Free font maker

Make your own font, free

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Letterhead is a free font maker that runs in your browser. On the Free plan you start from one of two working typefaces, change its shape with sliders until it’s your own, and download it as an OTF to install on your computer. It’s for personal, noncommercial use, and paid plans unlock the rest.

Open the editor

What the Free plan includes

Here is exactly what you get for free, and the limits that come with it:

  • Two starting typefaces: Letterhead Sans, a neutral grotesk, and Letterhead Serif, an old style serif.
  • Regular and Bold styles to start from, plus the sliders for weight, width, slant, contrast, roundness and serifs.
  • 3 Shuffles per session. Shuffle throws the controls somewhere new when you want a starting point you wouldn’t have picked.
  • The Glyphs view, so you can check every letter, number and accent before you download.
  • An OTF download for personal, noncommercial use.
  • 1 saved font on your account.

You need an email address to sign up, and you confirm it before your first download. The download also has to be your own design: Letterhead sells its own typefaces in the font shop, so the editor only exports fonts that have been changed enough from where they started. A meter in the editor shows how far along you are.

How to create a font for free in four steps

  1. Sign up. Open the editor and enter your email. There’s nothing to install.
  2. Pick a typeface. Choose Letterhead Sans or Letterhead Serif, whichever is closer to what you want.
  3. Change its shape. Push the sliders, or drag the letters on the big preview: up for weight, sideways for width. Move several things, and go further than feels safe.
  4. Check it and download. Look through the Glyphs view, name your font, confirm your email and download the OTF.

The longer version, with tips for making a font that doesn’t look like a default, is in how to make your own font.

Letterhead Sans and Serif, the two typefaces on the Free plan

What the paid plans add

Every paid plan opens all five typefaces (Sans, Serif, Antique, Condensed and Editorial) and every style. You also get kerning, with Auto-Kern to set the pairs from the letter shapes; the Specimen tab, which sets your font from big headlines down to small text; and the In use tab, which puts it on a tee, a poster, a hang tag and a shopfront. Downloads add TTF and WOFF2 to the OTF, and the font is yours to use commercially and to sell.

  • One Custom Font, $29 once: one font family with everything above.
  • Pro, $12 a month or $96 a year: as many fonts as you want, and new tools as they land.
  • Founding, $149 once: Pro for as long as Letterhead runs. First 149 people only.

The pricing page compares every plan side by side.

Planning to sell what you make? How to sell a font you made covers the files, the license and where to list it.

Other free font makers, and which to pick

Letterhead isn’t the only free font creator, and it isn’t the right one for every job. These are the other free options worth knowing about, as of October 2026.

FontForge

Free and open source, for Windows, Mac and Linux. You draw every letter yourself with Bézier curves, and it exports OTF, TTF, WOFF and WOFF2 with no limits. It can do almost anything, but the learning curve is steep and the interface is old.

Glyphr Studio

Free and open source, in the browser. Like FontForge, you draw outlines point by point, and it exports OTF, TTF, WOFF and WOFF2. Friendlier to start with, but still a drawing tool: every glyph is yours to make.

Calligraphr

For turning your handwriting into a font. You print a template, fill it in by hand, and scan or photograph it. The free tier keeps one font at a time with up to 75 characters, and commercial use is allowed.

FontStruct

Free and in the browser, supported by ads. You build letters from bricks on a grid, which suits pixel, geometric and blocky styles. Curves and fine detail are hard to get.

BirdFont

A drawing tool for Windows, Mac and Linux. The free version is fine for learning, but fonts made with it must be released under the SIL Open Font License, so it isn’t the one to use if you want to sell your font.

How to choose:

  • Your own handwriting: Calligraphr.
  • Full control over every curve, and time to learn: FontForge or Glyphr Studio.
  • Pixel or geometric letters: FontStruct.
  • A complete, finished looking typeface, fast, without drawing anything: Letterhead.

The full comparison, including the paid editors, is in the best font making software. If you’re not sure which file format you need, see OTF vs TTF vs WOFF2.

Questions people ask

Is Letterhead really free?
Yes. The Free plan costs nothing and has no trial period. You sign up with an email address, confirm it, and you can make a font and download it as an OTF for personal, noncommercial use. Paid plans add the other typefaces, more tools, more file formats and the right to use your font commercially.
Can I sell a font I made for free?
Not one made on the Free plan. Free downloads are for personal, noncommercial use, and the file says so. To sell the font or use it for paid work, upgrade and download it again. One Custom Font is $29 once and covers one font family, including selling it.
Do I need to download any software?
No. Letterhead runs in your browser on a computer, tablet or phone. You only download the finished font file.
Can I make a handwriting font for free?
Not in Letterhead. It shapes a whole typeface from sliders, and it doesn't trace your handwriting. For that, Calligraphr has a free tier: you print a template, write your letters, and scan it back in.
What file do I get?
An OTF, which installs on Mac and Windows and works in design apps, office apps and most other software. Paid plans add TTF and WOFF2, the format for websites.