While there are plenty of styles to choose from, the best handwriting fonts have the ability to transform sterile copy into text that has a uniquely human edge. These diverse fonts capture a sense of bespoke authenticity that standard fonts can't achieve, bridging the gap between technical precision and human warmth to captivate audiences.
Whether you're designing a wedding invitation or launching your own lifestyle brand, choosing the right handwriting font is essential for setting the right tone for your project. To help you find your perfect match, we've compiled a list of the best handwriting fonts from across the web. If you're after more creative inspiration, take a look at our guide to the best free script fonts or check out our tips to create your own typeface.
Expert top tips
Phil Garnham
Phil Garnham is executive creator director at Monotype, one of the world's leading font and technology specialists. Having worked with global clients such as Evri and O2, he has extensive experience in what it takes to create outstanding type.
"Cursive fonts imply the hand, the gesture, the ebb and flow or rhythm in human-made craft. There really is no surer pathway towards recognising character and personality in your brand than seeking those qualities in your design work. Combined with their innate ability to provide contrast with other typefaces, they offer a creative opportunity to uncover a ‘noteworthy or memorable pairing’… One big watch out: these fonts vary vastly in drawn quality, execution and build.
Do your homework, read test every language or writing system where this font will land. Once embedded, they’re in and often find a way of uncovering micro issues that show up with macro impact."
Created by Typeline Studio, Amalfi Coast is a suave calligraphic style handwriting font with a big impact. Perfect for titles and signatures, this elegant design has an elevated yet bespoke feel that adds a refined flourish to your designs. Amalfi Coast is best suited to header text due to its intricate fine lines, best suited for wedding invitations or projects that need that extra touch of class.
Allura strikes a perfect balance between casual elegance and readability. Designed by Robert Leuschke, this versatile font combines simple, clean characters with softer, more formal script variations, making it particularly well-suited for advertising, display, and package design projects. The OpenType Pro version offers extra alternate glyphs and flourished graphics, giving designers maximum creative flexibility.
Dancing Script lives up to its name with a lively, dynamic character that brings movement to any design. Created by Impallari Type, this playful font features letters that bounce and vary slightly in size, with distinctive oversized caps that dip below the baseline. It draws inspiration from popular script typefaces of the 1950s, particularly Murray Hill and Mistral, combining their best features into a fresh, contemporary design.
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Shadows Into Light, designed by Kimberly Geswein, captures the essence of natural handwriting with a distinctly feminine touch. The font features beautifully rounded edges and curves that create a clean, neat appearance without sacrificing authenticity. Its balanced character makes it perfect for projects requiring a personal touch while maintaining professional readability.
Yellowtail brings a classic touch to the modern design world with its old-school flat brush script style. Created by Astigmatic, this medium-weight font cleverly mixes connecting and non-connecting letterforms, resulting in a unique look that maintains excellent legibility. It pays homage to classic 1930s typestyles like Gillies Gothic and Kaufmann while incorporating the loose, natural cadence of sign painter scripts, making it perfect for projects that need a touch of vintage authenticity.
Gochi Hand, designed by Juan Pablo del Peral for Huerta Tipográfica, offers a refreshingly authentic take on teenage handwriting. Unlike traditional calligraphic fonts, it captures the natural, unaffected style of everyday writing. The font's spontaneous yet consistent text line makes it particularly effective for screen display, even at smaller sizes. Thanks to careful attention to curve quality in the design process, Gochi Hand maintains its appeal in print applications as well, making it a versatile choice for both digital and physical media.
Soulgate is a delicate handwritten font created by Bluetype Studio. It has an effortless, breezy feel that pairs well with neutral and pastel tones, giving your design project an elevated rustic appeal. This intricate font is best used as a feature font for titles and headings, as its handwritten style can become trickier to read on a smaller scale.
Bristol Regular is based on a handwritten letter to Bridge Farm School by graffiti artist Banksy back in 2016. It emulates the look of a bold felt tip marker, making it a bold change from more traditional cursive handwriting fonts. Bristol Regular has a delightful illustrative feel that blends well with contemporary projects and bold graphic design.
Meow Script is a playful handwriting font that emulates a beautiful cursive style. The monoline font comes in six stylistic sets and works harmoniously to add a fun, yet professional look to your projects. The whimsical style is perfect for invitations, posters and ads, and comes in Latin Character sets including Central, Western and Vietnamese language support.
10. Grape Nuts
Grape Nuts font is inspired by the breakfast cereal (Image credit: Robert Leuschke)
Designed by Robert Leuschke, Grape Nuts was inspired by a popular breakfast cereal dating back to the 1880s. It's simple and casual, perfect for striking an informal tone in your designs.
11. Gloria Hallelujah
A natural font with lots of character (Image credit: Kimberly Geswein)
Simple, clear and effective, Gloria Hallelujah is a solid alternative to Grape Nuts. With a playful feel, it's friendly and approachable, as well as being somewhat reminiscent of comic-strip script. It was designed by Kimberly Geswein, and based in part off the handwriting of a Korean schoolchild.
12. Reenie Beanie Font
For when you need a friendly font (Image credit: James Grieshaber)
Reenie Beanie is an earthy, fun handwriting font for those designs where you don't want to take yourself too seriously. It's based on handwriting done with a ballpoint pen, and according to the creators, it "could be used to represent the scribbling of a mad scientist, or the recipes of a genius chef".
13. Vujahday Script
This font comes with Latin character sets (Image credit: Robert Leuschke)
Designed by Robert Leuschke, Vujahday Script is an organic cursive font. This font comes with both a plain and a script stylistic set, as well as Latin character sets that support Western, Central, and Vietnamese languages.
14. Beth Ellen
We can't get enough of this adorable font (Image credit: Alyson Fraser Diaz and Rob Jelinski)
How cute is this font? The authentic and earthy feel to this script is perfect for a range of projects. It was designed by Alyson Fraser Diaz and Rob Jelinski, and inspired by the latter's mother, who passed away from cancer. Rob requests that you send a short note to someone you love every time you use the font.
15. Timothy
We can almost smell the marker pen that made this font (Image credit: Ksenya Zoltsman)
Handwriting fonts aren't all swirly and delicate. Timothy uses block capitals and a chunky marker thickness to add a hand-written touch. Made by Ksenya Zoltsman, this quirky handwritten font was inspired by designer Timothy Goodman. It could make a nice, fun choice for use in invitations.
Add an authentic feel to your designs with this gorgeous handwritten type design Something Wild. Created by MediaLab, it will add a touch of personality to your work, making it perfect for poster and flyers.
Hendrickson, created by Rantautype Studio, is an elevated handwriting font that oozes class. The elegant typeface is professional and clean, giving your designs a unique sophisticated edge. The font is best suited as a header font, creating a stunning visual statement when paired with a more modern sans serif.
FAQs
Which is the easiest to read handwriting font?
Shadows Into Light is the easiest to read handwriting font on our list above. It its clean, neat design, with rounded edges and curves, makes it clear and legible. If you want another option Gloria Hallelujah, with its simple, clear, and effective style, and playful feel, is also very easy to read, offering a balance of personality and clarity.
What are the different types of handwriting font?
Many styles fall under the umbrella term of handwriting font. Most can be categorised under the following sections: monoline, chalk, brush, signature and calligraphic. Each style has its own unique features that should be considered when using them in your design.
Monoline Monoline fonts feature a distinct and consistent thickness that often gives them a retro feel. Due to their bold appearance, monoline fonts have a sturdy appeal that makes them perfect for projects that need an element of authority, while maintaining a sense of playfulness.
Chalk Chalk fonts have a childlike appeal, emulating the imperfect style of chalkboard writing. They add a visiual texture to your design, giving it a richer mixed-medium feel. Due to their more graphic appeal, chalk fonts are best as title fonts and headings, bringing a nostaligc charm to your design.
Brush Brush fonts are a common style of handwriting font, emulating the imperfect texture of brush strokes. From fluid watercolour brush strokes to more rustic paintbrush styles, brush fonts add a bespoke appeal to your projects.
Signature Signature fonts are a classy addition to your creative projects, designed to resemble personal handwriting. While these fonts may have a more rustic appeal, there are plenty of styles available to give your projects an added human touch.
Calligraphic The more refined cousin of signature fonts, calligraphic fonts are inspired by the art of calligraphy. These intricate styles are often more structured and polished than other handwriting fonts, featuring delicate linework and swooping serifs that create a more classy appeal to your project.
For more typographic inspiration, take a look at the best font pairings or take a look at the best free fonts for a wide variety of typographic styles to suit all projects.
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Alison is a freelance writer and editor from Philadelphia, USA. She's been sharing buying advice and retail news for over a decade. When she isn't hunting for deals, Alison can be found teaching/training in martial arts, fawning over skincare, and indulging in her quarantine-borne hobby: cooking. She has written for a number of publications including TechRadar, Forbes and Business Insider.
