Many people think that you have to pay a lot of money to download good fonts. And it's true that to purchase the licence for a font it will often cost you $100 - $500. Unless you are really rich or run a profitable business, this kind of money is just not realistic for most of us bloggers and entrepreneurs who are just starting out.
But the good news is that there are loads of beautiful fonts, that look just as good, that you can get for free! In this post I'm going to share with you the best places to find free fonts that you can use on your website and in your branding.
SIDE NOTE: This post is a sneak peek inside my Design Vault, an online hub for all the tools, software and resources that you need to DIY your own design for free! So if you want to be your own designer for free you're in the right place!
A Note On Licenses
Before I show you where to download free fonts I want to talk about licences. When you are looking for free fonts there are two types of licences - personal use and commercial use.
Free For Personal Use
Fonts that are free for personal use mean that you cannot use the font for any commercial purposes which includes in the branding of a business, in any media that advertises the business or in or on any products that are for sale. For this reason I would avoid using these fonts on your blog, even if you don't generate any income from your blog. You never know, you might want to monetise in the future and I just generally think that it's a bit of a grey area. If your blog is purely personal then strictly speaking your use of the font would probably be considered personal but I prefer to err on the side of caution and avoid using these fonts.
Free For Commercial Use
These are the fonts that we want. Fonts that are free for commercial use means that you can use them in your business branding, on products you sell, or for promotional purposes. You will need to check the specific details of a font's license to see exactly which uses are permissible. For example you may only be able to use the font on the web but not on merchandise for sale.
Where to Find Free Fonts
Now that we know about licences, let's find our free fonts! Remember to filter your search results on the following websites by the type of license to make sure you are getting a font that is free for commercial use.
1. Font Squirrel
Font Squirrel is my go to site for free fonts. They have pulled together the best free fonts for commercial use from all over the web. Their website is super easy to navigate and they have a comprehensive search function. You can search by font classification (e.g. sans serif), tags, license usage and the number of styles in the font family. While all fonts on Font Squirrel are free for commercial use the license usage search function helps you narrow down the specific commercial uses allowable in a fonts license. Usage filters include desktop, web, ebook and application.
2. Dafont
Dafont has the biggest collection of free fonts online. You could lose hours browsing through the fonts on here. It has a huge list of font categories that you can browse through or you can use their search function. You can filter your search results by the license type and whether or not the font includes accents and the Euro sign. Dafont also includes fonts that can be used for commercial purposes for a small donation to the designer. This is a great option if you are on a budget but are looking for something a little different.
3. FontSpace
Similar to Dafont. It has a large collection of free fonts which you can browse by category and you can filter to show only results that are free for commercial usage.
4. 1001 Fonts
Another font search engine that has a large collection of free fonts for personal and commercial use. Like Dafont, some free for personal use fonts can be used for commercial purposes with a small donation to the designer. Fonts can be filtered by license type, font category and tags
5. Creative Market
Creative Market is the ebay/etsy for designers. You can find anything on there from vectors, mockups, stock photos, fonts, patterns, templates, icons, illustrations and much more. While most of their items are for sale, in their Free Goods section, each month they have a range of items available for free download. I have downloaded some really nice fonts for free so it's worth keeping an eye out. The font section on Creative market is also well worth a look as the fonts on here are much more affordable, usually $18-25 and because these fonts are designed by independent designers so you won't find them on the major font websites like My Fonts.
Want to know where to find all the best free design software, tools and resources?
Then be sure to take a peek inside The Design Vault. It has everything you need to get started with your designs for free!
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