9 Best Digital Notebooks, Tablets, and Smart Pens (2025)

Do you take a lot of notes? Whether it’s daily to-do lists, notes for class, or just jotting down the various thoughts in our brains, it’s nice to have somewhere to write everything down. Sure, you could just open your Notes app, but physically writing something down helps you remember and learn more. It also feels nice to stop typing for a minute and get a sensation of analog, while still digitally storing it. If this sounds up your alley, good news: we’ve got the best digital notebooks and more for you.

There are E Ink tablets, smart pens, and notebooks made to save digital files of your handwritten notes or drawings. You can save files as PDFs, images, and Word docs, or transcribe them 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. Our favorite model is the ReMarkable 2 ($399), which has a fantastic screen and paper-like experience, plus a nice range of accessories (including a keyboard folio ($199) if you want the option to type!) My personal favorite is the Amazon Kindle Scribe ($400), which has a great battery life and works well for readers and casual note-takers who don’t need a ton of cloud support or capabilities.

If your notes need an upgrade, we recommend giving these a try. If you’re looking for true paper options, don’t miss our Paper Planners guide, and if you’re looking for more home office upgrades, catch our guides to the Best Work-From-Home Gear, Best Computer Monitors, and Best Mechanical Keyboards.

Some prices have risen for this category in the wake of tariffs’ causing technology prices to rise. Our favorite tablets from ReMarkable won’t raise in price until May 28, so if you want a ReMarkable tablet, now’s the time to shop. Our runner-up from Supernote has gone up a little less than $50, and Kobo also slightly raised its prices, though the $10 increase is pretty minor compared to other increases you could see. We’ll continue to monitor prices and flag if more price changes are to come.

Updated May 2025: We’ve updated this guide with new pricing, as some of our picks have risen in price due to tariffs. We’ve also added details about the next models we’re testing.