Free fonts similar to Impact
Impact was made to put as much ink as possible on a poster headline: ultra-heavy strokes, tiny counters and a huge x-height. The internet knows it as the meme font, set in white capitals with a black outline. Used with care, it is still a strong choice for short, loud headlines.
Short answer: the closest free alternative to Impact is Anton. Oswald is also worth a look. All are open source and free for commercial use.
Impact 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.
/* Anton is open source. Self-host it or load it from Google Fonts. */ font-family: "Anton", Impact, Haettenschweiler, "Arial Narrow Bold", sans-serif;
The alternatives in detail
1. Anton
Why it works. A reworking of traditional advertising sans serifs for the web, with the same compressed, heavy headline punch.
What differs. Slightly less heavy, with counters opened up for screens. One weight only.
2. Oswald
Why it works. A condensed gothic in the same poster tradition, with weights from extra light to bold.
What differs. Clearly lighter even at its boldest, with more open shapes. It is more versatile but less loud.
How to recognize Impact
Geoffrey Lee, 1965, for the Stephenson Blake foundry in Sheffield.
- Extremely heavy, condensed letters with narrow slits for counters.
- A very tall x-height with short ascenders and descenders, so lowercase is almost as tall as the capitals.
- White capitals with a black outline on a photo are the classic meme treatment.
Is Impact free?
Ships with Windows and macOS, but not with Android or most Linux systems. 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 Anton 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: "Anton";
src: url("/fonts/anton-400.woff2") format("woff2");
font-weight: 400;
font-display: swap;
}
@font-face {
font-family: "Anton";
src: url("/fonts/anton-700.woff2") format("woff2");
font-weight: 700;
font-display: swap;
}
body {
font-family: "Anton", Impact, Haettenschweiler, "Arial Narrow Bold", 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 Impact?+
Anton is the closest free alternative to Impact. A reworking of traditional advertising sans serifs for the web, with the same compressed, heavy headline punch. Oswald is also worth testing.
Is Impact free to use?+
Ships with Windows and macOS, but not with Android or most Linux systems. 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 Impact?+
On Google Fonts, the nearest matches are Anton and Oswald. 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 Impact?+
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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