What counts as "free"
A typeface qualifies if it ships under a permissive license — the SIL Open Font License, Apache 2.0, the Fontshare Free license, or any equivalent that lets a working designer use the file in commercial work without paying a per-seat fee. Trial families and "free for personal use" oddities do not qualify.
Where the picks come from
- Type designers' own write-ups (Klim Type Foundry on Söhne; Indian Type Foundry on Switzer)
- Editorial sources we trust to show their work — Typewolf, Learn UI Design, Naomi-Maria's font alternatives series, the editors at Element Three and Creative Boom
- Specimen documentation from Google Fonts, Fontshare, and Adobe Fonts
- The original metric-mapped revivals, where applicable (Libre Caslon, Libre Baskerville, Libre Bodoni)
What disqualifies a pick
- Visual similarity alone — every pick has a stated reason rooted in metrics, history, or working use
- "Inspired by" knock-offs that copy a paid family's outlines without the design work
- Typefaces with abandoned files, broken weight axes, or inconsistent kerning across common pairs
When we get it wrong
If you spot a bad pick — wrong license, broken family, weak rationale — tell us. We update the page in the open and credit the correction.