CSS Font “Helvetica Neue”. Helvetica Neue is a paid font, so you shouldn't @font-face it, as you'd be freely distributing a copyrighted font. It's included in Mac systems but not in windows/linux ones, so yes, plenty of your users wont have it installed. Anyway, you can use 'Arial Narrow' as a windows substitute, which is it's windows.
Does anyone know any other fonts similar to Helvetica Neue (free for commercial use)?
I'm working on a big website project where 'Helvetica Neue' is used heavily. I need a font that looks almost the same, is free for personal and commercial use, and looks good even when used with copytext (e.g. fontsize for copytext = 11px, for headlines = 16px).
Also there should be a condensed-font style included (if possible).
JohnB18.8k9 gold badges66 silver badges127 bronze badges
drpelzdrpelz
11 Answers
I still think that for web, the best free option out there is Liberation Sans. It renders perfectly with @font-face.
But you can get Helvetica Neue for web from Fonts.com for web use for a fair price too. I would probably use font-family:'Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Liberation Sans, Arial, sans-serif'; so those pcs with the font installed can see it, and those who don't have it can see a replacement.
YiselaYisela23.6k8 gold badges66 silver badges113 bronze badges
Roboto is a good neo-grotesque sans that can replace Helvetica. Commissioned by Google and released for free. Used as Android's default font.
Google re-designed Roboto in July 2014. The above sample has now been updated.
More about Roboto's (pre-redesign) similarity to Helvetica here. I wouldn't overstate its similarity, but I would say it's a good free alternative. Since the 2014 redesign, some of its most Helvetica-like aspects have actually been removed.
I also agree with Yisela's recommendation of Liberation Sans, which is also a good font albeit available in fewer weights.
thomasrutterthomasrutter5,6471 gold badge14 silver badges34 bronze badges
Tex-Gyre-Heros is for me the best one.Enjoy it!
Install on Ubuntu:
WELZ8,0027 gold badges29 silver badges62 bronze badges
CapiedgeCapiedge
The closest open source licensed font to Helvetica Neue I have found is surprisingly GNU FreeSans. Below is a sample from Inkscape, with FreeSans at the top and Helvetica Neue at the bottom. The glyphs are nearly identical, some are a little closer to original Helvetica. The spacing varies slightly (at least in Inkscape). The biggest difference I can see is FreeSans has ligatures between certain characters, note the 'fl' combination.It is an excellent font and is works well with the GNU font family of FreeSerif and FreeMono.
Brad JohnsonBrad Johnson
For a Helvetica Neue Condensed, you can have a look at the webfont Archivo Narrow:
For the Helvetica Neue Black version, this version of Archivo Black is not bad either:
For the other Helvetica Neue like the standard one, other answers have been posted and they're pretty good.
If you want to only stick to the Google WebFonts, Droid Sans, Open Sans and Roboto are not perfect but could work.
go-juntago-junta12.6k5 gold badges39 silver badges77 bronze badges
These look similar. I hope they'll work for you.
http://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/TeX-Gyre-Heros
http://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Lato
http://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Lato
Ferdi ÇıldızFerdi Çıldız
Everyone's been giving you names of fonts that look similar to Helvetica (some more than others) but depending on what kind of project it is that you're working on you might not need any of those.
Unless you need something that looks almost exactly like Helvetica, Arial might be an option you should consider. It comes pre-installed in (almost?) every Windows version and also Apple devices. Unfortunately Arial Narrow isn't included in iOS but, since both Helvetica and Helvetica Neue come pre-installed in all Apple devices, you wouldn't have to worry too much about it.
Your font stack could be something like
font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
and you'd be covering the most common devices and operating systems (except for Android which I think doesn't come with any of those two font families).Keep in mind this is far from ideal in most cases but would allow you to avoid licensing costs and reduce the time it takes for your website to load (since it will not be downloading fonts). This will also take some load off you server even though serving fonts isn't such a big deal.
Here's a link to a site with some of the fonts that come pre-installed with different operating systems: http://www.cssfontstack.com. And here's another one to a Wikipedia article about the usage share of the different operating systems: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems.
EDIT: This site is great when you wanna check what font would be used in each browser and operating system: http://fontfamily.io/
hack_nughack_nug
This may not resemble Helvetica that much, but I did find a font called Montserrat which you can download from FontSquirrel.
Zach Saucier9,8496 gold badges48 silver badges89 bronze badges
user64338user64338
The closest I've found so far is 'Raleway' on Google Fonts (http://www.google.com/fonts). I usually use the light 300, 200 or 100. Not exact, but as close as I can find at the the moment.
ErikErik
For Uppercase, Oswald seems good option available at Google Fontshttp://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Oswald
Himanshu SainiHimanshu Saini
I found these two fonts that look like the google logo,if anyone is interested.
Anna SusannaAnna Susanna
protected by CaiAug 17 '16 at 16:03
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Everyone has an opinion about fonts, but Helvetica has long reigned over the modern era. It’s used for brands galore—Panasonic, Jeep, American Airlines, Motorola, 3M, Toyota, to name a few—but in recent years, tech companies like IBM, Apple, Netflix, and Google have been shifting to their custom Helvetica-esque-but-not-quite fonts to deal with some of its quirks. Rather than let Helvetica die a slow death, all 40,000 characters in the world’s most iconic typeface have been revamped into a new font called—wait for it—Helvetica Now.
“This is not a revival. This is not a restoration,” writes Monotype, the company which owns the licensing rights to Helvetica. “This is a statement. This is Helvetica Now: for everyone, everywhere, for everything.”
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O-kay then. Let it be said that typeface designers are a dramatic bunch.
Some of the issues with Helvetica centered around uneven kerning—the spacing between letters—and readability issues at small sizes. That introduces challenges when it comes to meeting modern tech needs, like resizable browser windows and smaller screens. To address those issues, Helvetica Now will be available in three sizes: Micro, Text, and Display. According to Monotype, Micro is meant for smaller screens and lower resolutions, like what you might find on tablets and smartwatches. Meanwhile, Display evens out kerning for larger sizes, like a billboard, while Text is designed for “visually crowded environments.” (Ostensibly, something that’s very text heavy like a textbook or an article.)
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The last time Helvetica was updated was in 1983 with Helvetica Neue, which is basically the version of the font you’re probably most familiar with. As for how it differs with Helvetica Now aside from sizing, it’s mostly minor design tweaks. Changes include clarifying the difference between a lowercase l and a capital I, as well as an updated @ symbol. Helvetica Now also includes a straight-legged R, a single-story a, “lowercase u without a trailing serif,” rounder punctuation and a rounded G.
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For now, you can explore what Helvetica Now looks like on Monotype’s website. It’ll take a bit before Helvetica Now completely replaces its predecessor, however. Companies will still have to license the font from Monotype, and that could take some time. Chances are, unless you’re super into design or typefaces, you might not notice any difference at all.
[Monotype via Wired]
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