Leuchtturm1917 vs Moleskine

Both Leuchtturm1917 and Moleskine notebooks have been part of my daily writing for the past 2 years and the differences are subtle but real if you write by hand daily. Numbered pages and a table of contents section at the front distinguish the Leuchtturm until you need to find a specific lecture note from 3 months ago. Suddenly those page numbers save you 10 minutes of flipping. Paper in the Leuchtturm is 80 gsm versus Moleskine's 70 gsm, and the extra weight means fountain pen ink does not ghost through to the other side as badly. Both notebooks have the same approximate dimensions and the same elastic closure, but Leuchtturm has 251 pages to Moleskine's 240 and an extra bookmark ribbon. Moleskine feels slightly more luxurious in the hand because the cover material is smoother and the corners are rounder. Visual identity of the Moleskine — black cover, cream paper, oilcloth band — is more refined than the Leuchtturm's functional-looking cover stock. For class notes the Leuchtturm wins, for sketching and personal writing the Moleskine wins, because each notebook has a character that suits a different type of thinking. Leuchtturm wants to be organized and Moleskine wants to be expressive, and a page-number system versus rounded corners produces that distinction more effectively than any marketing copy could.