Rhodia Notebooks and Pads: A Complete Review

Rhodia is the stationery brand that pen enthusiasts recommend more than any other, and for one reason: the paper. Made on Clairefontaine mills in France, Rhodia paper is among the best writing paper available at any price. If you care about how your words look and feel on the page, Rhodia deserves your attention.

The Paper

Rhodia products use Clairefontaine Velin paper at 90gsm. This paper is:

• Silky smooth. A pen glides across it with almost no friction. The experience is noticeably different from most other papers.
• Fountain pen friendly. Minimal feathering, minimal bleed-through, moderate show-through. The best mainstream paper for fountain pen writing.
• Ink-showcasing. The smooth surface displays ink properties — shading, sheen, color — beautifully. Inks look richer on Rhodia than on rougher papers.
• Color: bright white. Crisp and clean, with a slight cool tone. Contrasts nicely with the warm orange covers.

The paper handles every writing instrument well, but it truly shines with fountain pens and gel pens. If you have been using a Leuchtturm1917 and wish the paper were better, Rhodia is your upgrade.

Product Lines

Rhodia Bloc (Classic Pad)

The iconic orange pad with the stapled top. Available in A7 (pocket), A6, A5, and A4 sizes. Lined, grid, or dot grid. Perforated pages tear cleanly.

Best for: Quick notes, desk pads, testing inks, meeting notes. The simple design and excellent paper make it a workhorse.

Rhodia Webnotebook (Webbie)

A hardcover bound notebook with elastic closure, ribbon bookmark, and back pocket — the features you expect from a journaling notebook. Available in A5, A6, and A4. Lined, dot, or blank.

Best for: Journaling, extended writing, anyone who wants Clairefontaine paper in a bound notebook format. The closest competitor to Leuchtturm1917, with superior paper.

Page count: 192 pages (96 sheets). Fewer than Leuchtturm’s 251 pages.

Rhodia GoalBook

A soft-cover dot-grid notebook with numbered pages, index, and future log pages pre-printed. Designed specifically for bullet journaling.

Best for: Bullet journalers who want better paper than Leuchtturm offers. The GoalBook answers the biggest criticism of Rhodia for bujo: the lack of organizational features.

Rhodia Meeting Book

A wirebound notebook with pre-printed sections for date, attendees, action items, and notes. Available in A5 and A4.

Best for: Professionals who take structured meeting notes and appreciate good paper.

Rhodia DotPad

Dot-grid scratch pads. The dots are lighter and less intrusive than most competitors. Available in multiple sizes.

Best for: Brainstorming, sketching, planning layouts, testing fountain pen inks.

Rhodia vs. Leuchtturm1917

The most common comparison. Here is the honest assessment:

Paper quality: Rhodia wins. The 90gsm Clairefontaine paper handles fountain pens better than Leuchtturm’s 80gsm paper. Less ghosting, less feathering, smoother writing.

Organizational features: Leuchtturm wins (in the classic notebook; the GoalBook narrows the gap). Numbered pages and table of contents are absent from the Webnotebook.

Page count: Leuchtturm wins. 251 pages vs. 192 pages.

Color range: Leuchtturm wins. Rhodia offers fewer cover options.

Build quality: Tie. Both are well-constructed.

Price: Similar. Both retail $20-25 for A5 notebooks.

If paper quality is your priority, choose Rhodia. If organizational features matter more, choose Leuchtturm. If you want both, try the Rhodia GoalBook.

Who Should Use Rhodia

Fountain pen users: Without question. Rhodia paper is the best mainstream fountain pen paper available in a retail notebook.

Ink enthusiasts: If you collect inks and want to see their full color, shading, and sheen potential, Rhodia displays them beautifully.

People who love smooth writing: The Clairefontaine paper creates a gliding sensation that some writers find addictive.

Anyone disappointed by other notebooks’ paper: If you have experienced feathering, bleed-through, or ghosting, Rhodia solves these problems.

The Orange Brand

Rhodia’s signature orange covers are distinctive and divisive — you either love the bright orange or you wish it came in other colors. (The Webnotebook and GoalBook are available in black and other colors, but the classic pad is always orange.)

The orange has become a marker of quality. In stationery circles, pulling out an orange Rhodia pad signals that you take your writing tools seriously.

Final Thoughts

Rhodia does one thing better than almost anyone: paper. If the writing surface is the most important factor in your notebook choice — and for pen enthusiasts, it should be — Rhodia is the standard. Everything else about their products is good to excellent, but the paper is why you buy Rhodia. Once you have written on it, everything else feels like a compromise.