Paper
The best dot grid notebooks
Two numbers decide whether a dot grid suits you, and most makers publish neither. Here is who does.
How this page is funded. Buying through a link here earns us a commission at no extra cost to you. It does not change what we recommend or the order we recommend it in, and we have not hands-on tested these products — see how we choose and the full disclosure.
Dot grid won the notebook argument over the last decade, and for a good reason: it does two jobs that lines and squares each only do one of. The dots guide handwriting the way a ruled line does, and they let you draw a box, a table or a chart without printed lines running through it afterwards.
What almost nobody tells you when selling one is the dot spacing, which is the specification that decides whether the grid suits your handwriting at all.
The two numbers that matter
Dot spacing
5 mm is the effective standard and suits most adult handwriting: it gives you a comfortable line height using every second dot, and a usable one using every dot if you write small.
Spacing that is wider than your natural writing forces you to either write larger than is comfortable or ignore the grid. Spacing narrower than your writing turns the page into visual noise. It is a genuine fit question, and it is why the ranking below rewards the makers who publish a figure.
Paper weight
Exactly as it is everywhere else on this site: 90 gsm and above handles any nib and almost any ink, 80 gsm is workable with a fine nib — and Japanese 80 gsm outperforms European 80 gsm because it is denser and more tightly sized. The GSM guide works through why the same number means different things in different places.
Quick picks
Ranked for the beginner buying their first setup. Every pick names who it is wrong for.
| # | Product | Best for | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No image Maruman Mnemosyne hardcover A5, dot grid 240 pages of published 90 g/m2 Japanese paper in a thread-bound hardcover, with the dot spacing stated too. | A hardcover dot grid with the weight published | Check price on Amazon #ad No live price right now. How this is funded |
| 2 | No image Rhodia Goalbook A5, dotted 90 gsm paper, numbered pages and an index, built specifically for the bullet-journal method. | Bullet journaling with a fountain pen | Check price on Amazon #ad No live price right now. How this is funded |
| 3 | No image Dingbats Wildlife A5, dotted 100 gsm cream paper in a hardcover journal, which is the specification Leuchtturm buyers keep asking for. | Structure plus heavier paper | Check price on Amazon #ad No live price right now. How this is funded |
| 4 | No image Maruman Mnemosyne A5, dot grid The dot grid version of the Mnemosyne, with a published 5 mm dot spacing on published 80 g/m2 Japanese paper. | Dot grid you can tear pages out of | Check price on Amazon #ad No live price right now. How this is funded |
| 5 | No image LEUCHTTURM1917 A5, dotted Numbered pages, a printed index and a pocket, in the notebook that made bullet journaling a thing — but the paper is the thinnest here. | Structure, if your ink is well behaved | Check price on Amazon #ad No live price right now. How this is funded |
| 6 | No image Rhodia No. 16 dot pad, A5 A stapled pad of the same paper as the notebooks, cheap enough that ruining a page costs nothing. | Drafting, testing inks and throwing pages away | Check price on Amazon #ad No live price right now. How this is funded |
1. A hardcover dot grid with the weight published
Maruman Mnemosyne hardcover A5, dot grid
240 pages of published 90 g/m2 Japanese paper in a thread-bound hardcover, with the dot spacing stated too.
#ad No live price right now. How this is funded
This is the notebook that answers the most common complaint about the structured-journal category: it publishes 90 g/m2, which is comfortably above what a wet nib needs, and it states the dot spacing as well.
Japanese 90 gsm is dense and tightly sized, so it sits at the top of what this site can recommend on published figures alone rather than on reputation.
What it does not have is numbered pages or a printed index. If you want a bullet-journal system out of the box, that is a different purchase.
| Paper weight | 90 g/m2, acid-freeSource: Maruman Mnemosyne hardcover A5 dot grid (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
|---|---|
| Ruling | 5 mm dot gridSource: Maruman Mnemosyne hardcover A5 dot grid (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
| Extent | 120 sheets (240 pages), A5Source: Maruman Mnemosyne hardcover A5 dot grid (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
| Binding | Thread-bound hardcover, with a bookmark and elastic closureSource: Maruman Mnemosyne hardcover A5 dot grid (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
What it does well
- Published 90 g/m2 and a published 5 mm dot spacing
- 240 pages, thread-bound, with a bookmark and elastic
- Hardcover that survives a bag
What it does not
- No numbered pages or index
- Heavier and thicker than the spiral version
- Less widely stocked than the market leaders
Skip this if you want numbered pages and a printed index — buy a Goalbook or a Dingbats instead and accept their paper.
2. Bullet journaling with a fountain pen
Rhodia Goalbook A5, dotted
90 gsm paper, numbered pages and an index, built specifically for the bullet-journal method.
#ad No live price right now. How this is funded
The Goalbook is the one Rhodia book that publishes its paper weight, which is why it anchors our GSM guide. 90 gsm coated is comfortably enough for a wet fountain pen.
Numbered pages and a blank index are the structural half of the bullet-journal method, and having them printed saves an hour of setup.
It is a large, heavy book. That is fine on a desk and less fine in a jacket pocket.
| Paper weight | 90 gsmSource: Rhodia Goalbook A5 (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
|---|---|
| Maker's claim | Fountain pen friendly, with no bleed-through and minimal ghostingThe maker's own wording on its listing. We have not tested it.Source: Rhodia Goalbook A5 (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
| Size and ruling | A5, dottedSource: Rhodia Goalbook A5 (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
| Designed for | Bullet-style journalingSource: Rhodia Goalbook A5 (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
What it does well
- Weight is published, and it is enough for a wet nib
- Numbered pages and index printed in
- Coated Clairefontaine-group paper
What it does not
- Heavy
- Slow drying
- Costs more than an unbranded dotted notebook
Skip this if you do not use a page-numbered system — you are paying for structure you will not use.
3. Structure plus heavier paper
Dingbats Wildlife A5, dotted
100 gsm cream paper in a hardcover journal, which is the specification Leuchtturm buyers keep asking for.
#ad No live price right now. How this is funded
100 gsm is the number that removes the argument. At that weight a wet medium nib is comfortable and a broad is workable, which is not true of the 70-80 gsm books this competes against.
The format copies the structured-journal template closely — hardcover, elastic, pocket, ribbon — so you are not trading features for the paper.
Cream paper warms every ink slightly. If you have chosen a color carefully, it will not look the same here as on white.
| Paper weight | 100 gsm, acid-free, creamSource: Dingbats Wildlife A5 (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
|---|---|
| Maker's claim | Made for fountain pens, gel ink and markers; outperforms standard 70-80 gsm paperThe maker's own wording on its listing.Source: Dingbats Wildlife A5 (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
| Format | A5, dot grid, vegan leather hardcoverSource: Dingbats Wildlife A5 (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
| Extras | Inside pocket, elastic closure, bookmarkSource: Dingbats Wildlife A5 (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
What it does well
- Published 100 gsm, comfortably above the fountain pen threshold
- All the structured-journal features
- Coated cover survives a bag
What it does not
- Cream paper shifts ink colors
- Heavier and thicker than a comparable 80 gsm book
- Less widely stocked than the market leader
Skip this if you want ink colors to read true — buy a white-paper notebook instead.
4. Dot grid you can tear pages out of
Maruman Mnemosyne A5, dot grid
The dot grid version of the Mnemosyne, with a published 5 mm dot spacing on published 80 g/m2 Japanese paper.
#ad No live price right now. How this is funded
Maruman publishes both numbers that matter for a dot grid notebook: the paper weight and the dot spacing. Very few makers state the spacing at all, which is odd given that it is the single thing that decides whether the grid suits your handwriting.
5 mm is the common standard and suits most adult handwriting. If you write small, it gives you two dots per line of text to work with.
The wire binding folds completely back on itself, which makes this the dot grid to use on a train or a knee rather than the one to keep on a shelf.
| Ruling | 5 mm dot gridSource: Maruman Mnemosyne A5 dot grid (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
|---|---|
| Paper weight | 80 g/m2, acid-freeSource: Maruman Mnemosyne A5 dot grid (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
| Extent | 80 sheets (160 pages), A5Source: Maruman Mnemosyne A5 dot grid (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
| Binding | Twin-wire spiralSource: Maruman Mnemosyne A5 dot grid (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
What it does well
- Both the paper weight and the dot spacing are published
- Folds completely flat and completely back
- Perforated for clean tear-out
What it does not
- Wire binding is bulky in a bag
- 80 gsm is the floor for a wet nib
- Not a book you would archive
Skip this if you want a permanent journal — a spiral pad sheds pages by design, which is the point of it.
5. Structure, if your ink is well behaved
LEUCHTTURM1917 A5, dotted
Numbered pages, a printed index and a pocket, in the notebook that made bullet journaling a thing — but the paper is the thinnest here.
#ad No live price right now. How this is funded
The structure is genuinely excellent: numbered pages, an index you fill in yourself, two ribbons and a pocket. Nothing else at this price is as well organized out of the box.
The paper is the argument against. Read the buyer feedback on the maker's own listing and it splits down the middle on bleed-through — which is exactly what happens when paper is adequate for a dry nib and marginal for a wet one.
If you write with a fine nib and a dry ink, this is a fine book. If you have just bought a broad nib and a wet blue, it is the wrong one.
| Extent | 251 numbered pages, A5, dottedSource: LEUCHTTURM1917 A5, dotted (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
|---|---|
| Maker's claim | Acid-free and ink-proof paperThe maker's own wording. Buyer feedback on the same listing is openly split on bleed-through, which is why we do not repeat the claim as a finding.Source: LEUCHTTURM1917 A5, dotted (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
| Paper weight | Not publishedThe US listing for this edition does not state a gsm figure. We do not fill it in from a comparison chart. |
| Extras | Blank table of contents, expandable pocket inside the back coverSource: LEUCHTTURM1917 A5, dotted (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
What it does well
- Numbered pages and printed index
- Hardcover with a pocket and two ribbons
- The most widely stocked structured notebook
What it does not
- No published paper weight on the US listing
- Bleed-through reports are genuinely split
- Costs as much as notebooks with better paper
Skip this if you write with a broad nib or a wet ink — pair the structure you want with paper that can take it.
6. Drafting, testing inks and throwing pages away
Rhodia No. 16 dot pad, A5
A stapled pad of the same paper as the notebooks, cheap enough that ruining a page costs nothing.
#ad No live price right now. How this is funded
A pad is the right first purchase for testing. You can write the same sentence with four inks, compare the show-through on the back, and bin the page without guilt.
It is the same paper family as the hardcover books, so what you learn on the pad transfers.
Perforated pages tear out cleanly, which makes it the natural notepad for anything you intend to hand to somebody.
| Size | A5, 6" x 8 1/4"Source: Rhodia No16 A5 dot pad (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
|---|---|
| Ruling | Dot gridSource: Rhodia No16 A5 dot pad (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
| Paper weight | Not published |
| Binding | Head-stapled pad with a micro-perforated tear lineSource: Rhodia No16 A5 dot pad, black (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
What it does well
- Cheapest way to try good paper
- Micro-perforated for clean tear-out
- Same coated paper family as the books
What it does not
- Not a permanent record — pages come loose
- No published paper weight
- The orange cover is not to everyone's taste
Skip this if you want a journal you will keep — a stapled pad is a working surface, not an archive.
Who publishes what
| Notebook | Paper weight | Dot spacing |
|---|---|---|
| Maruman Mnemosyne hardcover A5 | 90 g/m2 | 5 mm |
| Maruman Mnemosyne spiral A5 | 80 g/m2 | 5 mm |
| Rhodia Goalbook | 90 gsm | Not published |
| Dingbats Wildlife | 100 gsm | Not published |
| LEUCHTTURM1917 A5 | Not published on the US listing | Not published |
| Rhodia No. 16 pad | Not published | Not published |
Two of six publish both numbers, and both of those are Maruman. That is the finding, and it is why a Japanese spiral notebook most people have never heard of tops a list against far better-known books.
Dot grid against the alternatives
| Ruling | Good for | Bad for |
|---|---|---|
| Dot grid | Mixed prose and structure; diagrams; photographs of pages | Nothing much — it is the flexible default |
| Lined | Pure prose, fastest to write on | Anything you want to draw a box around |
| Grid / squared | Diagrams, tables, technical notes | Long prose — the lines compete with the text |
| Blank | Drawing and sketching | Keeping handwriting straight |
The one genuine advantage worth naming: dots effectively disappear in a photograph, where printed lines do not. If you share pages, that is decisive.
What ruling does not change
How the ink behaves. Feathering, bleed-through and ghosting are properties of the paper's weight, sizing and coating — a dot grid page and a lined page from the same notebook behave identically. The bleed, ghosting and feathering guide separates the three.
So choose the ruling on how you work, and choose the notebook on the paper. Those are two separate decisions and treating them as one is how people end up with a beautiful grid on a page that will not hold ink.
Binding, briefly
- Hardcover, thread-bound — the journal you keep. The Mnemosyne hardcover and the Goalbook are both this.
- Twin-wire spiral — folds completely back on itself, so it works on a train or a knee. Bulky in a bag, and it sheds pages by design.
- Stapled pad — the cheapest way to try a paper, and the right surface for testing an ink before you commit a notebook to it.
If you want numbered pages and a printed index on top of the dot grid, that narrows the field considerably — see bullet journaling with a fountain pen, which covers the structure question directly.
Questions people actually ask
What is the best dot grid notebook for fountain pens?
On published figures, the Maruman Mnemosyne hardcover A5: 90 g/m2 Japanese paper and a stated 5 mm dot spacing. Very few makers publish both numbers, and those two are what decide the fit.
What dot spacing is standard?
5 mm, which suits most adult handwriting. Wider spacing forces you to write larger than is comfortable; narrower spacing makes the page visually noisy. Most makers do not publish the figure at all.
Is dot grid better than lined for fountain pens?
The ruling does not change how ink behaves — that is the paper's weight, sizing and coating. Dot grid is more flexible because it guides writing without printing lines through a diagram, and it disappears in photographs.
What GSM should a dot grid notebook be?
90 gsm and above handles any nib and almost any ink. 80 gsm works with a fine nib, particularly Japanese 80 gsm, which is denser than European stock of the same weight.
Which dot grid notebooks have numbered pages?
The Rhodia Goalbook, the LEUCHTTURM1917 and the Dingbats Wildlife. The Maruman books do not, which is the trade for their published paper specifications.
Sources
- Maruman Mnemosyne hardcover A5 dot grid — 90 g/m2, 5 mm (retail listing, read 2026-09-01)
- Maruman Mnemosyne spiral A5 dot grid — 80 g/m2, 5 mm (retail listing, read 2026-09-01)
- Rhodia Goalbook A5 — 90 gsm (retail listing, read 2026-09-01)
- Dingbats Wildlife A5 — 100 gsm (retail listing, read 2026-09-01)
- LEUCHTTURM1917 A5, dotted (retail listing, read 2026-09-01)
- Rhodia No16 A5 dot pad (retail listing, read 2026-09-01)