How much does your ink cost?
I decided to make my own ink price comparison chart because many others weren't very extensive. They were great for comparing the prices of a certain retailer's inks but didn't include rebottled or obscure inks like Architekt (De Atramentis rebottled) or Louis Vuitton.
The inks are ranked from highest to lowest according to the cents per mL price. Most of the prices are from Goulet Pens with some notable exceptions. Waterman, Parker, and Pelikan Edelstein inks are sold by Goulet, but I chose to use different prices for them because Goulet was either overcharging or selling at one of the best prices which you won't find at many other places. For Sailor Bung Box, I used the prices from Bung Box's Amazon page but excluded the $22 shipping.
If you notice an ink I don't have listed here, please contact me, and I'll update the list.
Table
| Line | Common Price | mL | ¢/mL |
| Louis Vuitton | $52.00 | 50 | $1.04 |
| Sailor Bung Box* | $35.55 | 50 | 71.1¢ |
| S.T. Dupont | $32.50 | 50 | 65¢ |
| Caran d' Ache INKredible | $32.00 | 50 | 64¢ |
| Delta | $18.00 | 30 | 60¢ |
| Pelikan Highlighter | $18.00 | 30 | 60¢ |
| Pilot Iroshizuku | $28.00 | 50 | 56¢ |
| Montblanc Limited Edition | $19.00 | 35 | 54.29¢ |
| J. Herbin 1670 Anniversary | $26.00 | 50 | 52¢ |
| Diamine Registrar's 30mL | $15.50 | 30 | 51.67¢ |
| Sailor Pigmented (Kiwa-Guro and Sei-Boku) | $25.00 | 50 | 50¢ |
| Graf Von Faber Castell Old 62.5mL | $30.00 | 62.5 | 48¢ |
| Montegrapa | $20.00 | 42 | 47.62¢ |
| Kaweco | $14.00 | 30 | 46.67¢ |
| Montblanc Permanent | $28.00 | 60 | 46.67¢ |
| Noodler's 1oz | $13.50 | 30 | 45¢ |
| Pelikan Edelstein | $22.40 | 50 | 44.8¢ |
| Visconti | $17.50 | 40 | 43.75¢ |
| Aurora | $18.00 | 45 | 40¢ |
| Graf Von Faber Castell New 75mL | $30.00 | 75 | 40¢ |
| De Atramentis | $12.95 | 35 | 37¢ |
| Sailor Four Seasons | $18.00 | 50 | 36¢ |
| Stipula | $25.00 | 70 | 35.71¢ |
| Architekt | $12.00 | 35 | 34.29¢ |
| Akkerman | $20.40 | 60 | 34¢ |
| J. Herbin 30mL | $10.00 | 30 | 33.3¢ |
| Platinum 60 mL | $20.00 | 60 | 33.33¢ |
| Diamine Boxed Set (Individual) | $9.00 | 30 | 30¢ |
| Papier Plume Small | $4.50 | 15 | 30¢ |
| Pelikan 4001 30 mL | $9.00 | 30 | 30¢ |
| Diamine Registrar's 100mL | $29.75 | 100 | 29.75¢ |
| Organics Studio $16 | $16.00 | 55 | 29.1¢ |
| Conway Stewart 30mL (Diamine Rebottled) | $8.50 | 30 | 28.33¢ |
| Montblanc Washable | $17.00 | 60 | 28.33¢ |
| Picasso 50mL | $13.50 | 50 | 27¢ |
| Organics Studio $14 | $14.00 | 55 | 25.45¢ |
| Omas | $15.50 | 62 | 25¢ |
| Sailor Jentle (Discontinued) | $12.50 | 50 | 25¢ |
| Levenger | $12.00 | 50 | 24¢ |
| Papier Plume Large | $12.00 | 50 | 24¢ |
| Rohrer and Klingner | $12.00 | 50 | 24¢ |
| Papier Plume Medium | $7.00 | 30 | 23.33¢ |
| J. Herbin 100mL | $22.00 | 100 | 22¢ |
| Kaigelu | $10.99 | 50 | 21.98¢ |
| Organics Studio $12 | $12.00 | 55 | 21.82¢ |
| Franklin Christoph | $12.50 | 59 | 21.19¢ |
| Lamy | $10.50 | 50 | 21¢ |
| Anderson Pens Exclusive Scribal Workshop Inks | $12.50 | 60 | 20.83¢ |
| Noodler's 3oz (More Expensive) | $18.50 | 90 | 20.56¢ |
| Noodler's 4.5 oz (Kung Te Cheng and Whaleman's Sepia) | $27.50 | 135 | 20.37¢ |
| Chesterfield 25mL | $5.00 | 25 | 20¢ |
| Diamine 30mL | $6.00 | 30 | 20¢ |
| FPN Galileo Manuscript Brown | $18.00 | 90 | 20¢ |
| PIlot Namiki | $12.00 | 60 | 20¢ |
| Waterman | $10.00 | 50 | 20¢ |
| Fahrney's Ever-Write (Private Reserve rebottled) | $9.75 | 50 | 19.5¢ |
| Pelikan 4001 62.5 mL | $12.00 | 62.5 | 19.2¢ |
| Sheaffer Skrip | $9.25 | 50 | 18.50¢ |
| Noodler's 4.5 oz (Polar Blue and Year of the Pig) | $24.00 | 135 | 17.78¢ |
| Private Reserve 50 mL | $8.80 | 50 | 17.6¢ |
| Duke 80mL | $13.70 | 80 | 17.13¢ |
| Private Reserve 66mL | $11.00 | 66 | 16.67¢ |
| Scribal Workshop | $5.00 | 30 | 16.67¢ |
| Diamine 80mL | $12.95 | 80 | 16.2¢ |
| Conway Stewart 80mL (Diamine Rebottled) | $12.95 | 80 | 16.19¢ |
| Wahl-Eversharp | $12.95 | 80 | 16.19¢ |
| Chesterfield 50mL | $8.00 | 50 | 16¢ |
| Noodler's 4.5oz (Baystate, Dragon Catfish, and Napalm) | $21.00 | 135 | 15.56¢ |
| Noodler's Blue Ghost | $13.50 | 90 | 15¢ |
| Parker Quink | $9.00 | 60 | 15¢ |
| Noodler's 4.5oz (Most) | $19.00 | 135 | 14.07¢ |
| Monteverde | $12.50 | 90 | 13.89¢ |
| Noodler's 3oz | $12.50 | 90 | 13.89¢ |
| Cross | $8.50 | 62.5 | 13.6¢ |
| FPN Dumas Tulipe Noire | $12.00 | 90 | 13.33¢ |
| Noodler's 4.5 oz (Blue Ghost, Firefly, Black, Polar Brown**) | $18.00 | 135 | 13.33¢ |
| Platinum 30mL† | $4.00 | 30 | 13.33¢ |
| Chesterfield 100 mL | $12.00 | 100 | 12¢ |
| Hero | $5.00 | 60 | 8.33¢ |
| Higgins Fountain Pen India Ink | $4.00 | 74 | 5.41¢ |
| *This price does not include the $22 shipping. | |||
| ** Lexington Gray is also sold at this price. | |||
| † Discontinued |
| Pen Cleaner | Common Price | mL | ¢mL |
| Organics Studios Cuddles' Flushing Aether 2oz | $7 | 59 | 11.86¢ |
| Organics Studios Cuddles' Flushing Aether 110ml | $12 | 110 | 10.91¢ |
| Organics Studios Cuddles' Flushing Aether 8oz | $15 | 237 | 6.33¢ |
| Zeller Writing Co. | $11 | 177 | 6.21¢ |
| J.B.'s Perfect Pen Flush 4oz* | $7.00 | 118 | 5.93¢ |
| J.B.'s Perfect Pen Flush 8oz* | $11.00 | 237 | 4.64¢ |
| Goulet Pen Flush | $11 | 237 | 4.64¢ |
| J.B.'s Perfect Pen Flush 16oz* | $20.00 | 473 | 4.22¢ |
| *Prices were originally $8.95, $12.95, and $26.95 respectively. |
| Discontinued Inks | Common Price | mL | ¢mL |
| Platinum 30mL | $6 | 30 | 20¢ |
This chart, created by a reader Neil, is excellent for visualizing how expensive certain inks are compared to others. As an example, the vast price difference between Louis Vuitton and Chesterfield inks becomes much clearer with this chart than with the table. Thanks, Neil! Visit his Google+ page to see some wonderful Copperplate calligraphy.
Another surprising discovery was how much more expensive or cheaper rebottled inks were compared to the originals. Some of the worst markups included Fahrney's Ever Write (rebottled Private Reserve) and the old formulation of Graf von Faber Castell ink (rebottled Pelikan 4001). There were also some fantastic deals, mainly Chesterfield 100ml and the less impressive Architekt line. Chesterfield Archival Vault in the 100ml size (rebottled Diamine Registrar's Blue-Black) may be the best value of any rebottled ink at less than half the price per ml of the original.
Something else to note is that many inks with low per bottle costs often have high per ml costs. Kaweco, Delta, Pelikan Highlighter, Visconti, Aurora, Montblanc LE, and the Noodler's 1oz inks are all in the top 20 in the cents per ml category but less than $20 per bottle. When you think an ink is a great deal, check the cents per ml price to be sure you actually are. I hope this will prove to be useful to you while shopping for your next ink!
Updates
- 7/30/14
- Updated pricing for J.B.'s Perfect Pen Flush
- Added Franklin Christoph, S.T. Dupont, and FPN exclusive inks to the chart
- 8/1/14
- Added chart courtesy of Neil
- 9/9/14
- Added Kaigelu, Duke, Picasso, Scribal Workshop, Conway Stewart, Wahl-Eversharp, and Anderson Pens Exclusive Scribal Workshop inks
- Updated Platinum 30mL to reflect its discontinuation