Switching and migration
How to leave Amazon for books
Short answer
You cannot move DRM-protected Kindle purchases, so treat leaving as a line in the sand rather than a migration. Keep the Kindle app for the back catalog, buy everything new in EPUB from Kobo or DRM-free stores, move tracking to StoryGraph, and borrow through Libby. The switch costs nothing except the habit.
Last checked 2026-08-01 — steps, prices, and links are desk-reviewed, not verified at a live checkout. Tell us if something moved and we will date the fix.
What can you actually take with you?
Your notes and highlights, exportable as summary files, and your reading history through Goodreads' CSV export. Purchased books stay in Amazon's apps permanently, and no legal route changes that.
The replacement stack
Kobo for buying and reading, Libby for borrowing, StoryGraph for tracking, and Libro.fm for audio. Every piece of that stack accepts your data on the way in and releases it on the way out.
What to do about the old library
Leave it in place and keep the Kindle app installed. Re-buying a library you already own is the most expensive mistake in this process, and there is no rush: the old books are not going anywhere.
Q & A
Questions readers actually ask
- Can I transfer Kindle books to Kobo?
- No. DRM-protected Kindle purchases cannot legally be converted or transferred, so the practical approach is to stop buying there rather than to move what you have.
- Is leaving Amazon worth it for books?
- If owning portable files matters to you, yes, and the ongoing cost is roughly zero. If you only care about convenience, the Kindle ecosystem still wins.
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