What is a sans serif font?

A font without serifs, from the French sans, without: its strokes end plainly. Arial, Helvetica, Roboto and Open Sans are sans serifs, and most phones, apps and websites set their text in one. Fonts with serifs are serif fonts.

Should I use a serif or a sans serif font?

Choose by the job and the voice rather than by a rule. Sans serifs suit interfaces, signs, captions and small text on screens; serifs suit books, long articles and brands that trade on tradition. Many designs pair one of each, with a similar x-height. Serif vs sans serif shows the difference, measured.

Are these sans serif fonts free for commercial use?

Yes, in apps, websites and products alike. All 697 sans serifs are free, under licences that allow commercial use: 640 under the SIL Open Font License, 16 in the public domain (CC0), 7 under the Apache License, 3 under the Ubuntu Font Licence, 2 under the MIT License and 1 in the public domain (the Unlicense). The other 28 sans serifs come under Fontshare’s own licence, ITF’s: commercial use as well, but no changing the files, and anyone outside your organisation gets their own copy from Fontshare. Every one may be served from your own website, self-hosted.

What free font looks like Arial?

Arimo is drawn to Arial’s metrics, so a document keeps its line breaks when you swap one for the other. By the look of the letters, Rag, Kecal and Miedinger come close as well. See every free alternative to Arial. For Calibri, Carlito has the same metrics.

What is the best sans serif font for websites and apps?

By our measures, Inter, Plus Jakarta Sans, Manrope and Geist suit interfaces best: a large x-height, even strokes and a full range of weights. For long text, Lato, Roboto and Archivo have the italics and the steady width it needs. Each font’s page has the CSS to use it.

What are the most popular sans serif fonts?

On Google Fonts, the most used sans serif families are Google Sans, Inter, Lato, Open Sans and Poppins, in that order: the list of all 697 on this page starts with them in its Most used order.

Which sans serif fonts are in Google Docs and Word?

Google Docs adds Google Fonts families under More fonts in its font menu, so 467 of these 697 sans serifs are most likely there. The 215 sans serifs from Fontsource, Fontshare and their makers’ own releases are not in Docs. Cascadia Mono and Cascadia Code come with Windows 11, so Word on Windows has them already. None of these sans serifs is one of Microsoft 365’s cloud fonts: install any other from its source to use it in Word. Windows 11 comes with 13 sans serifs of its own, Arial and Calibri among them: the free alternatives to each are the free fonts most like it.

Sans serif fonts

Sans serif fonts end their strokes plainly, without serifs. They run most screens, apps and signs: Arial, Helvetica and Roboto are all sans serifs. Here are 697 free ones in four styles, with the best for interfaces, body text, headlines and logos.

01 / Styles

Four styles of sans serif

Told apart by Google Fonts’ style tags; each shows its most used fonts, one of a family.

Grotesque

The first sans serifs, cut by nineteenth-century printers, and their revivals: a little contrast, a few quirks, often narrow. Franklin Gothic and Akzidenz-Grotesk are grotesques.

How we tellTagged grotesque by Google Fonts.

Neo-grotesque

The smoothed, neutral sans of the 1950s, Helvetica’s kind: even strokes, closed curves, a steady rhythm. Arial follows it, and so do most interfaces today.

How we tellTagged neo-grotesque by Google Fonts.

Humanist

Sans serifs with the proportions of handwriting: open curves, a little stroke variation, a warmer voice. Gill Sans and Frutiger are humanist.

How we tellTagged humanist by Google Fonts.

Geometric

Letters built from circles and straight lines, as Futura was in 1927: a round o, even strokes, a clean and modern face.

How we tellTagged geometric by Google Fonts.

02 / Best for

The best sans serifs

By use, picked by our measurements, most used first. The rule is under each job.

Interfaces and small text

x-height of 53% of the em or more, contrast of 1.3 : 1 or less, a width of 47% or more and 5 weights or a weight axis: big, even, unsqueezed letters for buttons, menus and captions.

Body text

x-height of 48% of the em or more, a width between 46% and 55%, an italic and 4 weights or more: the steady, middle-of-the-road letters of long text.

Headlines

The narrowest fifth of sans serifs, 45% of the em a letter or less, with a bold or heavier: big words that still fit the line.

Logos

The fifth of sans serifs least like any other, with no family or copy of their own: their closest match here scores 78 of 100 or less. A wordmark set in one won’t blend into the neutral sans around it.

03 / All fonts

All 697 sans serif fonts

697 sans serifs on FontKind: filter them by name or by look, and pick their order.

Filter by name

By look, measured

Order

697 of 697 fonts

04 / Questions

Sans serif fonts, answered

What is a sans serif font?: A font without serifs, from the French sans, without: its strokes end plainly. Arial, Helvetica, Roboto and Open Sans are sans serifs, and most phones, apps and websites set their text in one. Fonts with serifs are serif fonts.
Should I use a serif or a sans serif font?: Choose by the job and the voice rather than by a rule. Sans serifs suit interfaces, signs, captions and small text on screens; serifs suit books, long articles and brands that trade on tradition. Many designs pair one of each, with a similar x-height. Serif vs sans serif shows the difference, measured.
Are these sans serif fonts free for commercial use?: Yes, in apps, websites and products alike. All 697 sans serifs are free, under licences that allow commercial use: 640 under the SIL Open Font License, 16 in the public domain (CC0), 7 under the Apache License, 3 under the Ubuntu Font Licence, 2 under the MIT License and 1 in the public domain (the Unlicense). The other 28 sans serifs come under Fontshare’s own licence, ITF’s: commercial use as well, but no changing the files, and anyone outside your organisation gets their own copy from Fontshare. Every one may be served from your own website, self-hosted.
What free font looks like Arial?: Arimo is drawn to Arial’s metrics, so a document keeps its line breaks when you swap one for the other. By the look of the letters, Rag, Kecal and Miedinger come close as well. See every free alternative to Arial. For Calibri, Carlito has the same metrics.
What is the best sans serif font for websites and apps?: By our measures, Inter, Plus Jakarta Sans, Manrope and Geist suit interfaces best: a large x-height, even strokes and a full range of weights. For long text, Lato, Roboto and Archivo have the italics and the steady width it needs. Each font’s page has the CSS to use it.
What are the most popular sans serif fonts?: On Google Fonts, the most used sans serif families are Google Sans, Inter, Lato, Open Sans and Poppins, in that order: the list of all 697 on this page starts with them in its Most used order.
Which sans serif fonts are in Google Docs and Word?: Google Docs adds Google Fonts families under More fonts in its font menu, so 467 of these 697 sans serifs are most likely there. The 215 sans serifs from Fontsource, Fontshare and their makers’ own releases are not in Docs. Cascadia Mono and Cascadia Code come with Windows 11, so Word on Windows has them already. None of these sans serifs is one of Microsoft 365’s cloud fonts: install any other from its source to use it in Word. Windows 11 comes with 13 sans serifs of its own, Arial and Calibri among them: the free alternatives to each are the free fonts most like it.

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