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.

Mixoo Stylus Pen for Microsoft Surface with 4096 Pressure Mixoo Stylus Pen for Microsoft Surface with 4096 Pressure

iPad Pro (3rd Gen 11" & 12.9"/newer), iPad Air (3rd Gen/newer), iPad (6th & 7th Gen/newer), iPad mini (5th Gen/newer) Versatility refers to how many devices and apps each stylus is compatible with and how many tasks it can complete.

With excellent accuracy and palm rejection technology, this pen gives you almost all the goods at a great price iPad 2018 & 2020, iPad 6th Gen (9.7″), iPad 7th Gen (10.2″), iPad Mini 5th Gen, iPad Air 3rd Gen, iPad Pro (11″/12.9″) 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. Our editorial team researched the current stylus market for the best options to test, investigating more than 60 unique models before buying the selection presented in this review. 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 Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite 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.

Mixoo Stylus Pens for Touch Screens, Stylus Pen for iPad

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. The 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 S Pen seems more limited, working best in Samsung's Notes app. The JamJake works on a wider range of iPad devices but offers fewer features. The S Pen only works with one device, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite. It can complete all of the tasks you'd expect of a stylus and pairs well with Samsung's free Notes app. The S Pen, 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. 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.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 many versatile styluses that work with all capacitive touch screens have limitations with the Samsung Galaxy tablet we tested. They let you take notes in apps like Evernote or navigate the operating system. But they did not register in apps like Fresco. With top-tier technical features, this model offers the most accurate writing and artistic freedom available today

Mixoo Stylus Pen for iPad Pencil, Touchscreen Universal

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.

Conclusion