When comparing New Heterodox Mono vs Bitstream Vera Sans Mono, the Slant community recommends Bitstream Vera Sans Mono for most people. In the question“What are the best programming fonts?” Bitstream Vera Sans Mono is ranked 69th while New Heterodox Mono is ranked 112nd. The most important reason people chose Bitstream Vera Sans Mono is:
You can fit a lot of text on the screen.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Looks professional and scientific
There are very few free programming fonts that is serifed and have a "scientific" look.
Pro Blends well with natural language
The serif style looks very good in English, especially when writing LaTeX or README files. In a LaTeX-compiled PDF it also blends well with the Computer Modern family because both of them are "modern style".
Pro Compact
You can fit a lot of text on the screen.
Pro Font proportion is perfect
Width is just right (not too narrow, not too wide). Many other fonts lack this.
Pro Smooth with antialiasing
Smooth at small sizes while still clear.
Pro Readable at small sizes
All characters are easy to recognize at small sizes (comma, period, etc).
Pro Easy to read
This is subjective but this font is very easy to read. The letters are all spaced and sized properly.
Cons
Con Does not support Greeks
Con Line doesn't cover text right
When using Neomutt or htop, the line drawn over is too low - the top of the characters cut into the top of the line.
Con "mp" clump together with smaller sizes
E.g. in "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog".