The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Aptos vs Roboto
Two neutral sans-serifs that each became a platform default. Aptos is the neo-grotesque Steve Matteson drew for Microsoft, which replaced Calibri as the Office default in 2023, while Roboto is Christian Robertson's neo-grotesque for Google, the Android system face since 2011 and the backbone of Material Design.
Aptos is a commercial font, so it is shown here in Inter, its closest free alternative. All free alternatives to Aptos →
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
- Aptos is proprietary: it ships inside Microsoft 365, and web hosting, app embedding, or handing font files to a client need separate Microsoft licensing, whereas Roboto is free under the SIL Open Font License and sits on Google Fonts.
- Aptos leans on Helvetica and Arial, with flat horizontal and vertical stroke endings, round dots, and a spurless G, giving it a slightly softer, more document-friendly Swiss look that Microsoft describes as having a humanist touch.
- Roboto was redesigned in 2014 for Android Lollipop with rounder, wider forms and tuned for high-resolution screens, and it remains the default UI face across Android and Material Design.
- Roboto ships as a variable font from Thin to Black with condensed styles and a 12-axis sibling in Roboto Flex, while Aptos comes as 12 static styles from Light to Black Italic plus Display, Narrow, Mono, Serif, and Slab companions.
Aptos
Reach for Aptos when your work lives in Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook, where it is already installed and matches the house look of modern Office documents, but budget for licensing if you need it on the web or in an app.
Roboto
Reach for Roboto for product UI, Android apps, and any site where you want a proven, free screen grotesque with a full variable weight range and no licensing cost.