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FontForge

FontForge is an open-source font editor that allows users to create and edit various types of fonts. It has robust tools for editing glyph shapes, kerning, hinting, and other typographic features.

What is FontForge?

FontForge is an advanced open-source font editor and converter that gives users precise control over fonts and typography. It allows users to create, edit, convert, and even generate their own fonts in formats like OpenType, TrueType, PostScript, and more.

Some of the key features of FontForge include:

  • Editing the shape and appearance of glyphs/characters, including control over curves, paths, anchors, and more
  • Advanced typographic and spacing controls like kerning, hinting, ligatures, glyph variants, and OpenType features
  • Support for many font formats like TT, OTF, WOFF, SVG fonts and more
  • Python scripting and automation capabilities
  • Cross-platform compatibility across Windows, Mac and Linux
  • An extensive set of import/export abilities to use fonts across applications
  • Powerful validation tools and ability to troubleshoot font issues
  • A full-featured UI with glyph/font viewers, charts, metrics & layout tools

With robust capabilities and an active open-source community, FontForge continues to be popular choice for designers, typographers, and developers looking to build, customize or tweak fonts and typography without restrictions.

The Best FontForge Alternatives

Top Apps like FontForge

Glyphs, Fontself Maker, FontCreator, Calligraphr, FontLab Studio, Private Character Editor, TruFont, FontArk, RoboFont, Fontographer, iFontMaker, Glyphr Studio, BirdFont, YourFonts.com, Microsoft Font Validator, FontStruct, TypeTool, Unique, Sifr, Crossfont by Pixel Egg Studio, Type light, BitFontMaker2™, Softy are some alternatives to FontForge.

Glyphs

Glyphs is a font editor made specifically for creating, modifying, and exporting fonts. It was created by Georg Seifert and first released in 2010 as an affordable and easy-to-use alternative to FontLab for small studios and independent typographers.Some key features of Glyphs include:Vector drawing tools for designing glyphsSupport for...

Fontself Maker

Fontself Maker is a user-friendly font editor and font generator that enables graphic designers to easily convert their vector drawings and logos into fully functional OpenType fonts without writing a single line of code. It integrates smoothly into a designer's workflow, operating as a plugin within Adobe Illustrator or Affinity...

FontCreator

FontCreator is a professional font editor for Windows that gives users precise control over text fonts and typography. It is designed for typographers, graphic designers, and other creative professionals who need advanced tools to customize, edit, or create original font files.With FontCreator, users can draw their own fonts from...

Calligraphr

Calligraphr is a user-friendly online tool that converts handwriting into personalized computer fonts. It aims to make unique font creation accessible for everyone.To use Calligraphr, you simply write out the alphabet once on a sheet of paper using your best handwriting. You then take clear photos or scans of...

FontLab Studio

FontLab Studio is a professional font editor for designing, editing, and exporting desktop, web, and app fonts. It provides a complete suite of font creation tools for professional type designers and font developers.Key features include:Powerful drawing tools like vector contour editing, Bezier pen, brush, Knife, etc.Extensive glyph...

Private Character Editor

Private Character Editor is a software application designed specifically for fiction writers to build and organize detailed profiles of their story's characters, settings, plot points and timelines. It allows authors to keep all their character details, relationships, notes and timeline events private while they develop their stories.With Private Character...

TruFont

TruFont is a free, open-source font editor for Linux, Windows and macOS operating systems. It provides a graphical interface for designing and modifying TrueType and OpenType fonts.Some key features of TruFont include:Tools for drawing vector-based glyph outlinesOn-canvas glyph editing with rotation, scaling, guidelines and gridsFlexible spacing and kerning...

FontArk

FontArk is a powerful yet easy to use font manager for Windows. It gives you full control over all the fonts installed on your system so you can preview, activate/deactivate, organize, tag and find exactly the fonts you need.Key features of FontArk include:Preview fonts in real-time -...

RoboFont

RoboFont is a professional font editor designed for type designers and graphic designers. It provides an intuitive interface and powerful tools for designing, editing, and exporting fonts.Some key features of RoboFont include:Precise control over paths, points, and contours for letterformsAdvanced tools like components, anchors, and guidelines to aid...

Fontographer

Fontographer is a professional font editor and type design application for macOS and Windows. It has been developed by Fontlab since the early 1990s and has become an industry standard tool for font creation and editing.Some of the key features of Fontographer include:Glyph editing tools like drawing pens...

IFontMaker

iFontMaker is a feature-rich software application for Windows that enables users to easily design, edit, and manage TrueType fonts. With its intuitive interface and powerful editing tools, both novice and advanced users can create fully customizable fonts for printed documents, websites, games, apps, and more.Key features of iFontMaker include...

Glyphr Studio

Glyphr Studio is a powerful yet easy-to-use free online font creator and editor. It gives users the ability to fully design, edit, and publish vector fonts without the need to install or purchase expensive desktop software.With Glyphr Studio's intuitive GUI, users can create high-quality vector fonts by manipulating Bezier...

BirdFont

BirdFont is a powerful free font editor for Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems. It provides a comprehensive set of tools for designing, editing, converting and modifying fonts with complete glyph editing capabilities.With BirdFont, users can create vector fonts from scratch or modify existing fonts. It supports editing various...

YourFonts.com

YourFonts.com is a leading free font discovery and management platform. It features a library of over 8,000 high-quality, open-source and free fonts that can be browsed and downloaded for both personal and commercial use.Key features of YourFonts.com include:An intuitive and user-friendly interface to search, filter and preview...

Microsoft Font Validator

Microsoft Font Validator is a free desktop application for Windows that allows designers, developers, and typographers to test font files (.ttf, .otf, etc.) for potential issues before using them in design projects or software development. It scans font files and highlights any problems it detects such as:Missing glyphs or...

FontStruct

FontStruct is an online font creation tool and community website that allows users to easily design and share bitmap fonts. Launched in 2008, FontStruct features an intuitive grid-based editor that makes font design accessible for beginners while still providing advanced customization options for experienced designers.To create a font with FontStruct...

TypeTool

TypeTool is professional font editor software for designing, editing, and exporting desktop, web, and app fonts. It provides a user-friendly interface and powerful tools for type designers and graphic designers to create high-quality fonts.Key features include:Intuitive vector drawing tools for designing glyphsExtensive set of typography features such as...

Unique

Unique is a versatile note taking and knowledge management application for Windows and Mac. It goes beyond basic note taking by allowing users to visualize connections and relationships between information.With Unique, users can create an unlimited number of workspaces to organize notes, attachments, web clips, tags, and more. Its...

Sifr

Sifr is a free, open-source JavaScript library that allows websites to replace plain text with custom typographic designs using Flash. It works by replacing designated text elements on a webpage with Flash objects, enabling advanced text formatting and typography options not available with standard web fonts.Some key features of...

Crossfont by Pixel Egg Studio

Crossfont by Pixel Egg Studio is an advanced font editor and converter for Windows. It provides a user-friendly interface and powerful tools to create, edit, convert, install and manage desktop and web fonts.With Crossfont, you can quickly design fonts from scratch or edit existing fonts. It supports all major...

Type light

Type light is a minimalist writing application designed to provide a distraction-free writing environment. It features a clean, simple interface with only a blinking cursor and basic formatting tools like bold, italics, and underline.The focus of Type light is to strip away all extraneous features and allow writers to...

BitFontMaker2™

BitFontMaker2TM is a powerful yet easy-to-use application for creating bitmap fonts. With an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, you can easily design glyph shapes pixel-by-pixel. The software provides full control over font parameters like spacing, ascent, descent, leading, kerning pairs, encoding support, and more.Once your glyphs are defined, BitFontMaker2TM...

Softy

Softy is an all-in-one business software solution designed specifically for small and medium-sized businesses. It combines essential tools like accounting, inventory management, customer relationship management (CRM), project management, and email marketing into one seamless and easy-to-use platform.One of the biggest benefits of Softy is the level of customization it...