The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Free font
Lato
A free alternative to Avenir.
About Lato
Lato is Łukasz Dziedzic's humanist sans from 2010, warm and semi-rounded, and one of the most widely used typefaces on the web. Its proportions are generous, with a large x-height and subtle stroke modulation that lend body text a calligraphic warmth; the rounded details show at display sizes and largely disappear at small ones. Neutral without being cold.
Lato is cited as the closest free stand-in for Gill Sans, at around 85 percent similarity, sharing Gill's humanist proportions and modulation. At text sizes it occupies the same neutral-yet-friendly register as Frutiger and Avenir — less geometric than Avenir's skeleton, but close in long-form texture. It is also the design Carlito derives from, so it delivers Calibri's voice with a larger family and better spacing where exact metrics are not required, and it runs a shade warmer than Myriad.
- Designer
- Łukasz Dziedzic
- Released
- 2010
- Available at
- Google Fonts →
- Featured on
- 5 paid font pages
Lato is also a free alternative to…
- Avenir → Humanist warmth and the same neutral-yet-friendly register as Avenir at body text. Less geometric than Avenir's skeleton, but the texture in long-form is close — and Lato has earned its place as one of the most-used Google Fonts on the web.
- Calibri → Carlito's parent design — the same warm semi-rounded humanist voice with a larger family and more refined spacing, if you don't need Calibri's exact metrics.
- Frutiger → Łukasz Dziedzic's humanist sans, approachable and warm. The same neutral-yet-friendly register as Frutiger at body text — rounder shapes and slightly more contrast give it a touch more character at display sizes.
- Gill Sans → Cited as the closest free Gill Sans alternative at around 85% similarity. Shares Gill's humanist proportions, generous x-height, and subtle stroke modulation — the same calligraphic warmth at body-text sizes.
- Myriad → A shade warmer than Myriad, with semi-rounded details that show at display sizes and disappear at body sizes. Reach for it when you want Myriad's approachability with a bit more personality in headlines.
Display + body that work together
Letters that hold their nerve
The display sets the register; the body follows through. When both halves of a pair pull in the same direction, the design disappears and the words come forward.
Modern · Editorial Lato + Source Serif 4
Quiet type that does the work
Two thousand years of letterforms boil down to a handful of decisions — width, weight, proportion. Pick a pair you trust, and let the rest take care of itself.
Editorial · Modern Playfair Display + Lato