Confession: I have a desk drawer filled with gel pens in a variety of colors (think neon pink, shimmery gold, deep black and beyond). I use them to write birthday cards for my friends and for my weekly to-do list — it is so much more satisfying to cross out your agenda items with the silky smoothness of a gel pen. But as much as I’d love to use these pens more often, the water-based ink is prone to smudging.
Ballpoint pens, on the other hand, use a thicker oil-based ink that dries more quickly. This makes them more practical for everyday tasks like taking notes, or creating weekly grocery lists and writing monthly checks. But is it possible to find a ballpoint pen that writes as smoothly as gel?
To find out, I tested a dozen popular ballpoint pens from brands like Bic, Pilot, Pentel and more. Here are the three that impressed me, ranked.
The best ballpoint pens that write like gel pens
To come up with a list of ballpoint pens that write similarly in smoothness to gel, I tested 12 different options. Out of those, I found three pens that ranked high enough to include on the list below — plus, two honorable mentions.
Honorable mention
In terms of grip, this pen was by far the most comfortable of all that I tried. The circumference of the pen is wide and it has a silicone grip that adds even more girth. When it comes to the actual writing, the pen isn’t as scratchy as the free pens you tend to get at businesses, but I also wouldn’t call it super smooth. The black ink was adequate, but also wasn’t very pigmented.
Honorable mention
I was pleasantly surprised by Bic’s Glide retractable pen. It comes with a rubber stopper on the tip that you have to peel off. Once you do that, though, it takes no time at all for the ink to start flowing and for you to be able to write smoothly. The rubber grip is firm and textured, which made my hand feel secure and steady to write longer notes. In terms of smudging, I noticed some slight feathering, which is why it didn’t receive as high of marks as the others on the list.
3.
This pen was smooth right out of the package; it required no scribbling to get the ink flowing steadily. There was also no smudging and the ink dried very quickly, which is a plus if you’re writing in a small area where your hand may brush the ink as you write — I’m looking at you lefties.
The retractable pen has a rubber grip that is somewhat firm, but squishy enough to provide some relief if you are writing for a while. I also like that this 5–pack comes with different colored pens, so you can switch it up for different occasions.
2.
I used this pen for years as a magazine editor. At a former workplace, each editor had to use a different color pen when marking up a story — my assigned color was purple and this pen was my go-to. I hadn’t used one in a few years when I decided to test this for this story, so I was pleasantly surprised that it was still as smooth as I had remembered. It takes a few strokes to get the ink flowing, but after that, there is no scratchiness.
I find the thin rubber grip to be incredibly comfortable. The lines drawn by the pen are on the thinner side, so if you like a thicker stroke, this may not be the right pick for you.
1.
Meet my new favorite ballpoint pen! I had never heard of this brand but was instantly impressed when the box arrived. This option includes 12 retractable pens, and though they all have black ink, they come in different external colors, including spring-forward shades like dusty pink, light gray and pastel blue. They also have gold accents.
The rubber grip is the most plush of all the pens I tried (after Pilot’s Dr. Grip). In terms of the way it writes, it is incredibly smooth and the ink is a deep, dark black.
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How I picked the smoothest ballpoint pens
What makes a great ballpoint pen has a lot to do with personal preference. “But no one likes a scratchy pen, so getting smoothness right is key,” says Brad Dowdy, founder of the stationery and pen blog and podcast, The Pen Addict.
Since I was specifically looking for ballpoint pens that wrote as smoothly as gel, I prioritized pens that allowed me to write without any scratchiness. I also was looking for something that would be comfortable for jotting notes for an extended period of time. In the end, I tested nearly a dozen pens. Here is what I did to evaluate them:
- Every pen I used was brand new and had never been used before. I also only tested pens that had the same tip width (1mm). According to Dowdy, a 1mm ballpoint is similar to a 0.7mm gel pen in how it writes.
- For each pen, I wrote the name of the pen four times and my name four times on a notepad (the kind you might use to make a to-do list), as well as on card stock (the kind used for birthday, thank you notes and holiday cards).
- I printed the words and tried them in cursive to see how the pen flowed without picking it up from the paper.
After testing the pens, I answered the following five questions, ranking each pen between zero and 10 (zero being the worst, ten being the best).
- How did the pen feel against the paper?
- Did the pen smudge at all?
- Does the ink dry quickly?
- Does the pen feel comfortable in your natural grip position?
- Would you choose this for daily use?
Using the scores given for each question, I totalled the average score that each pen received and used that for the final ranking.
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At NBC Select, we work with experts who have specialized knowledge and authority based on relevant training and/or experience. We also take steps to ensure all expert advice and recommendations are made independently and without undisclosed financial conflicts of interest.
- Brad Dowdy is the founder of the stationery and pen blog and podcast, The Pen Addict
Why trust NBC Select?
I’m a commerce editor at NBC Select and a journalist who regularly covers beauty, home and lifestyle. I have recently reported on vibration plates and red light therapy for hair loss. I’m a big pen lover — I use colorful Sharpies for my to-do lists, gel pens to write cards to loved ones and ballpoint pens for everything else. For this story, I tested a dozen different ballpoint pens.
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