Fontstand vs Google Fonts
Fontstand
fontstand.com
Google Fonts
fonts.google.comSide by side
| Figure | Fontstand | Google Fonts |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $4.99/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 8 | 2 |
| Spec score · Font Marketplaces | 9.0 (#2) | 8.6 (#5) |
| Spec score · Web Font Marketplaces | 8.9 (#2) | 8.5 (#5) |
| Privacy | The privacy policy says Fontstand does not sell personal data, and webfont request logs are deleted after processing. | Google says the Google Fonts Web API is designed to limit data collection, storage, and use and is not used to create end-user profiles or for advertising. |
| Rating on G2 | 4.7 out of 5 from 5 reviews | 4.7 out of 5 from 293 reviews |
| Support | The company lists [email protected] for licensing, technical, and general enquiries, and [email protected] for invoice or refund questions. | The Google Fonts repository directs users to its issue tracker for font-file problems and future-development requests. |
| What it does | Fontstand is a font discovery and streaming service for trying, renting and subscribing to professional typefaces. | Google Fonts is a web directory and delivery service for downloadable and embeddable typefaces. |
Plans
Fontstand
- 3-hour font trialFree
- Free font testingFree
- Fontstand Font Library for iPad$4.99 a month
- 30-day font rentalPrice not published
- Font rentalPrice not published
- Foundry subscriptionPrice not published
- Shared rentalPrice not published
- Unlimited iPad fontsPrice not published
In their own words
Fontstand
Fontstand is a font discovery service for finding, trying, and using typefaces in design work, presentations, and websites. Its filters and font examples help users explore and test fonts. The same fonts can be used on desktop and iPad, and a rental can become a permanent license after 12 months. Options include free font testing, rentals, subscriptions to specific foundries, and an iPad plan for using every available font in the library. Rental pricing is 10% of a font’s real price per month; other amounts depend on the selected family and calculator inputs. The calculator also covers short trials, shared rentals, hosted webfonts, and an after-12-month paid-in-full option. Fontstand supports web licensing, variable fonts, WOFF, and WOFF2. It lists apps for iOS and iPadOS, desktop downloads for macOS and Windows, and web access. Desktop versions cover macOS 13 and newer and Windows 10 and newer, with legacy versions for older systems. Creating an account requires a valid email address.
Google Fonts
Google Fonts is a catalog of fonts for websites, released under open-source licenses for commercial and non-commercial use. A website can use a font by linking a stylesheet and referencing the font in CSS. Developers can also query the REST-based Google Fonts Developer API for font metadata in JSON; each request requires an API key. The API supports sorting by alphabet, date, popularity, style count, and trending growth, plus filters for family, subset, and category. It can return variable font files and axis-range metadata when capability=VF is requested. For projects that need specific characters, the text parameter can reduce a requested font file’s size by up to 90%. Native Android apps can use the Font Provider in Google Play Services, supported from Android Jelly Bean API level 16 onward. Fonts can also be self-hosted for redistribution under their license terms. Google says the Web API is designed to limit data collection, storage, and use, and is not used to create end-user profiles or for advertising. The catalog is free at free.