt support. There’s a magnetic keyboard cover available for $109.99 if you want to write long-form text without paper friction.
At $529.99 it sits exactly $100 below the reMarkable Paper Pro and gives you the entire Android app ecosystem on top. The trade is that running an Android tablet OS on e-ink is never quite as smooth as a purpose-built writing device. App refresh quirks, animation tearing, and the occasional need to optimize a specific app’s rendering are real, and they’re the price of openness. If your reMarkable frustration was the missing apps, the Boox Note Air5 C is the device. If it was the lack of a calm, focused writing surface, this isn’t.
Pick 3
Kindle Scribe Colorsoft, the one for readers who also write
The Kindle Scribe Colorsoft launched in December 2025 in the US, and it’s the device that changes the value equation at the top of the e-ink market. It’s an 11-inch color e-ink tablet with the entire Kindle library and Audible behind it, the writing surface is genuinely good (not the afterthought it was on the original Scribe), and it costs $629.99 for the 32 GB version, exactly what reMarkable charges for the Paper Pro now.
For anyone whose actual day involves reading more than writing, with note-taking layered on top, this is the strongest pick of the four. The reading library is a real moat that no other e-ink tablet can match. Kindle’s annotation tools are mature in a way reMarkable’s PDF reader never has been. The 64 GB version is $679.99, and a “fig”-colored variant launched in late January 2026 if you don’t want the standard slate look.
Where it loses to reMarkable: writing feel is closer than ever, but still not as paper-like as the Paper Pro. And it’s locked into Amazon’s ecosystem, which is the same critique reMarkable gets but pointed at a different fortress. If you’re already a Kindle reader, that fortress is your library. If you’re not, it’s a wall. We’ve gone deeper on this one in Kindle Scribe Colorsoft vs reMarkable Paper Pro, which is the head-to-head if you’re stuck between exactly these two.
Pick 4
reMarkable Paper Pro Move, when reMarkable is still the answer
This pick will look strange in a post about reMarkable alternatives, but the honest answer to “what’s the best alternative to a reMarkable” is sometimes “a different reMarkable.” The Paper Pro Move shipped in late 2025, weighs 235 grams, and starts at £399. It’s a 7.3-inch color e-ink slate with an adjustable reading light and a two-week battery, and the form factor is small enough that it lives in a coat pocket the way the full Paper Pro never could.
If your frustration with reMarkable was the size, the price, or the lack of a backlight on the older models, the Paper Pro Move addresses all three without making you leave the ecosystem. It’s also worth knowing that reMarkable announced the Paper Pure in May 2026, a 10.3-inch monochrome entry-level model at $399, shipping in early June. If you want reMarkable but cheaper, the Pure is the device that didn’t exist when this question was last asked.
For readers staying in the reMarkable ecosystem, our reMarkable bundle is the planner-and-notebook set we built for the Paper Pro and Paper Pro Move; if you’re switching to a Boox or Supernote, the PDF templates port over but the linked navigation features are reMarkable-specific. We won’t pretend otherwise. There’s also a deeper Paper Pro Move comparison if you want the side-by-side against the Paper Pro and the Move’s direct rivals at that screen size.
Verdict
Which reMarkable alternative we’d pick (and why it depends)
The cleanest way to land on the right pick is to start with the frustration, not the device. Read across the row that matches yours.
| If your reMarkable frustration is | The pick | Price (USD) | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disorganized notes, weak file system | Supernote A5 X2 Manta | $459 | Clickable ToC, headings, page links built in |
| No third-party apps | Boox Note Air5 C | $529.99 | Android 15, full Play Store, color Kaleido 3 panel |
| Want reading library plus writing | Kindle Scribe Colorsoft | $629.99 | Full Kindle and Audible libraries, color e-ink, mature reader |
| Size, weight, or no backlight | reMarkable Paper Pro Move | ~$500 | 7.3 inches, 235 g, adjustable light, stays in the ecosystem |
The Manta is the device we’d pick for serious note-taking with a long horizon. The Note Air5 C is the device we’d pick if the apps matter more than the writing feel. The Scribe Colorsoft is the device we’d pick if reading is half of what the tablet has to do. The Paper Pro Move is the device we’d pick if the only thing wrong with reMarkable was size or price.
Two devices we deliberately didn’t include here: the original reMarkable 2, because if you’re searching for an alternative you’ve already decided against it, and the Onyx Boox Go 10.3, which is a strong pick at a similar price to the Note Air5 C but without the color or the keyboard cover support. Worth a look if those features aren’t load-bearing for you. The cross-comparison Kindle Scribe vs reMarkable 2 is also worth reading if the older reMarkable is what you’re actually leaving behind, since the trade-offs there are different from what you get against the Paper Pro.
For readers thinking about the Kindle Scribe specifically, our Kindle Scribe alternatives piece is the mirror of this one. And if you want to bring your existing reMarkable templates over to whichever device you pick, our template installer guide covers the PDF-to-device workflow that works on most of these.
If you’ve migrated off reMarkable and the device we recommended for your case wasn’t the one you actually picked, drop it in the comments. We’ll add it, and we’ll update the matrix when something genuinely changes the answer. This list will keep moving. The Boox Go 10.3 Gen 2 is in the wild, the Viwoods AiPaper line is iterating fast, and there’s a steady drumbeat of news about Amazon working on a successor to the Scribe Colorsoft, so check back when one of those becomes the picture.