Apart from the Zebra Mildliners, the highlighter brands I keep gravitating back to are the Stabilo Boss and the Staedtler Textsurfer.

Do you need both brands? No, but I like to use both 🙂

If you’re trying to choose which brand to purchase I hope this post helps you decide!

This post contains affiliate links. If you click one of the links and make a purchase I’ll receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) in exchange for referring you.

Stabilo Boss Highlighters versus Staedtler Textsurfer: which is better?

Here is the criteria I’m going to use to see which highlighter brand is better:

• Ink flow and ease of use
• Color vibrancy and variety of colors
• Ghosting and Bleed through
• Price
• How readily available it is

I did these swatches in one of my Plum Paper notebooks (70 lb. / 104 GSM paper). 160 GSM paper is the optimum if you want no ghosting or 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).

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Ink flow and ease of use

Both the Stabilo Boss and the Staedtler Textsurfer highlight very smoothly. There’s just something about the chisel tip of these highlighters that I can highlight really fast and accurately with them, plus the ink never skips.

Color vibrancy and variety of colors

Stabilo Boss comes in pastel, bold and neon colors. Apart from the Zebra Mildliners I’d say this is the broadest range of colors you can get from one highlighter brand.

I really like their shades of green and blue.

I never used to like pastel colors until I started using the Stabilo Boss highlighters. But I use them quite often now, probably because it’s easier to see the lighter colors over the top of black text.

I’ve done many different color combinations in my weekly spreads using these highlighters.

Beyond the usual colors, Stabilo have branched out into more muted tones (they call them ‘nature colors‘).

Image credit: Amazon

One thing to note though: I’ve found that the Stabilo Boss ink colors are a little off versus the color of the body of the highlighter. I explained this more in the video above, but the color of the body of the highlighter doesn’t always match the color of the ink, especially for their shades of green and if you get the 15 pack that has multiple shades of pink.

The Staedtler Textsurfer colors are rich and vibrant. Because they’re slightly darker color (especially the purple), they are unfortunately prone to more ghosting. It also makes text slightly harder to see what you’ve written.

The Staedtler Textsurfer come in more ‘staple’ highlighter colors that are common among highlighter brands, but they also have grey, brown, teal and black in the larger pack.

Highlighter tip size

Both highlighter brands have a broad (approximately 5mm) chisel tip making it perfect for dot grid paper. I’d love to see a dual tip version so I could write my headings in the same colors so my planner spreads are all coordinated.

Staedtler has some other markers you could use in colors that closely coordinate with their highlighters, but more on that later in this post.

Ghosting and Bleed through

The ink of the Stabilo Boss highlighters pools a bit at the end while the Staedtler Textsurfer does not.

Both brands have ghosting, with the Stabilo Boss being a bit more pronounced due to that ink pooling.

If you don’t want any ghosting, try a 160GSM notebook.

Related post: Testing different pens on different paper thickness (80, 120, 140, 160 and 180 GSM paper)

Also some ghosting for the brighter colors…

How long does the ink last?

I’ve owned both of these highlighter brands for 5+ years and neither have dried out yet.

They’ve lasted a lot longer than most highlighters I’ve purchased. I’d say their quality is on par with the Zebra Mildliners.

Related post: Zebra Mildliner Highlighters review: are they worth the cost?

Price

Price varies depending on where you buy it and if you buy them individually or in a bundle.

I’ve found the Staedtler Textsurfer average around $1.80 per highlighter.

Stabilo Boss comes in slightly cheaper at $1.40 if you buy the mega 15 pack.

Read this next: Highlighters and Printer Ink Smear Testing (The best highlighter brands)

Other things to note

Both highlighters are easy to grip and use, and both highlight very smoothly.

While neither highlighter is a dual tip, the Staedtler Textsurfer comes in a 1-4mm (depending what angle you use) highlighter where the body more closely resembles a pen than a highlighter. I have a similar version to those but the colors are too dark to use as a highlighter. I’ve owned those for 5+ years without the ink drying out, so I assume the highlighter version would last just as long.

Image credit: Amazon

How readily available are these highlighters?

Both brands can be purchased in office supply stores and Amazon, they’re some of the easiest highlighter brands you can find.

Links to Amazon for the Stabilo Boss highlighters

• Stabilo Highlighter BOSS ORIGINAL Pastel 6 pack
• Stabilo Highlighter BOSS ORIGINAL Fluorescent 6 pack
• STABILO – BOSS ORIGINAL Pastel – Highlighter set of 15
• STABILO – BOSS ORIGINAL – Highlighter – ARTY set of 23
• Mix of fluorescent and pastel set of 23
• Boss Nature tone – 6 pack

The Stabilo website advertises a set of 30 highlighters in pantone colors but I’ve searched online and can’t find where to buy them.

Image Credit: Stabilo Boss

Links to Amazon for the Staedtler highlighters

• Textsurfer classic fluorescent 8 pack
• Textsurfer classic pastel 6 pack
• Neon and pastel (all 20 colors)
• Triplus Textsurfer Highlighter, 1-4mm

Officeworks has a 10 pack which includes teal and red (I couldn’t find it on Amazon).

Pack of 10 from Amazon

So which highlighter brand is better?

I like them both but if I had to chose I’d go with the Stabilo Boss. They’re a bit cheaper and there’s plenty of nice colors to choose from. I would get the pastel set of 15 as it’s easier to see your handwriting if you write in black pen.

I also just just wanted to mention the Stabilo Swing Cool highlighters. I’m not that big of a fan of those. The compact design is a great space saver, but the chisel tip is more chunky than the Stabilo Boss. Stick to the Stabilo Boss!

There are so many highlighter brands these days and the colors all tend to be similar. So while I love both of these brands, if they’re out of your price range and you just want the basic colors and don’t need teal, multiple shades of pink etc, then there are plenty of cheaper options on Amazon. If you live in Australia, Officeworks J Burrows brand has some good highlighters, as well as Kmart.

When it comes to stationery I’ve found highlighters to be the one thing you can spend less on and still get some decent ones. If you’re looking to splurge, I’d spend more money on good pens, investing in a row and column stencil or some functional washi tape.

Related post: Highlighter Brands Comparison (And My Favorite Highlighters for Each Brand)

If you rarely use highlighters in your planner, here are some ideas:

• 6 Useful ways to efficiently plan your week using highlighters 
• How to color code bill paying in your planner (7 different ways) 
• Brush pens versus highlighters: which is better for planning?
• 8 Ways to use highlighters for Bullet Journal Spreads
• 4 Similar (and cheaper) alternatives to the Zebra Mildliner Dual Tip Highlighters

More Stationery shopping

• Best Weekly Planners For Under $50 
• Planning 101: Need versus want versus wish list planner supplies
• Favorite planning supplies from Amazon (Gift Guide)

More Planning tips

• 52 Life admin tasks to add to your planner this year
• 10 Things I don’t put in my planner (and why)
• 12 Planner Layout Ideas for Monthly Habit Tracking in Your Bullet Journal

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