Font Licenses Explained: Personal vs Commercial Use
“Free for personal use” doesn't mean free for your business. Here's how font licenses work, in plain English, before you use a font you found.
You’ve identified the perfect font and found a free download. Before you put it on a client’s logo, a T-shirt or a YouTube thumbnail, check one thing: the license. When you “get” a font, you don’t own it. You get permission to use it in certain ways, and those ways vary a lot.
Here’s what the common license types mean, in plain English.
The three kinds of “free”
Open-source fonts: free for almost anything
Fonts released under open-source licenses, most commonly the SIL Open Font License (OFL), can be used for personal and commercial projects: logos, websites, apps, products and ads. You can also embed them in websites and apps. The main rule is that you can’t sell the font file itself.
Every font on Google Fonts uses an open-source license, which is why it’s the safest place to find free fonts for business use.
“Free for personal use”: not for business
Many fonts on free font sites are labeled free for personal use, or are demo versions. You can use them for things like a birthday card or a school project, but not for anything commercial. For that, you need to buy a license from the designer.
Donationware and public domain
Some designers ask for a donation if you use their font commercially, and a small number of fonts are in the public domain. The rules still come from the designer, so read them.
What counts as commercial use?
More than most people think. As a rule, it’s commercial if it makes money or promotes a business:
- client work, including logos and branding,
- products you sell, such as T-shirts, mugs, prints and stickers,
- ads, social media graphics and marketing for a business,
- monetized YouTube videos, blogs and podcasts,
- apps, games and websites for a company.
If you’re not sure, treat it as commercial.
Paid font licenses
When you buy a font, you usually choose a license for how you’ll use it:
| License | What it covers | Usually priced by |
|---|---|---|
| Desktop | Installing the font to design graphics, print and documents | Number of computers or users |
| Web | Using the font on a website with @font-face | Page views |
| App | Building the font into a mobile or desktop app | Number of apps or installs |
| E-book | Embedding the font in e-books | Number of titles |
| Broadcast | TV, film and video titles | Project or audience size |
Some licenses also have special rules for logos or for products where the font is the main feature, such as text on T-shirts, so check the details.
This pricing is why big brands build their own fonts. Netflix created Netflix Sans partly because licensing Gotham for millions of viewers had become expensive.
How to check a font’s license
- Look in the download. Most fonts come with a license file, such as license.txt or OFL.txt. Read it.
- Check the source. Free font sites usually show a label like “Free for personal use” or “100% free” next to each font. Treat that as a starting point, and confirm on the designer’s own page.
- Prefer Google Fonts for business. Everything there can be used commercially.
- Keep records. Save receipts and license files for paid fonts, and note where you downloaded free ones.
Whatsdafont labels each match as Google Fonts, free, free for personal use or commercial where it can. Always double-check the license on the download page before you use a font.
Quick answers
Can I use a Google Font in my logo? Yes. Google Fonts are open source and allowed in logos.
Can I use a “free for personal use” font on products I sell? No, not without buying a commercial license from the designer.
Can I sell a font I downloaded for free? No. Even open-source licenses don’t allow selling the font by itself.
I found a lookalike of a famous logo font. Can I use it? Check its license first. Many fan-made lookalikes are personal-use only, and copying a famous brand’s look can raise trademark issues. See Why Logo Fonts Are So Hard to Identify.
This article is general information, not legal advice. For a big or high-risk project, contact the font’s designer or a lawyer.
Find the font, then check the license
Start by finding out exactly what the font is. Upload an image to Whatsdafont to see the closest matches, with free, commercial-friendly alternatives alongside paid ones.