Google Fonts Licensing Explained: What You Can and Cannot Do
Google Fonts are free, but free has a specific meaning. Here is what the license actually allows and where the limits are. Google Fonts are free to use, and most people treat that as the end of the story. It is not. Free under the Google Fonts model means free under one of several open-source licenses, and those licenses have different terms. If you are using Google Fonts on a commercial project, modifying the font files, or redistributing them, the details matter. After reading the actual licenses and making a few mistakes, here is what I understand about what you can and cannot do. The Two Licenses You Will See Fonts on Google Fonts are released under one of two licenses: the SIL Open Font License, often abbreviated OFL, or the Apache License, version two. The majority of fonts on Google Fonts use the OFL. The Apache License appears on a smaller number of fonts, typically those originally developed by Google or contributors under a different licensing model. The license is shown on each font's page on Google Fonts, and I check it before committing to a font in a project. Both licenses permit free commercial use, modification, and redistribution, but the details differ. The OFL allows you to use, study, modify, and redistribute the font freely, including in commercial products, with the main restriction that you cannot sell the font files alone as a standalone product.