8 Best Smart Pens and Tablets We've Tried So Far (2023)

Aug 11, 2023

Medea Giordano

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School typically requires taking a lot of notes, whether you're going into ninth grade or college. Typing out notes on a laptop might be faster, but physically writing something down helps you remember and learn more. Putting real pen to paper also just feels good. But having a digital backup is convenient for on-the-go organization and studying.

There are smart pens, notebooks, and tablets made to save digital files of your handwritten notes or drawings. You can save files as PDFs, images, and Word Docs, or transcribe to a text file in Google Docs to make all your notes searchable. Some of these devices can record, too, which is great for lectures and interviews. If your notes need an upgrade, we recommend giving these a try. Be sure to check out our guide to Best Dorm Essentials, as well as our favorite laptop backpacks and totes.

Updated January 2023: We've added the newest Kindle Scribe. We've also updated prices and links throughout.

A smart pen doesn't act alone (at least not yet). You'll also need a special notebook and an accompanying app. An infrared camera near the pen's point tracks your writing strokes. As you write in the notebook, dotted grids plot the pen's movements. You then use a Bluetooth connection or USB port to transfer the files to your computer. Like regular pens, these do also require ink refills eventually.

For now, you won't be able to use your favorite paper notebooks, which is a bummer for those of us with serious notebook feelings. However, at CES 2023 we saw the Nuwa Pen ($279) that promises smart notes on any paper. We'll try it as soon as it's available (hopefully by the summer).

Smart pens can …

★ Remember: You have to keep your pen charged and ready, so you don't run out of battery mid-sentence. The pen will still write, but it won't digitize anything.

The Neo Smartpen M1+ is the thinnest and lightest of all the pens I tried, which makes it feel a bit more like your standard pen and—more importantly—comfortable in your hand. You should be able to find whatever size and style of notebook you need, like spiral-bound college-ruled ones, as well as planners.

The Neo Studio app (available on iPhone and Android) is nice, with an easy-to-navigate notebook system and the ability to search for pages by page number or date. You can change the color of the ink and thickness of the lines right on the page as you go, or you can switch them up later and edit the colors of what you've written. This pen doesn't record audio, but if that's something you want, Neo sells a separate recorder that pairs with the pen.

★ Alternative: The Neo Smartpen Dimo ($59) is the cheapest and uses replaceable batteries instead of a rechargeable one. It isn't compatible with Google Calendar, iCal, or Outlook like our other picks. We haven't tried the Neo Smartpen N2 ($169) yet, and though it looks sleeker, you probably don't need to spend the extra $40.

I find a lot of joy in brand-new notebooks, but there's no doubt that they can be wasteful. Rocketbook makes several reusable notebooks, planners, and accessories like flashcards. Take notes with an erasable Pilot Frixion Pen (one should come with whichever item you buy), scan photos to the Rocketbook app, and erase the whole thing with the damp microfiber cloth. The app is designed to keep everything organized and easily send things off to Google Drive, Evernote, OneNote, and a handful of other options.

The paper isn't as nice to write on as regular paper, but it's made to withstand a damp cloth. Can you write in any notebook with a pencil or erasable pen, take photos, and erase it? Yes absolutely, but that will eventually ruin the integrity of the paper. It all depends on your budget and habits. If I took a ton of notes every day, I'd probably want really good paper, but I like that one notebook can last as long as you take care of it. I stuck with the black pen it came with, but some people buy colorful Frixions for more organized notes.

If you don't mind writing on a screen and have several hundred dollars you can spare, an iPad and Apple Pencil make great options for writing or drawing. Plus, you get all the other conveniences of an iPad. The Apple Pencil is much more precise than the cheap, bulbous-tipped styluses you might be used to.

WIRED writer Jaina Grey uses her 11-inch iPad Pro ($769) with the GoodNotes and Notability apps for her writing, but any of the current iPad lineup should work fine. Our guide explains the differences in depth, but the 2021 iPad ($330) is the best for most people, and it works with the first-gen Pencil and Smart Keyboard. The Mini ($500) and Air ($560) have their own advantages.

Julian Chokkattu

Martin Cizmar

Parker Hall

Julian Chokkattu

For what e-ink tablets will cost you, an iPad is a better deal, but those aren't for everyone. You may not be a fan of Apple's OS or don't want to give your kids more opportunities for distraction when they should be studying. E-ink tablets, like your Kindle, are easier on the eyes and better to use in direct sunlight. Unlike a Kindle, some are designed around taking notes, like the Boox Note Air2 Plus that runs Android 11.

Writing on the Air2 Plus was a dream, and it was so much faster than the e-readers I've tried, so you won't be three sentences behind the rest of the class. As with smart pens, you can create multiple notebooks and save them to Google Docs or DropBox. You can also record while taking notes. There are a bunch of free e-books available too, and you can mark them up as needed.

We also enjoyed using the ReMarkable 2 E Ink tablet. Depending on the bundle you go for, you may end up spending the same, but for the tablet, the basic stylus, and no cover, it's about $378.

Kobo makes some of our favorite e-readers and this combines reading with note-taking. The Elipsa is pricey, but it comes with a stylus that allows you to make up ebooks and compatible PDFs. If you're an English major who has to read multiple books a semester, this might be a great option for you to easily keep track of notes. Plus you can create numerous notebooks like the other tablet here.

Pro tip: You can check out ebooks from your local library for free if you have a library card. If you don't have to hold on to your notes until the end of the year, this could help you save much-needed money in college.

★ A Kindle Alternative: The Kindle Scribe ($340) (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is slightly cheaper than the Kobo, but they work basically the same, with easy-to-use notebook options. We prefer Kindle interfaces, but marking books is actually simpler on the Kobo—with the Kindle, you have to use sticky notes instead of writing directly on the page.

You can take notes with Repaper as easily as with the other items on this list, but I think artists will enjoy easily digitizing their work, especially those just getting started (it's cheaper than an iPad). Repaper uses a tablet and magnetized rings to automatically digitize notes as you work. Any properly sized paper will work—if it's bigger than the tablet, you won't get an accurate digital version—as will any writing utensil that fits a Repaper Ring (it comes with a pencil).

The Repaper Studio app shows your work in real-time if you want it to. That's especially handy if you want to draw directly on the tablet with the included stylus and not use paper or if you're sharing your screen via Zoom for class. If not, you can finish and upload your creation later. You can download sharable time-lapse videos too. It's not without its faults, and I occasionally found it to be buggy when switching between pens, but overall I was impressed.

Julian Chokkattu

Martin Cizmar

Parker Hall

Julian Chokkattu

Moleskine has garnered a devoted following for its classic notebooks and journals, but it has also moved into smart territory. The Smart Writing Set gets you a notebook and pen bundle, so this is the best option for most people starting out. But you can buy the pen on its own, as well as notebooks and planners in various sizes.

The Moleskine Notes 2.0 app (available on iPhone and Android) was easy to use once I settled into it. An older version of the app is available for download, but the 2.0 version is nicer and more streamlined. A pop-up let me know that 2.0 is still a work in progress and I might need to switch back to the older version if my device is having trouble, but my iPhone 11 didn't have any issues.

★ Note: I tried the $149 2018 version, which is no longer available. I haven't tried the 2022 version. They seem identical, but the price has jumped dramatically to $279. There's also a 2016 version still selling for $100 on Amazon, but we think it might be too old at this point, you may end up needing an upgrade sooner than you'd like.

The Livescribe Symphony has all the features you'd expect from a smart pen, but it places a heavier emphasis on the ability to record. There are even Record, Pause, and Stop labels at the bottom of the notebook pages that you can activate just by pressing with your pen—a feature I really liked. However, the app is a bit clunky, and its transcription tool isn't as good as the other picks on this list.

The Symphony doesn't have a power button. Instead, it turns on when the cap is removed and off when the cap is replaced. This is a nice feature, in theory, to make sure you don't forget to turn it on before you start writing. However, the cap easily pops off, which means you risk leaving it turned on and draining the battery.

Parker Hall

Alden Wicker

Gear Team

Adrienne So

Adrienne So

Simon Hill

Julian Chokkattu

Jeremy White

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