45 great free handwriting fonts

If you need a handwriting font for your project, look no further. When we talk about handwriting fonts, we're not just referring to one style of typography; they can come in a variety of executions. They're in the same area as cursive fonts, but with fewer constraints and are often based on freeform illustrations.

Recently, this style of typography has been making more appearances than ever, with both print and digital platforms favouring it over more traditional offerings. Here, we've curated some of the best free fonts in a handwritten style for you to download and enjoy.

If you're a designer in need of some more options, explore our selection of professional fonts or dive into our comprehensive rundown of free fonts.

01. Shopping Script

If you're after a flowing handwritten font with its own signature style (no pun intended), Shopping Script could be the way to go. Created by Hungarian designer Roland Huse, this handwritten font set covers your basic characters and numbers (A-Z, 0-9, both upper and lower case). Download it now for free for personal use. A full version can be found on Huse's online store.

02. Ambarella

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.

03. Something Wild

Add an authentic handwritten feel to your designs with this gorgeous handwritten type design Something Wild. Available over on Pixelbuddha, Something Wild will add a touch of personality to your designs, making it perfect for poster and flyer designs. 

04. No Time

Graphic designer Paula Painmar is the lady behind this quirky, tongue-in-cheek handwriting font. On her Behance page she states: "Expressive, aggressive and different. This font was created by the handwriting of a stressed designer."

05. Kristi

Designed by Birgit Pulk, 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.

06. Over the Rainbow

"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."

07. Stay Writer

Charming handwriting font Stay Writer was created by graphic designer and illustrator Faraz Ahmad. "A hand-drawn display font, every single letter has been carefully crafted to make your text looks beautiful," Ahmad comments on Behance. 

08. SoulMarker

Handwriting type design SoulMarker was also created by Faraz Ahmad. Available in two styles, light and bold, SoulMarker is great for a variety of print and digital projects.

09. Claire Hand

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."

10. Cavorting

"This is a one-day font," says Cavorting typeface creator Missy Meyer. "I created the letterforms and did all the spacing and kerning in one day." Meyer describes the handwritten typeface as a 'goofy little handwriting font' and offers it free for both personal and commercial use.

11. Mightype

Free for both personal and commercial use, Mightype was created by designers Mats-Peter Forss and Adam Fathony. A handlettered script font, Mightype is great for packaging designs, branding and much more.

12. Reis

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 author, as always, appreciated.

13. Bellaboo

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, Bellaboo is great for creating eye-catching headlines, posters and more.

14. Ludicrous

Another 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."

15. Tragic Marker

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.

16. Skinny

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.

17. Gunny Rewritten

Based on his older font Gunny Handwriting, type designer Vit Condak released this new free handwriting font Gunny Rewritten. Unhappy with his original version, Condak completety remade the design and now offers it as a free download for all to enjoy.

18. Halo Handletter

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. Free for non-commercial use only.

19. Yore

Created by Vietnamese designer Poem haiku, the Yore script is a fun take on the more traditional script offerings. Yore is perfect for content experimentation and might even work well on a branding project or two.

20. Whatever It Takes

The Whatever It Takes free handwriting font harks back to those school boards and chalk typography. It's free for personal and non-profit use. However, its creator, designer Brittney Murphy, does however, ask for a $8 donation for commercial use, which we think is still a bargain. There's a bold version, too.

21. Before Breakfast

Designer Simon Stratford discovered iPad app iFontMaker and created a font with it in under 10 minutes. The result? This hand drawn typeface Before Breakfast. It may not be one of the most considered entries in our free fonts list, but, as Stratford comments: "It's a fun, handwritten typeface that probably breaks every rule in typography."

22. L'Engineer

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.

23. Calligraffiti

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.

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