Adobe Fonts vs FontBase
Adobe Fonts
fonts.adobe.com
FontBase
fontba.seSide by side
| Figure | Adobe Fonts | FontBase |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $3/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 3 | 6 |
| Spec score · Font Management Software | 9.1 (#2) | 9.2 (#1) |
| Documentation | The Fonts User Guide covers setup, browser support, desktop and web use, licensing, app workflows, and troubleshooting. | The tutorial library covers installation, activation, collections, supported formats, team folders, Google Fonts, shortcuts and troubleshooting. |
| Support | Adobe's Fonts User Guide links users to the Fonts community and Adobe customer support. | The maker says users can contact support by email or through its Facebook and Twitter pages. |
| What it does | Adobe Fonts provides a library of more than 30,000 typefaces for use in creative projects through an Adobe subscription. | FontBase is a desktop font-management app for organizing, previewing, activating and synchronizing font libraries. |
Plans
Adobe Fonts
- Adobe Fonts FreeFree
- Adobe Fonts ProPrice not published
- Adobe Fonts StandardPrice not published
FontBase
- FontBaseFree
- FreeFree
- Awesome monthly$3 a month
- Awesome Monthly$3 a month
- Awesome ForeverPrice not published
- Awesome YearlyPrice not published
In their own words
Adobe Fonts
Adobe Fonts is a font library for desktop software and supported web projects. It offers more than 30,000 fonts from over 150 foundries, with catalog access depending on subscription. Users can browse typefaces and add individual styles or full families. The free plan costs nothing and provides a basic library of about 5,500 fonts; Adobe Fonts is also included with eligible Adobe subscriptions. Desktop fonts are added through the Creative Cloud desktop app for macOS and Windows and become available in desktop software. For websites, Web Projects provide controls for styles, weights, language subsets, OpenType features, and font-display settings, with publishing through Adobe’s embed code. Adobe states that its library fonts are licensed for personal and commercial use. Web fonts must use the supplied embed code rather than self-hosting or uploading font files to a website platform. The license does not cover app embedding or server installation. Adding desktop fonts requires a named-user Adobe subscription in Creative Cloud.
FontBase
FontBase is a font manager for Linux, macOS, and Windows. Users can group fonts into collections and sub-collections, then activate them with one click. Watched folders keep fonts in their original locations while making them available in FontBase, and the app can automatically activate fonts placed in designated folders. The free feature set includes OpenType features, glyph viewing and copying, and access to Google's font library as if those fonts were local. The paid Awesome plan can synchronize collections across computers using a cloud drive, automatically activate missing fonts in Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign documents, and manage team licenses and activations. It also supports team membership tools, including viewing who is online and how many fonts they use. Awesome costs $3 a month per user and can be used on up to two personal computers at once. The maker says it does not keep user data on its servers; Stripe handles subscription data and Auth0 handles login and authentication data. Organizations are advised to subscribe per user or contact the maker about a multi-seat account.