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UtilitiesTypographyFonts

What are the best font editors?

7

Options
Considered

67

User
Recs.

May 22, 2020

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

7 Options Considered

Best font editors	Price	Platforms	Last Updated
-- FontForge	Free	Windows, Linux, Mac	May 22, 2020
-- BirdFont	Free	Windows, Linux, Mac	May 13, 2020
-- Glyphs	€249.90	Mac	Mar 16, 2020
-- Type light	Free / paid	Windows, Linux, Mac	Mar 23, 2020
-- FontCreator Professional	$199	Windows	May 3, 2020

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BirdFont

Top Pro

Open Source

ColorfulCipactonal's Experience

one created font, good program See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows, Linux, Mac

RickZeeland's Experience

Free font editor written in Vala (programming language inspired by C#). See More

Glyphs

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Top Pro

Powerful

Many professional type designers as well as big names in the font industry use Glyphs. It has all features that professional font designers need, such as smart components, interpolation, kerning, hinting, even beta support for variable fonts. See More

Top Con

macOS only

There is no version for other operating systems. See More

Trond Grøntoft's Experience

Very easy to get started, even if you have little background knowledge. See More

Specs

Top Pro

Good support

There is a support forum on the website and the developers are very responsive. Cutting edge updates are released frequently. Support questions are often answered within hours and if relevant, often followed up with an updated version of the app. See More

Top Con

Glyphs dictates your workflow

You should stick to the principles that Glyphs sets for you. For example, if you try to use your own glyph names, all the automatic features won't work correctly. See More

Top Pro

Beginner-friendly

Top Con

Cutting edge versions sometimes unreliable

You can opt in to receive cutting edge updates, which are released every couple of days. These contain new features, but often introduce new bugs or change your data without being aware of it. Better stay with the official stable releases. See More

Top Pro

Very good documentation

An extensive PDF manual can be downloaded from the website. In addition there are in-depth articles on the website covering a large number of subjects. See More

Top Pro

Text based font files

Fonts are stored as a plain text file that can easily be put in a source control system like Git or Mercurial. See More

Top Pro

Discounted price

If you are a student, teacher or school you can get discounted licenses. If you don't need all features of the full Glyphs version, there is also a cheaper ‘Glyphs Mini’ available. See More

Top Pro

iOS viewer app

There is a Glyphs Viewer app for iOS which allows you to use your iPhone or iPad as a second preview screen via WiFi. See More

Top Pro

Automatic functions

A lot of things Glyphs does automatically for you if you stick to its rules, like OpenType feature code, building accented letters based on position anchors, ... See More

Top Pro

Language support

Glyphs contains character sets for nearly all languages. If you're not sure what characters are required e.g. for Arabic, Glyphs can tell you the requirements. See More

Top Pro

Plugin support

There are a large number of useful and free plugins from third party developers available through the built-in plugin manager. There are also some commercial plugins. See More

FontCreator Professional

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Top Pro

Easy to learn and use

I'm not a professional font designer, I just do it for fun, so investing a lot of effort in learning would not have been worthwhile. I found the free eval version to be quite straightforward and easy to use, so I bought a license. I've found that I can pick it up when I need it and carry on from the previous time without having to spend time coming back up to speed, which is perfect for my purposes. See More

Ellisa's Experience

Using this software was my first experience with font making. Despite the uneasiness of trying something new, I found FontCreator and was pleasantly surprised. The interface was straightforward and understandable and I was able to create my font to the perfect degree. Now, I have found a love for font making and owe it to this software. See More

Specs

Platforms:Windows

Top Pro

Stellar support

I've had extensive interactions with the author, Erwin Denissen, and he's at the front of the pack among the hundreds of support people with whom I've dealt in the past 40 years. See More

ProudTlaloc's Experience

Working for many years as a Book designer. Using FontCreator for creating simple SIGNS and re-changing a font to fit my needs. See More

Top Pro

Great for making changes

For FontCreator interface is so friendly it is easy to get work done even though you're not a Pro user. As a book designer i find it great for changing things inside a font so it will fit my needs. Sometimes you use a nice font that has some mistakes of design in it - so it is the best tool I have found for it. See More

איתמר נתן's Experience

As a FontCreator user for many fonts for many years, I can clearly say for sure, after looking at all the alternatives and software available on the market, for Windos and Mac, I can say for sure, FontCreator is the best software on the market in terms of reliability and simplicity, fast performance and zero Bugs, easy and convenient to use and especially intuitive Thanks to the creators of FontCreator, you give us the power and engine to create more and more letters. See More

EarnestAtropos's Experience

At the time I first bought a license -- 2004 -- there weren't many alternatives: mainly Fontographer. FontCreator was comparatively inexpensive, and from what I could see just as powerful and well-designed. I'd also been using MainType -- HighLogic's font manager -- for several years at that point, and my experience with both that program and the author of the software were confidence-inspiring. See More

Alphabix

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Specs

Platforms:Windows

FontStruct

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Specs

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