The 5 Best Stylus Pens of 2025

Best Stylus Pen Overall

Apple Pencil

Nib: Pencil tip | Devices: iPad Pro 11"/12.9", iPad Air, iPad Mini (gen dependent)

The Second Generation Apple Pencil is a joy. Using it to swirl vibrant, smudge-proof colors across the screen in Adobe Fresco is hypnotic. It's a cinch to pair with your iPad, and a magnetic docking strip on the right stores the pen while charging it, so you never run out of power. You can easily convert your handwriting to text in Notes or use Apple's Scribble feature to have any text field decipher your handwriting. The Pencil soared in our precision writing and drawing tests, and the rigid nib makes it easy to place your lines and shapes right where you want them. Apple touts the Pencil's imperceptible lag, and our testers agree. It also responds to pressure, pooling more “paint” or ink in its wake when you press down and leaving the faintest trace of color with a light touch. The Pencil also allows you to rest your hand on the screen while writing or drawing, featuring excellent palm rejection.

Our main complaints are the high price point and the fact that this stylus only works with newer iPad versions. If funds are a limiting factor, the JamJake Palm Rejection Stylus offers many of the same features but at a significantly lower cost. Apple claims the Pencil is tilt sensitive and that laying the stylus nib over will create broader strokes like a real pencil, but we couldn't get it to work during testing. It's finicky at best. We noticed the nib can also squeak disconcertingly during tasks like rearranging app icons. Still, if you want a top-of-the-line pressure-sensitive stylus pen that is always at the ready (and you have a compatible iPad), the Pencil is the one for you.

Best Budget Choice

JamJake Palm Rejection Stylus

Nib: Pencil tip | Devices: iPad Pro, iPad, iPad Mini, iPad Air (gen dependent)

While it's not as streamlined and sophisticated as the Apple Pencil, it is hard to argue with the value of the JamJake Palm Rejection Stylus. It does almost everything the Pencil does, nearly as well, for a fraction of the price. It's easy to pair with your iPad, and after you set it up, all you have to do is tap the top to turn it on. (That can also make it easy to turn off inadvertently, but we only did that a few times before learning to avoid it.) The pen's palm-rejection technology lets you take advantage of its precision, and we never noticed much of a lag between its tip and the lines or letters we were drawing. All told, the JamJake makes it easy to take clear notes and create detailed artwork.

We noticed this stylus pen lacks pressure sensitivity compared to the Apple Pencil and Adonit Note+. The only way to change the thickness of a line is through the settings of whatever app you're using. That means you can't vary the line thickness within a single stroke, robbing you of the nuance you can achieve with a graphite pencil or premium stylus options. It doesn't magnetically attach to your device either, and it charges with a USB cord. Lastly, it is rigid in a manner that feels harsher than the Pencil and much less forgiving than the Note+. Even the manufacturer recommends using a glass screen protector to reinforce your iPad. Despite these shortcomings, the JamJake offers a killer value for a wider range of iPad devices than the second-generation Pencil. It's an excellent choice for anyone who doesn't need a pressure-sensitive stylus. But if you do, consider the Apple Pencil or Adonit Note+.

Best Value for Basic Performance

Mixoo Capacitive Pen

Nib: Disk and mesh | Devices: Capacitive touch screens*

If you don't need the extra features that an active stylus can provide and just need a tool to navigate your device, the Mixoo Capacitive Pen is a solid option. While the Meko Universal stylus pack offers a better overall value, if you don't need two of them, the Mixoo will do the trick for less. The Mixoo offers two writing tips, a mesh or clear disk nib. Though, without palm-rejecting technology, you can't rest your hand on the screen, which leads to messy writing. Fortunately, the mesh nib provides enough traction to help you write legibly. It works just as well as the other generalist styluses we tested.

Unfortunately, the writing disk of the Mixoo seems fragile. Luckily, it comes with two replacements. Controlling the low-friction plastic disks on the screen was challenging during testing, resulting in less precise drawings and sloppier notes. If precision is a make or break factor, check out the Apple Pencil, which is our top performer in that metric. When using the disk nib, the pen offers a nice rubber grip. Since we usually use the mesh option, we would prefer a nicer grip on that end, too. Bottom line, the Mixoo is a straightforward, low-tech navigation stylus pen for those shopping on a budget.

Best Writing Feel

Adonit Note+

Nib: Flex pencil tip | Devices: iPad Pro, iPad, iPad Mini, iPad Air (gen dependent)

The Adonit Note+ combines a normal-pen feel with a precision nib and excellent features to offer outstanding performance. Both the Apple Pencil and the JamJake are rigid. The Adonit bucks the trend with a softer, replaceable nib that feels more like your favorite ball-point pen. It also gives you a better grip on the screen, giving you more control and resulting in one of the best writing experiences in the test. And you can easily convert your handwriting to text in apps like Evernote or Apple's Notes. It even worked with Apple's Scribble, letting you write in text fields like the Google search bar. Its technical features are top-notch. Palm rejection, pressure and tilt sensitivity, and two programmable shortcut buttons give you a lot of artistic control and convenience, and we didn't notice the lines lagging behind the pen.

Although the palm rejection works across apps, the other three features only work in a handful, and none of them are Adobe. The Note+ will work as a Bluetooth or non-Bluetooth stylus. To take advantage of all of its features, you'll have to sort through Adonit's Recommended Apps webpage and sync it with whatever drawing app you choose. We linked it up with the Concepts drawing app to take advantage of the pressure and tilt sensitivity. Its shading capabilities and depth of color control pulled us right in. We are not thrilled about how easy it is to press the shortcut buttons accidentally. It doesn't improve your handwriting or snap shapes together like a Second Generation Apple Pencil does. Also, you have to plug it in to charge, making it easier to run out of juice than the Pencil, but it's also much more affordable and offers a softer touch. Still, we think it's an exceptional stylus pen if you are flexible about your art apps or already use one that supports the Note+'s most impressive features. But if you want longer battery life and shape snapping, the Apple Pencil may be a better pick.

Best Option for Multiple Devices

Adonit Dash 4

Nib: Flex pencil | Devices: All Apple and Android devices

The Adonit Dash 4 is a unique stylus pen with two modes. If you press the top of the pen once, it turns blue. In this mode, it works with any palm-rejecting iPad (models made in 2018 and more recently). With our 2020 8th generation iPad, it easily converted our handwriting to text in the Pages and Evernote apps. It even worked well with Apple Scribble, letting us write in any text box on the screen. Since we can rest our hand on the screen and the pen itself is comfortable in hand, the writing is tidy and easy to read. Press the top again, and it turns green. In this mode, it will work with any Apple or Android device.

When in green light mode, this stylus is slightly less useful since it loses its palm-rejecting tech. We mostly use it to navigate other devices or make short lists since it's hard to write clearly without touching the screen. Without tilt or pressure sensitivity, the stylus gives you limited artistic options in both modes. It is not our favorite stylus for drawing. But if you want a comfortable option to convert notes to text on a newer iPad model and have a range of other devices, this is an impressive stylus that claims up to 15 hours of writing time. For artwork, we prefer to use a different stylus pen like the Apple Pencil or Adonit Note+.

Compare Products

Compare select up to 5 products to compare

	Score	Product	Price
	89	Apple Pencil Best Stylus Pen Overall	$129
	76	JamJake Palm Rejection Stylus Best Budget Choice	$34
	76	Adonit Note+ Best Writing Feel	$70
	73	Insignia Active	$40
	71	Adonit Dash 4 Best Option for Multiple Devices	$60
	64	Logitech Crayon Digital Pencil	$70
	47	Mixoo Capacitive Pen Best Value for Basic Performance	$11
	47	The Friendly Swede Capacitive 4-in-1	$30
	44	MEKO Universal	$14
	41	Adonit Pro 4 A Luxury	$30
	27	LIBERRWAY 10-Pack	$8

How We Test Stylus Pens

We bought the selection presented in this review; no freebies from PR companies. To test these styluses, we set up an Android Pixel 3a, iPhone SE, iPad Pro 12.9" (4th gen), iPad Pro 10.2" (8th gen) and iPad Pro 10" (7th gen) with three apps — Evernote, Adobe Illustrator Draw (now Adobe Fresco), and Concepts. We also scrolled around the devices for daily use and completed standardized writing and drawing tasks with each stylus on every device they work with. Finally, we passed them around to friends and family to get an array of opinions on performance.

Why Trust GearLab

Our lead stylus pen tester, Tatyana Grechina, is an artist and writer who leans into all sorts of mediums in search of self-expression. With a BFA in Painting and Drawing, Tatyana has realized that to keep up with today's fast-moving fine art world requires tapping into the digital realm as well — from communication and marketing to giving analog art an online presence that can expand its reach. Outside of her own practice, Tatyana works as an editorial manager overseeing numerous writers as well as several companies' marketing and social media strategies.

Stylus pen tester Clark Tate is a writer who has begrudgingly morphed into a typist to keep up with our digital times. From the etiquette of keeping quiet during a conference to the memory benefits of writing with a pen, Clark is a big believer in upholding the legacy of the quill. In today's world, that translates to a stylus. Clark works as a freelance writer and helps environmental nonprofits with their communications. That means constant note-taking, photo editing, and digital artwork to keep websites and social streams compelling.

Analysis and Test Results

A great stylus pen can help you get the most out of your touchscreen devices. They can discreetly take notes in a meeting, create digital art on a whim, or keep your screen clean while navigating quickly and accurately. Below, we discuss the performance of each stylus in each of our testing metrics.

What's the Best Value?

We love the Apple Pencil and would pretty much recommend it every time, except that some darn good options cost so much less. The Adonit Note+ doesn't integrate quite as smoothly into Apple's iPad world, but it's not far behind, feels better in hand, and will save you some serious dough.

The JamJake has an even more tempting price tag, though you lose key features like pressure sensitivity. We also found the Insignia Active to be a pretty good price for what it does. Similar in look and comfort to the JamJake, it glides smoothly across surfaces and has a buttery feel when drawing, complete with great palm rejection. You can also, of course, spend very little to get a passive stylus that will help you navigate your device, jot a note or two, and draw rough (rough) drafts. Of these, we think the Mixoo and Meko options give you the biggest bang for your buck.

Precision

Nearly all of the styluses tested are capable of fine lines and following your pen strokes dutifully. They diverge greatly from there. There are four things to consider when it comes to how precise you can expect your stylus to be — how easy it is to grip, what kind of nib it has, how much lag time there is between your pen stroke the line that follows it, and whether or not you can rest your hand on the touchscreen while you write or draw.

Palm rejection technology is one of our favorite features. It lets you rest your palm on the screen to steady your hand as you scribble away. Six styluses we tested have it, the Apple Pencil, Adonit Note+, Adonit Dash4, JamJake Palm Rejection Stylus, Logitech Crayon Digital Pencil, and the Insignia Active. It's the main reason why they are among our favorites.

Of these, the Apple Pencil earns the highest precision marks. The Pencil has what Apple calls imperceptible lag time between its movements and when the resulting mark appears on the screen. We noticed a similar lack of lag when using the Adonit Note+ and JamJake, but neither is quite as flawless.

The Insignia Active is similarly seamless in delivering traced and deliberate marks, though not quite as sharp when it comes to lag. While it was highly sensitive to all marks, there was some discrepency when it came to making marks and edges meet in drawing or tracing, and depending on what you needed could go a little rogue. We found that this often could be managed, however, with a slower and more intentional approach.

Unlike all of these options, the Adonit Dash 4 and Logitech Crayon do not pair with a device using a Bluetooth connection. Yet they are powered, and actively communicate with the devices they work with. Lag seems to be a function of how well the stylus, application, and tablet communicate. Both of these work well.

Still, the rest of the products in the test, most of which are passive styluses with no power, also displayed very little lag time with the Apple iPad. Some of the same pens lagged significantly when paired with the Samsung Galaxy. The remainder of the precision comes down to nib type and grip. The Apple, JamJake, Logitech Crayon, Adonit Dash 4 and Insignia Active have a rigid pencil-like nib supporting excellent precision. Of them, we like the feel of the Apple Pencil best. The compressible nib on the Adonit Note+ is similar but with a gentler, almost flexible feel. It is our favorite to use by far. All of these pens are easy enough to hold onto.

Our next favorite nib type is the metal mesh versions on the Friendly Swede, Meko, and Mixoo pens. They work similarly to the soft rubber tips on the Libberway options but glide where the rubber tends to drag. They preserve enough friction to help you control your pen strokes and slide out much less often than disk nibs that the Swede, Meko, and Mixxo also employ. These glide with so little friction that penmanship suffers greatly. The Adonit Pro4 has a higher quality disk nib that is easier to use with less lag.

Artwork

Precise lines are essential for a stylus to excel at creating, but art-friendly features are also a big part of the picture. Pam rejection, pressure sensitivity, and tilt sensitivity give you far more control over your creations. Bluetooth styluses like the Apple Pencil, Adonit Note+, and Insignia Active give you all three options.

These styluses provide consistent palm rejection across every app we tested, letting you steady your hand on the screen while you write or draw. Tilt and pressure sensitivity only work with some applications and only when your stylus is paired with them via Bluetooth.

The Insignia Active offers reasonably good pressure and tilt sensitivity, particularly with tools like the brush and pencil, where it provided natural, fluid control and responsive line tracing. However, the performance was inconsistent as sensitivity felt strong initially but became spotty during extended use. The Logitech Crayon and Adonit Dash 4 both provide palm rejection technology with compatible iPads and the Crayon also provides tilt sensitivity.

The Apple Pencil seems to offer pressure sensitivity in the greatest array of apps, including the Adobe Suite. However, we had difficulty getting its tilt sensitivity to work consistently. The Note+ offers both features in several apps but not in Adobe. The Insignia Active had great pressure and tilt sensitivity with some of Adobe's tools, but as mentioned, with others became a bit spotty.

Though we prefer the feel of the Note+, having to learn to navigate the less familiar Concepts app to unlock its best artistic features was disappointing. In the end, the seamless integration of Apple's Pencil with Apple's iPad made it our favorite combination for creating.

Writing Feel

The Note+ provides our favorite writing feel in the test, like a normal, lightweight pen, with a bit of give in its precise tip. The Apple, JamJake, Logitech, Adonit Dash 4 and Insignia Active options also stand out due to their functionality and easy-to-use nature.

Due to their rigid nature, they do squeak on occasion and you may have to get used to the tapping sound. And the JamJake may feel clunky to some. So much so that JamJake recommends adding a glass protector before using it on your device. The Insignia Active is very pleasant in hand, but sometimes so senitive to your every move you almost wish it had a self-correcting feel like the JamJake. To avoid noise, we found our tendency with the Insignia was to lean towards fluid writing like cursive to avoid picking it up and putting it down so much; using print resulted in letters which looked sloppier and less precise.

Of the rest, we like the options with mesh nibs. They are smooth enough to slide but offer enough friction to make them easy to control. The rubber nibs are fine though very imprecise. We found that the disks glide a little too easily. They can feel like you're writing with a Zamboni.

Comfort

A good grip means you can hold onto a stylus. Comfort means you want to. Of these pens, we reached for the Adonit Note+ and Apple Pencil the most. The Pencil feels like one, with no flexibility, while the Note+ feels more like your favorite, easy-rolling pen — though it can feel slippery at times. Both are a very pleasant size and weight. The Adonit Dash 4 is a bit more comfortable to hold than the Note+, with a more pleasant weight, it's just not as functional.

Length and balance also make a big difference. The Meko and Mixoo are both the same length, about the size of a regular pen, and have normal pen proportions and weight. However, the Meko and Mixoo also have some hard ridges that aren't the most comfortable in hand. The JamJake and Insignia Active, on the other hand, are on the thinner side but have a lightweight dexterity that makes task and tool switching fluid and easy. Due to a mostly rounded design which offers one flat surface, they doesn't slide around or roll in the hand. They can also be rotated for comfort depending on if you want the flat side to rest on your thumb, forefinger or middle finger.

What doesn't work as well are styluses like the Liberrway, which are so short and light that they take more work to hold on to. The Logitech Crayon is another interesting option, but its oblong shape makes it awkward to grasp at times.

Versatility

Versatility refers to how many devices and apps each stylus is compatible with and how many tasks it can complete. The Pencil is very versatile within the realm of the most recent iPads. It works with a wide range of apps, though some of its functions don't translate to all. However, it doesn't do anything for anyone outside of the Apple Universe or those with older products.

Similarly, the Adonit Note+ works on a limited array of iPads, and its best features are only available in a narrow range of apps. While it can accomplish many tasks and even works with the iPad's Scribble function, you may have to try a new app to get the most out of the device.

The Adonit Dash 4 offers excellent writing and text conversion on iPads made in 2018 or later and works, with limited capacity, with any Apple or Android device ever made. It's among the most versatile styluses in the test. The Insignia Active also works with most iPads and iPad Pros made since 2018, as well as a variety of programs — as long as they're on an Apple product.

The JamJake works on a wider range of iPad devices but offers fewer features. The Note+, Dash 4, Logitech Crayon, and Pencil all make it easy to convert your handwritten notes into text using the Samsung and Apple Notes apps. The rest of the pens have fewer features and are capable of less. However, they work with all capacitive touch screens, more or less, making them highly versatile. Of these wide-ranging pens, the Friendly Swede is the most versatile since it offers four nib types.

Conclusion

After our extensive testing, we're impressed with the high-tech capabilities of the top-tier stylus pens. We did, however, find a wide range of performance between different models and at different price ranges. We hope that our deep dive into the wild and artful world of styluses has armed you with all the information you need to buy your perfect touchscreen companion.