Font Licensing Explained: Can You Use Free Fonts for Commercial Use?

If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re actually allowed to use a free font in a client project, a product, or a piece of merchandise, you’re not alone. It’s one of the most common questions in design, and the good news is that for the vast majority of Google Fonts, the answer is a clear yes.

What “free for commercial use” actually means

“Free for commercial use” means you can use the font in projects you’re paid for or that generate revenue, logos, websites, products, packaging, apps, ebooks, and more, without paying a licensing fee or royalty to the font’s creator. This is different from a font that’s merely free to download but restricted to personal, non-commercial projects. Every font on Google Fonts, and therefore every font on ProFont, is cleared for commercial use.

OFL vs. Apache License

Google Fonts releases its library under two open licenses, and the difference between them rarely matters in practice, but it’s worth understanding.

• SIL Open Font License (OFL) – the license used by the vast majority of fonts on Google Fonts. It permits free use, modification, and redistribution, including in commercial work.
• Apache License 2.0 – used by a smaller number of fonts (including some of Google’s own typefaces). It’s similarly permissive for commercial use, with slightly different terms around modification and redistribution of the font software itself.

You can check which license applies to a specific font on its Google Fonts page, though for nearly all practical design and development purposes, both licenses give you the same freedom: use it commercially, without paying anything.

What you can and can’t do

Under the OFL, you’re free to:

• Use the font in logos, websites, apps, packaging, and printed materials, for yourself or for clients
• Embed the font in a website using its Google Fonts stylesheet or a self-hosted copy
• Modify the font for your own use

The main restriction is around redistribution: if you modify a font and redistribute it, you generally can’t sell the modified font file itself under the same name as a standalone product. This restriction is about protecting the font’s name and the original designer, not about stopping you from using the font in your own commercial work, which remains fully permitted.

Do you need to give attribution?

No. Unlike some other free licenses, the OFL doesn’t require you to credit the font or its designer anywhere in your finished project. Attribution is appreciated by many designers as a courtesy, but it is never legally required for Google Fonts.

The short answer

Every font on ProFont is a genuine Google Font, licensed under OFL or Apache, and cleared for commercial use with no royalties, no attribution requirement, and no hidden fees. If you’re building a brand, a product, or client work, you can use any font here with confidence.

Browse more

Read more about licensing terms and terminology in our font glossary, or see how licensing compares to premium fonts in our guide on free vs. premium fonts.