Notebooks & Journals
5 Notebooks for Meeting Notes, Ranked on Getting the Page Out
A meeting notebook is judged on two things no journal is: whether a page comes out cleanly for the person who needs it, and whether you can find what was decided three months later.
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The short answer
Buy the Rhodia wirebound pad if your notes leave the room, and the LEUCHTTURM1917 if they stay and get referred back to. Those are the two jobs meeting notes do, and almost no notebook does both. The pad hands a page over cleanly; the hardcover prints page numbers so an index is possible.
How we judged these, before any ranking
This site has not written in any of these books, so the ranking runs on published binding, sheet counts and paper. What makes it a meeting list rather than a notebook list is the order of the criteria: retrieval and detachability come before paper weight, which is the reverse of how notebooks for writers ranks the same shelf.
- Can the page come out cleanly? An action list belongs with the person who owns it, and minutes get filed. A book that has to be torn leaves a ragged edge and wrecks the facing page; a perforated or detachable sheet does not.
- Can you find a decision from three months ago? Printed page numbers and a contents page make an index possible. Without them, retrieval means turning pages until you recognize your own handwriting.
- Does it open flat and stay open? You are writing on a table in front of other people, often one-handed, sometimes on a lap. A book that shuts itself is a meeting-long irritation.
- Does it suit the room? A hardcover reads as considered in a client meeting; a kraft memo book reads as practical in a workshop. Neither is wrong and it is worth choosing deliberately.
- How many meetings does it hold? Sheet count against a realistic week. Four meetings a week at two pages each is roughly 400 pages a year, which rules out more books than people expect.
Deliberately down the list: paper weight. It matters if you write with a fountain pen, and in a meeting most people write with whatever was in the bag. Where a maker publishes a figure it is in the table.
The published specs that decide it
| Notebook | Binding | Pages out cleanly? | Numbered pages? | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rhodia wirebound A5 pad | Wirebound at the top edge | Yes - micro-perforated | No | 80 sheets |
| LEUCHTTURM1917 A5 | Thread bound, opens flat | 8 perforated sheets only | Yes, 251 numbered | 251 pages |
| TUL discbound, Junior | Discbound, 8 discs | Yes - pages lift off the discs | No | 60 sheets, refillable |
| Rhodia spiral A5+ | Spiral, side bound | Yes - 160 detachable pages | No | 160 pages |
| Field Notes 3-pack | Saddle-stitched | No | No | 48 pages per book |
Quick picks
Ranked for the person doing the buying. Every pick names who it is wrong for.
| # | Product | Best for | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Rhodia Wirebound Notepad, A5, Dot Top-wirebound with micro-perforated sheets and a rigid back, which makes it the one on this page you can write on standing up. | A pad, not a notebook | $8.52 - View on Amazon #ad Price as of September 22, 2026. How this is funded |
| 2 |  LEUCHTTURM1917 Medium A5 Dotted Hardcover Notebook 80 gsm paper, 251 numbered pages and a printed contents page, which is why this is the default recommendation in every journaling forum. | The bullet-journal standard | $25.50 - View on Amazon #ad Price as of September 22, 2026. How this is funded |
| 3 |  TUL Discbound Notebook, Junior Size, Leather Cover Eight discs instead of a spine, so pages come out and go back in anywhere - the only construction here that lets you rearrange a finished notebook. | Reordering pages after you have written them | $25.00 - View on Amazon #ad Price as of September 22, 2026. How this is funded |
| 4 |  Rhodia Spiral Notebook, A5+, Ruled A side-spiral book on 80 gsm Clairefontaine with 160 detachable pages, which is the construction to buy when the page has to leave the book. | Pages you intend to remove | |
| 5 |  Field Notes Original Kraft 3-Pack, Ruled Three 48-page memo books on 90 gsm acid-free stock - the only pocket notebook here that states a paper weight at all. | A pocket book that publishes its paper | $12.95 - View on Amazon #ad Price as of September 22, 2026. How this is funded |
1. A pad, not a notebook
Rhodia Wirebound Notepad, A5, Dot
Top-wirebound with micro-perforated sheets and a rigid back, which makes it the one on this page you can write on standing up.
#ad Price as of September 22, 2026. How this is funded
A top-bound pad is a genuinely different object from a side-bound notebook and the difference is where you can use it. The rigid back means it supports itself, so it works on a knee, in a corridor or standing at a bench - which is the same reason clipboards exist.
Micro-perforation is the detail that separates a pad from a notebook with a spiral. The sheet comes away along a clean line rather than a torn edge, so a page handed to somebody else does not look ripped out.
Eighty sheets is not many, and that is correct for the format. A pad is a consumable that gets torn down and replaced, not a book you archive.
| Binding | Wirebound at the top edgeA pad rather than a book - sheets flip up and over rather than turning sideways.Source: Amazon listing - Rhodia Wirebound Notepad, A5, Dot |
|---|---|
| Paper | Clairefontaine 80 g superfine vellumSource: Amazon listing - Rhodia Wirebound Notepad, A5, Dot |
| Sheets | 80, detachable and micro-perforatedSource: Amazon listing - Rhodia Wirebound Notepad, A5, Dot |
| Backing | Ultra rigid back boardThis is what lets it be used without a desk under it.Source: Amazon listing - Rhodia Wirebound Notepad, A5, Dot |
What it does well
- Rigid back means it works with no desk under it.
- Micro-perforated sheets tear off clean rather than ragged.
- Published 80 g Clairefontaine vellum, the same stock class as the brand's notebooks.
What it does not
- Eighty sheets goes quickly if you are not tearing them off.
- A top wire means your hand rests on it at the top of every page.
- Nothing holds the removed sheets - it is a pad, so filing is your problem.
Skip this: if you want to keep what you write in order. A pad is designed to be dismantled; if the notes need to stay bound and in sequence, buy a sewn or spiral notebook instead.
2. The bullet-journal standard
LEUCHTTURM1917 Medium A5 Dotted Hardcover Notebook
80 gsm paper, 251 numbered pages and a printed contents page, which is why this is the default recommendation in every journaling forum.
#ad Price as of September 22, 2026. How this is funded
Numbered pages plus a printed contents page is the whole reason bullet journaling settled on this book. An index needs page numbers, and printing them saves the user writing 251 of them.
80 gsm against the Moleskine Classic's published 70 gsm is a 14 percent difference in paper weight, and it is the difference most people notice as ghosting on the reverse of a page.
Two ribbons is not decoration in a journal that has an index. One marks the index, one marks today.
| Paper weight | 80 gsmSource: Amazon listing - LEUCHTTURM1917 Notebook Hardcover Medium A5, Dotted |
|---|---|
| Pages | 251 numbered pages, with 8 perforated detachable sheetsSource: Amazon listing - LEUCHTTURM1917 Notebook Hardcover Medium A5, Dotted |
| Size | A5, approximately 5.75" x 8.25" (145 x 210 mm)Source: Amazon listing - LEUCHTTURM1917 Notebook Hardcover Medium A5, Dotted |
| Fittings | Blank table of contents, two page markers, gusseted rear pocket, elastic band, archival stickersSource: Amazon listing - LEUCHTTURM1917 Notebook Hardcover Medium A5, Dotted |
| Binding | Thread bound, opens flatSource: Amazon listing - LEUCHTTURM1917 Notebook Hardcover Medium A5, Dotted |
What it does well
- 251 pre-numbered pages and a blank contents page, ready for an index.
- 80 gsm published, the heaviest of the three mainstream hardcovers here.
- Thread bound, so it lies flat from the first page.
What it does not
- Still not fountain-pen-proof; 80 gsm reduces show-through, it does not eliminate it.
- The dot grid is fainter than some users want for straight-line work.
Skip this: if the recipient has never mentioned journaling. A 251-page dotted notebook handed to a non-journaler is 251 blank pages of obligation. See how to pick a journal as a gift.
3. Reordering pages after you have written them
TUL Discbound Notebook, Junior Size, Leather Cover
Eight discs instead of a spine, so pages come out and go back in anywhere - the only construction here that lets you rearrange a finished notebook.
#ad Price as of September 22, 2026. How this is funded
Discbound is the one construction on this page that solves a problem after the fact. Every other notebook fixes the page order when it is manufactured; a disc system lets you pull page 40 out and put it behind page 12 a month later, with no tools and no punch holes tearing.
That makes it the format for anything that gets reorganized - project notes that turn into sections, meeting notes that get filed by client, a planner that needs this month at the front. It is also why it is sold as a system rather than a book: tabs, dividers and refills are the point.
The trade is bulk and cost per page. Eight discs sit proud of the spine so it never lies as flat in a bag as a sewn book, and refills bought over time cost more than the same paper in a bound notebook.
| Binding | Discbound, 8 discsPunched pages slide on and off the discs without tools.Source: Amazon listing - TUL Custom Note-Taking System Discbound Notebook, Junior Size |
|---|---|
| Size | Junior, 5.5" x 8.5"Source: Amazon listing - TUL Custom Note-Taking System Discbound Refill Pages, Junior Size |
| Sheets included | 60, narrow ruledSource: Amazon listing - TUL Custom Note-Taking System Discbound Notebook, Junior Size |
| Refills | Refill pages, tabs, dividers and task pads available separatelySource: Amazon listing - TUL Custom Note-Taking System Discbound Notebook, Junior Size |
| Fittings | Built-in pen loop and business card holderSource: Amazon listing - TUL Custom Note-Taking System Discbound Notebook, Junior Size |
| Paper weight | Not publishedNot stated on either the notebook or the refill listing. For a system sold on customization that is a real gap if you write with anything wet. |
What it does well
- Pages come out and go back in anywhere, without tools.
- Refills, tabs and dividers make it a system rather than a fixed book.
- Pen loop and card holder are built in rather than accessories.
What it does not
- No published paper weight on either the notebook or the refills.
- The discs add bulk and stop it sitting flat in a bag.
- Refills over time cost more per page than a bound notebook.
- Pages can pull off the discs if the book is yanked from a bag by one cover.
Skip this: if you never reorder anything. The entire premium goes on rearranging pages, and if your notes stay in the sequence you wrote them, a sewn notebook is cheaper, flatter and holds more.
4. Pages you intend to remove
Rhodia Spiral Notebook, A5+, Ruled
A side-spiral book on 80 gsm Clairefontaine with 160 detachable pages, which is the construction to buy when the page has to leave the book.
Spiral binding does two things a sewn book cannot: it opens completely flat from the first page, and it folds back on itself so the book takes half the desk. On a small desk or a train table that is the whole argument.
Detachable pages are the other half. A sewn notebook punishes you for removing anything - the facing page loosens and eventually falls out. A spiral book is designed to give pages up, which is why it suits meeting notes you hand over and drafts you file.
The cost is the spiral itself. It catches on bag linings, it flattens if the book is dropped on the wire, and writing on the left-hand page means your hand rests on metal.
| Binding | Spiral, full binding, side boundOpens fully flat and folds back on itself, which no sewn hardcover does.Source: Amazon listing - Rhodia Spiral Notebook A5+ |
|---|---|
| Paper | Clairefontaine 80 g/m2Source: Amazon listing - Rhodia Spiral Notebook A5+ |
| Pages | 160, detachableSource: Amazon listing - Rhodia Spiral Notebook A5+ |
| Size | A5+Slightly larger than standard A5, which is worth knowing if it has to fit a sleeve.Source: Amazon listing - Rhodia Spiral Notebook A5+ |
| Cover | Soft, resistant coated cardSource: Amazon listing - Rhodia Spiral Notebook A5+ |
What it does well
- Opens flat from page one and folds back on itself.
- 160 detachable pages on published 80 gsm Clairefontaine stock.
- Coated card cover shrugs off desk wear better than plain card.
What it does not
- The wire snags in a bag and bends if the book is dropped on it.
- A left-handed writer rests a hand on the spiral on every right-hand page.
- A5+ rather than true A5, so sleeves and covers sized for A5 will not fit.
Skip this: if the notebook is a keepsake. Spiral bindings are working bindings - they are built to give pages up and to be replaced, not to sit on a shelf for twenty years.
5. A pocket book that publishes its paper
Field Notes Original Kraft 3-Pack, Ruled
Three 48-page memo books on 90 gsm acid-free stock - the only pocket notebook here that states a paper weight at all.
#ad Price as of September 22, 2026. How this is funded
Ninety gsm in a pocket notebook is genuinely unusual and it is the entire reason this is the first pick. Pocket books are normally where paper quality goes to die - thin stock, because nobody expects to check. This one publishes the same weight class as the site's top full-size recommendation.
Forty-eight pages per book sounds slight and is the correct size for the format. A pocket notebook is a capture device; it gets filled in a few weeks and replaced, which is why they are sold in threes.
Acid-free matters more here than the page count. These are the notes you transcribe later, and a saddle-stitched book that yellows in a drawer defeats the purpose of having captured anything.
| Paper weight | 60 lb (90 gsm) Finch Opaque, acid freeThe same weight class as the Rhodia Webnotebook, in a book a fraction of the size.Source: Amazon listing - Field Notes Original Kraft 3-Pack |
|---|---|
| Size | 3.5" x 5.5"Source: Amazon listing - Field Notes Original Kraft 3-Pack |
| Pages | 48 per book, ruledThree books in the pack, so 144 pages in total.Source: Amazon listing - Field Notes Original Kraft 3-Pack |
| Printing | Soy-based inkSource: Amazon listing - Field Notes Original Kraft 3-Pack |
What it does well
- 90 gsm published, which no other pocket notebook in this comparison states.
- Acid-free, so a filled book survives being kept.
- Three to a pack, which matches how the format is actually used.
What it does not
- 48 pages goes fast if you write more than a few lines a day.
- Ruled only in this pack - no dot grid option here.
- Saddle-stitched rather than bound, so it will not lie flat when new.
Skip this: if what you want is one book that lasts a year. This is a consumable bought three at a time, and somebody expecting a single durable journal will find it slight. Buy an A5 hardcover instead - see notebooks for writers.
Why a pad beats a notebook for most meetings
The wirebound pad is top-bound, which means it lies flat from the first page without being broken in, and every sheet is micro-perforated so a page of actions comes away with a clean edge. Hand that page across the table and the rest of the pad is untouched.
The rigid back board is the other meeting feature and it is easy to miss: it means you can write standing up, on a lap, or against a wall in a corridor, which is where a surprising share of meeting notes actually get taken.
What a pad cannot do is hold a year. Eighty sheets is a few months of a normal meeting load, and once a sheet is out it is loose paper that needs filing somewhere. That is the trade for the clean hand-over.
When retrieval matters more than detachability
If your notes are the record - what was agreed, who committed to what, which version of the plan won - then finding them later is the whole job, and loose sheets are the wrong format. Printed page numbers and a blank contents page turn a notebook into something searchable by hand.
That is the entire case for the hardcover ranking second here despite giving you only eight detachable sheets. It also opens flat, which the maker publishes, and 251 pages is close to a year at four meetings a week. The full review goes through every published specification.
The discbound middle ground
A discbound system is the one format that does both, in a fashion: pages lift off the discs and go back on anywhere, so notes can be refiled by client or by project after the meeting rather than staying in the order the week happened.
For somebody who runs meetings across several accounts, that reordering is worth more than anything else on this page. The costs are honest ones: the discs add bulk so it never sits as flat in a bag, the maker publishes no paper weight, and a page yanked carelessly can pull off the discs. Notebook types explained compares the bindings in general.
The pocket book is for a different meeting
Corridor conversations, site walks and the two minutes after somebody catches you at your desk are meetings too, and none of them involves sitting down with an A5 hardcover. A pocket book that publishes 90 gsm paper handles those, and three to a pack means one lives in a coat.
Forty-eight pages is a few weeks rather than a year, and nothing detaches. Treat it as capture to be transcribed rather than as the record itself. Pocket notebooks ranks that format properly.
What to skip
- A leather-bound journal. It is the wrong register for most rooms, the pages do not come out, and the good ones cost more than the notes are worth. Save it for journaling.
- Anything under 80 gsm if you use a fountain pen. Meeting-room paper is not the problem here - your own book is. What gsm means has the thresholds.
- A notebook you would be upset to leave behind. Meeting notebooks get left in rooms. Buy one you can replace without feeling it.
- A book with no numbering, if you take minutes. Minutes that cannot be found again are a diary entry, not a record.
Questions people actually ask
What is the best notebook for taking meeting notes?
A top-bound wirebound pad if your notes get handed to other people - every sheet is micro-perforated and it lies flat from page one. A numbered hardcover if the notes are the record and you need to find them again.
Should meeting notes be in a bound notebook or a pad?
A pad if pages leave the room; a bound notebook if they stay. The question is whether your notes are a hand-over or a record - most people know which within a week of trying either.
What size notebook is best for meetings?
A5, about 5.75" x 8.25", is the practical standard: it takes a page of notes, sits beside a laptop and fits in any bag. A pocket book suits corridor conversations rather than sit-down meetings.
How do I find old meeting notes again?
Use a notebook with printed page numbers and a contents page, and index as you go - date, meeting, page. It is the only low-effort retrieval method that works on paper.
How many pages do I need for a year of meetings?
Four meetings a week at two pages each is roughly 400 pages a year. A 251-page hardcover is most of a year; an 80-sheet pad is a few months.