| Brand | Pen test / 5 | Construction / 5 | Design / 5 | Value for money / 3 | Sustainability / 5 | Score |
| Koko & Lynn | 4 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 87% |
| Archer & Olive | 5 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 78% |
| Leuchtturm1917 Bullet Journal | 3 | 5* | 5 | 2 | 2 | 74% |
| Notebook Therapy | 4 | 5* | 5 | 3 | 0 | 70% |
| Scribbles that Matter (lost 1 point) | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 65% |
| Dingbats | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 57% |
| Stalogy (1 bonus point) | 3 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 57% |
| Vivid Scribbles | 3 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 57% |
| Traveler’s Company (1 bonus point) | 2 | 3/4 | 3/4 | 1 | 2 | 57% |
Pen Test: 1 point each for no ghosting, no bleed through, no feathering, a dry time for a pigma micron 05 pen of less than 12 seconds, and no show through or page wrinkling due to watercolours and wet inks.
Construction: 1 point each for a spine with no cracking, neat signature attachment, durable covers with no significant marking, inner features all attached including pen loops, elastics, bookmark ribbons and pages, and notebook lays flat.
Design: 1 point each for well aligned dots; features are included; functional eg. dots good colour, pen loop good location etc; original design with strong visual aesthetic; and a choice of covers.
Value for money: 1 point each for a cost less than 19 US cents per page, free shipping, and extras with the notebook such as gifts, inserts or a box.
Sustainability: 1 point each for packaging free of single use plastics, FSC certification, recycled elements, recycled paper, and the brand has an environment policy.
Notes
Koko & Lynn – filled in 6 months as my daily journal. Doesn’t cope with heavy watercolour use, and is on the pricey side compared to non-recycled paper notebooks
Archer & Olive – Two 6 month daily journals and a reading journal. Free shipping only to the lower 48 in the USA, and only sustainable action is paper packing materials and reducing (but not removing all) single use plastics in product packaging
Leuchtturm1917 Bullet Journal – 2/3 full as my content planner (ongoing). Some ghosting, and poor results with watercolour/ink, *glue came through signature stitches causing small tears, but new journal doesn’t have this problem so no point subtracted, free shipping not available, did have FSC paper and an environment policy
Notebook Therapy – filled in 5 months as my daily journal. Smearing over 15 seconds, *spine lost stability but the cover held the journal together so I didn’t subtract a point, no sustainability actions
Scribbles that Matter – board games journal about 3/4 full. Fountain pens feather, weak spine, no sustainability actions. Lost a point as pages bulged past cover edges and quality can be inconsistent between journals.
Dingbats – filled in 6 months as my daily journal. Some ghosting, takes forever for wet inks and watercolours to dry, pages wrinkle, pen loop broke, stays open but dips at the spine, FSC paper and strong approach to the environment
Stalogy – ongoing interstitial journal about 2/3 full. Ghosting and page crinkle, faint dot grid markings, no additional features included, bonus for meeting a specific market niche
Vivid Scribbles – filled in 9 months as my daily journal. Problems with watercolour and feathering, weak spine and cover both cracked after use, cheap and also gift with purchase, no sustainability actions
Travelers Company – used as diet tracker, for morning pages, notes and creative collages. Ghosts, slow to dry and pages crinkle with watercolours, no signatures so construction score reduced, doesn’t lay flat, no dot grid so design score reduced, no features included, achieves low cost if more than 7 inserts used, has FSC paper and an environment policy