FontLab 8 vs PixelForge
FontLab 8
fontlab.comPixelForge
pixel-forge.comSide by side
| Figure | FontLab 8 | PixelForge |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $9.08/mo | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 6 | 1 |
| Spec score · Font Design Software | 8.1 (#9) | 7.9 (#13) |
| Audience | The maker describes FontLab as a tool used by professional typeface designers, designers, students and foundries. | The maker presents PixelForge as an all-in-one workflow for people creating pixel fonts, without needing a separate atlas exporter. |
| Support | The maker offers expert support with the Starter and Pro licenses and provides support through its support portal and email. | The maker directs users to the itch.io community or [email protected] for help, bug reports, and suggestions. |
| Trial | The maker offers a free, fully functional 10-day trial for Mac or Windows. | The maker describes the trial as fully featured with no limitations and says it can be used indefinitely after the trial period. |
Plans
FontLab 8
- Starter — 3-months license$97, paid once
- Workshop 2-weeks$99, paid once
- Student 1-year$109 a year
- Course 4-months$249, paid once
- Student / teacher lifetime$335, paid once
- Pro — Lifetime license$499, paid once
In their own words
PixelForge
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.