I love fountain pens and I want you to love them too. The best way to fall in love with fountain pens is to have a pleasant writing experience and that journey starts with your first fountain pen.
This list is comprehensive guide for beginners who are still deciding on which fountain pen they should purchase for the very first time. I have selected a couple of the best fountain pens for each category below:
Table of Contents
Please note that I am not a fountain pen expert and the pens listed here are based from my experience and pre-existing knowledge. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment so that our new fountain pen friends can see it!
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means if you use the link(s) to purchase the item(s) below, I will receive commission for advertising on my site (at no additional cost to you!).
Best Overall
Pilot Metropolitan
The Pilot Metropolitan is one of the best beginner fountain pens out there. It’s a simple looking pen that’s just the right size and price but it is a great writer.
Tip: For beginners, I suggest get the medium nib because the fine nib might feel scratchy (the Japanese brands tend to have finer nib sizes compared to the European brands).
Runner-up: Lamy Safari
Lamy Safari is also one of the highly recommended starter fountain pens. They’re light but durable. They come in many colors. The clip is functional. The only drawback is the triangular grip. This doesn’t bother me because it makes somehow correct how I’m holding my pen correctly. This does bother a lot who have a different or specific type of grip.
This is also the standard fountain pen used in most schools in Germany.
Best for the Fountain Pen Curious, Best Inexpensive Fountain Pen
Typically, if someone asked me what fountain pens are best for beginners, I’d give them 2 choices – Lamy Safari and the Pilot Metropolitan. But I think those are recommendations for people who have already set their mind to buying and using a fountain pen or those who enjoy the art of penmanship.
I love the fountain pen hobby and I want those who are curious about it to enjoy the fountain pen experience the first time around. Sure, they can always borrow a fountain pen but that’s completely short term.
For the fountain pen curious, I want to recommend cheap yet excellent writers.
- Also read: 8 Fountain Pens that Won’t Break the Bank
Platinum Preppy
The Platinum Preppy is a nice way to introduce someone to the fountain pen world. While it only retails at $5 to $7, it provides a great writing experience. The plastic body also makes it more familiar and less intimidating to those who are coming from a gel pen or a ballpoint. This is a great pen to buy as a beginner or gift to someone because of the value for money. Of course, this pen isn’t built to last for a long time because it’s just made out of plastic.
It also comes in different colors such as black, blue, green, pink, orange, violet, yellow
Runner-up: Pilot Varsity / V Pen
The Pilot Varsity is also highly recommended because it’s a disposable fountain pen. Yes, there is such thing. It’s cheap and retails about $3/pen. It comes preloaded with ink so you, as a beginner, will not have to worry about refilling. There are also a variety of colors to choose from and they also sell this as a set.
Read more inexpensive fountain pens here.
Best Ink Capacity and Most Convenient To Fill
When I first got into fountain pens, I disliked refilling my pens because I had to remove the body of the pen in order for you to refill it. That has always been the case with rollerballs and ballpoints but it wasn’t as convenient as those. Under this category, I will only highlight fountain pens that have a piston filling mechanism – which simply means that you do not need to disassemble the pen to refill. I find that these types of pens are the easiest for beginners too because they won’t have that internal debate of buying an ink cartridge or ink bottle, they just need to buy a bottle of ink.
TWSBI Eco
The TWSBI Eco is one of my favorite pens. I really enjoy the way that it writes and has a great ink capacity. This is a bit on the more expensive side (around $30). The ECO is what I would recommend for beginners who are already into journaling and note-taking and just want a pen that would take the least amount of times to refill.
Runner-up: TWSBI Go
TWSBI Go has a strange yet functional design. The filling mechanism is not like any other and is designed to simplify ink filling. You will need to remove the body of the pen to fill it with ink but unlike the Lamy Safari and other cartridge converter pens, you can do it with one hand.
Best Fountain Pen for Kids
I don’t have kids so I might not give the best recommendation here. However, I do know how some kids are like. Lamy has a fountain pen designed for kids called the Lamy ABC but that costs around $15. I recommend something that would be okay for kids to lose or something small that can fit in their hands.
Pilot Varsity
Pilot Varsity, as mentioned earlier, is a disposable fountain pen. It comes in different colors that kids would love and you wouldn’t worry about losing or breaking the pen. Once the pen runs out of ink or breaks, you wouldn’t think twice about throwing it in the trash.
Runner-up: Pilot Petit1
I picked the Petit1 because it’s small. It’s around 4 inches small but when posted (when the cap is at the back of the pen), it’s around 5 inches. It comes with an ink cartridge so you wouldn’t worry about buying a bottled ink for it.
- Read more on: Jetpens
Best Fountain Pen for Lefties / Left-Handed
For the record, I am not left-handed but I know how tough writing can be for lefties out there. The choices that I have here are based on research about the preferred pens by lefties and also my own personal experience with these pens. For me, I think the best fountain pens for beginners would be those that write smooth, will have the least problems when writing on different angles, and have a controlled ink flow.
There are other things that lefties should consider such as type of ink and paper but for now, let’s focus on the pen.
Kaweco Perkeo
I think the Perkeo is a great pen for lefties because it’s a smooth writer. I haven’t had much experience with this pen but another thing that I’ve noticed is the ink flow is more controlled that my Pilot Metropolitan. Since it puts less ink on paper, it dries faster and is less prone to smearing. The grip section is a bit triangular but not as pronounced as the Lamy Safari so it probably won’t bother those who write in different angles.
Runner-up: TWSBI Eco
I think the TWSBI Eco is a great pen for lefties as well because of how smooth the pen writes. I also recommend this pen because even its extra fine nibs flow really well.
You can read tips for left-handed fountain pen users on the Goulet Pens blog.
Best Fountain Pen for Bullet Journaling
Some of the people who get into the fountain hobby come from the bullet journaling or the journaling community. I wrote a piece about the best fountain pens and inks for bullet journaling. Click here to read more about that.
Pilot Metropolitan, Fine
This is a tough one. I think the Lamy Safari is great – and what I’m currently using for everyday bullet journaling – but I’m picking the Pilot Metropolitan because it’s cheaper and it’s thinner. This isn’t true for all but I know that most of the favorite bullet journal notebooks like the
Runner-up: Lamy Safari, Extra Fine
Lamy Safari is a great pen for bullet journaling because it’s light and durable. It’s also considered to be a great everyday carry pen.
Best Fountain Pen for Students
“Student budget” won’t be a factor for this category because that would only give us two pens to choose from – the Pilot Varsity and the Platinum Preppy. While those pens are great, they don’t have a variety of choices when it comes to ink and nibs. For student pens, I considered two things: ink capacity and ease of use.
TWSBI Go
The TWSBI Go is a fairly new pen (launched in 2018) and since it’s new, it hasn’t made it on many top 10 lists. I don’t like the way this pen looks and I think it’s too bulky.
The TWSBI Go is great for students because it has great ink capacity, it’s easy to fill, and you can see your ink levels. If you’re a student who takes lots of notes, then this pen might be the best for you.
One thing that you should know about the TWSBI Go is that you need to buy an ink bottle because this pen does not use cartridges.
Runner up: Lamy Safari
If you do not want to be bothered by bottled ink, you can always go for the Safari. The Safari beats the Metropolitan as a runner-up in this category because the Lamy Safari has an ink window. Whether you use a cartridge or bottled ink (via converter), you will be able to know when your ink levels are low. Plus, the clip on the Lamy Safari is secure and there is lesser chance of losing this pen.
Best Fountain Pen for Calligraphers
Having a calligraphic handwriting is the common misconception and expectations from a fountain pen. If this was your expectation in the first place, let me be the one to tell you that you might need to consider exploring dip pens instead. However, if you want a pen that has that line variation that doesn’t require dipping the pen in ink, you might want to check these pens out.
Noodler’s Ahab and Pilot Parallel
I’m listing down two of these because they both serve different purposes – one is for pointed calligraphy and the other for gothic or italic calligraphy.
The Noodler’s Ahab is a flex nib pen which means you can get that calligraphic effect in your writing. It’s a great starter pen because of its cost – roughly $25. There aren’t a lot of affordable flex pens out there, most of the flex nibs are custom made or are vintage pens. This is also one of the first fountain pens that I purchased and came in highly recommended by my Instagram friends.
The Pilot Parallel is also a great pen for calligraphy and it won’t break the bank. They come in different nib sizes from 1.5mm to 6.0mm and only retail at $7. You can get them as a set when you buy on Amazon.
Runner up: Noodler’s Konrad
Another flex pen by Noodler’s is the cheaper Konrad. I had a tough time choosing between the two pens because they were at the same price range and made by the same company. The main difference between the two pens is the filling mechanism. The Konrad functions similarly to the TWSBI Eco while the Ahab’s filling mechanism is like that of a TWSBI Go.
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