Free Alternatives to Paid Fonts

People are always asking where we get the great typefaces we use in our designs, and how they can create elements using the same type. The truth is we use a lot of commercial (non-free) fonts. But there are some great free alternatives.

Often, one can find a compatible font simply by using Google to search for the font name and “font combinations” (to find a font that looks good with the first font) or the font and “free alternative”.

Chris Spooner, over at SpoonGraphics has a great post about some alternatives he recommends here.

I agree with many of his recommendations, some I have minor issues with.

The biggest thing I would tell people to be aware of is that many free fonts don’t have the variety of weights that a good commercial typeface has. Montserrat, which he mentions as an alternative to Proxima Nova and the amazing Gotham font (each of which come in many weights) only has a Normal and a Bold weight. Fine for body text, but trying to match something like Gotham Ultra isn’t going to work.

The article is a good read, however and written from the point of view of someone who thinks about type, which is refreshing.

Check out the full article here: http://blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/articles/the-best-free-alternatives-to-the-most-popular-fonts

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