The 4 Best Pencils for Writing and Schoolwork of 2025

This is not a comprehensive list of all the pencils we’ve tested. We’ve culled any pencils that are discontinued or do not meet our latest requirements.

The Amazon Basics Woodcased #2 Pencil was one of the cheapest we considered, but its lead was hard and grainy (it was one of the worst performers in our testers’ averaged rankings for writing ability). It also fared poorly in comfort, erasing, and sharpening.

The Arteza #2 HB Wood Pencil was on the cheaper side, and it also fared pretty well overall in our testing — ranking just after our upgrade pick in writing ability and middling in comfort and sharpening. Unfortunately, its eraser performed worse than that of every other pencil we tested: One tester wrote “didn’t erase” and “felt rubbery” in their feedback, and another wrote “doesn’t erase much and also sheds.”

The Dixon Ticonderoga Black Wood-Cased Pencil has one of the best erasers of any pencil we tested, but it performed much worse than its yellow twin (our budget pick) in writing ability. One tester said this pencil’s “lead was too hard and sticky, causing me to have to use more force to write.”

The Dixon Ticonderoga Tri-Conderoga has a triangular barrel that’s painted matte black, which makes it easier to grip than many pencils we tested. However, it’s slightly thicker than most pencils, so you need a large-hole pencil sharpener (one is included in the box, but unlike our favorite handheld sharpener it’s fiddly to use and lacks a built-in compartment for pencil shavings).

The Dixon Ticonderoga Tri-Write Wood-Cased Pencil is one of just three triangular pencils we’ve tried, and it’s easily the cheapest. It’s not especially grippy, though, and three panelists called it out as the least comfortable pencil to hold and write with among those tested.

The Madisi Wood-Cased #2 HB Pencil is one of the cheapest pencils we considered, but it’s also the absolute worst pencil we tested in pretty much every way. Our testers found it lightweight and unwieldy, which made it difficult and uncomfortable to write with.

The Musgrave Pencil Company Ceres 909, Musgrave Pencil Company Harvest 320 #2 Pencil, and Musgrave Pencil Company Unigraph 1200 HB Tipped were good all-around performers in our testing, but they’re typically a little pricier than our top pick. Also, since they’re made of basswood instead of incense cedar, they could be more prone to splintering and other imperfections.

The Musgrave Pencil Company Tennessee Red Pencil has an unpainted, lightly varnished barrel made of red cedar wood—which has a warmer color than incense cedar and emits an even more camphoraceous smell when sharpened — and it performed well in all areas of our testing. However, at the time of publication, it costs more than a dollar per pencil, and it’s unavailable to buy in bulk.

The Musgrave Pencil Company Tennessee Round is made of red cedar wood, and it has a clear varnish that shows off the wood’s natural grain and coloring. However, it’s on the pricier side, costing $1.25 per pencil at this writing, and isn’t available in bulk. Plus, its round barrel makes it more apt to roll off a desk or table.

The Musgrave Pencil Company Unigraph 1200 HB Tipped comes in numerous hardness options and can be either tipped (with an eraser) or untipped (no eraser). However, Musgrave doesn’t list a wood type, and this pencil isn’t sold in bulk. Also, though it costs only 52 cents per pencil at this writing, it performed no better than even cheaper models in our testing.

The Notsu All Black #2 is aesthetically interesting — in addition to a black-painted body and ferrule, the wood and eraser are also dyed black — and it comes in a narrow cardboard box that holds four pencils and is easy to stow in a bag. However, it’s pricey at $2.50 per pencil at this writing, and it isn’t sold in bulk. Plus, we found the lead scratchy and unpleasant to write with.

The Palomino Blue Eraser-Tipped HB Pencil and the Palomino Orange Eraser-Tipped HB Pencil look similar to the Palomino Golden Bear USA Blue and Palomino Golden Bear USA Orange, respectively. However, they cost much more, and they’re not sold in bulk.

The Staedtler Norica Pencil (Blue) is one of the most expensive pencils we tested as well as one of the worst performers. It scored about the same as the cheapest pencils we tested (the Amazon Basics and Madisi pencils) in writing ability.

The USA Gold Classic Wood Pencil gave our budget pick a run for its money — it was slightly more comfortable to grasp and write with, and it’s usually a few cents cheaper. However, our testers didn’t rank it quite as highly in their writing-ability comparisons, and the paint on its barrel was really flaky.

This article was edited by Ben Keough and Erica Ogg.