Best Amazon Fire tablets in 2024

Amazon Fire Max 11

Premium pick

Premium hardware and wireless charging

Amazon’s Fire Max 11 is the brand’s largest screen to date, but that’s only a fraction of what’s changed. The new model features premium hardware upgrades, putting it in line with some of the biggest names in tablets.

Pros

• Hardware received a much-needed upgrade
• Wireless charging is a welcome addition
• Performance is slightly better than previous models

Cons

• FireOS continues to disappoint
• Cameras don’t quite deliver
• There are better slates for similar price points

Despite persistent complaints about FireOS app availability that extend to Amazon’s Fire Max 11, the 11-inch, 2000 x 1200, vivid display, octa-core processor, and relatively premium hardware make up for its shortcomings. Because the display is so big and the device runs on 4GB of RAM, the Max 11 winds up being one of Amazon’s best media centers.

Sure, you’re not going to be booting up taxing games, but you can navigate most streaming services to binge the latest in Disney+, Netflix, and Max programming. If it’s available on the Amazon Appstore, the Max 11 won’t struggle to run it. And it’ll even do quite well with a majority of the apps on the Google Play Store, once you’ve installed it.

Read our review

Amazon Fire Max 11 review: Dude, where’s my app store?

Amazon’s most expensive tablet yet is held back by a pitiful app experience

With the octa-core processor and additional gig of RAM, you may be inclined to make the most of the 64 or 128GB of storage. Should you find that even that’s not enough space, Amazon kept the microSD port that any of these carefully selected microSD cards should work with.

The biggest improvement on the Max 11 was with its hardware, which is a complete overhaul over its predecessors. Gone are the cheap plastic shells; here is a slate that mimics the higher-end Galaxy tabs on the market. Even if the software doesn’t impress, the refreshed hardware certainly should.

Amazon Fire 7 (2022)

Best value

An inexpensive tablet

The Fire 7 is the most affordable slate in Amazon’s lineup. While it packs entry-level specifications, the company has upgraded features in the latest version to make the tablet more responsive.

Pros

• 10 hours of battery life
• Upgraded processor

Cons

• Only 90-day warranty
• Mediocre, lower-resolution display

The Amazon Fire 7 (2022) packs several welcome upgrades over the previous-generation release, which had become quite dated after the 2020 update of the 8-inch slate. Sporting only 2GB of RAM and a quad-core processor, there are better options if you don’t mind spending more. However, if your budget tops out well below $100 and you don’t need a lot of features, this no-frills tablet is a great option.

Read our review

Amazon Fire 7 (2022) review: Budget, indeed

Your smartphone probably beats this budget tablet’s sluggish performance, but not its price

The 10-hour battery life isn’t the best on the market, but the accompanying USB-C charger will recharge it quickly for less downtime. You won’t need much to get the most out of the Amazon Fire 7, and even if you tack on a case, you’re still looking at a negligible cost that keeps this a simple and affordable tablet. And you will want a case to protect the 7-inch 1024 x 600 IPS panel.

Amazon Fire HD 8 Plus (2022)

Compact but powerful

Great for small tablet buyers

The “Plus” in the tablet’s moniker means you get extra features over the regular Fire HD 8, including 10W wireless charging support.

Pros

• Solid battery life
• Wireless charging
• 3GB RAM

Cons

• Mediocre cameras
• Only 90-day warranty

A minor upgrade over the base model Fire HD 8, the Plus offers a similar feature set and specifications, but you get improvements in three areas for a $20 premium over the original’s price. First, the Plus model gets you an extra gig of memory, which helps with the overall fluidity and responsiveness of the tablet. There is also a 5MP primary shooter on the Plus model instead of a 2MP camera. But while you get higher-resolution photos, the overall quality isn’t that different from the non-Plus version.

Amazon also includes wireless charging support in the Fire HD 8 Plus. But you’ll have to buy a $50 ($40 if you get the bundle) wireless charger separately. Apart from charging your tablet at 10W, the wireless charging pad also acts as a dock, which will come in handy while watching videos, reading recipes in the kitchen, or during video calls. Lastly, the company bundles a 9W power brick with the Plus model, which can top up the slate in around three hours, about the same time the wireless charger takes.

Amazon Fire HD 8 (2022)

No-frills budget slate

Bang for the buck

The Fire HD 8 (2022) offers the best value of any tablet in Amazon’s portfolio, with an 8-inch screen and a faster chip than its predecessor.

Pros

• Excellent battery life
• Headphone jack, expandable memory slot

Cons

• Poor camera quality
• Only 90-day warranty

As one of Amazon’s cheapest Fire Tablets, the Fire HD 8 dishes out a suitable performance for its value. Despite the low base price of $100, the tablet features a crisp 8-inch HD display that doesn’t diminish the experience of watching movies, reading e-books, or scrolling through social media.

The Fire HD 8 may not be the fastest tablet on the market, but its six-core processor is a noticeable step above the quad-core chip of its 2020 release. It’s still a step behind the octa-core of the Fire HD 10, leaving some apps to stutter as they open, but as a media center, the Fire HD 8 doesn’t disappoint.

Read our review

Amazon Fire HD 8 (2022) review: Only slightly better

After two years, the latest version of Amazon’s affordable tablet has finally arrived, but the improvements are minimal

With the right case with a kickstand or foldable folio, you can really make the most of the Fire HD 8’s performance and 13-hour battery life. Something like the Grifobes premium case sets the right viewing angle for streaming the hottest TV series and doubles as a protective shell when the tablet’s in transit. Be prepared to swap out the included 5W charger for a simple USB-C cord to rectify an unusually slow charging time.

Comparing Amazon’s Fire tablets

If you are still deciding between two or more Amazon tablets, here is a quick comparison to give you a neat idea of how each stacks up against the others.

Which Amazon Fire tablet should you buy?

Amazon Fire tablets have carved a place for themselves in a market primarily dominated by Apple and Samsung tablets by offering an affordable but solid tablet experience. With the quiet disappearance of the Fire HD 10 Plus, the Fire Tablet 10 is the best Amazon tablet for most people. It packs a full HD screen for consuming content, and the octa-core processor offers enough power to breeze through everyday tasks. You can even use a USI 2.0 stylus for basic drawing, sketching, and coloring.

But if you are willing to spend a bit more, the Fire HD 11 Max is the company’s flagship option. It has a large 11-inch display, a reasonable 4GB of RAM, and Wi-Fi 6 support. Like the Fire HD 10, it also supports USI 2.0 styluses and can be paired with accessories, such as a keyboard cover, to get the most out of it.

Among other options, the Fire 7 is an inexpensive slate that may not be the most powerful, but is a good option for media streaming, social media, and web browsing. It’s also quite small and easy to hold. Fire HD 8 and 8 Plus offer a good middle ground between the Fire 7 and Fire HD 10 with their HD display, faster processor, and a compact build.

For those of you shopping for kids, each of Amazon’s Fire tablets, except for Fire 11 Max, is available in a Kids version, and the Fire HD 8 and Fire HD 10 even get a Kids Pro version for older children. These kids-specific versions have built-in parental controls, a one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+, a thick rubber cover for durability, and a two-year worry-free replacement warranty in case the tablet breaks. Besides these extra goodies, the rest of a Kids-version tablet is the same as the regular Fire tablet.

Why Amazon Fire tablets are actually pretty great

Amazon didn’t exactly look to set the world on fire with its Fire tablet lineup’s vast processing power and high-end display technology; quite the opposite, in fact. Fire tablets are meant to deliver a capable online experience, with a pretty tightly locked-down ecosystem that doesn’t lend itself well to customization and doesn’t even include the Google Play Store.

But let’s keep things in perspective. For starters, you can totally side-load the Google Play Store as soon as you set up your Fire tablet, something we consider a requirement to owning one of these low-cost devices. Second, a lot of people don’t actually care a whole lot about cutting-edge, ultra-snappy performance with complex animations and tons of onscreen widgets and background services. It’s for those people whom Amazon’s developed these bargain tablets.

Will your kid be able to play Minecraft with advanced shaders and all the latest, tricked-out mods? Absolutely not, but they’ll still have tons of fun building with digital blocks online with friends. Will adults find the multitasking power needed to access documents and edit spreadsheets all while conducting a video call? No, but you’re probably not hinging your productivity on a rugged tablet in the $100 range. So as long as you keep your expectations in check, any of these current Fire HD tablets are actually quite effective at what they’re made for.

And, in one respect, it’s what they’re not necessarily made for that makes them such a great deal.

Installing the Google Play Store on an Amazon Fire tablet

A quick search yields plenty of good and bad reviews of the overall Amazon Fire tablet experience. A significant portion of the bad press comes from Amazon’s extra-tight Android implementation. So far, only the two 2023 releases (the Fire HD Max and newest Fire HD 10) run on a version of FireOS based on Android 11. The previous models all use FireOS 7, which is built on Android 9. None of them come with the Google Play Store, and according to Amazon, none of them officially support it.

But enough about official support. Side-loading (that is, installing via a trusted, third-party software package) the Google Play Store absolutely works quite well on all recent Fire tablets. As longtime Android Police expert Will Sattelberg weighs in, he’d “go so far as to say it’s essential” to add Google’s vast library of apps to any new Amazon slate. And don’t be intimidated by any jargon-like tech terminology; side-loading isn’t very tough, and Will’s done a great job walking us through the Google Play Store installation on Fire tablets.

Whether or not it runs perfectly depends mostly on what apps you try to install, and partly which Fire tablets you install them to. To utilize more than the Fire tablet’s internal storage, you’ll need to use the adoptable storage option, which merges the microSD expansion card with the system storage. You’ll also run into problems trying to use some apps alongside the Amazon Kids+ subscription.

Also, a handful of apps remain hidden from the Play Store even when it’s side-loaded, since the underlying Play Store code recognizes that Fire tablet hardware isn’t Google-certified. But, just like with the Play Store itself, you can find all those apps through a trusted third party such as APK Mirror (which we enthusiastically recommend for all side-loading purposes).

To make a long story short, as soon as you unbox your new Amazon Fire tablet, head over to Mr. Sattelberg’s in-depth how-to and install the Google Play Store on your own. It’ll not only unlock the full potential of your affordable, new tablet, it might also make you feel like a tech wizard for a minute.

Other important Fire tablet tweaks

If you’re coming from an Android tablet, you might get a little frustrated at first. The FireOS skin does revolve around Android code, but it sure doesn’t feel like it. Luckily, we (or rather, Will Sattelberg, specifically) went through the FireOS skin and found the most important customizable UX/UI components to alter if you want FireOS to feel more like true Android.

On a basic level, consider what kinds of accessories and storage options can make the most of your Amazon tablet. Syncing smart home gadgets, getting the right microSD card, and keeping wasted filesystem space to a minimum all pose little difficulty, even to Android beginners.

Finally, there are some subtle but important Fire tablet performance tweaks that all new owners should take advantage of. Some are pretty intuitive (like deleting unused apps) and some are more involved (such as using third-aprty app management software), but none are very hard to implement.

Amazon Fire HD 10 (2023)

Best for most people

A vastly improved operating system, including a much-streamlined user experience and increased efficiency, elevates the 2023 Fire HD 10 head and shoulders above its predecessors. You’d be hard-pressed to find such a durable, decently performing Android tablet at this price.