An A5 notebook measures 148 x 210 mm, which is 14.8 x 21.0 cm or 5.83 x 8.27 inches. An A4 notebook is exactly double that, at 210 x 297 mm. A5 fits a handbag and suits daily notes. A4 suits meetings, study and drawing. Both come lined or squared.
Most people pick a notebook by looking at the cover. Then they use it for a week and find the pages are too small for a full page of meeting notes, or too big to carry every day. Size is the decision that decides whether the notebook gets used or ends up in a drawer.
This guide covers the three choices that actually matter: the size, the ruling on the page, and what you put on the cover. We will give you the real measurements, the real UK prices, and the photo file size you need if you want a sharp printed cover.
The short version
A5 is 148 x 210 mm. That is half an A4 sheet. It is the most common notebook size in the UK and the easiest one to carry.
A4 is 210 x 297 mm. It gives you double the writing space. Pick it for meetings, lectures, sketching and anything with diagrams.
Lined pages suit words. Squared pages suit numbers and drawings. Lined ruling is usually 7 to 8 mm apart. Squared grids are usually 4 to 7 mm. If you write small or draw a lot, squared wins.
Personalised notebooks in the UK run from about £4 to £44. Photo-cover notebooks sit at the bottom of that range. A MYPICTURE personalised notebook starts at £6.00 in A4 or A5, checked on 17 August 2026.
Whichever you choose, upload the biggest version of your photo you have. A blurry cover is almost always a small file, not a bad printer.
Why notebook size is the decision people get wrong
Notebook sizes are not random. They follow ISO 216, the international paper standard used across the UK and Europe. The rule behind it is simple: every size is exactly half the size above it. Fold an A4 sheet in half and you get A5. Fold that again and you get A6.
That is why an A5 notebook and an A4 notebook feel like the same shape. Every A size has the same proportions, roughly 1 to 1.414. Your photo will crop the same way on both, which matters when you design a cover.
Here is where people go wrong. They buy A4 because it looks generous on a screen, then carry it to work in a bag it does not fit. Or they buy A5 to save space, then find a single meeting fills four pages. The right size depends on where you will write, not on how much paper sounds good.
One more thing worth knowing. Not every notebook labelled A5 is exactly 148 x 210 mm. Some brands trim a few millimetres off so the cover sits flush over the pages. Leuchtturm1917, for example, lists its Medium A5 at 145 x 210 mm. That difference is small, but it matters if you are buying a refill or a leather cover to fit around it.
A5 notebooks: what they do well, and where they struggle
An A5 notebook is 148 x 210 mm, or 5.83 x 8.27 inches. A standard 80-page A5 notebook is about 1 cm thick and weighs roughly 200 g. It slides into a handbag, a rucksack side pocket or a laptop sleeve without any effort. A personalised notebook in A4 or A5 costs the same either way at MYPICTURE, so the choice is purely about how you will use it.
A5 is the size people reach for most often, and there is a good reason. A single A5 page holds about 25 to 30 lines of normal handwriting. That is enough for a to-do list, a phone call, a shopping list or a page of journalling. It is small enough that filling a page feels like progress, which is why bullet journallers and diary keepers stay loyal to it.
It also works well as a gift. A5 is the size most people already own, so it does not sit unused because it feels wrong. Teachers, students and anyone who takes notes on the move tend to get on with it immediately. If you are buying for a teacher, our guide to personalised teacher gifts has more ideas in the same price bracket.
Where A5 struggles is anything wide. Tables, mind maps, music, technical drawings and long sums all run out of room. If you write large, a page can vanish in three or four sentences. And if you like to work with a laptop open next to your notes, A5 can feel cramped on a busy desk. Those are the cases where A4 earns its extra size.
A4 notebooks: what they do well, and where they struggle
An A4 notebook is 210 x 297 mm, or 8.27 x 11.69 inches. It is the same size as a sheet of printer paper, which is the detail that makes it useful. Anything you print, photocopy or are handed at work will lie flat on the page without folding.
A4 gives you around 55 to 60 lines per page. In practice that means a whole meeting on one page instead of four. It is the better choice for lectures, project planning, revision notes, recipes with long method steps, and any work with sketches or diagrams. Architects, engineers and students on technical courses almost always end up back at A4.
The spiral binding matters more at this size. A spiral-bound A4 notebook opens completely flat and folds back on itself, so you can write on the right-hand page without your hand resting on a hump. A sewn or glued A4 notebook will not do that as easily.
The downside is portability, and it is a real one. An A4 notebook does not fit most handbags and will stick out of a small rucksack. It is heavier to carry all day. It is also more likely to get bent corners in transit. If your notebook lives in a bag rather than on a desk, be honest about that before choosing A4.
A5 vs A4: side by side
A5 notebook
A4 notebook
Size in mm
148 x 210
210 x 297
Size in cm
14.8 x 21.0
21.0 x 29.7
Size in inches
5.83 x 8.27
8.27 x 11.69
Cover file at 300 dpi
1,748 x 2,480 px
2,480 x 3,508 px
Lines per page
About 25 to 30
About 55 to 60
Fits a handbag
Yes
No
Best for
Daily notes, journalling, lists, gifts
Meetings, lectures, sketching, planning
The table splits the job cleanly. A5 is the notebook you carry. A4 is the notebook you sit down with. Plenty of people use both, and that is a sensible answer rather than a cop-out: A5 in the bag for anything that comes up, A4 on the desk for anything that needs thinking through.
If you are only buying one, use this rule. Count how many days a week the notebook will leave the house. Four or more, buy A5. Three or fewer, buy A4.
For reference, here is a related size that catches people out. A5 is not the same as half a US Letter page. US Letter is 216 x 279 mm, so half of it is 140 x 216 mm. That is wider and shorter than A5. If you buy inserts or planner refills from an American shop, check the millimetres before you order.
Size and ruling are the two things buyers want settled before they spend, which is exactly what the next two sections cover.
Lined vs squared pages: which one to choose
Lined pages have horizontal rules across the page. Squared pages, sometimes called graph paper, have a full grid of small squares. UK notebooks usually rule lines 7 to 8 mm apart, and squared grids usually measure between 4 mm and 7 mm per square.
Lined pages
Squared pages
Best for
Writing, notes, journalling, lists
Maths, tables, diagrams, sketching
Typical spacing
7 to 8 mm between lines
4 to 7 mm per square
Keeps handwriting straight
Yes
Yes
Handles columns and tables
Poorly
Very well
Suits small handwriting
Depends on the spacing
Yes, you can use two squares per line
Suits drawing to scale
No
Yes
Lined pages win when the notebook is mostly words. They keep handwriting level and they waste no space. If the notebook is for meeting notes, a diary, revision or a gratitude journal, lined is the safe answer and the one most people want.
Squared pages win the moment numbers or shapes appear. You can rule a table without a ruler, keep sums in columns, plot a rough graph, and sketch a room layout roughly to scale. They also suit anyone with small handwriting, because you can write across two squares and get a tighter, neater line than 8 mm ruling allows.
Here is the honest part. Squared paper is slightly busier to read back, and some people find the grid distracting behind plain writing. If you are torn, think about what will be on the page in three months, not what feels neat today. MYPICTURE offers lined or squared pages on both A4 and A5, at the same price, so the choice costs you nothing either way.
A quick note on dotted pages, since people often ask. Dotted paper is a grid of faint dots instead of full lines. It is popular with bullet journallers because it guides you without showing. Papier and Ryman both stock dotted notebooks in the UK. MYPICTURE does not, so if dotted is essential, buy it from them and come back to us for the photo covers.
Designing the cover: the photo resolution rule
This is the part almost nobody explains, and it is the reason most disappointing photo covers are disappointing.
A printed cover needs roughly 300 dots per inch to look sharp when you hold it. Work backwards from the page size and you get the file size you need:
A5 cover at 300 dpi: 1,748 x 2,480 pixels, which is about 4.3 megapixels
A4 cover at 300 dpi: 2,480 x 3,508 pixels, which is about 8.7 megapixels
A6 cover at 300 dpi: 1,240 x 1,748 pixels, which is about 2.2 megapixels
Almost any phone from the last eight years shoots at 12 megapixels or more, so the camera is rarely the problem. The problem is what happens to the photo afterwards. A picture sent through WhatsApp, saved from Facebook or screenshotted from Instagram is compressed hard, often down to under 1 megapixel. That file will look fine on a phone and soft on a printed cover.
The fix is boring and it works. Use the original photo from the camera roll, not a copy that has been through a messaging app. If you are collecting photos from family, ask them to send by email or a shared album rather than a group chat.
Watch the crop. An A size is taller and narrower than a phone photo. A standard phone picture is 4:3 or 16:9, so a portrait A5 cover will cut the sides off. Check the preview before you order, and leave a little space around faces so nothing important sits at the edge.
Keep text away from the edges. Printing and trimming allow a small tolerance, so anything closer than about 5 mm to the edge risks being cut. Names and dates belong nearer the centre.
Think about contrast, not just the photo. A busy photo with text over it is hard to read. Either pick a picture with a plain area for the words, or put the text in a band at the top or bottom.
If you want the full detail on file sizes for print, our guide to UK photo print sizes covers the same maths across every standard size, and the UK photo frame sizes guide is useful if you are ordering prints to match.
What a personalised notebook costs in the UK
Prices move constantly and every service runs sales, so treat these as bands rather than fixed figures. All prices below were checked on 17 August 2026 from each company's own listings.
Price band
Typical price
What you get
Examples checked
Budget photo cover
£4 to £7
Your photo printed on the cover, spiral or hardback, A5 or A4
MYPICTURE from £6.00, Snapfish from £3.99, Card Factory from £4.85
Mid-range personalised
£9 to £16
Name, initials or foil text on a designed cover
GiftsInAJiffy £8.99 to £13.99, Ryman £12.99 to £14.99, Martha Brook £15.95
Premium and branded
£17 to £44
Leather or branded covers, embossing, gift boxes
Moleskine £17 to £44, Betsy Benn £18 to £22
The gap between the bands is mostly about what is being personalised. In the budget band you are printing a full-colour image onto the cover, which digital printing does cheaply. In the mid band you are usually paying for foil stamping or embossing, which is a separate physical process on each unit. In the premium band you are paying for the notebook itself, before anyone personalises anything.
A worked example. Say you want four personalised notebooks as end-of-term teacher gifts, each with a class photo on the front.
Four A5 photo-cover notebooks at £6.00 each: £24.00
The same four as foil-name notebooks at £12.99 each: £51.96
The same four as personalised Moleskines at £22.99 each: £91.96
The £68 difference between the first and last option does not buy better printing of your photo. It buys a leather-feel cover and a brand name. If the point of the gift is the picture, spend the money on the picture and keep the rest.
A three-question test to settle it
1. Will the notebook leave the house four days a week or more? If yes, buy A5. Portability beats page space when you are carrying it daily.
2. Will you write tables, sums or drawings in it? If yes, buy squared. Lined ruling fights every column you try to draw.
3. Is the photo you want on the cover the original file, or a copy from a chat app? If it came from a chat app, find the original first. Everything else on this page matters less than that one file.
If your answers split, the size question wins. A person who needs A4 space and squared pages should buy A4 squared. A person who needs to carry it every day should buy A5 and accept the smaller pages, because a notebook left at home is not a notebook.
Why choose MY-PICTURE.CO.UK over other competitors?
MYPICTURE competes on price and on what you can put on the cover. Our personalised notebook comes in A4 or A5, spiral-bound, with lined or squared pages and your own photos printed across the front. Prices start at £6.00, and our Lowest Price Guarantee beats any like-for-like UK price by 5%.
The table below compares specific things a buyer weighs up, not everything a company does.
*Ratings and prices correct as of August 2026. Prices exclude delivery; all brands run periodic promotions.
To be fair to both: Papier has the strongest cover design range in the UK if you want a printed pattern rather than a photograph, and Ryman is the easier option if you want foil-stamped lettering. Neither will put your own picture on the front, and that is the thing MYPICTURE does well and cheaply.
If you know your size and your ruling, the rest takes about five minutes. Design your personalised notebook in A4 or A5, pick lined or squared, and upload your original photo.
Frequently asked questions
What size is an A5 notebook?
An A5 notebook measures 148 x 210 mm. That is 14.8 x 21.0 cm, or 5.83 x 8.27 inches. It is exactly half the size of an A4 sheet, which is why an A4 folded in half gives you A5. Some brands trim a few millimetres, so a notebook sold as A5 may measure 145 x 210 mm instead.
Is an A5 notebook bigger than an A4?
No. An A4 notebook is twice the size of an A5 notebook. A4 measures 210 x 297 mm and A5 measures 148 x 210 mm. In the A paper series, the higher the number, the smaller the sheet. So A6 is smaller than A5, and A3 is bigger than A4.
Is 8.5 x 11 the same as A5?
No. The 8.5 x 11 inch size is US Letter, which is 216 x 279 mm. That is closer to A4 than to A5. Half a US Letter page measures 140 x 216 mm, which is narrower and shorter than A5 at 148 x 210 mm. Check the millimetres before buying inserts or refills from an American shop.
What is the best A5 size notebook?
There is no single best one. For carrying every day, a spiral-bound A5 opens flat and survives a bag better than a glued spine. For writing, lined ruling at 7 to 8 mm suits most handwriting. For maths or drawing, choose squared pages. If it is a gift, a photo cover is what makes it personal, and those start at around £4 to £7 in the UK.
Can I get a custom notebook made?
Yes. Several UK companies print custom notebooks with no minimum order. MYPICTURE prints your own photos on the front cover of an A4 or A5 spiral-bound notebook, with a choice of lined or squared pages. You upload the photo, pick a template, and change the layout or text if you want to. One copy is enough to order.
How much does it cost to make a custom notebook?
In the UK, a photo-cover custom notebook costs about £4 to £7. Foil-stamped or embossed name notebooks cost about £9 to £16. Branded leather notebooks such as personalised Moleskines cost £17 to £44. A MYPICTURE personalised notebook starts at £6.00 in either A4 or A5, checked in August 2026. Prices change with sales, so treat these as starting points.
