26 Must-Have Free Fonts

thumbFonts are one of the essential parts of graphic design.  The font that accompanies a graphic or web design helps define the feel and compliment the design.

There are a plethora of free fonts available on the internet, but many of them are lackluster or completely impractical.  Today, we have 26 must-have fonts that are free to download and use in your personal designs.  Make sure to read the license agreement for each font, as some are for personal use only, while others are free to use in commercial work.

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Fonce Sans Regular

Fonce Sans Regular

Mindriders

Mindriders

Fertigo

Fertigo

Avante Garde ALT

Avante Garde ALT

MOD Font

MOD Font

Advent Font

Advent Font

Apogee Rounded Sans Beta

Apogee Rounded Sans Beta

Akashi

Akashi

ABC Font Typeface Version 2

ABC Font Typeface Version 2

Megalopolis

Megalopolis

Contemporary Modern Font

Contemporary Modern Font

Kraken Beta

Kraken Beta

Evolution True Type

Evolution True Type

Sliced AB

Sliced AB

Bobsmade

Bobsmade

TyporM01 Round-ans-Square

TyporM01 Round-ans-Square

Simplistic

Simplistic

Origram

Origram

Ultravioleta

Ultravioleta

Font HMG

Font HMG

InDEAL Regular

InDEAL Regular

Estrya's Handwriting

Estrya's Handwriting

Getting Blocky Abstract

Getting Blocky Abstract

Comfortaa

Comfortaa

Dirt2Death

Dirt2Death

Sunday Morning Garage Sale

Sunday Morning Garage Sale

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57 Responses to “26 Must-Have Free Fonts”

  1. joyoge designers' bookmark Says:

    nice fonts thanks for the list..


  2. Marcus Says:

    Great set!


  3. Angelique Says:

    Please differentiate between fonts that are for personal and commercial usage; out of the 26 fonts listed, the following 11 specifically state they should not be used in commercial products (eg, graphic design, some web sites):
    * Sunday Morning Garage Sale
    * Dirt2Death
    * Estrya’s Handwriting
    * Re-Noise
    * Ultravioleta
    * Simplistic
    * Sliced AB
    * Evolution
    * Kraken Beta
    * MDRS-FD01
    * Advent

    Additionally, the author of Apogee Rounded Sans states the font is in beta and not to be shared outside of DeviantArt:
    Please be aware that even if it’s shared on dA, this font is not especially meant to be a freeware (or a shareware). It should be not shared anywhere else than here.

    It’s a good list, but just wish the fonts had been more thoroughly vetted for designers’ purposes.


  4. Patternhead Says:

    Sweet. Some nicle looking fonts here, like the look of akashi


  5. Fletcher Says:

    That was a truly uninspiring list. Must have? Please. You bore me.


  6. Jerry Says:

    To Fletcher: Only a DA would take the time to send a comment like that. Grow up.


  7. JB Says:

    With all due respect, most of these are amateurish and not very well-designed. The few that were made by real typographers stand out nicely, while the rest look like they were done by high school kids with pirated copies of FontLab.


  8. Svetoslav Says:

    Fantastic post and solid font case! Congrats!


  9. Morton Says:

    Any designer with creative versatility would see the value in a diverse range of styles. If you’re successful and work with a variety of clients, it’s beneficial to have a wide range of fonts & typestyle variations available.
    Only narrow minded designers would write any of these fonts off as uninspired. I think it might just be the designer who’s uninspired in this case, and I’d bet their portfolio shows a narrow range of style and taste.
    Great fonts, thanks for posting.
    M


  10. tripled Says:

    some people knows nothing but criticism. you should dare show your own artwork when criticizing one. seems like you have too much to say but nothing show off. uhh. i must say they’re a bunch o’ losers.


  11. Kibondo Says:

    Some of these are alright, but no free-fonts list is complete without Museo and Museo Sans, two of the best free fonts any designer can get their hands on. Surprised not to see them on the list.


  12. Tisi Says:

    Some of these are good. Some of these are very creative but bad. Some of these are almost unreadable. Is the smoke one even really a font, or is it someone’s ad? Either way, cool idea for an ad, but definitely NOT a “must have font”. It’s almost impossible to read. Mindriders is a cool idea that’s hard to read also. It’s easier to read than the smoke one, but it’s still not at all practical. So as to not be COMPLETELY negative, InDEAL Regular, Comfortaa, evolution, and a few others are nice. I recently downloaded Fertigo and find that it is nice (though not for every day use). Dirt2death is good for posters for certain types of things and events. I just really wouldn’t call most of these “must have”s.


  13. Francois Viljoen Says:

    Nice list.


  14. HawaiiBill Says:

    As a trade shop designer, I get requests for so many fonts that the list will always grow longer.

    Thank you for adding a few more drawers to the overflowing cabinet.


  15. Steve Says:

    If this is a must have list I’d hate to see the Must Not Have list!

    Not inspiring nor really interesting type faces at all.


  16. Russ Says:

    What a bunch of mismanaged blatant promotional hee haw of what seems to be a load of old failed fonts NO ONE wants to buy or use for free.
    I can’t imagine why you would risk your reputation by promoting such rubbish. (Rubbish = garbage when spoken in english)
    R.A.


  17. Alexander Gessler Says:

    Great collection!


  18. DWD Says:

    Geez! So much artistic sniping! I wasn’t thrilled with every font, but hey, they’re free! How can you bitch about that?
    Personally, I’m grateful for the list, and will take what I can use, and toss the rest.
    Chill out, folks! We’re in the Earth Changes. If we can’t get beyond petty gripes, we’ll never survive … we might not anyway, but wouldn’t it be nice to at least go out feeling good about ourselves and each other?


  19. Michael Says:

    One word… awesome

    thanks!


  20. Tomasel Says:

    Inspiring list :-) )


  21. Sushil Says:

    yea very nice and greant pot thanks


  22. Rob Says:

    A very nice selection of fonts! Thanks for posting these.


  23. Telkom Says:

    Great post, a zip file with all the of the fonts would have been awesome tho :P


  24. uncle sam Says:

    Well bugger me, that is a collection of mostly boring and un useful fonts, well done in compliling mediocraty.
    stumbleapon kak.

    dont keep up the day job, dont even bother collating shite, these fonts are yawn….. dull, nicely presented on designs though, give you that


  25. Hezi Says:

    wonderful! thanks.


  26. Inspired? Says:

    Thanks for taking the time to compile and publish the list.

    I notice that the people who posted the negative comments about your list did not provide a link to their list of super duper fonts. Why do you think that is?


  27. Cigars Says:

    Wow, those are some crazy fonts. Some of them aren’t really readable though – I’m not sure what the point of those are?

    The Top 10 Cigars


  28. Dan Mowrey Says:

    Anxious to try some of these fonts.


  29. Babatunde Adeyemi Says:

    Nice collection. Thanks for sharing


  30. AHaN Says:

    Sweet fonts collection!


  31. Brukhar Says:

    Glad you like!


  32. accounting homework Says:

    Good post. I like how you’ve illustrated each font – it makes it easy to see the differences between the fonts


  33. kik Says:

    I just love it!Thanks!


  34. Film Institute Says:

    great list. i didn’t know most of them before.


  35. aine Says:

    non of the links work!

    :( and i (L) all the foooonts!! how do i get them!!!????


  36. david Says:

    Great list thx for sharing


  37. cooky yoon Says:

    thanks for your sharing!


  38. TutsKing Says:

    I’m not so sure some of them are “must have” but it’s definitely a useful list.


  39. jupiter Says:

    I have been looking for a nice collection of fonts because I want to do a areal logo for my site and this is a great resource! Bookmarked and will be looking over it for the next couple of days to find the right one. Thanks for sharing!


  40. Prashanth Says:

    These are glorious days for typography: the quality and quantity of fonts being developed is impressive. Also I’m cheap… I Always prefer your free font lists


  41. Senior citizens Says:

    Thanks for ur font list. it is very useful to my site ubdation.


  42. Meaux Says:

    Thanks for the list, cant wait to try some out.


  43. shywb Says:

    Thank you!!!!!
    Good!!!!!!!
    it’s Cute , Pretty
    and so on


  44. MissSpider Says:

    Thank youuuuuuuuuuu !! :D


  45. M.S.ENGINEERING Says:

    Thank u….. Very creative and useful fonts…….


  46. harmony rose Says:

    great fonts, I just wish web browsers would allow for greater use of fonts.


  47. anes Says:

    creative fonts…
    good visual, color and body font..good concept.
    visit my blog http://de8lapan.wordpress.com
    thanks..


  48. Free downloads all stuffs Says:

    Thanks dear i like these fonts


  49. Cigar Roller Says:

    Hey…! Great list dude, It really works, I was searching for this kind of list and i got because of you,,, Thanks a lot broo…!


  50. Insign Says:

    uh.
    just wondering what you do with the fonts after you download them?
    cant seem to do all that much with them.
    thanks.


  51. Brukhar Says:

    Add them to your system fonts, then you can use them in your graphics program


  52. gayathri Says:

    Nice fonts ..Thanks for sharing…..


  53. oliver Says:

    If you are looking for free fonts, check http://www.fonts2u.com. Discovered it just few days ago. Their
    character map search is awesome! Saved some time when looking for specific character maps supported.


  54. Angela Says:

    How do I download one of these fonts?


  55. Brukhar Says:

    Click the font image which will redirect you to the host site, then download there.


  56. Angela Says:

    Thanks. I really like these fonts. I love really “out there” fonts. These are great.


  57. Angela Says:

    I just used the MOD font with a black outline and a tiled fill (like a bathroom shower tile, and used my water drops tube and it looks awesome. Thanks so much!


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