This is meant more as personal reference for myself, but I thought it might be useful to other people too. This isn't a "fountain pen friendly" list, it's a broad nib friendly list. Why? I got tired of seeing brands getting stamps of approval from reviewers who only tested with an EF or F nib. If it won't work with a B nib, is it really fountain pen friendly? I've removed the country section. Post-COVID, there doesn't seem to be any standards anymore when it comes to that. It's no longer possible to gamble and presume a good result based on odds via country of production. At this point, you'll just have to go with reliable brands unless you're really willing to risk it. Brand | Budget | Planner | Notes By BrandExcellent: Tomoe River (Old formula): Very similar to Midori, Tomoe River is very high quality and can take very thick inks without feathering, but paper is thin and easily damaged if not careful, moderate to long dry time depending on the ink, very high amount of sheen visible with inks. Several brands used this paper, including Hobonichi. Now discontinued. Tomoe River (New formula): Hobonichi is switching to the new formula. I received a sample paper with my order for 2023's planners. It feels slightly different, but not in a way that really changes much. It feels slightly smoother. Sheening and shimmering still look great, thick inks hold well. It's not quite as loud as before, which I will miss, but I'm sure many will be happy about. Overall, it's so similar there's really no point in hoarding up whatever's left of the old formula, as some have been doing. This is effectively the same paper. Only someone intentionally looking for differences to nitpick would really care about the very minor changes between the two. Kokuyo THIN PAPER: Tested this out after getting a Jibun Techo Mini Diary for a family planner in addition to my personal A6 Hobonichi Techo and two 5 years. I was curious how this would compare to Tomoe River, as a lot of people online confuse the two. It is very similar, but I would say this is slightly thicker, less noisy, and feels a bit smoother. Tomoe River shows off sheen a bit better, but you still get a lot of sheening on this too. A very pleasant experience. The colors of some of my bolder inks really pop on this! Note, the Jibun Techo Biz uses a different paper than the regular versions. The Biz version uses Kokuyo's MIO paper. Clairefontaine: Paper is very smooth, sheen will show up less, quick drying, very good quality but typically pricey in the USA and online. Midori MD: Has more tooth to it, sheen will be very vibrant on this, slow drying on this paper, a little thinner than most paper, high amount of sheen visible. Can be gotten in white or cream colors. UStyle: Similar in price to Mead, but better with sheening, can handle very thick inks. Yamamoto Ro-Biki: The only recycled paper I've found that works with broad nibs. Minimal sheening, but quick drying. A bit on the toothy side, but not quite as toothy as Midori MD. I wish they carried these in a bigger variety of sizes. Their line is mostly wallet and pocket sized notebooks. TUL: Excellent quality paper and office suitable that will be easier to come by than Clairefontaine and Midori in person if you're in the USA. It's more expensive than UStyle. Good amount of sheen and feedback. Not super silky smooth like Clairefontaine and Rhodia, so if you don't like the super smooth paper types, this may be a better fit for you. Sold in OfficeMax/Office Depot, on the pricier side, but can be gotten at a reasonable price during sales. The note system is similar in style to the Happy Planner, except the paper isn't trash! The extra small papers that can be gotten are good quality, but a warning. Some of the sticker/sticky notes have a different paper sourcing. I haven't tested them, but they likely will be a different quality than everything else in this line. Check the label before buying. West Emory (Vietnam): A relatively cheap brand I've seen at Target. No feathering, a nice amount of tooth, and a decent amount of sheening. Even crisp with a 1.1mm stub. Great for a student on a budget. Lisa Frank/Innovative Designs (Glitter cover+Pink lines): Surprisingly excellent paper! I figured given the huge emphasis on the cover designs, the paper would suffer as a result, but I was very wrong. Found these at Target after my wife pointed them out, and decided to see if the old 90's brand was actually worth a damn. Has a fair amount of tooth to it, and a little sheening is visible. Lines are very crispy, even with a 1.1mm stub. Great for students, or people who like really flashy designs. Vietnam sourcing. Lisa Frank/Innovative Designs (Non-glitter cover+Blue lines) This paper is excellent, but it is "tougher" feeling than the ones with the glittery covers and has less of the smoothness. Sheen shows up a moderate amount, and shimmer is nicely distributed. Paper feels slightly thinner than the fancier covers, but very sturdy. Paper sourcing is Vietnam, same as the other version. Mara-Mi: No sheening, but very crisp lines even with a 1.1mm stub and thick inks. Paper is sourced from Taiwan. Very, very thick, sturdy paper. Designs run feminine to neutral. Some would be office suitable. I would expect this paper to work well with thicker gel pens and markers as well. Paperblanks: I have seen them listed on other FPF lists and I used to buy this brand back in high school well over a decade ago, but I haven't tried them since then. I received one of their blank journals when my dad decided the one my mom bought didn't fit what he planned on using it for. The paper is smooth, no feathering, nothing shows through at all on the back side, and it seems to hold up with heavier inks and with the 1.1mm stub. There's a bit of sheening and shimmer is evenly distributed. It's very good quality, but there are some better options out there for sheening inks. As a journal, this is an excellent choice and is easier to come by in the states than Clairefontaine or Midori. They're in the same price range as the Pacific Giftware notebook I was given and many other "fancy" cover notebooks/journals out there, but Paperblanks actually has the interior quality as well and plenty of fancy designs. They're still pricey for those on a budget, but if you typically splurge on nice diaries, this is a good option that's easy to find in the US. Surprisingly, it's sourced from China. This is the best quality paper I've seen when it comes to Chinese sourced paper. iScholar New York: Sourcing from Brazil. Found these for around $2, and figured at that price I might as well give it a try. No feathering, lines are relatively crisp, but what really amazed me is how much sheening and how well spaced out the shimmer came out. Amongst the "excellent" papers I've tried, most of them still fail specifically at that, and is part of why Tomoe River was so sought after. I didn't expect something costing $2 to end up looking that good. It actually pulled out most of the colors in Emerald of Chivor. Does it look as good as Tomoe River? No, it doesn't and doesn't feel quite as nice, but for $2, this is the best bargain you can get and have your flashier inks come out looking good. Going straight to the budget rec list. Up & Up (Vietnam): Up & Up, Target's paper store brand, comes in paper sourced from the US and Vietnam. The bulk is sourced from the US, with only more "premium" notebooks getting paper from Vietnam. I assumed that like Mead/Five Star, this difference meant that the Vietnam sourced paper was likely better quality, hence the bulk of the notebooks with cheap covers also having the US sourced paper and being the bulk of their stock. These notebooks come in composition style and spiral notebooks. As expected, the paper in this is excellent for broad nibs and thick inks. The sheening could be a lot better. TIt's no old school Tomoe River, but there is a bit of sheen, no feathering, little show-through, and shimmer settles mostly where the ink lays down the thickest. Dry time is acceptable. It's not super quick, but it's no Rhodia ridiculous either. I doubt most would have any issues with smudging ink. At half the cost of Mead/Five-Star and relatively easily available at Target, this is an excellent budget option for students. Artist's Loft Watercolor Paper: I got this for something else, but decided I'd test it out just to see how it faired. This one faired slightly better, on both the more textured side and the smoother side of the paper. The textured side had better results. There was less sheening on this one, and the inks came out slightly darker than usual, but the lines were pretty crisp. Would be best used with non-sheening, non-shimmering inks. Laconic: I would really rank this somewhere between this category and the decent category, but it's closer to this side. It can take very heavy inks just fine, shimmering, sheening, with a B, with a stub. However, I ran into at least two different inks that feathered like crazy with this, Papier Plume's Bayou Nightfall and Diamine's Moon Dust. This was surprising, since many of my other inks didn't do this. Seems like it's more of a formula reaction or something. So, this one is a you'll have to test your inks with it first kind of paper, but it seems the majority of inks will work just fine. Kokuyo Campus: Same issue as Laconic, with the exact same two inks but none of the others I've tried on it. Another you'll just need to test out your inks first. Other than that, for the inks it will work with, it works great no matter the nib size. Maruman Mnemosyne: Feels similar to TUL paper, very "office" feeling. Smooth in a thick printer paper kind of way. Quality was pretty similar to TUL. Nothing spectular like Tomoe River or Midori MD in terms of showing off more subtle details of an ink, but takes ink very well. Very little show through. Decent: Five Star/Mead/ACCO (Vietnam): Little sheen will show up but dries in a decent amount of time, paper sometimes inconsistent. Update: I haven't seen the Vietnam sourced versions from this brand in nearly a year now. I don't know if this is being sold anymore. All I can find now are the awful USA sourced versions. Office Depot Stellar: Very similar in feel and quality to Five Star, but I would rank is slightly better quality, which goes with it's slightly higher price tag. Jane Davenport (Mixed Media): Scratchy paper due to what it is, but no bleeding or feathering, not ideal for writing but might be good for art projects. More Than Magic (Vietnam): Paper feels a little weird to me, it's okay but makes ink look dull. Apica Premium: Not much sheening on this one, and while it can handle a Broad with most inks, it can't handle very thick inks, I would expect a stub nib to feather on this Rhodia: While this is definitely a fountain pen friendly brand, it takes so long to dry and is more expensive than some of the above options that I only purchase it if it's heavily marketed down. Jot (China): I got this expecting it to be the worst out of Jot's options, but it was actually the best. Very decent, no feathering, but no sheen whatsoever. Extremely cheap. ForYouHZ/Hangzhou ForYou Cultural Creative Co: Found on AliExpress, though brand was not listed when bought. The journal I got was themed around The Little Prince with a magnetic piece to close it, various art pages, monthly pages, daily pages, a calendar, a soft cover, and a pop-up piece at the front of the journal. There's several journals in this type on AliExpress in other themes. I assume they're by the same company. I emailed the seller if the journal was fountain pen friendly, and they sent back that is was, but I know in a lot of Asian countries, smaller nibs are typically preferred, so the only real way to know was to buy it. Testing with a B nib, with heavy inks, it feathers just slightly. It's an acceptable level. With dryer inks, it doesn't feather at all. So I can say M nibs and lower should be okay to use regardless of ink type, and it's B nib friendly so long as you don't use a heavy ink. How it looks with dryer ink I would place it in the excellent category, but with really heavy inks, it belongs in the low tier, so I'm placing it here in "decent". I was honestly surprised it did this well. Paper is very thick. It should hold up to gels too, but I don't know if I'd try painting on it. Markings/CR Gibson, LLC (Vietnam): Brand from Walgreens. Mostly good, but there is some paper inconsistency to these, and you will notice a very tiny amount of feathering here and there. The amount is so minimal it would be unnoticeable to anyone unless they were looking for it. Lines overall are pretty smooth though, and a good amount of shading. Not much sheening. For the price, definitely good for things like school notes. This version has slightly thicker paper than the Chinese notebooks by this brand. Markings/CR Gibson, LLC (China): Like a lot of notebook brands, Markings uses multiple paper sources. I expected the Chinese sourcing to be the cheaper quality one, but the Vietnam and Chinese papers are pretty much identical in quality and properties except the Chinese paper is sligthly thinner. The Chinese sourced ones seem to be used on their planner, big divided notebooks, and bullet journal-themed ones, while the Vietnam sourcing seems to go for notepads and general notebooks for this brand. I don't really see any differences between them beyond the ones made in China having better made covers. Both are very budget friendly in price. Good for school notes. Good Office Day: Info says sourced from Vietnam. No feathering, but no sheening and shimmer doesn't spread well. It's alright, a little dull looking but will get the job done. For the price tag, however, there are better B nib friendly notebooks out there in the same range or cheaper. I would suggest to get on sale if considering it. Strathmore 400 series Marker Paper: I bought this for something else, but was curious how it would hold up. Surprisingly well. There is some sheening visible, no feathering, little show through. All the inks I tried on it looked particularly dark compared to how they'd look on other papers. There was some texture to it. While the lines are not blurry, I wouldn't call them particularly crisp either. It's alright, but I wouldn't use it for anything particularly special. Low tier: Kinbor: Brand commonly seen on AliExpress. Makes planners blatantly meant to be knockoffs of the Hobonichi Techo. Paper quality is lacking compared to the real deal. Printed grid lines are much lighter, pages and calendar are unnumbered, and has none of the extra pages, just weird strips of scratch paper at the end. For a broad and a stub, it feathers, though not as much as I expected. It's barely noticeable, but more than that, the ink doesn't look crisp like it does on quality paper. Letters look fuzzy, almost blurring. It would probably be acceptable with an EF or F, and maybe with an M nib. Highlighters didn't fair well, and gel was clean, but very visible on the other side. Would be best for ballpoint and pencil only. It's useable for a B nib, but if I hadn't really wanted the cover, I'd have considered this venture a failure. Jalepeño Paper Co: Paper is made from 100% post-consumer recycled waste, but also made in Vietnam. Given how the quality of paper from that country is not as consistent as it used to be (as what eventually happened with Egyptian paper quality) and the 100% recycled paper, I wasn't sure what to expect. It feathers, though it's near unnoticeable and may not be enough to matter to some. The main issue with the paper is less the near unnoticeable feathering, but the amount of show through on the back is so bad that you can really only use one side of the paper. Which, I mean, then you're kinda just wasting paper anyway. It would likely not feather with an M or lower, certainly not with an EF, but with this amount of show through, does it really matter? It's useable, it's recycled paper, but it's definitely not good paper. If you really want 100% recycled paper that works well, use Yamamoto Ro-Biki instead. Hello Milk: Just the slightest bit of feathering with a B and almost nonexistant with an M, would be none with an EF or F, acceptable enough. Raymay: No feathering but tons of show through and dull ink, with a dark enough ink and a B nib, the back of pages may be near unusable. Gartner Studios: Very light feathering with a B, but really noticeable feather with a 1.1mm stub. No sheening. Would be acceptable with an M or lower. Jot (India): There is just a slight bit of feathering, so faint you wouldn't even notice unless you were really looking for it, no sheening whatsoever. Very cheap to get. Hobonichi Papers: Unlike their planners, the other paper products sold by the company don't use TRP. Hobonichi Papers uses an uncoated paper. It's smooth and very absorbant. Inks dry very quick on it, but there's absolutely no sheening, shimmer will gravitate toward the center of the ink, and you cannot use this paper with heavy inks or a 1.1mm stub. Safe for up to a B nib with dry to moderate inks. Lines are pretty crisp on those. Heavy inks with a B nib look splotchy, and 1.1mm stub feathered. For most inks and pens, it should be fine. Test each ink before regular use. Depending on the ink color, you might be able to use the backside or you might not. There's a lot of show-through. Given this product was aimed more to just quickly jot down on the front side, this likely isn't too much of a concern. Ins style: A brand easy to find on Etsy and Aliexpress. Very light feathering with a B and 1.1mm stub. Would likely not feather with smaller nibs, and isn't too badly noticeable on the bigger nibs. It's too muh for me, but may be acceptable to some. Post It/3M: Made in USA. For sticky notes and US paper sourcing, these worked okay. Lines aren't too crisp, and a thick ink would feather to a very noticeable degree, but it's decent and very readable. Dryer inks would be better for this. No impressive sheening, but good shading. Floor 9 (Sketch, China): Despite both using Chinese paper sourcing, the lined journal and sketchbook had very different paper. I expected, given its more artsy nature, that the sketchbook would fair better, but it feathered more. Still very good for sketching, though, but I wouldn't use any heavy inks in this. The feathering was noticeable, but not so awful as to be unuseable. Pacific Giftware (Presumed China): my mother got me one of their journals for some reason. Journals are black with thick paper and heavy focus on cover art, always a bad sign for paper quality. Their official website mentions quality a lot, but nothing about where their products come from and neither does the product itself. The product doesn't even bare their own name even on the price sticker. I had to back search through images to find them. Another bad sign. As far as I can tell, as all other products of theirs that I've been able to track down are made in China, I am listing this as presumed China sourcing. Ink feathers, but not to an unreadable degree. If used with a dry ink, it might be alright, and possibly fine with an EF or F nib. Given the nearly $20 price tag of these journals, I wouldn't buy one with such low-tier paper unless you really wanted the art on the cover and were largely going to write with some other pen or pencil in it. Much like DesignWorks Ink--the outside covers are well made and beautiful. Nearly all of the production value seems to have just gone into that though. At this price point, you could simply buy a high quality notebook and put it in a notebook cover of your choosing instead. But it is readable. If they were on heavy clearance, it might be worth it. No sheening whatsoever. Nearly no shading. Paper is also coated with something that further degrades quality in spaces. These would probably be best as exclusively pencil sketch journals. HP Papers Office20: No sheening, but no feathering, a very good amount of shading, and shimmer shows up very beautifully. Tested with B and 1.1mm stub with heavy inks. I assume Premium32 will work as well, but haven't tested it yet. Not too pricey and very easy to find in most stores. Dries relatively quickly, but not super fast. Update: Recent buys of this now slightly feather for me, to an unacceptable amount for me. It's readable, but I am revoking its recommendation on my budget list. DesignWorks, Inc (Vietnam): I've discovered that DesignWorks now sells some notebooks with paper sourced from Vietnam. It's a bit better than their China sourced better, but still feathers slightly. Might be alright for M's with dry ink, F's, and EF's, but even dry ink in a B slightly feathers and it definitely can't handle heavy inks with a broad. Floor 9 (Lined, China): I found a few of this brand's notebooks in a Bargain Hunt. Each notebook had a different paper quality/source. As far as I can tell, this brand doesn't seem to really exist anymore. The lined journal with Chinese sourcing faired the best. Feathering was very, very minimal and effectively unnoticeable. I find it acceptable, but there's certainly far better notebooks out there. For what I paid for it, it was alright. No sheening, pretty sturdy paper. Eccolo/Lena+Liam: Very toothy. All inks come down feeling 'dry' on this, even wet inks. Dries fast, but feathers. Dryer inks don't feather to a noticeable degree, but wetter inks will. No sheening. Shimmer clumps together toward the center of ink. It's not terrible looking, but I wouldn't use it for anything beyond jotting down quick notes or to use with a really dry ink as a journal or something else I don't intend to pass on to someone else. It's definitely readable, but at the same price as Lisa Frank and more expensive than Mead, I don't see a reason to buy this except on sale for scrap paper. Sourcing is Vietnam. Covers are "retro", very early 90s and unisex. Kleid Kraft Work Diary: Ability to work with fountain pen ink is entirely dependent upon the ink itself. Iroshizuku and Shikiori stood up a bit better from what I bothered to test, but still didn't work all that great. The paper is nice, but it feels best suited to gel even more than ballpoint and pencil. All fountain pen inks, even if they work "alright", will still have the lines slightly visible from the grid through the writing. On the few non-grid pages in this, the ink actually looks great. It's the way the grid itself is added to the paper that causes the problem. Nice paper, but at least with this style from Kleid, not really great for fountain pens. You can make it work, but I would suggest a thick gel pen instead. I'd imagine the Kraft Memo notebooks would be the same, as they appear to be the same as the Work Diary, minus the calendar pages. Bad: Martha Stewart: Noticeable feathering. It's not the worst I've seen, but it's definitely visible enough to be too much to ignore for regular usage. It's a shame because some of the notebooks the company makes are actually rather neutral (I expected nearly all overtly feminine) and the outside covers are very sturdy. Another sad loss for Vietnamese paper quality though. It really is becoming more hit or miss. Top Flight: This is the worst I've ever seen paper come from Vietnam! This brand and Gartner Studios have made me move my listing of Vietnam as near universally safe to just sometimes safe. As soon as the ink touched the paper, it feathered like nothing I've ever seen before. Awful paper. GreenRoom/MintGreen: GreenRoom is the Target version, MintGreen is what they sell under at Walmart, they're both awful paper quality for anything other than pencil. Recollections: One of Michael's store brands, this one actually used to be okay, but it seems all of Michael's paper is now made with very cheap paper sourced from China and sucks. Studio Oh!: Feathering hell. Rite in Rain: The company has the courtesy to tell you exactly what pens/pencils will work and which will not on the notebook itself, these were made for obviously writing in wet conditions and fountain pen ink in general will not hold up in wet conditions, great brand over all just not for fountain pens. Five Star/Mead/ACCO (USA): These will proudly display their American flag at the bottom to tell you it's shitty, feathering paper. The Vietnam sourced ones are far superior to the American ones. Update: It appears this is now the only version you can find from this company. Since that seems to be the case, I retested the notebooks and they're still awful. Leuchtturm: Overpriced horseshit, I've seen F nibs feather on these. Moleskine: More overpriced horseshit that somehow has even shittier paper than Leuchtturm, from my memory, I recall Moleskine and Leuccturm both used to have better paper quality, they've really gone down hill over the years. The Open House: Heavy feathering. Carolina Pad (Sherbert Collection): Another failure in Vietnam sourcing quality. Heavy feathering. Borders on completely illegible with very wet ink. Carolina Pad (Summer Breeze Collection): Also Vietnam sourcing, but you can feel the paper is much thicker and a little smoother. Still feathered terribly, so it doesn't matter, but it was at least easier to read than the Sherbert notebook. It may be alright with an EF or F and dry ink, maybe even an M, but with a broad there's too much feathering to be acceptable. It's just slightly better paper quality than the Sherbert notebooks in a way that ultimately doesn't matter because it's still terrible. Artist's Loft: Another one of Michael's store brands, this one used to be really good since it was geared more towards artists but all paper supplies by Michael's have gone down hill and use cheap China paper now but are still the same price as before. Field Notes: Why use this fake outdoorsy/manly lifestyle brand when Rite in Rain exists? It's not cheaper than other similar sized pocket notebooks and offers you no extra benefits beyond every Manly blog seeming to sponsor it. Garbage paper. Might work with an EF maybe, but really designed for pencil and taking photos of for your Instagram. DesignWorks, Ink (China): I've had non-fountain pen pens not work great with this, seems to work best with pencil despite having a pretty hefty price tag. All the focus is clearly spent on the very nice, pretty, sturdy covers. The inner pages themselves sometimes have very nice formats and soft, colored lines. But this hardly matters with it being trash paper. If you love writing only in pencil and maybe ballpoint, it'd be alright. I find it hard to justify the price of these when the paper quality negates a large amount of supplies from being used on them. Class Act/Pink Chandelier: Lots of feathering. Denix: Lots of feathering. Shining Polar Bear/Fancy Lobby: Moderate amount of feathering. Office Depot: While the Stellar line is fountain pen friendly, regular Office Depot/OfficeMax notebooks are not and will feather on you, they have different paper sources than the Stellar ones. China vs Vietnam, same situation as Mead/Five Star's two lines. Stellar uses Vietnam and the regular versions use cheap Chinese paper. The Happy Planner: Pretty covers, lots of extras to buy, pretty formats, and absolutely garbage feathering, bleed through hell trash paper. Clearly all the money went into the design and not functionality! Jot (Vietnam): I expected this would be the only one that worked in the lot, and it was the only one that didn't! Another failure as of late from Vietnamese sourced paper. It's not the worst I've seen, but the amount of feathering is enough to bother me. If you were on a tight budget, it may be acceptable, but given that the Chinese and Indian sourced ones are the same price, there's no reason to buy this unless the other two were out. Floor 9 (Sketch+Cover, India): I expected this one, judging from the price and covers, would fair the best, but it faired the worst. Writing feathered to the point of barely being readable and bleed through. Paper quality is very poor compared to the other sketch notebook from this brand. The cover seems to be where all the price and effort went to. It's a pretty cover, though once I got it out of the packaging, the cheap leather smell is pretty powerful. It's definitely real leather, but uh, you can also definitely tell it wasn't acquired in any ethical manner either at this price point and low quality level. The notebook is meant to just be an insert for the pretty cover, but they really put zero effort into this insert. I'll be using it for scratch paper and using the cover for a better notebook. Fringe Studio (Korea): This company has notebooks that come from multiple paper sources. I didn't test the Vietnam sourced sketchbook, as these are a brand I've never heard of and quite expensive. I wasn't able to find much on this company, aside from they make a bullet journal notebook they advertise as fountain pen friendly on K-mart, for some reason. This notebook was listed as a "diary" and also a "planner" in Target's system, but the spiral notebook didn't have any advertising about bullet journaling, so that version may have yet another paper sourcing. This one definitely isn't FPF period. Ink immediately feathered as soon as it touched the paper. My ink also changed to a very strange color I've never seen it shift to on any other paper, and when I wrote with it on some Tomoe River paper afterwards, my pen was still writing strangely for a few lines. The paper is definitely coated in something, and it doesn't agree with fountain pen ink. The effect was very similar to writing in one ink color below another ink color and accidentally pulling some in when crossing over part of a letter on the line above, but lasted much longer. The paper itself, and cover, are both very nice feeling. At this point, I've come to accept fancy/nice covers on notebook in America means shitty paper, unless it's Lisa Frank, and finding anything neutral or masculine that isn't just black/black+red or a school notebook that'll work with a broad nib is next to impossible here. Very disappointing. Wit + Delight: China sourced paper. Feathered terribly. The paper is very nicely formatted and smooth and the outside designs are nice, but definitely not FPF, much less useable for B nibs. With the steep price tags, like DesignWorks, as beautiful as these notebooks are, I can't see a point in buying a pricey notebook I would be greatly limited in what I could write on it with it. Budget RecsMead/Five star/ACCO (Vietnam, typically second cheapest option) Doesn't appear to be available anymore Up & Up (Vietnam, cheaper than Mead, but only available at Target) Jot (China or India) (cheapest option) West Emory (Vietnam, pricier than Mead) Lisa Frank/Innovative Designs (excellent, but pricier than Mead) More Than Magic (Vietnam, decent notebook) UStyle (slightly pricier than Mead) Clairefontaine (price varies by location, multiple types available) TUL (when on sale, office friendly, planners) Office Depot Stellar (during sales) Rhodia (during sales, best for journals, notepads) Mara-Mi (under $10 for very large sized journal/notebook with thick paper) iScholar New York (good for shimmer & sheening inks, cheaper than Mead, hard to find) Kokuyo campus (designed for students, many planner/school focused options) Laconic (many styles under $10, focused toward planners, similar to Midori's TN set-up) Planner RecsBusiness Jibun Techo Biz, Hobonichi Techo HON, Hobonichi English Planner, TUL Weekly Set-up Jibun Techo Diary, TUL, Hobonichi Weeks, Hobonichi Weekly Insert, Hobonichi Cousin, Midori Pocket Diary, Traveler's Weekly Insert Daily Jibun Techo Days, Hobonichi Techo A6, Hobonichi Techo Cousin, Hobonichi 5 Year, Midori MD Diary, TUL Bullet Journaling/Freeform Jibun Techo Idea, Hobonichi Techo Blank, Midori MD Blank & Grid, Traveler's Blank & Dot Grid, Yamamoto Ro-Biki Plain & Dot Grid Notes In light of independent investigations in recent years catching FSC certified sustainable sourced papers coming from companies blatantly disregarding FSC regulations and the FSC doing everything to get these companies recertified, companies paying to have the FSC label printed on products without certification making it to stores, there being no thorough audits from the FSC on their certified forests, no scientific evidence any of the "sustainable" certs out there contributing in any way to helping their areas environmentally, and the FSC itself lobbying for logging regulations to be made more lax in the EU, I am revoking my "better sourced" section. Other certs were already held in less regard than the FSC to start with, so there's no point in referencing any of them either as worth anything. Just with some of the brands on this page, I have already seen shady greenwashing practices outside of just certification issues. Presume all paper products you buy are equally poorly sourced and poorly managed, and stop being a jackass by having pretty notebooks sit around in your house unused. If you buy paper products, USE THEM or give it to someone who will. As it stands, only Yamamoto comes out of this as being worth it for environmental reasons--being good quality FPF and 100% recycled paper. If you have paper you no longer need, please recycle it and keep only the used papers you absolutely want/need to keep, like official forms with seals, records, diaries, and such. You do not need your old high school and college notes, you never did. Quit lying to yourself. All notebooks I buy that I don't end up using after testing them are donated to the thrift store near my old university or gifted to people who will use them. The thrift store usually bundles batches of school supplies together to sell as discounted sets for students on tight budgets in the weeks before each semester starts up. If you have largely unused notebooks you don't need, consider finding somewhere to donate them, whether that is a thrift store, a school, a community center, etc. Do not throw them away. Even if half the pages are missing, there are still people out there who can find uses for them. Outdated planners can be redated.