Free fonts for your design

Thoughts / Design

Free fonts are fantastic for your form

Yeah, silly headline but yes. Free fonts can be fantastic. If you are a freelancer starting out, you need some font inspiration or you’re low on budget for your new project.

Filling up on some free fonts can make a huge difference.

Here are some of my best sources for free fonts. Use them to find the right typography for your next brand identity, website, app, ad, business card, instagram post or wedding invitation.

Dafont (free)

This is an old but good source of free fonts with more than 70 000 fonts available. A lot of really crappy fonts but also some really interesting, weird and useful fonts. Some of the most popular include Lemon Milk, Coolvetica, Cunningham Singleton, Muthiara, Bebas Neue and Billion Dreams. It can be a good source of inspiration for logos and headline graphics.

Dafont Free (free and demos)

Yes. This is a rip off of the above. But it has much higher quality when it comes to fonts. Linking to more than 12 000 fonts on other websites, often with demo versions, but still useful fonts. Lot’s of classics. like Helvetica Neue, Avenir Next, Brandon Grotesque, Gotham but also decorative ones like Solid Grooves, Ragile, Cervin Asenoy and Gishella Morely.

Google Fonts (free)

Google fonts have a good selection of fonts that grows all the time. Not all of them are great but there are some gems here and it’s completely free and includes both desktop and web versions as well as an API that you can use for your app. The best fonts include Roboto, Open Sans, Inter, Lato, Montserrat, PT Sans, Merriweather and Work Sans.

Adobe Fonts (free if you have Adobe CC)

Not exactly free, but if you are an Adobe Creative Cloud subscriber as many designers are it’s included in you subscription. Adobe Fonts include 20 000 fonts. Some really good ones like Proxima Nova, Futura, ITC Avant Garde Gothic, Museo Slab, Termina, Baskerville and Mrs Eaves.

Free Faces

A curated list of great free fonts like Pilowlava, Vercetti Regular, Outward, Yatra One, Works Sans, Typefesse, Tightrope, Subjectivity and St MarieThin

Free Font Library

A good selection of free fonts like Computer Modern, Autopia, Career, Caudex, Kulim Park and Selectric.

Behance (free and demos)

Also Adobe and not only fonts but if you search for free fonts you can find some good ones here. Try Cotta, Office Times, Yapari, Make Sans and Neue Machina.

Befonts (free and demos)

Another big collection of fonts a bit similar to the two Dafont sites but can include some other fonts as well. Some good fonts include Circular, Nexa, Akira Expanded, Hatton and Argesta.

wFonts

Not the most inspiring website but you can find a lot of free and demo fonts of high quality here. Some classic fonts include Futura and Trajan Pro.

More open source type foundries

Perfect for finding free fonts for your app or brand.

What to consider when choosing a free font

  1. Licensing: Always check the license. Some free fonts are only free for personal use, while others allow commercial use. Make sure the license aligns with your intended use.
  2. Quality: Not all free fonts are created equal. Look for fonts with well-designed glyphs, proper kerning, and a full character set including punctuation and special characters.
  3. Readability: Consider the font’s legibility at various sizes and in different contexts (web, print, mobile, etc.).
  4. Font family: Does the font come in multiple weights and styles (regular, bold, italic, etc.)? A complete font family offers more flexibility in your designs.
  5. Language support: If your project requires non-Latin characters or specific diacritical marks, ensure the font supports these.
  6. Pairing: Think about how the font will pair with others in your design. Some font sources, like Google Fonts, offer pairing suggestions.
  7. Project suitability: Consider the tone and purpose of your project. A playful display font might be perfect for a children’s book cover but inappropriate for a corporate annual report.
  8. Overuse: Be wary of trendy or extremely popular free fonts. While they can be tempting, overused fonts can make your design feel unoriginal.

Remember, while free fonts can be a great resource, sometimes investing in a premium font is worth it for the right project.

The key is to balance your design needs, budget, and the overall quality and suitability of the font.

Need some free icons to go with your free font? Check out my list of the best free icon sets

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