The best Apple Pencil alternatives in September 2023

The three best Apple Pencil alternatives in a row.
(Image credit: Future)

The best Apple Pencil alternatives can help you save some serious money – and offer different style options – whether you're digital artist or frequent notetaker. And while the Apple Pencil 2 reigns supreme for iPad users, especially creatives, we understand that it may not be the right fit for everyone due to its price and features.

That's why we've either tested the Apple Pencil alternatives below ourselves, or picked options based on several hours of reading user reviews, and then compared them to Apple's own options (which we have lots of experience with), to assess the ergonomics, performance and features.

If you do want an Apple Pencil after all, you'll find the best prices in our guide to the best cheap Apple Pencil deals. If you've not fully settled on getting an iPad yet, we'd also recommend reading our guide to the best tablets with a stylus pen. In the meantime, here's our pick of the best Apple Pencil alternatives.

The best Apple Pencil alternatives available

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Beren Neale
Deals Editor

Beren has worked on creative tech magazines and websites at Future Publishing for 13 years. He started this journey as Staff Writer on the digital art magazine ImagineFX, and in 2012 found himself bridging the magazine/website divide as Commissioning Editor on the newly launched Creative Bloq. Since then he took the editor role on ImagineFX, was Launch Editor of the fine art magazine Paint & Draw, moved to Canon Pro Europe website as Deputy Editor, and then edited the graphic design magazine Computer Arts. In 2020 he moved back to Creative Bloq, the biggest global art and design website, and as Deals Editor has applied his expertise in creative tech to help digital creatives get the best deals on the kit that they need and love. Outside of work, Beren likes nothing better than to climb himself a bit of rock.