If you think the new Kindle Scribes are too expensive to purchase, it’s still possible to get a previous gen Kindle Scribe for cheap if you want a large-screen Kindle with notetaking capabilities.
Amazon currently has the 1st gen Kindle Scribe on sale for $221.99, and it includes the upgraded premium stylus pen. These are in brand new condition, not refurbished like some of the previous sales.
Unfortunately only the 16GB model is on sale (the other two options are only available used now), but that’s still enough space to easily hold several thousand ebooks and notebooks.
If you need more storage space, the 32GB Kindle Scribe 2 is still on sale for $279.99, and the 64GB version is $309.99. There’s also this bundle package with a cover for $299. Once these are sold out that’ll mark the end of reasonably-priced Kindle Scribes. The new one starts at $499, and the color version is $629, so the newer ones are a lot more expensive. There’s also a non-frontlit model that’s expected to come out early next year, and even it’s pricey at $429 without a frontlight.
Being able to get an older Scribe for $222 sounds a lot more reasonable to me, and if I didn’t already have a 1st gen Kindle Scribe it would hard to pass up at that price; that’s only $22 more than the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition. The Scribe 1 originally sold for $369 in this configuration (the one with a basic pen was $339) so it’s currently $148 off during this sale. See my Kindle Scribe review for a closer look at this 1st gen model in action, although the software is quite a bit different now.
The Kindle Scribe went from being the least expensive eNote on the market in 2022 when it first came out to being one of the most expensive eNotes in 2025.
On the bright side, Amazon is expected to add the new features from the new Scribes to the older models, but of course there’s no guarantee everything will get ported over. It’s kind of surprising they haven’t released a software update yet, but it’s probably coming within the next few weeks.
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