Free fonts similar to Courier New
Courier New is the typewriter on every computer. On the web it often means that nobody chose a code font, but it is also used on purpose for screenplays, legal documents and a deliberate analog mood. Its strokes are very thin, so it can look pale on screens.
Short answer: the closest free alternative to Courier New is Cousine. Courier Prime is also worth a look. All are open source and free for commercial use.
Courier New 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.
/* Cousine is open source. Self-host it or load it from Google Fonts. */ font-family: "Cousine", "Courier New", Courier, monospace;
The alternatives in detail
1. CousineMetric-compatible
Why it works. Metric-compatible with Courier New. Every character has the same width, so documents and fixed layouts keep their line breaks.
What differs. The design is a sturdy monospaced sans serif, not a typewriter face, so it reads much darker and loses the slab serifs.
2. Courier Prime
Why it works. A redrawn Courier made for screenplays, with the typewriter character intact, heavier strokes and a true italic.
What differs. Darker and more polished than Courier New. It looks better, but it is visibly not the system font.
How to recognize Courier New
Courier was designed by Howard Kettler for IBM typewriters in the mid-1950s. Courier New is the digital version that Monotype produced for Microsoft, shipped with Windows since version 3.1.
- Slab serifs on a typewriter skeleton, with every character the same width.
- Very thin, even strokes that make paragraphs look light and spindly.
- Unstyled code or pre blocks in it usually mean the page sets no monospace font at all.
In a site’s CSS it may appear as Courier, CourierNewPSMT, Courier Std. Not sure what you are looking at? Identify the font on the live page first.
Is Courier New free?
Ships with Windows and macOS, and it is what many browsers show for the generic monospace family. It is not open source and cannot be served as a web font without a license, although it is now also in the Adobe Fonts library.
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 Cousine 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: "Cousine";
src: url("/fonts/cousine-400.woff2") format("woff2");
font-weight: 400;
font-display: swap;
}
@font-face {
font-family: "Cousine";
src: url("/fonts/cousine-700.woff2") format("woff2");
font-weight: 700;
font-display: swap;
}
body {
font-family: "Cousine", "Courier New", Courier, monospace;
}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 Courier New?+
Cousine is the closest free alternative to Courier New. Metric-compatible with Courier New. Every character has the same width, so documents and fixed layouts keep their line breaks. Courier Prime is also worth testing.
Is Courier New free to use?+
Ships with Windows and macOS, and it is what many browsers show for the generic monospace family. It is not open source and cannot be served as a web font without a license, although it is now also in the Adobe Fonts library.
What Google Font looks like Courier New?+
On Google Fonts, the nearest matches are Cousine and Courier Prime. All are open source and free for commercial use. None is an exact copy, so compare them with your own text first.
Which alternative keeps my layout from changing?+
Cousine is metric-compatible with Courier New. Each character has the same width, so line breaks and page counts stay the same when you swap fonts.
How can I tell whether a website uses Courier New?+
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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