Free fonts similar to Verdana
Verdana was drawn pixel-first for the screens of the 1990s: very wide letters, a huge x-height and loose spacing, so that small text stays readable. It still appears in forums, emails and older sites. On high-resolution screens it looks large and wide, so most redesigns replace it.
Short answer: the closest free alternative to Verdana is Open Sans. Noto Sans is also worth a look. All are open source and free for commercial use.
Verdana 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.
/* Open Sans is open source. Self-host it or load it from Google Fonts. */ font-family: "Open Sans", Verdana, Geneva, "DejaVu Sans", sans-serif;
The alternatives in detail
1. Open Sans
Why it works. A friendly humanist sans with open shapes and a large x-height that keeps small text readable, as Verdana does.
What differs. Clearly narrower and more tightly spaced, so text takes less room. Add a little letter spacing at small sizes for the Verdana feel.
2. Noto Sans
Why it works. A close relative of Open Sans with enormous language coverage for multilingual sites.
What differs. Narrower than Verdana and slightly more formal. The uppercase I has no serifs.
How to recognize Verdana
Matthew Carter, with hand hinting by Tom Rickner, released by Microsoft in 1996.
- Very wide letters with a large x-height and generous spacing. Text looks a size bigger than it is.
- The uppercase I has serifs and the 1 has a flat base, so I, l and 1 never look alike.
- The bold is extremely wide and heavy.
In a site’s CSS it may appear as Verdana Pro. Not sure what you are looking at? Identify the font on the live page first.
Is Verdana free?
Ships with Windows and macOS, which made it a web-safe font for decades. It is missing on most Android and Linux devices. 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 Open 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: "Open Sans";
src: url("/fonts/open-sans-400.woff2") format("woff2");
font-weight: 400;
font-display: swap;
}
@font-face {
font-family: "Open Sans";
src: url("/fonts/open-sans-700.woff2") format("woff2");
font-weight: 700;
font-display: swap;
}
body {
font-family: "Open Sans", Verdana, Geneva, "DejaVu Sans", 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 Verdana?+
Open Sans is the closest free alternative to Verdana. A friendly humanist sans with open shapes and a large x-height that keeps small text readable, as Verdana does. Noto Sans is also worth testing.
Is Verdana free to use?+
Ships with Windows and macOS, which made it a web-safe font for decades. It is missing on most Android and Linux devices. 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 Verdana?+
On Google Fonts, the nearest matches are Open Sans and Noto 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 Verdana?+
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.
Helvetica
Try Inter, Arimo and Roboto
NEO-GROTESQUE SANS SERIFHelvetica Neue
Try Inter, Arimo and Hanken Grotesk
GEOMETRIC GROTESQUE HYBRIDProxima Nova
Try Montserrat, Figtree and Nunito Sans
GEOMETRIC SANS SERIFGotham
Try Montserrat, Outfit and Figtree
GEOMETRIC SANS SERIFFutura
Try Jost, League Spartan and Outfit
GEOMETRIC HUMANIST SANS SERIFAvenir
Try Nunito Sans, Figtree and Mulish