Free fonts similar to Myriad Pro
Myriad is Adobe’s humanist workhorse: clean, open and neutral in a friendlier way than Helvetica. Apple used it as its corporate typeface for more than a decade from 2002, which is why it still feels like the iPod era. It remains common in documents, PDFs and corporate sites.
Short answer: the closest free alternative to Myriad Pro is PT Sans. Source Sans 3 is also worth a look. All are open source and free for commercial use.
Myriad 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.
/* PT Sans is open source. Self-host it or load it from Google Fonts. */ font-family: "PT Sans", "Myriad Pro", Myriad, "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif;
The alternatives in detail
1. PT Sans
Why it works. A humanist sans with similar proportions and a comparably warm, open texture in text.
What differs. Slightly more calligraphic and narrower. Regular and bold only, so light and semibold are missing.
2. Source Sans 3
Why it works. Adobe’s own open source humanist sans, with a full weight range, true italics and excellent screen rendering.
What differs. A little narrower and more upright, with a taller x-height. It is the closest free match in tone.
How to recognize Myriad Pro
Robert Slimbach and Carol Twombly, 1992, Adobe. The OpenType Myriad Pro followed in 2000.
- The lowercase y has a straight, slanted tail.
- The lowercase e ends in a slanted cut rather than a horizontal one.
- Open apertures and a true italic, with an overall look close to Frutiger.
In a site’s CSS it may appear as Myriad, myriad-pro, Myriad Web, Myriad Set Pro, MyriadPro-Regular. Not sure what you are looking at? Identify the font on the live page first.
Is Myriad Pro free?
Commercial, from Adobe. It is included with Adobe Fonts, where its CSS name is myriad-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 PT Sans 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: "PT Sans";
src: url("/fonts/pt-sans-400.woff2") format("woff2");
font-weight: 400;
font-display: swap;
}
@font-face {
font-family: "PT Sans";
src: url("/fonts/pt-sans-700.woff2") format("woff2");
font-weight: 700;
font-display: swap;
}
body {
font-family: "PT Sans", "Myriad Pro", Myriad, "Segoe UI", 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 Myriad Pro?+
PT Sans is the closest free alternative to Myriad Pro. A humanist sans with similar proportions and a comparably warm, open texture in text. Source Sans 3 is also worth testing.
Is Myriad Pro free to use?+
Commercial, from Adobe. It is included with Adobe Fonts, where its CSS name is myriad-pro, and it was long bundled with Adobe applications. It is not part of Windows or macOS.
What Google Font looks like Myriad Pro?+
On Google Fonts, the nearest matches are PT Sans and Source Sans 3. 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 Myriad 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.
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