When comparing Google Droid Sans Mono vs Apple San Francisco Mono, the Slant community recommends Google Droid Sans Mono for most people. In the question“What are the best programming fonts?” Google Droid Sans Mono is ranked 24th while Apple San Francisco Mono is ranked 38th. The most important reason people chose Google Droid Sans Mono is:
Feels very easy to read code, even in a very small px (like 10 or 9). Letters are slightly separated, l (ell) and 1 are different, " (opening and closing quote) is straight and not angled, and the "Zero Slashed" version makes it an excellent font for coding.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Makes code very easy to read, especially if using the version where zeroes are slashed
Feels very easy to read code, even in a very small px (like 10 or 9). Letters are slightly separated, l (ell) and 1 are different, " (opening and closing quote) is straight and not angled, and the "Zero Slashed" version makes it an excellent font for coding.
Pro Size and spacing are excellent for readability
Very easy to scan through code. Large character size for fonts of the same type size.
Pro Looks neat
Droid Sans Mono looks beautiful. The only disadvantage is that there's no italics or bold.
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.
Pro Visible punctuation
Punctuation is prominent and easily visible.
Pro Looks good on low and high PPI displays
SF Mono looks good on external monitors and Retina Displays. Large and small font sizes.
Cons
Con Zero is not slashed or dotted
This can make it hard to distinguish the letter "O" from the number "0".
Con Superceded by Google Noto Sans Mono
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?
Con No Ligature support
Does not support Ligatures so it doesn't play well with some terminal themes.
Con Lowercase l (ell) is similar to 1 (one)
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.
