5 Places to Find Free Fonts (for Commercial Use)

If you don’t know where to look, the search for the perfect font can be long, and extremely difficult. Finding a free font is always a bonus – and, if you don’t have room in the project budget, an absolute necessity. And then, you need to find something licensed for commercial use, which is another headache entirely.

Luckily, you’re not alone! We’ve found 5 awesome sites full of free fonts that you can use on your client (aka commercial) projects!

We often dip into them for our our own commercial use projects, share our favorites on our  Typography Tuesday Pinterest  inspiration board, and now it’s our turn to share them with you! For additional fontspiration, follow #TypographyTuesday on twitter for our weekly additions.

FontSquirrel

Some font sites carry a mix of both free and not-so-free typefaces, but FontSquirrel is not one of them. Every single font on the site is free for any project you can think of! Of course, the creators of the site recommend that you check each license before using the font in one of your projects, just in case the designer changed their mind.

DaFont

The key to finding the commercial fonts on DaFont is knowing how to work their search engine. Search for a term or category you are interested in. Right above the list of fonts, you should see a link for “more options.” Select “free” and “public domain,” and watch the database do all the heavy lifting for you.

Google Web Fonts

Did you know that Google offers over a hundred free fonts? They are incredibly convenient for the web, since they come with all the code you need to display them on your site. To grab one, click “Add to collection.” It should show up at the bottom of your screen; select “use,” hit the little download button, and have fun.

Behance

Designers love to show off (and share) their work. If you’re searching for a truly high-quality free font, Behance is an amazing place to look. Unfortunately, there is no font category, but if you search for something along the line of “free commercial font,” you’ll get plenty of results to keep you happy.

Type Kit

Type Kit offers both free and paid accounts. The free account includes a limited collection of fonts to try out for your web site, along with the ability to sync to your desktop for use in any desktop application. If you subscribe to the Creative Cloud, the Portfolio plan is included in your monthly subscription. There’s a wealth of wonderful tried and true fonts here!

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Remember, always always always double-check the license before using any free font on one of your projects. This information appears in the “readme” file when you download the font, and should also be published online. If you can’t find author or license information, stay on the safe side and assume that the font is only free for personal use.

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Other Low Cost and Nearly Free Fonts:

Adobe Spark

Create unforgettable messages through customized free fonts and templates using Adobe Spark. Add your perfect branded primary, secondary and supplementary fonts to your designs with this powerful typography tool. Get creative and enhance your message with text effects, bold colors and more. 

Lost Type

Lost Type has a “pay what you want” model for personal use license, and very reasonable commercial use prices. You can browse a collection of incredibly beautiful fonts and technically you can use all of the fonts for free (personal use). But, we recommend that you offer up some type of compensation. If you love the work, there’s no reason not to properly compensate the designer. They need to eat, too!

100 Free fonts – a list from Canva Design School

The team over at Canva put together this list of the best free fonts of 2015 as a helpful guide to their users for their respective design projects. It’s a great list, and a lot of the fonts are free. Just be sure to double check each one prior to use in your commercial works.

Learn More about Fonts, Free Fonts, and Font Options for your Brand.

Typeface vs. Font. Sans Serif vs. Serif. Typography has a lot to it, and a fascinating history. Check out this article Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Fonts (But Were Afraid to Ask) to learn a bit more about the tools you to communicate your brand (with a few tips on modifying fonts too!)

Looking for the perfect font for your business logo? Our Guide to Creating Your Business Logo has a wealth of information to help you along the way.