Best Paper Notebook Reviews 2023

During our research, the notebooks that we reviewed here were sold for around $2 to $14. They can be sold singly or in a more economical option of packs. So much goes into the process of determining how much a notebook will be sold for, and we’ll discuss a few of them here. Let’s start with quality. As we’ll discuss later, paper quality differs, and so the higher the quality, the higher the price of the notebook.

Then there is the issue of brand; many brands offer handmade notebooks and they put in the necessary attention to details; this qualifies the end-result to compete with those coming off the assembly line. Here is what to expect from the behavior of the price of such notebooks: they tend to cost more.

Then there is the issue of all the extra features that are incorporated into the design of many of these items. How do you think they will affect the price? If you’re thinking that they’ll cost more, you’re thinking right. Now that we’ve talked about these, do you think that a cheap paper notebook will deliver a satisfactory experience? No? We agree with you on that one too.

So how do you go about choosing the best paper notebook? Well, there are a number of features you should be on the watch for. Things as seemingly inconsequential as the type of cover it has may go a long way in determining how much joy you’ll get from its use. Hardcover or softcover, decide beforehand what you need the notebook for and the choice will be easier. Some other features you should consider are:

• Size
• Number of pages
• The way the pages are ruled
• Binding
• Color
• Paper quality

Notebooks are essentially made with paper, and this means that you’ll have to have some knowledge about paper quality to shop wisely. There are different ways to determine the quality of paper; concepts such as paper weight, absorbency, acidity, and smoothness are important and we’ll discuss them.

The weight of a paper is how much a square meter of paper will weigh, and it’s referred to as Gram per Square Meter or poundage of paper. Higher GSM means that the paper is more densely packed and will be resistant to feathering and bleeding. GSM is directly related to a paper’s thickness; this means that paper with higher GSM will be thicker than paper with lower GSM. Thicker paper is great for artwork as it takes paints and ink well; the ink won’t feather or bleed through. Paper with lower GSM and poundage will perform better with pencils, ballpoints, and fountain pens.

You’d have to compare the paper used in notebooks to know which will serve your purpose best. Here is an example: 20-pound to 25-pound paper is what we use with our printers, and they’re usually around 90 GSM. The paper used to make pictures, complimentary cards, and artist’s canvas are much thicker and can reach up to 140-pound and 400 GSM.

Absorbency of paper is determined by how smooth it is. We want smoother paper for our notebooks; no one wants to have to put up with the drag that rough paper will cause as we write. Paper is coated to make it easier for your pen to slide smoothly across it when you’re writing. The more coated it is, the less absorbent it will be. This means that ink will not dry out quickly and it increases the chances of its being smudged, staining your hands and ruining your pages.

Acidity causes the paper to decay over time and makes it unsuitable for storing information for reference in the future; yet we have books that have lasted decades—how? Well, the pulp used to make the paper is naturally acidic; it is usually treated to bring it to a neutral pH, hence the term acid-free paper. This paper lasts for a really long time.

Let’s talk about the ruling on the pages of the notebook. Notebooks can be ruled (college-ruled or wide-ruled), they can have graphs or squares, they may be covered in dot grids, and they can be plain or un-ruled. Choosing which of these is best is again dependent on what you intend to do with your paper notebook. For example, college- and wide-ruled notebooks are typically better for writing, those with graphs are normally used for math classes, and plain paper may be most efficiently used in art classes.

Another important feature is the size of the notebook. They come in various sizes, from pocket-sized to large A4 sizes. For class and lecture notes, the popular choice is notebooks measuring 5 by 8 inches. Manufacturers always include the dimensions in the description of the notebooks, so you won’t have to shop blindly.

Also of importance is the number of pages in a paper notebook. If you’d like your notebooks to last through the school year, finding those with more pages makes a lot of sense. If you, however, only need them for jotting and storing information, then this isn’t much of an issue.

Pages in a notebook are held together by binding. There are a number of ways that a notebook can be bound; it can be stapled, glued, sewn, or spiral- or ring-bound. The most secure of these bindings are the ring, spiral, and sewn-in bindings; they’re closely followed by the staple binding, and the least secure is the glue binding.

The way a notebook is held together has a lot to say about how convenient it will be when it comes to laying the open book flat on its back. Those bound with rings, spirals, and staples will lie on their backs flatter than those with the other types of binding. This means you will have to hold notebooks in the latter group down with your hands or something heavy.

Certain features such as being waterproof come in handy if you live in rainy climates or are prone to accidentally dropping your notebooks or spilling liquid on them. Notebooks with this feature are made from synthetic, waterproof paper or specially-coated paper. No doubt, they’ll cost more than your average notebook, but the knowledge that your notes, jottings, sketches, and all will survive being out in a rainstorm or an unplanned trip to the dry cleaners in your pants’ pocket makes them worth the investment.

There are also notebooks with helpful information such as conversion tables, multiplication tables, rulers, geographical references, ZIP codes and telephone codes, inspirational quotes, and so on. Let’s not forget specialty or custom-made notebooks. The bottom line is that there’s a notebook for everyone, regardless of your preferences.