Optima® font
Optima is a flared humanist sans serif by Hermann Zapf, first issued by D. Stempel AG in 1958. It comes with macOS; elsewhere it is a commercial typeface. Adobe Fonts includes it with an Adobe subscription, for personal and commercial use. FontKind hasn’t measured it, so the free fonts below stand beside it by their own description and by class, not by measurement.
No picture of Optima here: only your own copy, if you have it
01 / Free fonts with a similar description or class
Your copy · Optima, from your device
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01by class
Free for commercial useOFL
Fonts like Farro02by class
Free for commercial useOFL
Fonts like Amarna
Not measured against Optima: FontKind has no licensed copy of it. “By description” means the free font’s own description names Optima or its model; “by class”, that Google Fonts gives it the same class. Every one is free for commercial use.
About Optima
- Designed by
- Hermann ZapfSource: Wikipedia: Optima
- First issued
- D. Stempel AG, 1958Source: Wikipedia: Optima
- Class
- Flared humanist sans serifSource: Wikipedia: Optima
- Comes with
- macOS Tahoe: OptimaSource: Apple: fonts included with macOS Tahoe
- Licence
- Adobe Fonts includes it with an Adobe subscription, for personal and commercial use.
- Trademark
- Optima is a trademark of Monotype Imaging Inc. registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and may be registered in certain other jurisdictions.Source: Monotype: trademarks
- Also
- Zapf drew it after the lettering of tombstones he saw in 1950 at the Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence, whose strokes widen toward their ends without a serif. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington is set in it.Source: Wikipedia: Optima
Read by hand on 2 October 2026 from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), Microsoft’s and Apple’s lists of their fonts, Monotype’s list of its trademarks and the foundries’ and shops’ own pages. The references are linked beside each fact; a page that sells or hands out the font is not, so a fact read only there shows no link.
Optima® is a trademark of Monotype Imaging Inc. FontKind is not affiliated with Monotype Imaging Inc., and this page is an independent reference.
Hold rights in Optima? Write to rights@fontkind.com: we answer within two working days, and take down what is disputed while we look into it.
Questions about Optima
Is Optima free?
Not to use anywhere you like. It comes with macOS, so a Mac already has it. Anywhere else it needs a licence from its foundry. Adobe Fonts includes it with an Adobe subscription, for personal and commercial use. The free fonts on this page are free for commercial use too, under open licences.
Who designed Optima?
Optima was designed by Hermann Zapf, and first issued by D. Stempel AG in 1958.
Can I use Optima in Word, Google Docs or Canva?
In Word on a Mac, yes, as macOS comes with Optima; on Windows, only after you install a licensed copy. Google Docs adds fonts from Google Fonts, and Optima isn’t one of them; of the free fonts on this page, Farro and Amarna are there, under More fonts. Canva publishes no list of its fonts: search its font menu, or, with Canva Pro, upload a font whose licence allows it.