Key points
- Kobo has launched Kobo Stack, a paid monthly plan priced at C$3.99 in Canada, letting readers upload their own EPUB and PDF files and sync them across devices.
- The service is rolling out first outside the United States, in Canada, the UK, Ireland, New Zealand and Spain, with Australia also listed by The Verge.
- It needs the beta 6.0 software and only works on three e-readers for now: the Libra Colour, the Clara Colour and the Clara BW.
- Amazon’s comparable Send to Kindle service is free, which makes Kobo’s pricing the main point of debate among e-reader owners.
Contents
Kobo has started charging for something many e-reader owners have long asked for. Its new Kobo Stack subscription lets you email or upload your own ebooks to the Kobo cloud, then find them, with your notes, on every connected device.
The plan costs C$3.99 a month in Canada, or C$4.38 with tax, according to the Canadian Stack page reported by e-reader blogs. In the UK it is priced at £2.99, according to The Verge, which also reports a 90-day free trial. That is roughly US$3 to US$4 a month.
What Kobo Stack actually does with your files
The core feature is a personal upload service. Each subscriber gets a unique Kobo Stack email address.
Files sent to that address are added to the reader’s Kobo library. A drag-and-drop tool on the Kobo website does the same job from a computer. Accepted formats are PDF, EPUB and LCP EPUB, with a cap of 200 MB per file, the same limit Amazon applies to Send to Kindle.
Once uploaded, the books behave like store purchases. Reading position, highlights and annotations sync through Kobo Cloud, something Kobo previously offered only for titles bought in its own store.
The subscription bundles a few extras. Kobo lists five digital workbooks on its help site: a reading journal, a planner, a project planner, a moods and habits tracker and a wellness planner. They run on compatible Kobo e-readers with writing capabilities.
Subscribers also get an extended three-year manufacturer’s warranty instead of the standard one year, with conditions. The plan also brings back support for several library cards in Libby, the borrowing app run by OverDrive.
Who can subscribe, and which e-readers work
Kobo, owned by Japan’s Rakuten, is rolling Stack out country by country. Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand and Spain appear on every list. The Verge adds Australia and says the service is launching outside the US first, with no American date given.
Hardware is the bigger limit. Stack requires software version 6.0 or later, which Kobo is still distributing as a beta to a limited number of users.
Only three recent models are supported so far:
- Kobo Libra Colour
- Kobo Clara Colour
- Kobo Clara BW
Owners of older devices, including the Sage, Elipsa 2E and Libra 2, cannot use it yet.
If you cancel, The Verge reports that Kobo keeps your uploaded files for 60 days, giving you time to back them up before they are removed.
How Kobo Stack compares with the free options
The price stands out because rivals give away a similar service. Amazon’s Send to Kindle, which also accepts EPUB files, costs nothing for Kindle owners.
| Option | Price | Syncs notes across devices |
|---|---|---|
| Kobo Stack | C$3.99 / £2.99 a month | Yes |
| Amazon Send to Kindle | Free | Yes, for Kindle devices and apps |
| Kobo USB or Dropbox transfer | Free | No |
Kobo’s help pages still describe the free ways to add your own books: drag files onto the e-reader over USB, or pull them from Google Drive or Dropbox on some models. Those files stay on one device, without cloud sync of your reading progress.
For readers with one e-reader, the free methods may still be enough. Stack mainly helps people who switch between several Kobo devices or want their sideloaded books backed up in the cloud.
The 6.0 beta has had problems
Anyone tempted to join the beta should know about its record. In September, Notebookcheck reported that versions 5.18.270971 and 6.0.274403 made books, annotations and reading statistics disappear on the same three models.
Kobo said at the time that the data had not been deleted and would come back with a later update. It warned users not to roll back to older firmware, because that could erase the missing content for good.
Back up your sideloaded library before installing version 6.0.
What comes next for Kobo Stack
Kobo has not given a date for a US launch, nor for support on older e-readers. A stable version 6.0 for all eligible owners is the next step, since Stack cannot reach most users until the beta ends.
For now, readers in the launch countries can test the service during the free trial before deciding whether a monthly fee is worth it.
