Beginner Fountain Pens

Fountain pens to get you started - we've gathered some of the best fountain pens for beginners if you want to try using a fountain pen, but this will be your first. Many of them will be ideal for second or third too, or you may never need another!

We cover quite a range of fountain pens here, perfect for starting out. At the lower end, there are disposable fountain pens, making getting started just as easy as it would be with a simple disposable ballpoint pen. Some, even under £5, are actually refillable, so you can buy more cartridges, and keep using them for a long time.

If you'd rather spend a little more to get a pen with a design you love, and you'll want to keep using and refilling for years, there are plenty of options there too - from £10 to £20 and upwards, there are some really good quality fountain pens that could last a lifetime. They'll use cartridges, and most have the option of adding a converter to use bottled ink, making them really economical to use - perfect for anyone who does a lot of writing.

In general, even the cheapest fountain pens should write well. Once you get to the nicely made refillable pens, there's no reason to think their nibs won't be as good as much more expensive pens. You may want to upgrade at some point to something that looks and feels better to you, but if you're on a budget, don't worry that you're missing out - the Lamy Safari, for example, uses exactly the same nibs as pens costing five times as much, and the same applies to many other brands.