Five licences, all commercial-safe
DaFontFonts lists 4,562 families under exactly five open licences. Here is what each one means, without the legal fog.
The SIL Open Font License is the most common open font licence. It permits use in any commercial or personal project, print, logos, websites, apps, products for sale, and allows modification and redistribution. The only real restrictions: you may not sell the font files by themselves, and if you modify the font you must rename it (if it uses a Reserved Font Name) and keep it under the OFL.
Permits
- Commercial use in any project, client work, products for sale, advertising
- Logos and brand identities (including trademarked logos)
- Web embedding (@font-face) and app embedding
- Print: books, packaging, merchandise, print-on-demand
- Modifying the font and redistributing modified versions (under the OFL, renamed if a Reserved Font Name applies)
Conditions
- Selling the font files by themselves (bundling with software or designs is fine)
- Modified versions must stay under the OFL and drop any Reserved Font Name
Apache 2.0 is a permissive software licence used by fonts like Roboto and Open Sans (early versions). It allows unrestricted commercial and personal use, modification, and redistribution, including selling, as long as the licence text and copyright notice accompany redistributed font files.
Permits
- Commercial use anywhere, client work, products, advertising, logos
- Web and app embedding
- Print and merchandise without attribution on the product itself
- Modification and redistribution, even commercially
Conditions
- Keep the licence text and copyright notice with the font files when you redistribute them
The Ubuntu Font Licence (used by the Ubuntu font family) is closely modelled on the OFL: free for commercial and personal use, embedding, and modification, with the requirement that modified versions are renamed and the licence stays attached to redistributed files.
Permits
- Commercial and personal use in any medium
- Web and app embedding
- Modification (modified fonts must be renamed)
- Redistribution with the licence attached
Conditions
- Selling the font files by themselves
- Modified versions must be renamed and keep the licence
The MIT licence is one of the most permissive licences that exists: do anything, use, copy, modify, sell, embed, as long as the copyright notice and licence text stay with the font files when you redistribute them.
Permits
- Any commercial or personal use, without exception
- Modification, redistribution, even selling
- Web and app embedding
Conditions
- Keep the copyright notice with redistributed font files
CC0 places the font effectively in the public domain. There are no conditions at all: use it, modify it, sell it, embed it, anywhere, with no attribution required.
Permits
- Absolutely any use, commercial or personal, with no conditions and no attribution required
Conditions
None.
The Unlicense dedicates the font to the public domain. No conditions, no attribution, no restrictions, use it for anything.
Permits
- Absolutely any use, commercial or personal, with no conditions
Conditions
None.
Deeper reading
For the full picture, including how these licences compare to the personal-use licences common on other free font sites, see Font Licenses Explained, the OFL in plain English, and Google Fonts and commercial use.