The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
GT America vs Circular
Two Swiss-foundry commercial sans-serifs that sit at opposite ends of the neutral spectrum. GT America (Grilli Type, 2016) is a grotesque that bridges 19th-century American Gothics and 20th-century European neo-grotesques, while LL Circular (Lineto, 2013) is a geometric sans that reworks Futura and Neuzeit Grotesk with warmer, rounder forms.
GT America is a commercial font, so it is shown here in Libre Franklin, its closest free alternative. All free alternatives to GT America → Circular is a commercial font, so it is shown here in Plus Jakarta Sans, its closest free alternative. All free alternatives to Circular →
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
- GT America, designed by Noël Leu with Seb McLauchlan, is built as a width system: Compressed, Condensed, Standard, Extended, Expanded, and Mono, across seven weights, for 84 styles in total.
- Circular, designed by Laurenz Brunner, is a single-width family built on circles and straight strokes, launched with four weights (Book, Medium, Bold, Black) plus italics and since extended to lighter and heavier cuts.
- Circular's forms are geometric but softened by quirks like the rounded stem-to-crossbar joint on the lowercase t and a moderate x-height, which keep it from feeling cold.
- GT America's letterforms are plainer and more grotesque in tone, with the slightly wider, squarer American Gothic feel in its standard widths and tighter Swiss detailing in the narrow ones.
- Both are commercial: Grilli Type sells perpetual desktop, web, and app licenses priced by machines, visitors, or developers, and Lineto sells Circular per cut or as a family, so licensing cost scales with how many styles and platforms you need.
GT America
Reach for GT America when you need a neutral grotesque that can flex across widths, from compressed headlines to extended display to monospaced code, under one consistent voice.
Circular
Reach for Circular when you want a friendly geometric brand voice for logotypes, marketing sites, and app UI, and the per-cut licensing fits your budget.