Anyone considering an e-ink writing tablet has already accepted the strange part of the proposition: paying several hundred for a device that does less than the phone in your pocket. The appeal is exactly that. No notifications, no browser, no colour, nothing to do but write. (Disclosure: we make a notes app, Clair Mind. Referee only.)
Having accepted that, the choice usually comes down to these two, and they disagree about how far the restraint should go.
At a glance
| reMarkable | Supernote | |
|---|---|---|
| Philosophy | Radical minimalism | Minimal, but feature-complete |
| Writing feel | Excellent — the benchmark | Excellent, different texture |
| Nib wear | Consumable, replaced periodically | Ceramic nib, essentially no wear |
| Repairability | Limited | A selling point — user-replaceable parts |
| Handwriting search | Yes | Yes, with strong in-document navigation |
| Linking notes | Limited | Yes — internal links, keywords, digest pages |
| Reading | PDF and ePub, clean | PDF and ePub, plus more format handling |
| Subscription | Optional Connect tier for cloud features | No subscription for core sync |
| Ecosystem | Polished apps, wide recognition | Smaller, more enthusiast-driven |
Both companies iterate and reprice; check the vendors before buying.
What reMarkable is selling
Restraint, executed well. The writing latency and paper texture are the reference point everyone else is measured against, the industrial design is excellent, and the software deliberately refuses features. There is no app store, no email, no distraction — it is closer to a paper notebook that syncs than to a tablet.
That refusal is the product. If your problem is that every device you own interrupts you, a machine that structurally cannot is worth real money. See deep work.
The costs are equally clear. Organisation is shallow — folders and tags, not a system. Nibs are consumables and wear noticeably. Some cloud features sit behind an optional subscription, which irritates people who paid a premium hardware price. And the device is deliberately bad at anything except writing and reading, which is fine until you want one thing more.
What Supernote is selling
The same category with a different temperament: keep the calm, but do not refuse features that a notebook would obviously want.
The concrete differences matter more than spec sheets suggest. The ceramic nib does not wear down, removing a recurring cost and annoyance. Repairability is unusually good for modern hardware — the company designs for user-replaceable components, which is either irrelevant to you or a decisive argument, depending on how you feel about disposable electronics.
The software is more capable in the ways a heavy note-taker notices: internal links between pages, keyword marking, and digest pages that collect your starred sections across notebooks. For anyone whose notebooks need to be navigated rather than just filled, that is a real gap over reMarkable. It is the closest an e-ink device gets to maps of content.
The trade is polish and reach. The ecosystem is smaller, the apps and desktop story are less refined, and support and accessories are thinner outside the enthusiast community.
The question that decides it
Do you want a notebook, or a notebook system?
If you write, then read it back and eventually archive it, reMarkable's simplicity is a feature and the fewer options the better.
If your notebooks accumulate into something you need to search, link and revisit over years, Supernote's extra machinery earns its place.
The uncomfortable third option
For most people the honest answer is an iPad, and it is worth saying plainly. An iPad with an Apple Pencil writes nearly as well, costs similar or less, does a hundred other things, and has vastly better apps — see reMarkable vs iPad and how to take notes with an Apple Pencil.
The e-ink tablet is worth it only if the "hundred other things" is precisely the problem you are paying to remove. That is a legitimate reason and it is the only good reason. If you buy one for the writing feel alone, an iPad will disappoint you less.
Be honest with yourself about which you are doing, because the failure mode is a £400 device in a drawer.
Choose reMarkable if
- You want the least distracting object possible.
- Writing feel and design matter more than features.
- Your notes are mostly transient thinking, not a permanent archive.
- You value a polished ecosystem and easy resale.
Choose Supernote if
- Nib wear and repairability genuinely bother you.
- You want linking, keywords and navigation inside your notebooks.
- You keep notebooks for years and need to find things in them.
- You do not mind a smaller ecosystem.
What both leave out
Handwriting is slow and, on either device, essentially trapped as ink. Handwriting search helps and is not the same as text you can pipe anywhere. Anything you want to keep, connect and retrieve for years should end up as text somewhere else.
That is the layer Clair Mind covers: fast capture on the phone you actually have with you, with connections drawn across what you have written. The e-ink tablet is for the desk hour; it will not catch the thought on the train.
Related: GoodNotes vs Notability, digital vs paper notes, and the wider note app comparisons.