Free fonts similar to Charter
Charter is a no-nonsense text face with simplified, sturdy shapes that survive poor rendering conditions. That makes it excellent on screens, where it has had a revival as a body font for long-form reading. It feels modern and plain-spoken rather than bookish.
Short answer: the closest free alternative to Charter is Charis SIL. Source Serif 4 is also worth a look. All are open source and free for commercial use.
Charter is not installed on this device, so it cannot be drawn here. The free alternatives below are live. On a device that has it, this row shows the original and unlocks the overlay.
/* Charis SIL is open source. Self-host it or load it from Google Fonts. */ font-family: "Charis SIL", Charter, "Bitstream Charter", "Sitka Text", Cambria, serif;
The alternatives in detail
1. Charis SIL
Why it works. Based directly on Bitstream Charter and extended by SIL International with very wide language support, so the letter shapes are the closest you can get.
What differs. Regular and bold with italics only. Its line spacing is loose by default, to make room for stacked accents, so set line-height yourself.
2. Source Serif 4
Why it works. Also rooted in Fournier’s types, with a sturdy low-contrast build, optical sizes and a full weight range.
What differs. Sharper, bracketed serifs and a slightly wider set. It reads as more refined and less blunt.
How to recognize Charter
Matthew Carter, 1987, Bitstream. Designed to stay crisp on the low-resolution laser printers of the time, with Fournier’s 18th-century types as a starting point.
- Blunt, squared-off serifs with almost no bracketing, close to a slab serif.
- Low contrast and a generous x-height, with compact, open letterforms.
- Few fine details anywhere: curves are simple and the italic is restrained.
In a site’s CSS it may appear as Bitstream Charter, Charter BT, ITC Charter, XCharter. Not sure what you are looking at? Identify the font on the live page first.
Is Charter free?
Ships with macOS, so Apple users see it when a stack names it. That copy is licensed for the system and cannot be served as a web font, and the commercial Charter BT is included with Adobe Fonts. Bitstream also gave an early version to the X Consortium in 1992 under a permissive license, which is the basis of free derivatives.
The alternatives on this page are open source, so you can use them on commercial sites, self-host the files and ship them in products. Read more in font licensing in plain English.
Use Charis SIL in your CSS
Put the free font first and keep sensible fallbacks behind it. Self-hosting the files is the most private and usually the fastest option.
@font-face {
font-family: "Charis SIL";
src: url("/fonts/charis-sil-400.woff2") format("woff2");
font-weight: 400;
font-display: swap;
}
@font-face {
font-family: "Charis SIL";
src: url("/fonts/charis-sil-700.woff2") format("woff2");
font-weight: 700;
font-display: swap;
}
body {
font-family: "Charis SIL", Charter, "Bitstream Charter", "Sitka Text", Cambria, serif;
}Saw a font you can’t place, or can’t afford?
Font Inspector names the font on any website in one click. For popular paid and system fonts it suggests free look-alikes right in the panel.
Questions & answers
What is the closest free font to Charter?+
Charis SIL is the closest free alternative to Charter. Based directly on Bitstream Charter and extended by SIL International with very wide language support, so the letter shapes are the closest you can get. Source Serif 4 is also worth testing.
Is Charter free to use?+
Ships with macOS, so Apple users see it when a stack names it. That copy is licensed for the system and cannot be served as a web font, and the commercial Charter BT is included with Adobe Fonts. Bitstream also gave an early version to the X Consortium in 1992 under a permissive license, which is the basis of free derivatives.
What Google Font looks like Charter?+
On Google Fonts, the nearest matches are Charis SIL and Source Serif 4. All are open source and free for commercial use. None is an exact copy, so compare them with your own text first.
How can I tell whether a website uses Charter?+
Inspect the text. Browser DevTools show the rendered font in the Computed tab, and the Font Inspector extension shows the family, the rendered font and free look-alikes in one click.
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