The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Calibri vs Arial
Two Microsoft bundled sans-serifs that ran the office world for decades. Arial is a 1982 Monotype neo-grotesque built to match Helvetica's widths, while Calibri is Lucas de Groot's 2007 humanist sans, drawn for Microsoft's ClearType collection with reading on screen in mind.
Calibri is a commercial font, so it is shown here in Carlito, its closest free alternative. All free alternatives to Calibri → Arial is a commercial font, so it is shown here in Arimo, its closest free alternative. All free alternatives to Arial →
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
- Arial copies Helvetica's proportions and metrics so documents reflow identically, but softens it with fuller curves and diagonally cut stroke ends on c, e, g, and s.
- Calibri has traditional, almost serif-like letterforms with subtly rounded stem ends, which de Groot nearly removed for fear ClearType would render them poorly.
- Calibri was the default Office font from 2007 until Microsoft replaced it with Aptos in 2024; Arial was one of the four core Windows 3.1 TrueType fonts from 1992 and is still bundled with Windows and macOS.
- Calibri ships in three weights with italics, while Arial's core family is regular and bold only, with Narrow, Black, and Rounded sold as separate families.
- Neither is free: both are bundled with Microsoft products for personal use, but self-hosting them on the web or redistributing them means a paid license through Monotype.
Calibri
Reach for Calibri when you want a warm, readable text face for documents, slides, and long reading on screen, and you already have it through Office or Windows.
Arial
Reach for Arial when you need a neutral, Helvetica-compatible sans that reflows identically across every machine, or when a client's brand already runs on it.