Hardbound versus coil bound planners (pros and cons)
Most planners seem to fall into 2 categories these days:
1. Hardbound with stitched / sewn binding
2. Coil binding
If you’re trying to decide, here are some things to consider!
Hardbound planners
I classify hardbound planners as those that have a stitched binding along the spine and either a soft or hard cover. Moleskin notebooks, and the type of notebooks used for bullet journaling.
Pros of hardbound planners
- Smaller page size (typically A5 or around 8.5 x 5.5″)
- More portable page size
- Lighter in terms of weight
- Typically thinner
- Tend to have an elastic band to keep everything closed
- Tend to have ribbon bookmarks to hold your place
- Tend to have gender neutral color schemes
- Tend to be a bit cheaper than coil bound planners
Related: Mi Goals ‘Goal Digger’ Weekly Planner 2018 Review
Cons of hardbound planners
- I’m not sure what it is about hardbound planners / notebooks, but the pages always seem to be yellow not white
- The paper seems to be of lower quality and more prone to pen ghosting and bleed through (see pen testing in this post)
- The covers are almost always black (and plain and boring)
- Rarely offer the option to personalise the cover
- Don’t always include a pocket folder
- Rarely have tabs – they tend to have ribbon bookmarks as page markers instead
- Often not as many extra pages like budgeting, checklists and notes pages
- Can’t add printables after purchasing the planner
- The stitching can come undone over time, especially if it’s a cheap hardbound planner
- Don’t usually come in multiple sizes (typically only available in A5 or around 8.5 x 5.5″)
- Almost no customisation available
- No leeway if you want to add planner stickers
Related: Live Whale Weekly Planner Review (one of the few hardbound planners I’ve come across with bright white paper!)
Hardbound planners I’ve found that actually lay flat:
- Mi Goals (my favorite hardbound planner)
- Clever Fox Weekly Planner (also comes in daily)
- Milligram Weekly Agenda Planner
- Panda planner
- Tempus Daily Planner
- Unbound Weekly Planner
- Live Whale Weekly Planner
This could be a pro or a con depending on which category you fall into – hardbound planners seem to always have minimalist black and white gender neutral page layouts.
Coil planners
Coil planners are those with the round plastic coil with lots of small holes on the side of the planner. It seems to be the most common binding style and can be found on popular planners including: Erin Condren, Plum Paper and Limelife.
Pros of Coil Planners
- Always lay flat
- Can turn pages back completely on themselves (i.e. view and write on 1 page, you don’t have to have both open)
- Tabs
- Paper quality tends to be better (and whiter) with less ghosting and bleed through
- Coils tend to have a bit of wiggle room if you want to add planner stickers, loose paper etc.
Related: Limelife Planners Layout C review
Cons of Coil Planners
- The coil can be clunky and get in the way when writing
- Coil binding is more bulky that stitched / glue binding
- Usually more expensive to ship due to larger page size and bubble wrap protection required for the cover
- Square corners of the cover get scuffed over time (although not all coil bound planners have square corners)
- Tend to be more expensive
Favorite coil planners
- Agendio (they’ll make you a custom planner from scratch!)
- Plum Paper
- Limelife
- Recollections
- Plus many more (too many to list!)
Related: Plum Paper Planners Haul & Review (better than the Erin Condren?)
Wire bound is similar to coil and the pros and cons are much the same (can add more weight to the planner than plastic coil binding though).
Which do I prefer?
If you follow my blog you probably already know the answer – I much prefer coil binding! The pages lay flat (and the planner can be turned back on itself completely so you only see one page at a time), the paper quality tends to be better in terms of pen bleed through and they’re typically my favorite page size for planning: 7″ wide x 9″ high.
Not many planners have it, but I like discbound planners even more than coil binding.
Want to compare all the different types of binding? See this post.
More tips for choosing a planner:
- Finding planner peace: 18 things to check before choosing a planner
- Daily versus weekly planners: which is right for you?
- Why horizontal is my favorite weekly planner layout
Planning tips
- 50 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Planner
- Using a planner key and symbols to code your planner (efficient planning methods)
- Daily versus weekly planners: which is right for you?
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