1001 Fonts vs Google Fonts

1001 Fonts is a web directory for finding and downloading typefaces shared by their creators. Founded in 2001, it lists 63,211 fonts on its homepage and describes the collection as more than 60,000 free fonts. Visitors can search directly or browse categories and tags for style, weight, width, occasion, and decade. Preview controls allow custom sample text, font-size changes, and display adjustments before downloading. Fonts are available in TTF, OTF, WOFF, WOFF2, SVG, and EOT formats. Personal-use downloads are free under each font’s stated restrictions, while commercial permissions depend on the individual license and may require contacting the author. Creators can submit fonts through the site. The web service also provides a Font Identification Forum and support by email. The Free font downloads plan is listed at free. Fonts belong to their authors unless they are original public-domain fonts.

Google Fonts is a catalog of fonts for websites, released under open-source licenses for commercial and non-commercial use. A website can use a font by linking a stylesheet and referencing the font in CSS. Developers can also query the REST-based Google Fonts Developer API for font metadata in JSON; each request requires an API key. The API supports sorting by alphabet, date, popularity, style count, and trending growth, plus filters for family, subset, and category. It can return variable font files and axis-range metadata when capability=VF is requested. For projects that need specific characters, the text parameter can reduce a requested font file’s size by up to 90%. Native Android apps can use the Font Provider in Google Play Services, supported from Android Jelly Bean API level 16 onward. Fonts can also be self-hosted for redistribution under their license terms. Google says the Web API is designed to limit data collection, storage, and use, and is not used to create end-user profiles or for advertising. The catalog is free at free.