It can be difficult and frustrating digging around the web to find the perfect font for a project — only to realize it comes with a formidable price tag or isn’t applicable for commercial use. To help save you some time down the line, we’re sharing our five favorite font sites you can comfortably use without having to worry about cost or usage limitations. In our humble opinion, these are the most reliable places to find free fonts. There are lots of really cool smaller sites that offer amazing and unique fonts, but these sites are the places that serve up lots of downloads — maybe think of them as commodity font sites. They work fast and don’t require you to jump through a lot of hoops to download fonts.
Once you download a few or a few dozen free fonts, our free online Pixlr Editor app for graphic designers lets you use fonts you’ve installed on your computer. Our Pixlr for Mac/PC app, which some people use to add text to photos, also lets you use fonts you’ve installed on your computer.
Font Squirrel
Font Squirrel is the number one best place to find quality, free, commercial use fonts. Unlike some of the other websites on this list, all of the fonts provided on this website are available for commercial use. So you don’t have to worry about adjusting your search options on their site in any shape or form. But, if you do want to expand your options, they offer a small but quality list of “Almost Free” fonts. Font Squirrel likely has the smallest library of fonts from this list, but the quality of the chosen fonts are undeniable. And they are unique. If you have a specific category you’d like to search, choose your options on the right-hand side. The download process is also the most straightforward. Simply click the download button next to the font you’ve chosen, unzip it, and double click the .otf or .ttf file to install. You can probably see why this is our go-to favorite font site. They make it easy for you to find and download fonts. No strings attached. And as if that wasn’t already great enough, this website also has a font identifier where you can upload an image of a font you have that you are trying to match. You can create an account and save favorites if you want.
What we like best: Well-designed site. The most useful features of any site or service. They even have full lists of glyphs and a way for you to enter text to see how it will look in a particular font face.
1001 fonts
1001 fonts has a very large collection of fonts. They also have a specific section of fonts that are for commercial use only. You can access the commercial fonts directly from this link. Don’t be fooled by the direct-marketing style name of the site or its appearance. It’s definitely not as pretty as Font Squirrel, but rest assured quality is still in there. They have a very large and impressive collection of commercial free fonts that are high quality and easy to install. Because of this site’s popularity and lite community features, there are comments on a majority of the fonts available so you can easily take a glance at what people are saying prior to downloading. If you want to look through fonts from the category options, remember to click “Only view fonts that are free for commercial use” before starting to look through the lists. The download process is also quite simple. Simple click download on the right end of the font you like, unzip it, and double click the .otf or .ttf file to install. One thing to note is that the character map on the font web pages do not always accurately represent the characters that come with the font. Some of them show the font as having very few characters but when installed have the full set. This site also has an account option if you plan on becoming a frequent user.
What we like best: Quantity. There are a lot of fonts on this site.
TheHungryJPEG
The fonts on the free section of TheHungryJPEG offers a lot of variety, styles and themes that suit a range of designs. Often times, these free fonts come with some clip art or graphics that are included in the downloadable packs. Most of these free fonts come with a commercial license, so rest assured that your designs will have the best typefaces, completely free of the legal hassles that come with font usages. Aside from fonts, you can download lots of graphic art, creative clip art and templates for free, which saves time whenever necessary. Check out their range of add ons like Lightroom presets, brushes and textures, and even original color palettes to add a splash of creativity into your projects. They release a new freebie weekly, and also update their free font bundles on the regular. TheHungryJPEG have an assortment of affordable font prices that you probably wouldn’t want to miss out on, especially during seasonal sales like Halloween or Christmas.
What we like best: Plenty of variety. The fonts available on TheHungryJPEG, whether purchasable or free, are always handpicked curations from independent designers and store-owners. You can’t go wrong here; there’s bound to be a typeface that appeals to you.
DaFont
DaFont is a great website to get some free commercial use fonts, but you need to know how to properly navigate it. The site has been around for a long time, and its age and short-sighted site design really shows. Further, there are a lot of possible details to include with fonts, but this site doesn’t always include them. And the font you download might not have a comprehensive collection of glyphs. Then again, you’ll find all kinds of crazy dingbat and symbol font collections on here. If you’re going to search for free commercial use fonts on this site, it’s probably best to start with a category. Here are three steps to get you on the right path:
- Search a category
- Select more options (Note “More options” drop-down)
- Check off both “free” and “public domain”
It’s very easy to download fonts from this site once you get the search functions right. Simply click download next to the font you’d like to use. Unzip and double click the .otf or .ttf file to install.
What we like best: Quirky. This is *the place* for oddball, niche fonts. Need some Elvish runes for your Middle Earth inspired party flyer? They’ve got you covered.
Font Space
Font Space is quite similar to DaFont. It has a great selection with tons of categories to choose from, and there are tons of user-submitted fonts, but its design is a little friendlier. Be aware that although Font Space has a big collection of unique fonts, the website does have a bit of a cluttered look with a few too many ads. If that’s just not your cup of tea, the other sites on the list should provide more than enough options. To ensure you’re only looking through free commercial use fonts, follow the steps below:
- Pick a category
- Check off “only show commercial use fonts”
- Click apply
Simply select the font you’d like to use and click download. Same as the other sites: unzip and double click the .otf or .ttf file to install.
What we like best: Independent. People who submit fonts on this site seem to be talented solo designers — the kind of people you see on Creative Market. If you are particular about licensing, this site is incredibly explicit about your many options.
The five websites listed are in ascending order: From best to less best based on ease of use and quality of fonts they’ve curated. The first three on the list are the best of the best when it comes to free commercial use fonts, but it never hurts to have more options!