Bitmap Font Editor vs Fontello
Bitmap Font Editor
github.comFontello
fontello.comSide by side
| Figure | Bitmap Font Editor | Fontello |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| API | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 0 | 1 |
| Spec score · Font Design Software | 7.8 (#14) | 8.2 (#8) |
| Export | Font export writes a 1bpp bitmap plus JSON sidecar files for widths and character mapping. | The site offers downloads for a webfont and for its configuration alone. |
| Intended audience | The maker describes the editor as intended for bitmap fonts for old home computers and retro or embedded targets. | The project describes the tool as a way to combine icon webfonts for use in a user's own project. |
| License | The repository source is covered by the MIT license. | Fontello's code, except for fonts, is distributed under the MIT license; embedded fonts retain their primary licenses. |
| Notable limitation | Fill From System Font is disabled because Canvas 2D lacks real TrueType hinting and the small-size results are not good enough. | The introduction says icons in the generated fonts are single-color. |
| Purpose | Font Editor is a desktop editor for monochrome bitmap fonts, aimed at retro and embedded targets. | Fontello combines icon webfonts for a project, shrinks glyph collections, merges symbols from several fonts, and provides open source icons. |
Plans
In their own words
Bitmap Font Editor
Bitmap Font Editor is a free desktop tool for creating monochrome bitmap fonts, particularly for retro computers and embedded targets such as the SAM Coupe. It supports fixed-width and variable-width fonts, with adjustable advance width for each glyph. Users draw glyphs in cells up to 32×32 pixels by clicking or dragging to paint and erase; draggable font guides and pinned reference glyphs are also available. Editing tools include undo, redo, copy, paste, clear, invert, flip, and shift. An editable sample text preview offers three zoom levels and white-on-black or black-on-white display. Raw font bitmaps can be imported with settings for starting codepoint, geometry, and byte layout. Projects use the losslessly round-trippable .fnt.json format. Export produces a 1bpp bitmap plus JSON sidecar files for widths and character mapping. Release 0.1.3 offers Windows, macOS, and Linux builds, with SHA-256 checksums. The source is MIT-licensed. Windows and macOS builds are unsigned, and system-font filling is disabled because Canvas 2D lacks TrueType hinting access.
Fontello
Fontello is a free web and API service for turning vector artwork into icon webfonts for websites. It can reduce glyph collections and combine symbols from multiple fonts into one generated file. The web app includes open-source artwork and accepts custom SVG icons or SVG fonts by drag and drop. Generated files arrive in a single ZIP archive, with a config.json file that can be imported later to continue editing. Its API can create a session from a font configuration, reopen that project, and download the resulting font; API sessions remain stored for 24 hours. Fontello lists Makefile, Node.js, Ruby, and Grunt integrations for workflow automation. It does not offer accounts for project storage, so archives should be kept in version control. Generated font icons are single-color. The code is MIT-licensed, while embedded fonts retain their own licenses.