The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Best free alternatives to
DejaVu Serif
The DejaVu fonts project was started by Štěpán Roh in 2004 to extend Bitstream Vera, the font family Jim Lyles designed at Bitstream and released in 2003 under a permissive license. DejaVu Serif keeps Vera's heavy, bracketed slab-like serifs, generous x-height and low-contrast strokes, a construction built for legibility on screens rather than for the page. The project then grew the character set collaboratively across many scripts, and the family now ships in Book, Bold, Italic and Bold Italic plus four condensed styles. It is a workhorse rather than a showpiece, which is why it is bundled with so many Linux systems. These free typefaces load from a CDN and cover the same sturdy, screen-first serif register.
The closest font to DejaVu SerifThe quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Display + body that work together
Pages that earn the read
A pairing is a relationship: one voice speaks first, the other answers, and the contrast between them sets the tone for the whole page.
Editorial · Modern Bitter + Public Sans
Quiet type that does the work
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.
Fonts like DejaVu Serif
Pick a category
Most-cited free fonts
Common questions about DejaVu Serif alternatives
- Is DejaVu Serif free?
- Yes — DejaVu Serif is a free typeface from DejaVu fonts project. Free under the Bitstream Vera license, with the DejaVu project's own changes placed in the public domain; download from dejavu-fonts.github.io. If you need a similar font you can load from a CDN, the closest is Bitter, available on Google Fonts.
- What font is similar to DejaVu Serif?
- Bitter is the closest free match. A contemporary slab designed for comfortable reading on screens, with the same large x-height, low contrast and heavy bracketed serifs that give DejaVu Serif its weight. It is slightly narrower and more uniform in rhythm, and it ships as a variable font with far more weights.
- Can I use Bitter in commercial projects?
- Yes — Bitter is published under a free license on Google Fonts and can be used in commercial work. Confirm the license text at the source before shipping.