Free fonts similar to Minion Pro
Minion is a digital-era typeface in the style of late Renaissance book faces: elegant, even and deliberately unobtrusive. It is one of the most used typefaces in book and academic publishing, so it carries a scholarly tone. If a PDF looks quietly professional, there is a fair chance it is set in Minion.
Short answer: the closest free alternative to Minion Pro is Crimson Pro. EB Garamond is also worth a look. All are open source and free for commercial use.
Minion Pro 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.
/* Crimson Pro is open source. Self-host it or load it from Google Fonts. */ font-family: "Crimson Pro", "Minion Pro", "Adobe Garamond Pro", Georgia, serif;
The alternatives in detail
1. Crimson Pro
Why it works. An old-style book face in the same tradition, with a full range of weights and italics and a similar economical width.
What differs. Slightly sharper and more contrasted at large sizes, and a bit darker in text.
2. EB Garamond
Why it works. A classic Garalde that gives the same scholarly, literary feel to long text.
What differs. A smaller x-height and lighter color, so it looks more historical and more delicate on screens.
How to recognize Minion Pro
Robert Slimbach, 1990, Adobe. Minion Pro followed in 2000 as an OpenType family with optical sizes, and Minion 3 in 2018.
- A very even, calm texture with moderate contrast and no eye-catching letters.
- Slightly condensed, economical proportions with a moderate x-height.
- Separate optical sizes such as Caption, Subhead and Display in the professional versions.
In a site’s CSS it may appear as Minion, minion-pro, Minion 3, minion-3, MinionPro-Regular. Not sure what you are looking at? Identify the font on the live page first.
Is Minion Pro free?
Commercial, from Adobe. It is included with Adobe Fonts, where the CSS name is minion-pro, and it was long bundled with Adobe applications. It is not part of Windows or 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 Crimson Pro 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: "Crimson Pro";
src: url("/fonts/crimson-pro-400.woff2") format("woff2");
font-weight: 400;
font-display: swap;
}
@font-face {
font-family: "Crimson Pro";
src: url("/fonts/crimson-pro-700.woff2") format("woff2");
font-weight: 700;
font-display: swap;
}
body {
font-family: "Crimson Pro", "Minion Pro", "Adobe Garamond Pro", Georgia, 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 Minion Pro?+
Crimson Pro is the closest free alternative to Minion Pro. An old-style book face in the same tradition, with a full range of weights and italics and a similar economical width. EB Garamond is also worth testing.
Is Minion Pro free to use?+
Commercial, from Adobe. It is included with Adobe Fonts, where the CSS name is minion-pro, and it was long bundled with Adobe applications. It is not part of Windows or macOS.
What Google Font looks like Minion Pro?+
On Google Fonts, the nearest matches are Crimson Pro and EB Garamond. 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 Minion Pro?+
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.
Times New Roman
Try Tinos, Source Serif 4 and Newsreader
TRANSITIONAL SERIF FOR SCREENSGeorgia
Try Gelasio, Merriweather and Source Serif 4
OLD-STYLE (GARALDE) SERIFGaramond
Try EB Garamond, Cormorant Garamond and Crimson Pro
DIDONE (MODERN) SERIFDidot
Try Playfair Display and Bodoni Moda
DIDONE (MODERN) SERIFBodoni
Try Bodoni Moda and Playfair Display
TRANSITIONAL SERIF FOR SCREENSCambria
Try Caladea and Source Serif 4