8 Fountain Pens That Won’t Break the Bank

A fountain pen does not have to be expensive to be considered a great writing instrument. Cheap fountain pens are also not necessarily bad writers. In fact, some of them may surprise you.

This list is great for those the following types of individuals:

• beginners
• curious about the fountain pen writing experience
• on a tight budget
• uses fountain pens in the field
• needs a fountain pen to lend in case someone wants to borrow their fountain pen
• a penabler (someone who tries to convince their friends to get into the fountain pen hobby)
• loves trying different fountain pen inks
• anyone who likes fountain pens

Click here if you want to see a list of the Best Fountain Pens for Beginners.

Platinum Preppy

Let me start off with one of my favorite fountain pens – the Platinum Preppy. I have not stopped raving about this pen since I’ve tired it and I could not recommend it highly enough. It’s a $3-$5 fountain pen and it’s a really reliable and great writer.

The only reason why this pen is cheap is because it’s made out of plastic. It also has the product information printed on the plastic so it looks more like a disposable fountain pen (but it isn’t!).

They come in various colors and includes an ink cartridge with a matching color. Once you run out ink, you would need to buy a Platinum ink cartridge.

I always recommend this pen for those who are curious about the fountain pen hobby and who want to give writing with a fountain pen a shot.

You can buy individual pieces from Goulet Pens (at $5) or you can buy a full set from Amazon.

Pilot Petit1

If you want a cheap pocket fountain pen, then the Pilot Petit1 is just for you. It’s a 4 inch pen (when capped) but when it’s posted, it’s almost a full sized pen (5.2 inches).

It is a surprisingly reliable writer, given the price point. One thing to note is that this pen is not as easy to come across outside Japan. If you live in the US, you can always purchase them on JetPens (but shipping fee might cost more than the pen) or Amazon.

Read the review from Pen Addict.

Pilot Kakuno

The Pilot Kakuno is like the Pilot Metropolitan’s younger sibling. It has a plastic body and comes in different colors. The nib is similar to what is on the Pilot Metropolitan except it has a smiley face on them (and varies depending on the nib size). The Pilot Metropolitan is one of the best beginner fountain pens out there so if the Kakuno is anywhere near that, then you know it’s good.

A caveat to this pen is that it doesn’t have a clip however, the cap has a stopper so that it prevent your pen from rolling off the table.

You can buy this on JetPens and Goulet Pens for approximately $13 or you can buy it on Amazon.

Jinhao Fountain Pens

Jinhao fountain pens are one of the cheapest and possibly one of the best value pens (under $10) in the market.

Just like Pilot, Jinhao has a pen that seems to be marketed for kids, which is the Jinhao Shark. It comes in various colors and it’s so affordable that you can get a 12 piece set for $18! You can always get them individually at Goulet Pens.

The rest of the Jinhao pens like the x750, 450, 159 don’t look like AND feel like they’re less than $10. They usually come with only a medium nib and they write okay. My experience with the Jinhao x750 is that my writing skips a bit so I rarely recommend this pen as well.

They all come with standard international converters which is great for beginners because that means that only thing that they need is to get some ink. You can find my list of beginner friendly inks here.

Pilot Varsity

The Pilot Varsity is a disposable fountain pen – which means, once you run out of ink, you can toss it in the trash.

This pen was my first ever fountain pen. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy my writing experience. It wrote without issues but it was too thick for my handwriting and the paper that I was using at the time was not that great.

What’s great about it is that it comes preloaded with ink so there’s no need to fuss over ink cartridges. Great for those who just want to try out writing with fountain pens or even showing some friends how awesome fountain pens are.

You can buy them individually for $3 at Goulet Pens or you can buy a whole set on Amazon.

Zebra Fountain Pen

Another disposable fountain pen is the Zebra fountain pen. I recently stumbled upon it through the latest review on The Well-Appointed Desk and I just had to include it on this list.

Pilot Parallel

They’re not the most standard looking fountain pens but they fall under the same umbrella somehow.

The Pilot Parallel is loved by many – especially calligraphers. I’m not into calligraphy but I have enjoyed writing with these pens. You can use the thinnest one (1.5mm) for normal writing and have that faux calligraphy effect to your writing for only less than $10.

Red – 1.5mm; Orange – 2.4mm; Green – 3.8mm; Blue – 6.0mm

See it in action

You can get these at Goulet Pens for $10 each or you can buy a set on Amazon.

Pilot Plumix

Another fountain pen that can give you that faux calligraphy handwriting is the Pilot Plumix. It virtually has the same nib as the one on the Pilot Metropolitan but this pen has a stub nib – much like the Pilot Parallel but slimmer.

I’m not a fan of the pen’s design because of it’s overall shape. It kinda looks like a squid and when you post the cap at the back, it looks awkward. But if I wanted to try a cheap stub nib, I would definitely try this out.

Read more about it on the Goulet Pens blog.

Bonus: Platinum Plaisir

The Platinum Plaisir completely slipped my mind because I purchased one for around $15. Thanks to Jason for letting us know in the comments that this is available on Amazon for $10!

This pen is also included in my Best Fountain Pens for Bullet Journaling list and is my primary pen for bullet journaling. It uses the same nib and has a similar grip section as the Preppy. You can even use the nibs on the Preppy to replace the Plaisir’s because Plaisir only has a 0.3 and 0.5 nib.

The only difference between the Preppy and the Plaisir is the body. Plaisir has an aluminum body and the Preppy has a plastic body.

This pen does not come with a converter.

Keep in mind that because these pens are only less than $10, they are made with cheaper material. They are more prone to damage i.e. it could crack if dropped at a certain height.

Another thing to note is that sometimes a cartridge converter does not come with most of the cheaper fountain pens. Oftentimes, the cartridge converter is more expensive than the pen itself and that wouldn’t be a good way to spend money.

Here is a summary of the pens that were mentioned on this list:

• Platinum Preppy
• Pilot Petit1
• Pilot Kakuno
• Jinhao Fountain Pens
• Pilot Varsity
• Zebra Fountain Pen
• Pilot Parallel
• Pilot Plumix
• Bonus: Platinum Plaisir

If you have any suggestions for our readers, please leave it in the comments below!