Amazon Fire Tablet 7 vs. Fire Tablet Kids Edition: Which should you buy?

If you've got kids, you know they love tablets just as much as they love throwing their toys on the floor, so you want one that's tough and cheap. Amazon's Fire 7 Tablets are a great solution with the Kids variant even coming with a thick plastic case. The standard tablet could be a better pick for older kids with its thinner case and more mature colors, but for a toddler or particularly destructive kid, the Fire 7 Kids is a great choice and can often be found on sale.

Fire Tablet 7 vs. Kids Edition: Adult-focused vs. kid-proof

The Amazon Fire 7 Tablet is one of the best Fire tablets and an all-around great buy for just about anyone looking for an inexpensive, entertainment-focused tablet — and it picked up a nice set of updates in 2022. It's capable enough to keep the kids entertained while not costing enough to pull your hair out if it gets accidentally destroyed. 

You can also get all the (non-Google) major content services, along with a dedicated kids mode to keep those little fingers from buying a new dollhouse on your Amazon account. While there is now a parallel line of Fire Kids Pro tablets for older children, the Fire 7 Kids Edition is the one to get for children under six years old.

However, you may notice that when hovering your mouse or your finger over that Buy Now button that there's both a regular Fire 7 Tablet and a Fire 7 Kids Edition, so what gives?

Fire Tablet 7 vs. Kids Edition: Spec comparison

Spec-for-spec, there isn't much difference between these Fire Tablets. In fact, under the hood, they're basically the same device. However, it all comes down to the extras.

Price is one of the main differences. During my colleague Andrew Myrick's Amazon Fire 7 Tablet review, that even with the slight price hike it is still a fantastic deal. I resonated with the same in my review of the Fire 7 Kids tablet. While the Fire 7 Kids is more often than not more expensive the than base model, frequent sales can bring the prices much closer.

One thing to note is that the Fire 7 is available with ads on the lockscreen and without. If you don't want to see an ad every time you pick up your tablet, you'll need to cough up $15 more, but even at this price, the tablet is still a good value.

So what do you get for that price difference? Well, you get a few features that may be very important to parents, particularly parents of younger children. For starters, the Fire 7 Kids Edition comes with a free year of Amazon Kids+, ordinarily $5 per month for Amazon Prime members or up to $48 per year for a family plan (prices are higher for non-Prime members). 

Amazon Kids+ provides enhanced parental controls and puts the device in a kid-friendly mode with a different user interface and tons of content that is specifically geared toward younger children. With this Amazon Kids+ content, you won't have to continually buy new games or shows to entertain your little ones. Amazon Kids+ also prohibits children from accessing social media apps and prevents them from using Alexa. Amazon does acknowledge that you know your kids best, so you, as a parent, do have the ability to exit Amazon Kids+ mode with a passcode. Because of this kid-specific setting, the Fire 7 Kids is one of the best tablets for kids — period.

The Fire 7 Kids Edition also comes with a durable kid-proof case that will protect the tablet from all kinds of mishaps. That case alone would cost you around $25 if you were to purchase it separately. Additionally, the Fire 7 Kids Edition includes a two-year worry-free guarantee. The regular Fire 7 Tablet only comes with a 90-day limited warranty, and if you wanted to extend it to two years, it would cost you an extra $10 or so. With the way kids treat their toys and, well, everything else, you can easily see the value in this included service.

Fire Tablet 7 vs. Kids Edition: Just in case

The kid-proof case that is included with the Fire 7 Kids Edition Tablet certainly offers excellent protection, is friendly to small hands, and still allows easy access to all the ports and buttons. But if you have a child that's ready for a larger tablet but you don't want to jump up to the 10-1-inch Fire HD 10 Kids, then consider the Fire HD 8 Kids instead. Not only is it larger, but it also offers improved performance over the Fire 7 tablets.

However, you don't have to get Amazon's kid-proof case to protect your Fire 7 Tablet from the kids. There are a number of other cases available at various prices, though, that will also do the trick. So if you want to save a bit of money, buy the regular Fire 7 Tablet and pick up another protective case for less than the one that is included with the Kids Edition.

Fire Tablet 7 vs. Kids Edition: Which should you buy?

If you're purely buying a tablet for your kids, spend the extra money and get the Kids Edition. It's worth the investment, not least for that worry-free two-year warranty. It's also a single purchase that comes 100% child-equipped, with that tough-as-hell case and the included one-year subscription to kids content.

You can provide a similar experience by buying a regular Fire Tablet at $60, but you should only get one of those if you're going to be buying for an older child, teenager, or yourself. You can even get an ad-free model for a bit more if you want to limit your kid's exposure to advertising. If that sounds more like your scenario, then this option is for you. Buy a more grown-up case and slap in a microSD card and use it as a grown-up would!