25 Must-Have Free Fonts for Entrepreneurs and Designers For a distinctive website or publication, only the right typeface and lettering will do. Here's a roundup of the best at a startup-friendly price point.
By Casey Ark •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
As an entrepreneur, I hear a lot of things said about good design: Good design is simple. Or it's all about white space. Others say good design is understated or that it's hard to describe.
As a designer, though, I can tell you that while all these things are important, the main difference between well-designed pieces and poorly designed ones is something else entirely: having really good fonts.Don’t believe me? Take a look at what Squarespace’s website would look like using Impact instead of its fancy, premium font.
Squarespace’s
Before:
After:
See the difference? Even with all the right spacing, simplicity and craft of the page design, the wrong font can leave the entire site looking amateurish.
Choosing the right fonts for a project is crucial. But when a premium font costs $60 to $200, it can be hard to justify the purchase. So what can you do?
Great fonts (like most excellent things on the Internet) are generally handcrafted by independent designers. Making a font takes an incredible amount of effort, which is usually reflected in the price tag. On rare occasions, though, kind and generous designers will give out a few fonts for free, as a way of advertising the rest of their collection. If you like any of the fonts below, please consider supporting their creators.
I’ve compiled the following list of 25 must-have free fonts for entrepreneurs, designers and anyone else looking to impress. Enjoy!
Related: Where to Find Free Photos and Never Again Pay for a Website Image
Langdon
Langdon is a friendly, easy-to-read font that works well in headlines and combines nicely with cursive typefaces.
Vincent
With strong characters and some creative shaping, fonts like Vincent are perfect for businesses seeking that serious yet approachable feeling.
Rex
Sharp angles and a selection of three weights make Rex a font that works brilliantly in logos and paragraph headings.
Infinity
Infinity is a thin font with a friendly yet sophisticated feel. Understated fonts like these work brilliantly for startups in industries that involve consumer interaction, such as health and wellness companies.
Adam
Modern, bold fonts like Adam are easy to read and work well for website headings and navigation bars.
Nougatine
Nougatine is a unique, retro-inspired font that combines strong capital letters with some creative cut-out shapes.
Silverfake
If you've ever looked for retro fonts, you know that good ones are few and far between. Silverfake is the exception. Legibile but with an authentic retro feel, it combines nicely with modern, bolder fonts, such as Adam, above.
Montserrat
Montserrat is the ultimate modern font: It pairs brilliantly with stick-thin fonts like Raleway and looks beautiful when laid over a high-resolution background image.
Droid Serif
Droid is the ideal font for long blocks of text: It's easy to read and has just the right mixture of soft and hard serifs to give it a unique personality all of its own.
Code Pro
Code Pro is a designer's dream. It comes in lots of of weights (thin or heavy) and a variety of styles. The versatile font fits into just about any design, whether for the website of a tech startup or a restaurant menu.
Raleway
Want to know a designer's secret? When aiming to create something that feels sophisticated, look for the thinnest font possible. Few are thinner than Raleway.
Raleway is a popular font that comes in a myriad of sizes, ranging from hairline thin to bold black, making it a mighty useful font for a variety of company branding functions.
Domine
Looking for a classic font that's like Georgia or Garamond? Domine is the perfect alternative. It's bolder than the typical paragraph font, making it suitable for big, eye-catching headlines.
Franchise
Illustration © Weathersbee Type
Franchise is a friendly, bold display font that looks great on the web, particularly in infographics.
Dosis
If you're running a tech startup, you may have a hard time finding solid fonts to suit your purposes. Most tech fonts have a way of feeling too harsh for today's projects. Dosis breaks the mold. With softer, rounded corners, it is a great alternative to traditional tech fonts. And it works well in nontech projects, too.
Abel
Abel is a nice mix between a tech font and a modern display face. Although only one weight of font is available, Abel can be a good choice for headlines and paragraph text.
Odin Rounded
Odin Rounded is a Norse design-inspired retro font that works surprisingly well in tech-oriented projects.
Lintel
Lintel's thin, strong features make it well-suited for high-end tech and fashion startups.
Hagin
Try Hagin in your next retro-themed project. It can create bold headlines and its unique serifs set it apart from most classic fonts.
Weston
Weston simultaneously evokes a 1930s movie poster and a Wild West "most wanted" alert. Mix it with a cursive font or a thin, modern typeface.
Roboto Slab
Roboto Slab is the font with a million uses, for both headlines and paragraphs. Heck, it even looks good in off-line publications.
Aleo
Aleo is one of the most versatile free fonts I've ever encountered. It comes in six styles, all available in italics, so designers will have an easy time finding the right match for just about any project.
Lora
If you want your startup to be taken seriously, try Lora. It has a classic vibe and is incredibly legible even in very small sizes.
Lato
Lato works hard for startups in pursuit of that friendly yet sophisticated aura. It pairs nicely with just about any serif font, such as Aleo and Lora.
Calendas Plus
Calendas is reminiscent of classic fonts like Garamond and Georgia but possesses a bit of a unique personality of its own.
Farrerons Serif Light
Farrerons Serif Light is an interesting typeface. For blocks of texts, it works as a reliable, legible font. In headings, it gives off a more creative vibe. Consider giving it a try in your next off-line print project.
Looking for more free, premium fonts? Check out Google's well-curated list of free fonts available via its Google Fonts project.
