7 popular premium fonts and their Google alternatives
Picking a good font for your interface can have a major positive impact with pretty less effort on your part. But not all fonts are made equal, especially when it comes to their use for screens. Web and mobile typography has to take into account important aspects like legibility, readability, as well as accessibility.
The cost of premium web fonts made by expert type foundries can add up quickly, especially if the license is based on page views. However good typography doesn’t have to break the bank. There are many high quality fonts out there for no cost. One option is to use Google Fonts, which are also open-source, meaning they allow for both personal and commercial use.
Down below I’m sharing a collection of some of my favorites that I came across within the last couple of months, and that look very similar to a popular premium font.
1. Brandon Grotesque & Josefin Sans
Finding a dupe for Brandon Grotesque with its unique rounded corners is really hard. However Josefin Sans comes pretty close as for the overall geometric look. It’s also a bit easier to read on screens due to its larger x-height and using it uppercase for menus or headers there is almost no difference visible.
2. Sofia Pro & Poppins
Sofia Pro is another popular geometric sans-serif typeface. Its alternative Poppins comes in a wide range of weights and compared to most geometric sans-serif fonts its x-height is rather high, which makes it easier to read.
3. Avenir & Lato
Avenir is a modern classic and there isn’t really a substitute for it. Lato looks very similar especially its capital letters but it is overall less geometric.
4. Proxima Nova & Montserrat
Proxima Nova is a popular go-to for digital design. So is Montserrat. They both share a lot aesthetically but Montserrat is a tiny bit wider in its letterforms.
5. Proxima Soft & Nunito
Proxima Soft is based off Proxima Nova but with rounded corners added. Nunito’s letter shape is very similar and it’s even a bit easier to read because its letters are taller.
6. DIN & Barlow
DIN is a popular font which was originally made to conform to German Industrial Standards. Its alternative Barlow has some subtle differences: wider characters, shorter height, and rounded corners. Both are very usable since they come in many different weights.
7. Charter & Source Serif Pro
Charter was designed with the limitations of low- and middle-resolution output devices in mind and is a great serif font for books and long texts in general. It’s actually the font that Medium uses for body text. Adobe’s Source Serif Pro comes very close, but unfortunately it’s only available in 3 weights yet on Google Fonts.
All these fonts have been used extensively across millions of websites and applications every day. Even though Google Fonts tend to be popular for the very reason they are free, there are some real quality fonts available.
If you know of any good premium font alternatives, let me know in the comments below!
