About Zebra Pen
Zebra Co., Ltd. was founded in Tokyo in 1897 by Tokumatsu Ishikawa, originally to manufacture traditional Japanese brush pens, and adopted the Zebra trademark in 1914. Zebra Pen Corporation, the U.S. subsidiary, was established in New York in August 1982 and has been headquartered in Edison, New Jersey since 1984, marking over 40 years of continuous operation in the American market.
The brand's catalog spans gel, ballpoint, and highlighter lines, including the Sarasa Clip gel pen family, the stainless-steel F-301 ballpoint, and the Mildliner dual-tip highlighter, first sold in Japan and brought to the U.S. market in 2018. Zebra also developed DRYJELL rapid-dry ink technology for its gel pen lines, aimed at reducing smudging for left-handed and fast writers.
Brand website: zebrapen.com
What Zebra Pen makes
Zebra Pen's range runs wider than the products we review. The lines we know best from our own testing are marked with a star:
Dual-tip highlighters
Mildliner line, mild-tone pigment ink — featured on DeskRated
Retractable gel pens
Sarasa Clip and Sarasa Dry X20, DRYJELL rapid-dry ink — featured on DeskRated
Ballpoint pens
F-301 stainless steel, Z-Grip
Mechanical pencils
drafting and everyday lines
Markers
permanent and dry-erase
Why we recognized Zebra Pen
The DeskRated Top Brand recognition isn't paid for and can't be applied for. We award it to the brands whose products consistently stand out in our hands-on category reviews. Zebra Pen earned it on the strength of the products below, evaluated the same way every product on this site is: bought, used at a real desk, and judged on merit.
Zebra Pen products we rated highly
Zebra Pen Mildliner Dual-Tip Highlighter Set, 15-Pack
Its dual-tip design pairs a broad chisel for standard highlighting with a fine bullet point for underlining and margin notes, cutting out the need for two separate tools. The muted, mild-tone pigment palette reduces visual fatigue during long study sessions, and the water-resistant ink held up without bleeding through standard notebook, textbook, and printer paper across the reviews we examined. It carries the largest and most consistently positive review base of any highlighter set we looked at, over 56,000 reviews at a 4.8-star average.
Read the 7 Best Highlighters of 2026 guide →
Zebra Sarasa Dry X20 Retractable Gel Pens, 0.7mm, Black Ink, 10-Pack
DRYJELL rapid-dry ink cuts drying time by roughly eighty-five percent versus conventional gel ink, the most aggressive quick-dry spec of any gel pen we reviewed, which makes it a strong option for left-handed writers and anyone dragging a hand across a fresh line. The binder-clip design holds more securely to notebooks and clipboard edges than a standard pen clip, and the clear barrel makes remaining ink easy to check at a glance.
Read the 7 Best Gel Pens of 2026 guide →What earned Zebra Pen the recognition
- The Mildliner highlighter set carries the largest and most consistently positive review base of any highlighter set we tested, over 56,000 reviews at a 4.8-star average.
- DRYJELL rapid-dry ink in the Sarasa Dry line cuts drying time by roughly 85% versus conventional gel ink, a meaningful advantage for left-handed and fast writers.
- Over 40 years of continuous operation in the U.S. market through Zebra Pen Corporation, backed by parent company Zebra Co., Ltd.'s writing-instrument manufacturing history dating to 1897.
- A dual-tip format on the Mildliner line that combines a broad chisel and a fine bullet point in one tool, reducing the need to carry separate highlighters and pens.
- Water-resistant, bleed-resistant inks across both featured product lines, verified against standard notebook, textbook, and printer paper in our reviews.