Free fonts similar to Franklin Gothic
Franklin Gothic is the classic American headline sans: dark, compact and a bit blunt. It has carried newspaper headlines, film posters and museum identities for more than a century. It has more personality than Helvetica and is strongest in its heavy and condensed weights.
Short answer: the closest free alternative to Franklin Gothic is Libre Franklin. Public Sans is also worth a look. All are open source and free for commercial use.
Franklin Gothic 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.
/* Libre Franklin is open source. Self-host it or load it from Google Fonts. */ font-family: "Libre Franklin", "Franklin Gothic Medium", "Franklin Gothic", "Arial Narrow", Arial, sans-serif;
The alternatives in detail
1. Libre Franklin
Why it works. An open source interpretation of Benton’s design, with nine weights and italics, so it keeps the two-storey g and the sturdy texture.
What differs. Slightly wider and more even, tuned for screens. There are no condensed widths.
2. Public Sans
Why it works. Built on Libre Franklin and simplified for interface text, with the same American gothic backbone.
What differs. More neutral, with regularized stroke weight, looser letter spacing and a hooked lowercase l. It loses the headline punch.
How to recognize Franklin Gothic
Morris Fuller Benton, 1902, American Type Founders. Victor Caruso expanded it into the ITC Franklin Gothic family in 1980.
- A two-storey g with an ear, unusual for a sans serif.
- Strokes thin noticeably where curves join the stems, as in a, n and g.
- Heavy, tightly set headlines, often in the condensed cuts.
In a site’s CSS it may appear as ITC Franklin Gothic, Franklin Gothic Medium, Franklin Gothic Book, franklin-gothic, ATF Franklin Gothic. Not sure what you are looking at? Identify the font on the live page first.
Is Franklin Gothic free?
Depends on the version. Franklin Gothic Medium ships with Windows, and ITC Franklin Gothic is included with Adobe Fonts under the CSS name franklin-gothic. Other cuts are commercial. It is not part of macOS.
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 Libre Franklin 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: "Libre Franklin";
src: url("/fonts/libre-franklin-400.woff2") format("woff2");
font-weight: 400;
font-display: swap;
}
@font-face {
font-family: "Libre Franklin";
src: url("/fonts/libre-franklin-700.woff2") format("woff2");
font-weight: 700;
font-display: swap;
}
body {
font-family: "Libre Franklin", "Franklin Gothic Medium", "Franklin Gothic", "Arial Narrow", Arial, sans-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 Franklin Gothic?+
Libre Franklin is the closest free alternative to Franklin Gothic. An open source interpretation of Benton’s design, with nine weights and italics, so it keeps the two-storey g and the sturdy texture. Public Sans is also worth testing.
Is Franklin Gothic free to use?+
Depends on the version. Franklin Gothic Medium ships with Windows, and ITC Franklin Gothic is included with Adobe Fonts under the CSS name franklin-gothic. Other cuts are commercial. It is not part of macOS.
What Google Font looks like Franklin Gothic?+
On Google Fonts, the nearest matches are Libre Franklin and Public Sans. 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 Franklin Gothic?+
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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