The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
SF Pro vs Suisse Int'l
Two neo-grotesques with very different jobs. SF Pro is Apple's system font, tuned for interfaces and locked to Apple platforms by its license, while Suisse Int'l is Ian Party's 2011 revival of the Swiss grotesk tradition, sold by Swiss Typefaces for branding and editorial work.
SF Pro is a commercial font, so it is shown here in Inter, its closest free alternative. All free alternatives to SF Pro → Suisse Int'l is a commercial font, so it is shown here in Switzer, its closest free alternative. All free alternatives to Suisse Int'l →
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
- SF Pro, introduced in 2017 as the expanded successor to Apple's 2014 San Francisco, ships nine weights, four widths, and variable optical sizes that switch from a Text cut below 20 points to a Display cut above it.
- Suisse Int'l offers nine weights from Hairline to Black with italics, covering Latin, Cyrillic, and Arabic in one file, but has no optical sizes or width axis in the core family.
- Suisse Int'l keeps apertures more open than Helvetica's and runs slightly condensed, giving it a cooler, more editorial Swiss feel; SF Pro draws on Helvetica and FF DIN but is shaped around on-screen legibility.
- Both are commercial: Apple's license only permits SF Pro for mockups and apps on Apple platforms and bars web or print use, while Suisse Int'l is a one-time paid license from Swiss Typefaces that covers print, web, and apps without usage caps.
SF Pro
Reach for SF Pro when you are designing for iOS, macOS, or visionOS, where it is the native UI font and comes at no extra cost to registered Apple developers.
Suisse Int'l
Reach for Suisse Int'l for brand identities, editorial layouts, and cultural or architecture work that want a crisp Swiss grotesk with full print and web rights, budget permitting.