Colour does not imply pen support
Clara Colour offers a six-inch colour E Ink screen, but Kobo explicitly lists it as incompatible with Kobo Stylus. Libra Colour has a seven-inch screen, page-turn buttons and stylus support; the pen is sold separately. A reader who only wants colour highlights should not accidentally plan an additional handwriting workflow around the Clara name.
Choose the kind of note you need to keep
For someone marking a fantasy text or an original project PDF, Libra’s pen route is a meaningful reason to choose it. Kobo supports handwriting in EPUB formats and eligible PDFs, but excludes DRM-protected PDFs and files that disable annotation. The distinction matters before buying a pen for an existing library.
The destination matters too. Kobo says EPUB handwritten notes remain on the eReader and cannot be exported to Dropbox or other sources; non-protected PDFs can be exported with handwritten notes. If the intended job is to pass a marked EPUB to a collaborator, the presence of a pen does not supply that route.
The smaller reader still has a complete purpose
Choose Clara Colour when the compact colour-reading object is the requirement and handwriting is not. Choose Libra Colour when the buttons or supported pen activity have a recurring role, allowing separately for the stylus. If the essential file or handover does not support that activity, resolve it before treating the larger model as the automatic upgrade.
Sources & further reading
Editorial review date:
