There are some great free fonts out there. Here are the best of the best.
In this freshly updated free fonts for designers post, we bring you the world's best free fonts. We've filtered out the jewels from the thousands of less perfectly designed free fonts available online, so you can use them in your designs and illustrations. This list represents the very best free fonts we've found, split into eight categories. You can use the drop-down menu at the top of the page, or the boxout, right, to jump to the section you want.
Don't forget, we have many other articles covering specialist font types including handwriting fonts, kids' fonts, cursive fonts, beautiful fonts, web fonts, professional fonts and more.
Most of the typeface collections listed here can be used in your projects for free, but please be sure to check the terms. Read on for our pick of the best free fonts, which you can download and use today.
Serif fonts
01. Bitter
 | FREE FONTS: QUICK LINKS 01. Serif fonts 02. Sans-serif fonts 03. Handwriting fonts 04. Retro and vintage fonts 05. Brush fonts 06. Tattoo fonts 07. Graffiti fonts 08. Unusual fonts |
This serif font is designed to work well on screens
02. Playfair Display
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
02. Playfair Display
This free font family is an open source project
This free serif display font takes inspiration from the late 18th century European Enlightenment and the work of type designer John Baskerville. The high-contract letterforms have delicate hairlines, relating to the rise in popularity of pointed steel pens, which took over from the previous broad nib quills during this period. The typeface design is a project led designed by Dutch designer Claus Eggers Sørensen. It's development is open source, and can be found on GitHub here.
03. Lora
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
This free serif display font takes inspiration from the late 18th century European Enlightenment and the work of type designer John Baskerville. The high-contract letterforms have delicate hairlines, relating to the rise in popularity of pointed steel pens, which took over from the previous broad nib quills during this period. The typeface design is a project led designed by Dutch designer Claus Eggers Sørensen. It's development is open source, and can be found on GitHub here.
03. Lora
Brushed curves contrast with driving serifs in this free font
Lora is a free font that has its roots in calligraphy. It was originally designed for type foundry Cyreal in 2011, with a Cyrillic extension added in 2013, and comes in four styles: regular, bold, italic, and bold italic.
Brushed curves contrast with driving serifs to give this free font a well-balanced, contemporary feel. Although Lora is technically optimised for use on the web, it also works well in print projects.
04. Butler
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
Lora is a free font that has its roots in calligraphy. It was originally designed for type foundry Cyreal in 2011, with a Cyrillic extension added in 2013, and comes in four styles: regular, bold, italic, and bold italic.
Brushed curves contrast with driving serifs to give this free font a well-balanced, contemporary feel. Although Lora is technically optimised for use on the web, it also works well in print projects.
04. Butler
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- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
Inspired by both Dala Floda and the Bodoni family, Butler is a free font designed by Fabian De Smet. His aim was to bring a bit of modernism to serif fonts by working on the curves of classical serif fonts, and adding an extra stencil family.
The Butler family contains 334 characters, seven regular weights and seven stencil weights, and includes text figures, ligatures and fractions. It also suits many different languages with its added glyphs. De Smet suggests it would work well for “posters, very big titles, books and fancy stuff.”
05. Arvo
A superior geometric slab-serif, Arvo is one of our favorite free fonts
Arvo is a geometric slab-serif font family that’s suitable for both screen and print use. Designed for legibility, it was created by Anton Koovit and published in the Google Font directory as a free open font (OFL). Unlike many slab serifs on Google Fonts, Arvo contains normal, italic, bold and bold italic styles.
06. Crimson Text
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
Arvo is a geometric slab-serif font family that’s suitable for both screen and print use. Designed for legibility, it was created by Anton Koovit and published in the Google Font directory as a free open font (OFL). Unlike many slab serifs on Google Fonts, Arvo contains normal, italic, bold and bold italic styles.
06. Crimson Text
Crimson Text is a free font family inspired by old-time book typefaces
Here’s a free font family created specifically for book production, inspired by old-time, Garamond-esque book typefaces. Crimson Text is the work of German-born, Toronto-based designer Sebastian Kosch, who says he was influenced by the work of Jan Tschichold, Robert Slimbach and Jonathan Hoefler.
It’s also favorite free font of Taylor Palmer, a senior UX designer based in Utah, USA. "Crimson is a sophisticated serif that makes a nice alternative to traditional Garamond-esque typefaces,” he says. “It also has a very expressive italic, which pairs nicely with strong, geometric sans-serifs like Futura or Avenir."
07. Aleo
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
Here’s a free font family created specifically for book production, inspired by old-time, Garamond-esque book typefaces. Crimson Text is the work of German-born, Toronto-based designer Sebastian Kosch, who says he was influenced by the work of Jan Tschichold, Robert Slimbach and Jonathan Hoefler.
It’s also favorite free font of Taylor Palmer, a senior UX designer based in Utah, USA. "Crimson is a sophisticated serif that makes a nice alternative to traditional Garamond-esque typefaces,” he says. “It also has a very expressive italic, which pairs nicely with strong, geometric sans-serifs like Futura or Avenir."
07. Aleo
Aleo is one of those rare free fonts that manages to balance personality with legibility perfectly
Aleo has semi-rounded details and a sleek structure, giving a sense of personality while maintaining a good level of legibility. This free font family comprises six styles: three weights (light, regular and bold), with corresponding true italics. Released under the SIL Open Font License, it was designed by Alessio Laiso, a designer at IBM Dublin, as the slab serif companion to Lato.
08. Neuton
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
Aleo has semi-rounded details and a sleek structure, giving a sense of personality while maintaining a good level of legibility. This free font family comprises six styles: three weights (light, regular and bold), with corresponding true italics. Released under the SIL Open Font License, it was designed by Alessio Laiso, a designer at IBM Dublin, as the slab serif companion to Lato.
08. Neuton
Neuton's clean design works well for formal documents
Neuton is a fuss-free font with a large height and short extenders. Its compact width means it works well on screens. The designer, Brian Zick, compares his font to Times New Roman, stating that it can be useful for formal or work documents, and is particularly good for italics.
09. Brela
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
Neuton is a fuss-free font with a large height and short extenders. Its compact width means it works well on screens. The designer, Brian Zick, compares his font to Times New Roman, stating that it can be useful for formal or work documents, and is particularly good for italics.
09. Brela
Free font Brela works well in editorial designs, both for headlines and body text
Brela is a humanistic serif font designed exclusively for editorial design. With a generous x-height, it’s very legible, even at tiny sizes, yet it works equally well in bold, large headlines. This free font was designed by Spanish creative agency Makarska Studio and comes in regular and bold weights.
10. Libre Baskerville
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
Brela is a humanistic serif font designed exclusively for editorial design. With a generous x-height, it’s very legible, even at tiny sizes, yet it works equally well in bold, large headlines. This free font was designed by Spanish creative agency Makarska Studio and comes in regular and bold weights.
10. Libre Baskerville
Free font Libre Baskerville is optimised for reading body text on screen
Libre Baskerville is a web font optimised for body text (typically 16px). It’s based on the American Type Founder's Baskerville from 1941, but it has a taller x-height, wider counters and a little less contrast, allowing it to work well for reading on screen. This open source project is led by Impallari Type, a type design foundry based in Rosario, Argentina.
"I like to keep my eye on the Libre fonts, like Libre Baskerville,” enthuses Taylor Palmer, a senior UX designer based out of Utah, USA. He also recommends you check out its sister font, Libre Franklin, which is also free. “Libre Franklin hearkens back to strong, traditional typefaces, like Franklin Gothic, that have the declarative nature of something like a newspaper headline but are simple enough to set as paragraph text," he explains.
11. Jura
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
Libre Baskerville is a web font optimised for body text (typically 16px). It’s based on the American Type Founder's Baskerville from 1941, but it has a taller x-height, wider counters and a little less contrast, allowing it to work well for reading on screen. This open source project is led by Impallari Type, a type design foundry based in Rosario, Argentina.
"I like to keep my eye on the Libre fonts, like Libre Baskerville,” enthuses Taylor Palmer, a senior UX designer based out of Utah, USA. He also recommends you check out its sister font, Libre Franklin, which is also free. “Libre Franklin hearkens back to strong, traditional typefaces, like Franklin Gothic, that have the declarative nature of something like a newspaper headline but are simple enough to set as paragraph text," he explains.
11. Jura
Free font Jura looks good at both large and small sizes
A remarkably elegant font, Jura is characterised by its narrow proportions and distinguishing details, including its rounded, wedge shaped serifs. It looks good at large sizes, but reads well at small ones too. This free font was created by UK-based designer Ed Merritt.
12. Fenix
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
A remarkably elegant font, Jura is characterised by its narrow proportions and distinguishing details, including its rounded, wedge shaped serifs. It looks good at large sizes, but reads well at small ones too. This free font was created by UK-based designer Ed Merritt.
12. Fenix
Fénix is one of the best free fonts we’ve seen for long passages of small text
Fénix is a calligraphy-inspired font that works well as both display text and body copy. Featuring strong serifs and rough strokes, it provides a lovely rhythm when reading long passages in small text sizes. It’s the work of Fernando Díaz, a designer at Uruguayan foundry TipoType.
13. Luthier
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
Fénix is a calligraphy-inspired font that works well as both display text and body copy. Featuring strong serifs and rough strokes, it provides a lovely rhythm when reading long passages in small text sizes. It’s the work of Fernando Díaz, a designer at Uruguayan foundry TipoType.
13. Luthier
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- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
14. Slabo
A modern serif font tuned to pixel perfection
15. Bree Serif
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
15. Bree Serif
We love the single-story rounded a in Bree Serif
16. Merriweather
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
16. Merriweather
Merriweather is featured in more than 3,000,000 websites, according to Google Fonts
17. Alcubierre
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
17. Alcubierre
This clean, minimal font works for a variety of uses
18. Moon
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
18. Moon
Moon is free for personal use
19. Big John / Slim Joe
- Free for personal use only
- DOWNLOAD HERE
19. Big John / Slim Joe
These two sans-serif fonts work together perfectly
20. Raleway
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
20. Raleway
Raleway is an elegant, sans-serif free font
Raleway is a free, neo-groesque inspired, sans-serif typeface. It was designed by Matt McInterney (who previously worked at Pentagram) and is available in a single, thin weight. This display typeface includes standard and discretionary ligatures, a good set of diacritics, and both old style and lining numerals. Fans of the font can also experiment with a more geometric-inspired alternate.
21. Aganè
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
Raleway is a free, neo-groesque inspired, sans-serif typeface. It was designed by Matt McInterney (who previously worked at Pentagram) and is available in a single, thin weight. This display typeface includes standard and discretionary ligatures, a good set of diacritics, and both old style and lining numerals. Fans of the font can also experiment with a more geometric-inspired alternate.
21. Aganè
Aganè was inspired by three classic sans-serifs
Designed with wayfinding signage in mind, and equally suitable for user interfaces or anything that requires legibility from an angle, Aganè is a clean sans-serif from Swiss graphic, UI and type designer Danilo De Marco. Free for personal and commercial use, Aganè was inspired by Noorda Font by Bob Noorda, FF Transit by Erik Spiekermann, and Frutiger by Adrian Frutiger.
22. Titillium Web
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
Designed with wayfinding signage in mind, and equally suitable for user interfaces or anything that requires legibility from an angle, Aganè is a clean sans-serif from Swiss graphic, UI and type designer Danilo De Marco. Free for personal and commercial use, Aganè was inspired by Noorda Font by Bob Noorda, FF Transit by Erik Spiekermann, and Frutiger by Adrian Frutiger.
22. Titillium Web
Titillium is a free font that works best at larger sizes
For a free font, Titillium has a highly respectable pedigree, born of a type design project at Italy’s Accademia di Belle Arti di Urbino. Each academic year, a dozen students work on the project, developing it further and solving problems, and they ask all graphic designers who use Titillium in their projects to email them some examples of the typeface family in use, to help them develop it further.
“Titillium has been a favourite font of mine for a few years now,” says Rob Hampson, head of design at The Bot Platform, a new platform for building bots on Messenger. “It’s sharp, contemporary and comes in a wide range of weights. In my opinion, it works best in larger sizes; for example, for titles. That said, with careful consideration, it could be used as a body font.”
23. League Gothic
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
For a free font, Titillium has a highly respectable pedigree, born of a type design project at Italy’s Accademia di Belle Arti di Urbino. Each academic year, a dozen students work on the project, developing it further and solving problems, and they ask all graphic designers who use Titillium in their projects to email them some examples of the typeface family in use, to help them develop it further.
“Titillium has been a favourite font of mine for a few years now,” says Rob Hampson, head of design at The Bot Platform, a new platform for building bots on Messenger. “It’s sharp, contemporary and comes in a wide range of weights. In my opinion, it works best in larger sizes; for example, for titles. That said, with careful consideration, it could be used as a body font.”
23. League Gothic
League Gothic is a new free font inspired by an old favourite
League Gothic is a condensed sans-serif inspired by the classic typeface Alternate Gothic #1, originally designed by Morris Fuller Benton for the American Type Founders Company in 1903. The League of Movable Type decided to make its own version and, as ever, open source it, with contributions from Micah Rich, Tyler Finck and Dannci.
24. Chivo
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
League Gothic is a condensed sans-serif inspired by the classic typeface Alternate Gothic #1, originally designed by Morris Fuller Benton for the American Type Founders Company in 1903. The League of Movable Type decided to make its own version and, as ever, open source it, with contributions from Micah Rich, Tyler Finck and Dannci.
24. Chivo
Chivo is one of the most eye-catching free fonts around
Chivo is a grotesque typeface that’s ideal for headlines, and other page furniture where you want to grab attention. Both confident and elegant, it’s been released in four weights with matching italics. This free font is the work of Héctor Gattiand the Omnibus-Type Team.
25. Comfortaa
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
Chivo is a grotesque typeface that’s ideal for headlines, and other page furniture where you want to grab attention. Both confident and elegant, it’s been released in four weights with matching italics. This free font is the work of Héctor Gattiand the Omnibus-Type Team.
25. Comfortaa
Free font Comfortaa could work well in a logo design
David Airey, a graphic designer and occasional writer in Northern Ireland, is among its admirers. “A lot of free fonts need too much work cleaning up the points, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find good options,” he says. “For a recent identity project, I used Comfortaa as the base for a bespoke wordmark. The before and after are really quite different, but Johan’s work gave me a great foundation, and the client loves the result.”
26. Noto Sans
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
David Airey, a graphic designer and occasional writer in Northern Ireland, is among its admirers. “A lot of free fonts need too much work cleaning up the points, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find good options,” he says. “For a recent identity project, I used Comfortaa as the base for a bespoke wordmark. The before and after are really quite different, but Johan’s work gave me a great foundation, and the client loves the result.”
26. Noto Sans
Free font Noto Sans supports more than 800 languages
27. HK Grotesk Hanken
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
27. HK Grotesk Hanken
HK Grotesk is one of our favourite free fonts for casting small text
28. Aileron
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
28. Aileron
One of our favourite hybrid free fonts, Aileron is a relaxed choice for on-screen reading
Aileron is a versatile, neo-grotesque sans-serif that’s somewhere between Helvetica and Univers. Created by Sora Sagano, a designer at Tipotype, it aims to provide readers with a high level of visual comfort. It’s available in 16 weights, from ultralight to black.
29. Ubuntu
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
Aileron is a versatile, neo-grotesque sans-serif that’s somewhere between Helvetica and Univers. Created by Sora Sagano, a designer at Tipotype, it aims to provide readers with a high level of visual comfort. It’s available in 16 weights, from ultralight to black.
29. Ubuntu
Ubuntu is a custom-designed free font for screen use
30. Clear Sans
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
30. Clear Sans
Who knew Intel did free fonts?
Created by Daniel Ratighan at Monotype under the direction of Intel, Clear Sans supports a wide range of languages using Latin, Cyrillic and Greek, and includes medium, regular, thin, and light weights with upright, italic, and bold styles.
31. Source Sans Pro
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
Created by Daniel Ratighan at Monotype under the direction of Intel, Clear Sans supports a wide range of languages using Latin, Cyrillic and Greek, and includes medium, regular, thin, and light weights with upright, italic, and bold styles.
31. Source Sans Pro
Adobe’s first foray into open source type, Source Sans Pro remains one of the design community’s most popular free fonts
Released in 2012, Source Sans Pro was the first open source type family for Adobe, and has proved wildly popular. It was envisioned as a classic grotesque typeface with a simple, unassuming design, intended to work well in user interfaces. It was designed by Paul D. Hunt, who continues to work as a type designer at Adobe, and also designed the complementary free font Source Serif Pro.
Source Sans Pro is one of the favourite free fonts of James Hollingworth, a senior-level digital designer and illustrator based near Bath, UK. “It’s such a solid, reliable font to use in design work,” he enthuses. “Being dyslexic myself, I find it a very easy font to read, and it works brilliantly in user interfaces.”
You might also like the fonts in our 20 fonts every graphic designer should ownpost or even our 15 fantastic logo fonts post.
32. Kavivanar
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
Released in 2012, Source Sans Pro was the first open source type family for Adobe, and has proved wildly popular. It was envisioned as a classic grotesque typeface with a simple, unassuming design, intended to work well in user interfaces. It was designed by Paul D. Hunt, who continues to work as a type designer at Adobe, and also designed the complementary free font Source Serif Pro.
Source Sans Pro is one of the favourite free fonts of James Hollingworth, a senior-level digital designer and illustrator based near Bath, UK. “It’s such a solid, reliable font to use in design work,” he enthuses. “Being dyslexic myself, I find it a very easy font to read, and it works brilliantly in user interfaces.”
You might also like the fonts in our 20 fonts every graphic designer should ownpost or even our 15 fantastic logo fonts post.
32. Kavivanar
This slanted handwriting font is based on typical Tamal handwriting
This bold handwriting font was inspired by the slanting letterforms found in typical Tamal handwriting (as well as a Tamil alphabet, it also includes Latin letterforms). Kavivanar was designed by Tharique Azeez, a type designer based in Sri Lanka, and is free to download.
33. Amatic SC
This bold handwriting font was inspired by the slanting letterforms found in typical Tamal handwriting (as well as a Tamil alphabet, it also includes Latin letterforms). Kavivanar was designed by Tharique Azeez, a type designer based in Sri Lanka, and is free to download.
33. Amatic SC
This small caps font is full of personality
34. Nickainley
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
34. Nickainley
Nickainley is a free font based on vintage-style handwriting
35. Shadows into Light
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
35. Shadows into Light
This free handwriting font has rounded edges and a clean feel
36. Pacifico
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
36. Pacifico
Pacifico is one of the most laid-back free fonts around
37. Cute Punk
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
37. Cute Punk
Cute Punk is a free font based on handwriting, but with a twist
38. Futuracha
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
38. Futuracha
One of the oddest free fonts based on handwriting we’ve seen, Futuracha could work well in the right design
39. Yellowtail
- Free for personal use only
- DOWNLOAD HERE
39. Yellowtail
Free font Yellowtail features a classic approach to handwritten, brush lettering
You might also like the fonts in our 50 great free handwriting fonts post, our 14 calligraphy fonts post or our 10 pretty fonts post.
- Free for personal and commercial use
- DOWNLOAD HERE
You might also like the fonts in our 50 great free handwriting fonts post, our 14 calligraphy fonts post or our 10 pretty fonts post.
TO be Continue ...........>>>>>>