FontBase vs Fontmatrix

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.

Fontmatrix is a free, open-source font manager for organizing and working with system typefaces. It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows; its manual also describes Linux, *BSD, and other Unix-like systems. You can tag fonts, create custom categories, inspect metadata, and use Panose classification. Preview tools accept custom sample text and compare glyphs from multiple fonts side by side. Fonts can be activated or deactivated without installing or removing them. Fontmatrix exports font samples to PDF or image files and integrates with the fontconfig subsystem. It reads TrueType (.ttf), OpenType (.otf), and Type 1 (.pfb) files. The site lists package commands for Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora/RHEL, and Arch Linux, plus source builds. It is released under GNU General Public License version 2.