Handwriting · Astigmatic

Quintessential

Q: Is Quintessential free for commercial use?

Yes. Quintessential 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 “Quintessential”.

Your words – they follow you round the site

Case

Size72 px

Weight400 RegularThe only weight it comes in

Letter spacing0 em

Line height1.10

Find the font. Find its kind.

CSSfont-family: 'Quintessential', cursive; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; line-height: 1.1;

Quintessential is a free handwriting font by Astigmatic, on Google Fonts since 2012. Among the 331 handwriting faces on FontKind, Quintessential has an x-height taller than 68%, is of average width and, at its regular weight, is lighter than 66%. Its thickest strokes are 1.3 times its thinnest: moderate stroke contrast.

Compare with Eagle Lake →Compare with another font

01 / Light table

Laid on top of Eagle Lake

Quintessential on one light table with its two closest fonts, Eagle Lake (100 out of 100) and Fondamento (96). Eagle Lake is 46% wider and 12% heavier, with more stroke contrast; Fondamento is 11% wider and 10% heavier, with an x-height 3% shorter.

Layout

Letters

Show

Size auto

Ink shared with QuintessentialEagle Lake…

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.

Open in the compare tool →

02 / Letters

The Quintessential alphabet

Capitals, lowercase, figures and signs · weight 400

Tap the letters you like, here and in other fonts, to find the fonts whose letters look most like them.

&
?
!
@
%
(
)

Learning cursive? The cursive alphabet, letter by letter →

With this font

Write your ownCalligraphy generator →Your words in Quintessential and 29 more calligraphy fonts. Download any of them as a PNG for Canva or an SVG for Cricut.

03 / Sizes

Quintessential at every size

1 weight (400) · six sizes, in your words

12 px
16 px
24 px
36 px
48 px
72 px

04 / Facts

Who made Quintessential, and can you use it?

Designer: Astigmatic
Kind: Handwriting
Styles: 1 weight (400)
On Google Fonts since: 2012
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 or loaded from Google Fonts.
PDFs and documents: Yes.
Changes: Yes, under another name. Not as “Quintessential”: the licence reserves the name.
Sharing the files: Yes, but not for sale. With the licence.

Quintessential is under the SIL Open Font License 1.1. This is a plain summary, not legal advice: the licence itself decides.

What each licence allows →

Read the licence

Already in your apps?

Google Docs: Most likely. Under More fonts, in Sheets and Slides too. Google’s guide
Word, PowerPoint: No. Install it from Google Fonts first. Microsoft’s list
Figma: Yes. Built in, nothing to install. Figma’s help
Canva: Not verified. Search its font menu for Quintessential, or upload it with Canva Pro. Canva’s help
Cricut: Once installed. Design Space lists Quintessential under System. Fonts for Cricut →

From each app’s own font list or help pages, read on 28 September 2026.

How each app gets its fonts →

Get Quintessential on Google Fonts

05 / Measurements

Quintessential, measured

Taken from the font file's own outlines, regular style

Hxgp in Quintessential. Lines at the measured heights, as a share of the em · The parts of a letter, named

x-height: 50.8% of the emlowercase x
Cap height: 72.7% of the emcapitals
x / cap: 0.70lowercase against capitals
Width: 43.9% of the emaverage lowercase
Ink: 40%letter box filled
Contrast: 1.31 : 1moderate stroke contrast

How we measure →

Where it stands among handwriting faces

Ranked against all 331 handwriting faces on FontKind

x-heightLarger than 68% of handwriting faces
WidthNear the middle of handwriting faces
InkLighter than 66% of handwriting faces
ContrastNear the middle of handwriting faces

06 / Similar fonts

Fonts similar to Quintessential

Matched letter by letter · its own family apart

All 100 fonts similar to Quintessential →Compare side by side →Get Quintessential on Google Fonts

07 / Swap

Swap Quintessential without a jump

Running text within 3% of the width, x-height within 5%

Fallback while it loads

Until Quintessential loads, this sets Arial in its place at 87.6% of its size, so running text keeps Quintessential’s width and lines keep their height: nothing moves when it arrives.

@font-face {
  font-family: 'Quintessential Fallback';
  src: local('Arial');
  size-adjust: 87.55%;
  ascent-override: 130.56%;
  descent-override: 44.56%;
  line-gap-override: 0.00%;
}

font-family: 'Quintessential', 'Quintessential Fallback', sans-serif;

08 / Questions

Questions about Quintessential

Answered from its licence, Google Fonts and each app’s own font list

Is Quintessential free for commercial use?

Yes. Quintessential 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 “Quintessential”.

How do I download and install Quintessential?

FontKind doesn’t host Quintessential’s files: it comes free from Google Fonts . On its page there, choose Get font, then Download all, and unzip the file. It holds a single font file. On Windows or a Mac, double-click each font file and choose Install, then restart any app that was open, Word included.

Is Quintessential in Microsoft Word?

Not until you install it: Quintessential isn’t one of Microsoft 365’s cloud fonts. Installed, it is in Word’s font menu and PowerPoint’s. For someone who hasn’t installed it, turn on Embed fonts in the file in Word’s save options: its licence allows that.

Is Quintessential in Google Docs?

Most likely. Search for Quintessential under More fonts in the font menu of Docs; added there, it is in Sheets and Slides too.

Is Quintessential in Figma?

Yes: Quintessential is in Figma’s font menu, in the browser and the desktop app, with nothing to install.

How many weights does Quintessential have?

Quintessential comes in one weight, Regular (400). Ask for bold and most apps thicken the letters themselves: a faux bold, not a drawn one.

Who designed Quintessential?

Quintessential was designed by Astigmatic. It has been on Google Fonts since November 2012. Astigmatic also made Aclonica, Parisienne, Righteous and 54 more on FontKind.

What fonts are similar to Quintessential?

The closest in our letter-by-letter match are Eagle Lake (100), Fondamento (96) and Lugrasimo (96), out of 100. Next to Quintessential, Eagle Lake is 46% wider and 12% heavier, with more stroke contrast. See all 100 fonts like Quintessential.