When comparing Inconsolata vs SF Mono, the Slant community recommends SF Mono for most people. In the question“What are the best programming fonts?” SF Mono is ranked 40th while Inconsolata is ranked 53rd. The most important reason people chose SF Mono is:
Code is very readable at both big and small sizes.
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Characters readable even at small sizes
The characters in Inconsolata have a slightly "wide" appearance that aids in readability, especially at small font sizes.
Pro No visible character breaks
Inconsolata renders lines in TUIs without visible character breaks; apparently unlike Inconsolata-g.
Pro Slashed zero characters are distinguishable from capital "O" and "Q" characters
Inconsolata-g screws this up by replacing the slashed zero with a dotted zero. A dotted zero is better than a zero with nothing in it, but worse than a slashed zero.
Pro Efficient scalability
Inconsolata scales well without loss of readability.
Pro Excellent readability
Very clear, distinct characters with decent spacing make Inconsolata very readable.
Pro Open source
It's an open source font, meaning it's freely available.
Pro Widely available
Inconsolata is available in the package managers of almost every open source OS.
Pro Clear and dis·tin·guish·a·ble
Code is very readable at both big and small sizes.
Pro Beautiful with high pixel density
Pro Best legible font
This font is legible in every condition.
Cons
Con Arched braces
Too much arched braces, decreases clarity, touching characters almost.
Con Slightly difficult to use outside of Xcode, Terminal, or Console
The typeface isn't available in Font Book, etc. unless the user imports the files embedded in the apps above.
Con Apple is locking down this font
It's not open in any sense of the word. It even gives warnings if you try to rip it out of the Terminal.app or Xcode bundles. Obviously, Apple only wants it on their tools. This is such a shame. It should work in other editors, too. It's a beautiful font. Apple open sourced swift, why can't they be open with a monospace font?