The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Segoe UI vs Roboto
Two default system interface fonts from rival platforms. Segoe UI is the humanist sans-serif Steve Matteson drew for Microsoft, the Windows UI face since Vista, while Roboto is the neo-grotesque Christian Robertson designed in-house at Google in 2011 as the Android system font.
Segoe UI is a commercial font, so it is shown here in Open Sans, its closest free alternative. All free alternatives to Segoe UI →
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
- Segoe UI is a humanist sans with rounder letterforms than Tahoma and true cursive italics, and it was hinted specifically for Microsoft's ClearType rendering on screen.
- Roboto is a neo-grotesque based on Normal-Grotesk, with oblique styles rather than true italics, and its 2014 redesign for Android 5.0 made the letterforms rounder and wider.
- Segoe UI is commercial: Microsoft lists it as exclusively included with Windows and Office, with no standalone download, so web or cross-platform use means licensing it through Microsoft's typography partner.
- Roboto is free under the SIL Open Font License, ships six weights plus condensed styles, and is available as a variable font (Roboto VF with three axes, or the 12-axis Roboto Flex).
- Segoe UI Variable, bundled with Windows 11, adds display, text, and small optical sizes and redraws the glyphs in a more geometric direction, moving away from the original humanist design.
Segoe UI
Reach for Segoe UI when you are building for Windows or Office and want text that matches the native system look at no extra cost, since it is already on the machine.
Roboto
Reach for Roboto for Android, web, and cross-platform products where you need a free, openly licensed grotesque with a full variable range and no licensing paperwork.