Weighing Your Web Font Options

When browsing the deep trenches of the interwebs in this day and age, it is commonplace to see nice, sleek typefaces throughout our favorite websites. More and more websites are starting to adopt the use of Web Fonts, or services that provide them the ability to use carefully selected font combinations to provide the perfect harmony of typography for your viewing pleasure.

Using these services does require a cost for website owners. Pricing when using web font services varies and is dependent on two main factors:

• Typeface(s) chosen
• Page views (monthly)

The benefits of these services is clear, but how do you know which one is right for you? We’ve put together a roundup of some popular web font services to help you decide:

MyFonts.com

In addition to an extensive library of great fonts, MyFonts.com also offers a service called  WhatTheFont that allows you to upload an image of a font. From that image, it will provide you with the closest possible match to what the font is. See a font you like? You can try it out for free for 30 days on your own site.

FontSpring.com

FontSpring has a great library of fonts with simple licensing, and similar to MyFonts, it also provide a font identification service called FontMatcherator (currently in beta) that allows users to upload images containing text and then tries to identify the correct matching font(s).

LinoType.com

The word linotype has been around for ages (for well over a hundred years), and LinoType.com lives up to its legacy as a home to some of the most well known typefaces, such as Helvetica, Frutiger, and Univers. If you’re looking for classic, recognizable fonts, this service is a great resource.

Fonts.com

Fonts.com has a huge library of great, as well as pricing plans to fit any budget. They even offer a free basic plan that provides access to several thousand fonts for up to 25,000 pageviews per month. This is a great option for trying out a variety of fonts and determining what works before investing in an ongoing subscription.

Choosing the Right Service

Each of these services provides a great value for website owners, allowing them to create a presentation that exactly fits their brand personality. If you need to know more about how to choose the right web fonts and implement them on your website, we can help. Please contact us to speak to a Solutions Engineer, and we’ll work with you to implement the perfect web fonts on your site. If you have any other questions or comments, feel free to share them below!