Free alternatives to Papyrus
Papyrus (Chris Costello / Microsoft): Papyrus, hand-drawn by Chris Costello in 1982, imitates rough writing on ancient papyrus with irregular edges and horizontal scratches. Bundled with Windows and macOS, it became ubiquitous on spa menus, church flyers, and famously the Avatar logo.
Papyrus ships with operating systems under their licenses and is sold commercially through Monotype. Like other bundled fonts, using it beyond your system license, especially embedded in products, requires separate licensing.
Caudex was developed for typesetting medieval manuscripts, and its slightly rough, bookish character is the closest open match for Papyrus's ancient-document mood. The letterforms themselves are far more conventional.
Uncial Antiqua is based on uncial scripts from late antiquity, so it genuinely evokes early manuscripts. It is a loose match: more formal and calligraphic than Papyrus's scratchy hand.
Macondo is an organic decorative face with flowing, hand-drawn energy. It shares Papyrus's handcrafted irregularity while looking folk-art rather than ancient.
Cinzel is a loose match from a different angle: classical Roman inscription capitals. If Papyrus was chosen to say old and dignified, Cinzel says it with far more polish.
Papyrus is a trademark of its owner and is not distributed by DaFontFonts. This page recommends independent open-licence typefaces with a comparable feel; they are not copies and render with their own metrics and details.
Questions
Is Papyrus free to use commercially?
It comes preinstalled with major operating systems, and documents you create with it are generally fine, but redistributing or embedding the font requires a license. It is not an open-source font.
Is there a free font that looks like Papyrus?
Nothing open-source replicates Papyrus closely. Caudex and Uncial Antiqua get you the ancient-manuscript feeling with cleaner letterforms, and both are free for commercial use. Expect a mood match, not a lookalike.