Sans serif · Designer not listed
CMU Sans Serif
Find the font. Find its kind.
CSSfont-family: 'CMU Sans Serif', sans-serif; font-weight: 500; font-style: normal; line-height: 1.1;
CMU Sans Serif is a free sans serif, from CTAN. Among the 697 sans serifs on FontKind, CMU Sans Serif has an x-height shorter than 92%, is narrower than 78% and, at its regular weight, is of average darkness. Its thickest strokes are 1.2 times its thinnest: nearly even strokes.
01 / Light table
Laid on top of CMU Bright
CMU Sans Serif on one light table with its two closest fonts, CMU Bright (100 out of 100) and Cantarell (77). CMU Bright is 20% lighter, with an x-height 6% taller; Cantarell is 13% wider and 8% lighter, with an x-height 8% taller.
CMU Sans Serif and CMU Bright laid on top of each other.
Ink shared with CMU Sans SerifCMU Bright…
Most different letters first; the figure is the share of ink the fonts have in common. Where the fonts agree the letters cancel to black: every white sliver is a real difference.
02 / Letters
The CMU Sans Serif alphabet
Capitals, lowercase, figures and signs · weight 500
Tap the letters you like, here and in other fonts, to find the fonts whose letters look most like them.
- &
- ?
- !
- @
- %
- (
- )
03 / Weights
CMU Sans Serif in 2 weights
2 weights, 500–700, with italics
- 500 Medium, with its italic
- 700 Bold, with its italic
04 / Facts
Can you use CMU Sans Serif?
- Designer
- Not listed
- Kind
- Sans serif
- Styles
- 2 weights, 500–700, with italics
- From
- CTAN
- Character sets
- latin, latin-ext
- Licence
- SIL Open Font License 1.1
Can I use it?
- Commercial use
- Yes.
- Logos
- Yes.
- Websites and apps
- Yes. Self-hosted.
- PDFs and documents
- Yes.
- Changes
- Yes, under another name. Not as “Computer Modern Unicode fonts”: the licence reserves the name.
- Sharing the files
- Yes, but not for sale. With the licence.
CMU Sans Serif is under the SIL Open Font License 1.1. This is a plain summary, not legal advice: the licence itself decides.
Already in your apps?
- Google Docs
- Not verified. Docs adds Google Fonts, and CMU Sans Serif comes from CTAN. Google’s guide
- Word, PowerPoint
- Not verified. Install it from CTAN first. Microsoft’s list
- Figma
- Not verified. Search its font menu, or install it. Figma’s help
- Canva
- Not verified. Search its font menu for CMU Sans Serif, or upload it with Canva Pro. Canva’s help
- Cricut
- Once installed. Design Space lists CMU Sans Serif under System. Fonts for Cricut →
From each app’s own font list or help pages.
05 / Measurements
CMU Sans Serif, measured
Taken from the font file's own outlines, regular style
- x-height
- 44.5% of the emlowercase x
- Cap height
- 69.4% of the emcapitals
- x / cap
- 0.64lowercase against capitals
- Width
- 45.8% of the emaverage lowercase
- Ink
- 41%letter box filled
- Contrast
- 1.25 : 1nearly even strokes
Where it stands among sans serifs
Ranked against all 697 sans serifs on FontKind
x-heightSmaller than 92% of sans serifs
WidthNarrower than 78% of sans serifs
InkNear the middle of sans serifs
ContrastMore contrast than 67% of sans serifs
06 / Similar fonts
Fonts similar to CMU Sans Serif
Matched letter by letter · its own family apart
- CMU Bright10020% lighter · x-height 6% taller
- Cantarell7713% wider · x-height 8% taller · 8% lighter
- Garcia759% wider · less stroke contrast · x-height 3% taller
- Nebula Sans7520% wider · x-height 19% taller · 17% lighter
- Quattrocento Sans757% wider · 8% lighter · x-height 3% taller
- Synonym7411% wider · 18% lighter · x-height 7% taller
All 100 fonts similar to CMU Sans Serif →Compare side by side →Get CMU Sans Serif on CTAN
07 / Swap
Swap CMU Sans Serif without a jump
Running text within 3% of the width, x-height within 5%
- Average Sans71text 2.3% narrower · x-height 2.5% taller
- Tajawal69text 0.6% wider · x-height 2.0% taller
- Molengo68same text width · x-height 2.9% taller
- Skeena Indigenous64text 0.9% narrower · x-height 3.8% taller
- Padauk60same text width · x-height 2.3% shorter
- Jost59text 0.8% wider · x-height 3.4% taller
Fallback while it loads
Until CMU Sans Serif loads, this sets Arial in its place at 95% of its size, so running text keeps CMU Sans Serif’s width and lines keep their height: nothing moves when it arrives.
@font-face {
font-family: 'CMU Sans Serif Fallback';
src: local('Arial');
size-adjust: 95.01%;
ascent-override: 94.73%;
descent-override: 26.31%;
line-gap-override: 21.05%;
}
font-family: 'CMU Sans Serif', 'CMU Sans Serif Fallback', sans-serif;08 / Questions
Questions about CMU Sans Serif
Answered from its licence, CTAN and each app’s own font list
Is CMU Sans Serif free for commercial use?
Yes. CMU Sans Serif is under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 , which allows commercial use at any scale, logos, websites, apps and PDFs included; a changed version may not be called “Computer Modern Unicode fonts”.
How do I download and install CMU Sans Serif?
CMU Sans Serif comes free from CTAN . Download it from its page there and unzip the file. On Windows or a Mac, double-click each TTF or OTF file and choose Install, then restart any app that was open. The web fonts this page uses are FontKind’s own copy, kept with its licence file .
Is CMU Sans Serif in Google Docs?
Probably not: the More fonts list in Docs draws on Google Fonts, and CMU Sans Serif comes from CTAN. Docs can’t add a font of your own, so set it in an app on your computer, such as Word, instead.
How many weights does CMU Sans Serif have?
CMU Sans Serif comes in two weights: Medium (500) and Bold (700), each with an italic.
What fonts are similar to CMU Sans Serif?
The closest in our letter-by-letter match are CMU Bright (100), Cantarell (77) and Garcia (75), out of 100. Next to CMU Sans Serif, CMU Bright is 20% lighter, with an x-height 6% taller. See all 100 fonts like CMU Sans Serif.