Fontello vs PixelForge

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.

PixelForge is a pixel font editor for creating and editing bitmap fonts, then exporting them from the app. Its glyph tools draw and erase pixels and can move, rotate, flip, or scale glyphs. A text preview updates as glyphs change, and multiple font projects can remain open with separate undo histories. The editor can work with glyphs through U+FFFF, including unassigned ranges. It imports pixel fonts into its editable format and exports TTF files with metadata support. PixelForge periodically saves open documents and offers recovery after a crash. Project files use plain text, which the maker describes as compatible with version control and diffs. The current 0.91b pre-release runs on Windows and Linux and is free to download until version 1.0; the maker says no licensing or payment system is set up yet. The app supports monochrome 1-bit bitmap fonts, with one size and one weight per font. Sergi Lázaro is credited as its maker.