Ink Refill Life Estimator
Enter your ink capacity, tip, and how much you write, and see how many pages a fill should give you — and how often you’ll be refilling.
Estimated refill life
How the estimate works
The tool starts from a typical amount of ink used per page for your chosen tip, scales it by your handwriting size, and divides your ink capacity by that figure to get pages per fill. Dividing again by your pages-per-day gives the days, weeks, and yearly refill count.
Broader nibs use more ink per page, so they empty a fill faster; finer nibs and gel tips stretch it further. Because inks and papers vary so much, use the number as a guide for when to carry a spare, not as a precise gauge.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much ink does a page of writing use?
It depends mostly on the nib or tip and on how large you write. A fine fountain nib might lay down around 0.06 mL of ink over an A5 page, a medium around 0.08 mL, and a broad closer to 0.12 mL; gel and rollerball tips generally use a little less. This tool uses those typical figures, scaled by your handwriting size, so the result is a sensible estimate rather than an exact measurement.
How much ink does a cartridge or converter hold?
A standard international cartridge holds roughly 0.75 mL in the short size and about 1.4 mL in the long size. A typical piston or squeeze converter holds around 0.6 to 0.9 mL. Bottled ink drawn into a converter therefore lasts about as long as a long cartridge. Check your own pen, since capacities vary between brands and filling systems.
Why is my real refill life different?
Ink flow varies with the specific ink (some are much wetter than others), the paper, humidity, and how much you actually write versus leaving the pen capped. Treat the estimate as a planning figure — a reason to carry a spare cartridge before a long day of notes, not a guarantee.
Estimating tool only. Real ink consumption varies with the ink, paper, humidity, and how you write; verify against your own experience for anything that matters.