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Friendly fonts. 10 free picks, warm and easy to read.

Nunito, Quicksand and Varela Round lead 10 free friendly fonts chosen by eye for open, soft letters that stay warm in a heading, a button or a brand name.

All 10 friendly fonts

10 of 10 shown

  • Rounded ends

    Nunito

    Rounded ends on every stroke of a plain, balanced sans: soft in a heading and steady as interface text, with italics.

    Loading the friendly font…

    width 0.51 em · x-height 0.49 em · ink 38% · contrast 1.3 · 9 weights, 200–1000 · 9 italics

  • Rounded ends

    Quicksand

    Circular bowls and rounded ends in a light geometric line: airy and gentle for a name or a heading.

    Loading the friendly font…

    width 0.52 em · x-height 0.52 em · ink 30% · contrast 1.1 · 5 weights, 300–700 · no italics

  • Rounded ends

    Varela Round

    Rounded ends on sturdy, wide letters: a single weight, but a solid one for buttons and labels.

    Loading the friendly font…

    width 0.54 em · x-height 0.52 em · ink 42% · contrast 1.1 · 1 weight · no italics

  • Rounded ends

    Comfortaa

    Wide, near-circular letters with rounded ends: the roundest face here, for a soft name or logo.

    Loading the friendly font…

    width 0.58 em · x-height 0.55 em · ink 34% · contrast 1.1 · 5 weights, 300–700 · no italics

  • Open & humanist

    Cabin

    Wide-open humanist curves on an unfussy sans: warm in running text without any rounding.

    Loading the friendly font…

    width 0.48 em · x-height 0.49 em · ink 47% · contrast 1.2 · 4 weights, 400–700 · 4 italics

  • Open & humanist

    Ubuntu

    Curved feet on t and y, soft joins and slightly squarish curves on a humanist sans: friendly, yet crisp on a screen.

    Loading the friendly font…

    width 0.51 em · x-height 0.52 em · ink 44% · contrast 1.2 · 4 weights, 300–700 · 4 italics

  • Open & humanist

    Atkinson Hyperlegible Next

    Letters drawn to differ from each other (I, l and 1; O and 0) with wide counters: friendly because nothing is hard to read.

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    width 0.49 em · x-height 0.5 em · ink 43% · contrast 1.2 · 7 weights, 200–800 · 7 italics

  • Soft & hand-drawn

    Winky Sans

    Soft, slightly swelling strokes with rounded corners and a flick on some capitals: a sans that looks drawn by a friendly hand.

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    width 0.47 em · x-height 0.51 em · ink 48% · contrast 1.3 · 7 weights, 300–900 · 7 italics

  • Soft & hand-drawn

    Itim

    Brush-drawn letters with rounded, weighted ends and small entry flicks: informal and warm for a brand name, never scrawly.

    Loading the friendly font…

    width 0.48 em · x-height 0.44 em · ink 50% · contrast 1.2 · 1 weight · no italics

  • Soft & hand-drawn

    Mali

    Upright handwriting with rounded strokes, a hooked r and a curling comma: a friendly voice that still sets a clean line, in several weights.

    Loading the friendly font…

    width 0.54 em · x-height 0.51 em · ink 36% · contrast 1.2 · 6 weights, 200–700 · 6 italics

Friendly letters are open and soft: round or open shapes, a generous lowercase and even strokes, warm without turning childish. Friendly is our label for these letters; the numbers on each card are measured.

Rounded, open or hand-drawn: which friendly font to take

Nunito is the safest start for a whole site or app: 9 weights from 200 to 1000 and 9 italics keep headings, buttons and body text in one family. For the softest brand name take Comfortaa, the widest here at 0.58 em a letter. When reading comes first, Atkinson Hyperlegible Next has 7 weights, 7 italics and letters drawn to differ, while Cabin stays warm in running text without any rounding. Varela Round and Itim come in a single weight each, so keep them for names, labels and buttons.

Rounded ends

4 fonts: Nunito, Quicksand, Varela Round, and Comfortaa

Every stroke ends in a round cap: the softest look a plain sans can take.

Take these for an app, a sign-up page or a brand that should feel soft.

Nunito has the most weights in the group, 9 from 200 to 1000; Quicksand is the lightest, with ink on 30% of the letter box.

Open & humanist

3 fonts: Cabin, Ubuntu, and Atkinson Hyperlegible Next

Wide-open curves and letters that differ clearly: warm because they are easy to read, without any rounding.

Take these where people read whole paragraphs: help pages, forms, long settings screens.

Atkinson Hyperlegible Next has the most weights in the group, 7 from 200 to 800, and it is also the lightest, with ink on 43% of the letter box.

Soft & hand-drawn

3 fonts: Winky Sans, Itim, and Mali

Strokes that swell, curl or look brushed: a friendly hand for a name, still calm enough for a line of text.

Take these for a greeting, a café or a personal brand that should feel written by someone.

Winky Sans has the most weights in the group, 7 from 300 to 900; Mali is the lightest, with ink on 36% of the letter box.

How we choose friendly fonts and what the numbers measure

Can I use these friendly fonts on a website, in an app and in a logo?

Licence answers for the 10 friendly fonts, use by use
Free fontLicenceWebAppLogo
NunitoOFL 1.1✓!*✓
QuicksandOFL 1.1✓!*✓
Varela RoundOFL 1.1✓!*✓
ComfortaaOFL 1.1✓!*✓
CabinOFL 1.1✓!*✓
UbuntuUFL 1.0✓!*✓
Atkinson Hyperlegible NextOFL 1.1✓!*✓
Winky SansOFL 1.1✓!*✓
ItimOFL 1.1✓!*✓
MaliOFL 1.1✓!*✓
  • Web (a site’s headings and text): yes for 9 of them under OFL 1.1, Permission & Conditions.
  • Web (a site’s headings and text): yes for Ubuntu under UFL 1.0, Permission & Conditions.
  • * App (an app’s interface, with the font file inside it): yes for 9 of them under OFL 1.1 once you ship the copyright notice and licence with the font files, Condition 2.
  • * App (an app’s interface, with the font file inside it): yes for Ubuntu under UFL 1.0 once you ship the copyright notice and licence with the font files, Permission & Conditions.
  • Logo (a friendly brand or product name): yes for 9 of them under OFL 1.1, Condition 5; OFL FAQ: logos are allowed.
  • Logo (a friendly brand or product name): yes for Ubuntu under UFL 1.0, Permission & Conditions.
  • Read the OFL 1.1 text
  • Read the UFL 1.0 text

Questions about friendly fonts

Which friendly font should I start with?

Nunito (rounded ends), Cabin (open & humanist), and Winky Sans (soft & hand-drawn) open the groups. Nunito heads the page, with letters 0.51 em wide on average, an x-height of 0.49 em and ink on 38% of the letter box.

Are these friendly fonts free to use in an app?

Yes: 9 of them are under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 and Ubuntu is under the Ubuntu Font Licence 1.0; both licences allow a site’s headings and text, a friendly brand or product name, and an app’s interface, with the font file inside it, once you ship the copyright notice and licence with the font files.

Are friendly fonts readable enough for body text?

6 of the 10 come with the italics running text needs for emphasis: Nunito, Cabin, Ubuntu, Atkinson Hyperlegible Next, Winky Sans, and Mali. Their x-heights run from Itim at 0.44 em to Comfortaa at 0.55 em, so set Itim a size larger to match. Varela Round and Itim come in one weight: keep them for headings, buttons and names.

Which of these friendly fonts has the most weights?

Nunito, with 9 weights from 200 to 1000 and 9 italics; then Atkinson Hyperlegible Next with 7 and Winky Sans with 7. Varela Round and Itim come in a single weight each.

How were these friendly fonts chosen?

Sans faces Google tags as rounded, with even strokes and a big lowercase; the lab’s cute and bubble faces are left to the playful page. 24 fonts of the catalogue pass that rule. We set “Hello there, nice to see you!” in each of them, and in other candidates, on contact sheets, then chose 10 different families by eye: 4 from the pool and 6 added by hand, with 32 candidates left out for a stated reason.

Beyond friendly fonts: other moods and jobs