DaFontFonts

Arial Font

The everyday sans on almost every computer in the world

Robin Nicholas and Patricia Saunders · Neo-grotesque sans serif · 1982 · ! Bundled with Windows and macOS

Download Free Alternative

Arimo · closest free match to Arial

Arial font poster: clean black Arial headline on a light grey background with a blue accent barArial style type on a presentation slide on a laptop and a printed office noticeArial style character set: uppercase and lowercase alphabet, numbers and symbols

Illustrations of the Arial style made for DaFontFonts. Letterforms are approximate; check the official specimen before you buy.

Download Arial

License:
Bundled with Windows and macOS
Font Type:
System font
Download:
Free alternative: Arimo (OFL-1.1)
Format:
TTF
Total Files:
8 styles + licence
Download Free Alternative

Arial itself is not free to download. This button gives you Arimo, the closest free match, licensed for commercial use. Arial on Microsoft Typography

About Arial

Arial was designed at Monotype in 1982 by Robin Nicholas and Patricia Saunders. It was drawn to share Helvetica's character widths, so documents set in one could switch to the other without reflowing, but its letters are its own: stroke endings are cut at an angle, the R has a straight leg and the curves feel a little softer. Microsoft licensed it for Windows in the early 1990s, and later made it one of the Core fonts for the Web.

Shipping on nearly every Windows and Mac computer made Arial one of the most seen typefaces in history. It is the default in countless documents, forms, emails and presentations, and a safe fallback in website font stacks. Designers often call it bland, but that neutrality is exactly why it works for everyday text that just needs to be read.

Where Arial works best

  • Documents and office forms
  • Presentations and reports
  • Email and web font stacks
  • Signage and labels

Free alternatives to Arial

Open-licence fonts with a comparable feel, every one verified free for commercial use and downloadable from DaFontFonts.

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Arimo Sans Serif · 8 styles · variable ✓ OFL

Arimo, by Steve Matteson, is metric-compatible with Arial: identical character widths, so documents and layouts reflow without shifting. It is the direct open-license replacement used across Linux distributions.

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Roboto Sans Serif · 18 styles · variable ✓ OFL

Roboto covers the same neutral grotesque role with a slightly narrower, more open construction that performs better in interfaces. It is the natural upgrade when you are replacing Arial in a product rather than a document.

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Inter Sans Serif · 18 styles · variable ✓ OFL

Inter matches Arial's neutrality with a taller x-height and screen-first spacing, making it the stronger choice for UI text. It looks noticeably more contemporary at display sizes.

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Open Sans Sans Serif · 12 styles · variable ✓ OFL

Open Sans is a humanist-leaning grotesque with open apertures and generous spacing, reading friendlier than Arial while staying corporate-safe. It is slightly wider, so line lengths grow a little.

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Noto Sans Sans Serif · 18 styles · variable ✓ OFL

Noto Sans offers Arial-like plainness with consistent design across a vast range of scripts, ideal for multilingual sites. Its forms are a touch rounder and more open than Arial's.

Compare all Arial alternatives

Arial is a trademark of its owner. DaFontFonts does not host or distribute the Arial font files; download and licence links go to the official source.

Questions

Is Arial font free?

It is free to use on Windows and macOS for documents and graphics you create. It is not free to redistribute, bundle in apps or self-host as a web font. Arimo is a free, metric-compatible alternative you can use anywhere.

Is Arial the same as Helvetica?

No. Arial was designed to have the same character widths as Helvetica, so it can replace it without changing line breaks, but the letter shapes differ. Look at the R, G, t and the angled stroke endings to tell them apart.

What is a free alternative to Arial?

Arimo matches Arial's metrics exactly, so it is ideal for replacing it in documents and on websites. Roboto, Inter and Open Sans are good options if you want a slightly more modern look.

Can I use Arial on my website?

You can list Arial in your CSS font stack, because most visitors already have it installed. Self-hosting the Arial files as a web font requires a license from Monotype.

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