5 Best Pens for Bullet Journaling

My favorite type of pen for bullet journaling is one with nice black ink.  I love the look of black ink on white paper. In this post I’ll share the best pens I’ve found for bullet journaling.  

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Black Pens

All you really need in your bullet journal is a pen and I’ve historically always chosen black pens.  That’s not to say I don’t pretty it up with Tombow markers, because I do!  But I mainly use a black pen.  

See my top choice on Amazon

In a previous post, I told you about my favorite pen in the world, but since that’s a little pricey I wanted to do a post on regular everyday pens you can find right on Amazon to use in your bullet journal.  Since I’m a pen nerd, I have all of these and more.  All of these pens do well in my Scribbles That Matter Bullet Journal with no bleed through.   

Sharpie Pen

A favorite of mine is the Sharpie pen, not to be mistaken for Sharpie markers.  The Sharpie pen is a felt tip pen that come in black as well as in a variety of colors.  I’m big on how a pen feels in hand and I think this one is nice to hold, and nice to write with.  The line is a medium point and seems to last a long time.

Tombow Mono Drawing Pen

Tombow Monos are also great pens.  I prefer the 03 size in my bullet journal because I think it does the best for my writing.  The barrel of the pen is just slightly thicker than the Sharpie, but otherwise they are very similar.  This is also a felt tip pen. I love using felt tip pens in my bullet journal, and this is another one of my favorites.

Uniball Signo207

I’ve recently found these Uniball Signo gel pens at the recommendation of someone online. I purchased the pens in 0.7 and find them comfortable and smooth to write with.  I’ve run into a few that skip but for the most part I love these pens and often use them in my journal as well as when I am at work.  I purchased these pens in bulk and have them all over my home and office.  

Papermate Inkjoys

These are very popular pens because the gel ink is dark and beautiful.  The pens write smoothly and are a joy to use (at least for short periods for me).  I’ve loved using the colors because they are vibrant.  I recently opened up a black Inkjoy pen and was very impressed with how well it wrote.  For some reason these hurt my hand more than some of the others (maybe because they are light) so if I use these it is for short periods.  I will likely use the inserts in my favorite pen though since the ink is gorgeous.  

Pilot Frixion

If you are prone to mistakes, the Pilot Frixion is a great choice.  It is an erasable pen, but not like those ones that were all sticky that we used 30 years ago.  These are erased by the heat caused in the friction of erasing. So, if you do use these you probably shouldn’t leave your journal in a hot car.  I’ve used these for years on my cross stitch stuff and have not had any problems, but I don’t take that out in the warm weather.

Of note, it is a lot lighter than the other pens and writes more like a ballpoint rather than a gel pen.  This is probably my least favorite, though I do love the colored ones quite a bit.  

I’ve included a picture of the pen test page in my bullet journal for you to look at.  Which looks best to you? Pen Test of Black Ink Pens

My Pick

Based on the smoothness of the writing and my pen test, I picked a winner!  I’m kind of surprised by it because I thought it would be one of the others 🙂