• HOME
  • Planning
    • Planner Newbie
      • New to planning? Start here
    • Planning Tips & Inspiration
    • 52 Planning Systems in 52 Weeks
      • My weekly spreads
    • Planner Reviews
      • Horizontal Weekly
      • Horizontal 1 Page Weekly + Notes
      • Vertical Weekly
      • Hourly Planners
      • Categories Weekly
      • Daily Planners
      • Discbound Planners
      • Teacher Planners
      • Planner Roundups
      • Happy Planner (MAMBI)
      • Budget Planners
      • Undated Daily Planners
      • Undated Weekly
    • Planner Index
    • Planner Comparisons
    • Bullet Journal
      • Bullet Journal Reviews
      • Bullet Journal Spreads
      • Bullet Journal Tips
    • Planner pens
    • Highlighters
    • Planner Stickers
    • Digital Planning
    • Household Binder
    • Stationery Shopping
    • Rachael’s Favorites
    • Blogging & Online Business
  • Graphic Design
    • Photoshop Tutorials
    • Affinity Publisher
    • Microsoft Word
    • Microsoft Excel
    • Canva
    • Silhouette Studio
    • PicMonkey
  • SHOP
    • Shop at Etsy
    • Online Store
    • Graphic Design Resources
    • ECOURSES
    • Ebooks
      • 54 Mistakes Etsy Sellers Make (And How to Fix Them)
      • 1200 Blog Post Ideas
        • 1200 Blog Post Ideas (Exclusive Download Content)
      • 200 Blog Post Title Prompts (For Any Type of Blog)
        • 200 Blog Post Title Prompts (Exclusive Download Content)
    • Feedback & Testimonials
    • Planner Supplies (my sister’s shop!)
    • Shop my favorite planner supplies on Amazon
  • Learn
    • ECOURSES
      • Free Graphic Design Video Tutorials Library
      • Printables in Affinity Publisher
      • How to Make Planner Stickers
      • How to Make Printables in Photoshop
      • Printables in Microsoft Word
      • Printables in Microsoft Excel
      • Digital planners and notebooks in Microsoft PowerPoint
      • How to Make Labels in Photoshop
      • Make Patterns in Photoshop
      • Party Printables
      • How to Write Product Descriptions
    • Ebooks
      • 54 Mistakes Etsy Sellers Make (And How to Fix Them)
      • 200 Blog Post Title Prompts (For Any Type of Blog)
      • 1200 Blog Post Ideas
  • FREE
    • FREE Printables
    • Free Printables Library – Subscribers Login
  • Travel
    • Travel Planning
    • Europe
    • Australia & New Zealand
  • About
    • Browse All Posts
    • FAQ
      • What is a Printable? What happens when I purchase a printable from you?
      • Printing Tips
      • Printable Planner Stickers
      • Downloading Files
      • How to Open Zipped File Folders
      • What does EDITABLE mean?
      • Monogram Etiquette

All About Planners

Printable planners to organize your home, business and life!

June 27, 2019

My Favorite Fineliner Pens for Planning & Bullet Journaling

I was originally going to post my top 10 favorite fineliner pens however there are too many good pen brands to choose from!

favorite fineliner pens best fine tip pens for planning rainbow needle tip ghostng bleed through

To enlarge the screen of the video, click the square icon in the bottom right hand corner of the video (it will say ‘full screen’ when you hover your mouse over the icon).

Subscribe to my YouTube channel for more planner videos!

This post contains affiliate links.

There are so many good fineliner pens that I use regularly:

  • The Staedtler Triplus Fineliner 0.3mm
  • Caliart fineliner 0.38mm
  • Papermate Flair UF (Ultra Fine)
  • Stabilo Point 88 fine 0.4mm
  • Inklab Fineliner
  • Sharpie Pen – fine (it’s called the Art Pen even though ‘Art Pen’ isn’t written on the actual pen)
  • Kikki K ‘Make it Precise’ Felt tip
  • Schneider Topliner 967 0.4mm
  • Paperchase fineliner needle tip
  • Kingart Inkline Pen 0.5mm (note that the color of the pen lid doesn’t closely match the color of the actual ink)
  • Dats Fineliner Markers 0.4mm – from Stacks in Australia
  • Monte Marte mini fineliner (0.4mm) – from Stacks in Australia
  • The Craft Stall Fine Line markers 0.8mm – from The Reject Shop in Australia
  • Paperchase sign pen (I like these better than the needle tip)
  • Artline Supreme fine pen
  • Marvy Japan Le Pen

best fine tip pens for planning fineliner review pen ghosting bleed through rainbow

If I had to choose my absolute favorite I’d say:

  • Staedtler Triplus Fineliner 0.3mm (love trip grip pens)
  • Caliart fineliner 0.38mm (very similar to the Triplus but much cheaper)
  • Inklab (which are a cheaper verison of the Papermate Flair and in my opinion, come in nicer colors and write smoother)
  • Schneider Topliner 967 0.4mm (expensive, but very smooth to write with)

best fineliner pens for planning favorite planner pens stationery planner supplies rainbow fine tip cheap versus expensive review

Related: 7 Cheaper alternatives to popular (but expensive) planner supplies

Ghosting & Bleed Through

I’ve found that Fineliners (and ballpoint pens) are the least prone to ghosting and bleed through. Additionally, since you don’t need to apply much pressure to fineliner pens, they typically don’t leave an indent on the back of the page

favorite fineliner pens for planning planner supplies recommendation staedtler triplus fineliner caliart schneider pen testing swatching ghosting bleed through

favorite fineliner pens for planning planner supplies recommendation staedtler triplus fineliner caliart schneider pen testing swatching ghosting bleed through best pens for planning

Related: What type of pens write best on correction tape? (gel pens vs. ballpoint vs. marker pens)

Favorite tip size

Don’t be deterred by the tip size. For gel pens I definitely recommend taking note of this (I prefer 0.7mm), but I find that the fineliners end up looking and writing much the same regardless of their thickness. I normally avoid 0.3mm but the Staedtler Triplus (which are 0.3mm) look like a thicker tip.

See how the Stabilo Point 88 is thinner than the Schneider but they’re both 0.4mm. The Caliart Fineliner is thinner than the Staedtler Triplus yet has a slightly bigger tip size.

favorite fineliner pens for planning planner supplies recommendation staedtler triplus fineliner caliart schneider pen testing swatching ghosting bleed through

How much should you pay for fineliners

Fineliner pens can vary in price quite a lot. From the expensive Marvy Japan Le Pen at $3 per pen… to a 10 pack of fineliners from the cheap shop for $3. Is there a difference in quality? Ask me this question about gel and ballpoint pens and my answer would be yes. But for fineliner, they all write much the same. They do have similar ink colors and some are tri grip etc. So while I do have my absolute favorites, if you can’t afford expensive fineliners, cheap ones will work just fine.

If you don’t need all these colors…

staedtler triplus fineliner pen review color coding best planning pens planner supplies favorite yellow mint teal gel needle tip swatch setup layout diy spread-min

Just buy a cheap shop pen pack with the ‘essential’ colors

dats fineliner marker australia cheaper alternative to staedtler triplus 0.3mm

More pen reviews

  • Color coding and planner decorating: 10 Pen brands that are available in a pack of 20 or more colors
  • How to choose the right planner pens: what to look for when buying planner pens
  • After trying more than 20 pen brands, these are my top 5

Planning tips

  • Favorite dual tip highlighters for planning (roundup) 
  • Minimalist Planner Decorating: Title Ideas for your Bullet Journal 
  • 7 Planner supplies I don’t regret splurging on 

Browse all posts.

Found this post helpful? Pin it!

favorite fineliner pens for planning planner supplies ghosting bleed through pen swatches tips recommendations cheap expensive

You may also be interested in...

  • Rating every pen I own (100+!) (The pens you need… and the pens you don’t)Rating every pen I own (100+!) (The pens you need… and the pens you don’t)
  • Ballpoint versus gel pens: which are better for planning?Ballpoint versus gel pens: which are better for planning?
  • 5 expensive pen brands that are worth the money (I have no regrets for splurging on them!)5 expensive pen brands that are worth the money (I have no regrets for splurging on them!)
  • Bunbougu Pen Haul & Review (online Australian planner pen shop)Bunbougu Pen Haul & Review (online Australian planner pen shop)
  • Favorite places to buy planner pens (online)Favorite places to buy planner pens (online)
  • 3 Pen brands that have lasted more than 3 years3 Pen brands that have lasted more than 3 years

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Posted In: Planner pens · Tagged: best fine tip planner pens, best fineliner pens, best fineliner pens for planning, best pens for planning, best planner pens, favorite fineliner pens, favorite pens for planning, favorite planner pens, pen ghosting, planner pen testing

Comments

  1. Daniel says

    June 28, 2019 at 00:42

    I really like your ideas & think your a mega star???. & Was wondering if you don’t mind what I’m about 2 say, I find that sharpies are great but have a awful smell when used for art?. & Found a cheaper set for five dollars that do the same job???, Thank you very much it’s an honour what I have read just now??????…

    • Rachael says

      July 2, 2019 at 18:16

      Hi Daniel, glad you’ve found my blog helpful.

      The Sharpie’s in this post are the Sharpie Art Pen – they’re completely different to a normal Sharpie. They don’t smell weird and they don’t bleed through the page. They are a fineliner pen, not a marker. I too, dislike the smell of normal sharpies!

Welcome

Welcome to All About Planners! I’m Rachael, a 20-something Aussie addicted to graphic design and all things planning. On the blog you’ll find more than 1,000 posts about all things planning including planner reviews, tips, favorite supplies and some of my past weekly spreads.

Subscribe and join 60,000+ others on the quest to find planner peace!

Follow Me

  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube

Search

Subscribe

free printables library sign up all about planners blog image graphic subscribe

Shop At Etsy

The photos and content on this site are the property of All About Planners. They are not allowed to be used without permission from All About Planners.

Categories

Recent Posts

  • How I make my travel photobooks using Blurb (Detailed Tutorial and Review)
  • My 4th Plum Paper Planners Haul! (weekly and daily planners, financial planner, goals planner)
  • 10 Strategies for tackling your to do list
  • How I Planned a 6 week European Holiday (Plus download my detailed Itinerary)
  • Time and ToDo Planner Review (Unique weekly layout)

Disclaimer

All About Planners is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Popular Posts

  • 50 Tips for writing a better to do list that will make you more productive
  • 130+ functional ideas to use blank notes pages of your planner or an empty notebook
  • How I use Excel to organize all my travel plans (research, itinerary, hotel, tours, bookings, packing list etc.)
  • How I use Excel to Organize a Home Renovation (budget, spending, program, paint colors, contacts, quotes)
  • How I use Excel for organizing recipes, meal planning, food inventory and grocery lists

Printables

  • Learn How to Make Printables
  • How to Make Planner Stickers
  • Resources & Tools I Recommend

Follow Me

  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube
Privacy

Copyright © 2022 All About Planners · Theme by 17th Avenue