I have a kobo libra 2, but have had kindle paperwhites in the past. The kobo is the better experience IMO, for 3 big reasons. 1, physical buttons. The buttons on the side also mean there’s a good place to hold the device, where on my old paperwhite I would accidentally skip to the next page constantly. Someone with smaller hands probably won’t mind as much though. 2, easier to get library books. Overdrive is built in, so I don’t have to go find my phone to search for books. 3, more customizable with the fonts and layouts and I can load in custom fonts really easy. That being said, my partner has the newest Kindle, and she adores that thing and hates how big the kobo is.