When comparing FontCreator Professional vs Glyphs, the Slant community recommends Glyphs for most people. In the question“What are the best font editors?” Glyphs is ranked 2nd while FontCreator Professional is ranked 3rd. The most important reason people chose Glyphs is:
There is a Glyphs Viewer app for iOS which allows you to use your iPhone or iPad as a second preview screen via WiFi.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Easy to learn and use
Free eval version and the licensed version both are quite straightforward and easy to use. One can pick it up when one needs it and carry on from the previous time without having to spend time coming back up to speed, which is perfect.
Pro Stellar support
Erwin Denissen is at the front of the pack among the hundreds of support people with whom one may deal.
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.
A book designer may find it great for changing things inside a font so it will fit one's needs.
Sometimes you use a nice font that has some mistakes of design in it - so it is the best tool for it.
Pro Easiest learning curve and the most powerful font editor EVEN for differently abled software developers
Pro Font Creator has a beautiful and super-easy Bézier curves system for editing
It is so easy to edit the glyphs that a non-skilled designer can achieve great results in not a lot of time.
Pro Very compact software
Doesn't slow everything down.
Pro Super-easy auto-check of metrics
Font Creator has an incredible wizard that makes the process of checking the font metrics a piece of cake.
Pro Management of the "deep" font data is super-easy
All the font parameters are located into structures, easy to find and to manage. Also many of the most "obscure" font properties have wizards for auto-completion.
Pro Font Creator can import Adobe Illustrator designs in a snap
If there is an important vector designer, it's Adobe Illustrator. Also Corel Draw is great. Whichever is your favorite, just export your design from Illustrator and import it in a snap into Font Creator. As easy as that.
Pro You can create COLOR fonts 🤩
You can create from scratch or convert any normal Black and white Fonts to color fonts easily. FontCreator is the first choice Font software for anyone who wants to get started developing color fonts that work with multiple palettes.
Pro The functional MIX is great
These application has an astonishing functional MIX. Is really this which makes the app great. Not only it is easy to learn and use, but has A LOT of features that make the working on fonts really a piece of cake. For example ther auto check of metrics, which is a pain for every serious font pro what works easy and fast. If could be possible to check all the points here above I had it done, but it's not, so I add a new point here.
The MIX. this is what makes this appe a real "Swiss army knife" in the toolbox of every serious pro. And last but not least, the price, which is MORE than competitive.
A real must have for those who want to manage/create/work with fonts.
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.
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.
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.
Pro Beginner-friendly
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.
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.
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.
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, ...
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.
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.
Cons
Con A better instruction manual world be nice
Maybe even an online tutorial on YouTube would work.
Con Not available for Mac
Con macOS only
There is no version for other operating systems.
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.
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.