With the best free handwriting fonts, you can give your designs a personal touch. A little bit loose, a little bit free, a little bit rough around the edges, handwriting fonts can be incredibly versatile, with thousand of styles to choose from. Looking for something thick and heavy? Neat and tidy? Stylised and striking? There will be a handwriting font out there for you, and what's more, you may not have to pay a penny for it.
The internet offers thousands of fonts, many of which are free. While this is obviously a fantastic resource, it can be a little overwhelming to the newcomer, as there's no surefire way to tell which ones are worth your time. That's why we've put together this guide, scouring the internet and using our design nous to pick out the absolute best free handwriting fonts around. Every one is free to download, and all will be suitable for at least personal use – many will be commercially useable too, but we'd advise you to check the licensing small print of any you plan to use in this capacity, just in case.
Want to look beyond handwriting style and for something more general? We also have guides to the best free fonts, free brush fonts and free script fonts. Below, we have a quick link to myfonts.com by Monotype, a fantastic database with more than 130,000 fonts, including 900 free ones. It's a terrific resource with which to get started.
(opens in new tab)For now though, scroll on to see our picks of the best handwriting fonts you can download, with samples and links for each one. And once you're loaded up with all the fonts your heart desires, head over to our guide to learn how to add fonts in Photoshop.
The best free handwriting fonts
01. Grape Nuts
- Download Grape Nuts from Google Fonts (opens in new tab)
Downloadable from Google Fonts, Grape Nuts is a straightforward and charming font inspired by a popular breakfast cereal. It's simple and casual, perfect for striking an informal tone in your designs. The Google Fonts terms allow for both personal and commercial use of the font, but as always, make sure you check the fine print before publishing anything.
02. Gloria Hallelujah
- Download Gloria Hallelujah from Google Fonts (opens in new tab)
Simple, clear and effective, Gloria Hallelujah is a solid alternative to Grape Nuts, and is also available from Google Fonts. 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 (opens in new tab), and based in part off the handwriting of a Korean schoolchild.
03. Homemade Apple
- Download Homemade Apple from Google Fonts (opens in new tab)
This clever cursive font flows across the page, its glyphs linking just like real joined-up handwriting. It has an incredibly cutesy, homey feel, and looks like the sort of hand that might jot down a recipe for a homemade apple pie (hey, that's probably where the name comes from).
04. Reenie Beanie Font
- Download Reenie Beanie Font from Adobe Fonts (opens in new tab)
Available from a Adobe Fonts, Reenie Beanie is an earthy, fun handwriting fonts 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." We'll let you be the judge of that one, but regardless, this is a versatile and highly readable handwriting font.
05. Dawning of a New Day
- Download Dawning of a New Day on DaFont (opens in new tab)
An important thing to be aware of is that this font is for personal use only, not for commercial. If you're putting together party invites, birthday greetings or something of that nature, Dawning of a New Day is a simple but realistic choice of handwriting font. It's another one by calligrapher Kimberly Geswein (responsible for Gloria Hallelujah at #2) who says it was inspired by a friend of hers.
06. Vujahday Script
- Download Vujahday Script from Google Fonts (opens in new tab)
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. This font is available to use for personal and commercial use.
07. Beth Ellen
- Download Beth Ellen from Google Fonts (opens in new tab)
Seriously, how cute is this font? The authentic and earthy feel to this script is perfect for a range of projects. This font was inspired by designer, Rob Jelinski's mother who passed away to cancer. This font is completely free to use for personal and commercial use, but Jelinski has requested that you send a short note to someone you love every time you use the font.
08. Hiatus Handwritten Font
- Get Hiatus Handwritten Font from creativetacos.com (opens in new tab)
For a very different but also very casual feel, the modern brushed handwritten font Hiatus offers a nice look for posters, t-shirts, branding and headlines in the right context. The free version is available for both personal and commercial use and contains uppercase, lowercase, number, Punctuation and symbols.
09. Timothy
- Get Timothy from Behance (opens in new tab)
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 (opens in new tab). It's free for personal and commercial use and could make a nice, fun choice for use in invitations.
10. Something Wild
- Get Something Wild from Pixelbuddha (opens in new tab)
Add an authentic feel to your designs with this gorgeous handwritten type design Something Wild. Available over on Pixelbuddha, Something Wild is free for personal or commercial use and will add a touch of personality to your designs, making it perfect for poster and flyer designs.
11. Stay Classy
- Get Stay Classy from Pixelify (opens in new tab)
This well-named free handwriting font is one of the classiest out there. Delicate and interesting without being fussy, make your designs ooze chic by using this for headers and short pieces of text paired with simple, tasteful backgrounds. It's free for personal or commercial use.
12. No Time
- Get No Time from Behance (opens in new tab)
Graphic designer Paula Painceiras Martínez is the master behind this quirky, tongue-in-cheek handwriting font, No Time. On her Behance page she states: "Expressive, aggressive and different. This font was created by the handwriting of a stressed designer." It's a totally free license, with a request from the creator to accredit her name or link her profile. (Painceiras says she loves to see projects using this font.)
13. Ambarella
- Get Ambarella from Pixelsurplus (opens in new tab)
Ambarella is a beautiful free typeface from Polem Studio. Free for both personal and commercial use, the design includes various swashes, alternates and Western European characters.
14. Kristi
- Get Kristi from Fontsquirrel (opens in new tab)
Designed by Birgit Pulk, Kristi is an elegant and quirky free handwriting font with flowing ligatures that remind us of fountain pen writing. The capital letter glyphs would work particularly well in headers.
15. Marrisa
- Get Marrisa from Dafont.com (opens in new tab)
Imperfections are beautiful, aren't they? Marrisa reminds us of enthusiastic hand-written notes we've received from relatives; all swooping ascenders and unpredictably sized ligatures. It's full of heart, and embraces its relaxed vibe and carefully curated 'flaws'. It's free for personal use only, but commercial licenses are available.
16. Over the Rainbow
- Get Over the Rainbow from Google Fonts (opens in new tab)
"This font always makes me smile," says the designer of this sweetly named font, Kimberly Geswein. "Something about the style of the handwriting just makes me feel happy. It is slightly connected but not a true script by any means and will lend an upbeat feel to any project you use it on."
17. Stay Writer
- Get Stay Writer from Behance (opens in new tab)
Charming handwriting font Stay Writer is free for commercial and personal use. "A hand-drawn display font, every single letter has been carefully crafted to make your text look beautiful," the makers comment on Behance.
18. Fair Prosper
- Get Fair Prosper from Pixelify (opens in new tab)
Another free handwriting font packed with personality, Fair Prosper is a marker pen font designed by Khurasan. Available free for personal and commercial use, this font set includes upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols. It would look awesome on branding and designs that rock (and roll).
19. Claire Hand
- Get Claire Hand from Behance (opens in new tab)
The team at Australian-based design agency Team Scope are behind handwriting font Claire Hand. Available over on Behance, the team describe the design as: "fun, bold and friendly, and its handwritten style represents our commitment to creative spontaneity (you know how the best ideas get scribbled down on a napkin?). Because we're serious design tragics, we even created each letter in two different weights so it's even more individual."
It's free for personal use, and there's a small fee if you want to use it commercially.
20. Mightype
- Get Mightype from Behance (opens in new tab)
Free for both personal and commercial use, Mightype was created by designers Mats-Peter Forss and Adam Fathony. A hand-lettered script font, Mightype is great for packaging designs, branding and much more.
21. Reis
- Get Reis from Free Goodies For Designers (opens in new tab)
This handwritten design Reis was created by art director Marcelo Reis Melo. Great for posters, logos and much more, Reis is available free for personal and commercial use, with donations to the creator (as always) appreciated.
22. Bellaboo
- Get Bellaboo from Free Goodies For Designers (opens in new tab)
In need of an authentic handwritten font for your latest project? Bellaboo, another design by art director Marcelo Reis Melo, may be just what you're looking for. A bold design, this free handwriting font is great for creating eye-catching headlines, posters and more. It even supports Spanish, German and Swedish characters.
23. Ludicrous
- Get Ludicrous from Behance (opens in new tab)
A free handwriting font from Missy Meyer, Ludicrous is great for giving your projects an authentic handmade feel. "With every font, I learn something new," she comments on Behance. "This time around, I did my first ligatures, and included the 15 lowercase letter pairs I thought were most common." It's free for personal use and includes one-user desktop commercial license.
24. Tragic Marker
- Get Tragic Marker from Behance (opens in new tab)
As we've seen, Missy Meyer is a runaway talent when it comes to creating free handwriting fonts. With Tragic Marker she has created a satisfyingly chunky font that looks like it's been scribbled with a Sharpie. And most impressively of all, it was created in just one day while she learned more aspects of type creation.
25. Skinny
- Get Skinny from Dafont.com (opens in new tab)
An oldie but a goodie, this handwriting font is, by far, the most popular of the type designs offered online by the artist known as notfon1234. The last update to the design saw a clean up to the spacing and characters, and the font is now completely free for commercial use.
26. Gunny Rewritten
- Get Gunny Rewritten from Dafont.com (opens in new tab)
Based on his older font Gunny Handwriting, type designer Vit Condak released this new free handwriting font Gunny Rewritten. Wanting a tidier version of his original (based on his natural handwriting style), Condak completely remade the design and now offers it as a free download for all to enjoy.
27. Halo Handletter
- Get Halo Handletter from Dafont.com (opens in new tab)
This elegant handwriting font was developed by graphic designer Mario Arturo. One of over 20 fonts created by Arturo, who specialises in fancy and script designs, Halo Handletter is perfect example of the latter. It's free for non-commercial use only; you'll have to pay to use it commercially.
28. Whatever It Takes
- Get Whatever It Takes from Dafont.com (opens in new tab)
The Whatever It Takes free handwriting font harks back to our school exercise books. It's free for personal and non-profit use. However, its creator, designer Brittney Murphy does ask for a $8 donation for commercial use, which we think is still a bargain. There's a bold version, too.
29. L'Engineer
- Get L'Engineer from Behance (opens in new tab)
One of our favourite free handwriting fonts, this design by Ferdie Balderas comes in regular and italic as well as capital and lower-case letters. He's even made it supportive of a number of different languages including French, Spanish and Polish.
30. Calligraffiti
- Get Calligraffiti from Fontsquirrel (opens in new tab)
Spanning both the genres of handwriting fonts and calligraphy fonts, Calligraffiti is an elegant and simple free single-weight font with 228 glyphs, designed by Open Window.
Next page: more of the best free handwriting fonts
