18 Beautiful Free & Premium Script Fonts

Script fonts are fonts with handwritten or calligraphic styles. They’re meant to mimic handwritten text in historic and modern styles so the user can use elegant handwritten styles in digital works. They’re a popular choice among designers, especially for logos and title images. In fact, many script fonts are hand-drawn by designers using anything from classic calligraphy pens to something as modern and simple as ballpoint pens.

There are two main types of script fonts: formal and informal. Formal styles tend to be more elegant and carefully produced. The letters often flow well together in sub-styles known as “connected script fonts.” Informal styles use a mixture of cursive and print letters, and only certain letters may connect with one another in sub-styles known as “semi-connected script fonts.”

Whether formal or informal, connected or semi-connected, these beautifully designed fonts are available in the thousands around the web. We’re going to list 18 of our favorite free and premium script fonts here to give you a leg up on your next web design project.

Free Script Fonts

I’m going to start with a list of free script fonts so you can dive into your next project with confidence. These fonts are available for commercial use, and they’re all free. However, each one comes with a different license, which we briefly describe, but you are advised to do your own research before using these fonts for commercial use. Many of them are only available as desktop versions, so please keep that in mind before you download.

Let’s take a look at our list of free script fonts:

Jenna Sue by Jenna Sue Design

Jenna Sue is a popular script font by Jenna Sue Design that can be found on font websites all across the web. It was “handmade with care” by Jenna Sue herself. The font was first seen on DaFont.com on July 03, 2011, and it has over 3.3 million downloads on the site. The font is available for free for commercial use, and your download comes with the desktop version, which includes numbers and punctuation. A webfont version can be purchased for $10 as a personal or commercial license.

Lobster by Impallari Type

Lobster is another popular script font, but this one was made by Pablo Impallari of Impallari Type. It was first seen on DaFont.com on November 24, 2010 and has over 2.6 million downloads on the site. The font has a Public Domain / GPL / OFL license on DaFont.com. The font includes glyphs and punctuation, and a webfont version can be found on the Google Web Fonts Directory. Details on how to format this version can be found on the font’s page on the Impallari website.

Pacifico by Vernon Adams

Pacifico is a handwritten, calligraphic font by Vernon Adams. It was uploaded to Font Squirrel on March 25, 2011 and has over 1.7 million downloads on the site. It comes with the typical set of glyphs, but a webfont version is not available for direct download. You’ll need to use Font Squirrel’s Webfont Generator instead. The font is licensed under Version 1.1 of the SIL Open Font License, which allows “licensed fonts to be used, studied, modified and redistributed freely as long as they are not sold by themselves.”

Allura by TypeSETit

Allura is a calligraphic script font by TypeSETit. The font was uploaded to Font Squirrel on March 30, 2012 and has over 1 million downloads. It’s licensed under SIL Open Font License Version 1.1. It comes with a large set of glyphs, but a webfont version is unavailable unless you use Font Squirrel’s Webfont Generator.

Grand Hotel by Astigmatic

Grand Hotel is a casual script font designed by Brian J. Bonislawsky and Jim Lyles of Astigmatic. The font was uploaded to Font Squirrel on December 07, 2012 and has over 834,000 downloads. Its design was inspired by the title screen of “Cafe Metropole,” a film released in 1937. The font comes with glyphs and is licensed under the SIL Open Font License Version 1.1. A webfont version must be created with the Webfont Generator.

Dancing Script OT by Impallari Type

This is another script font designed by Pablo Impallari of Impallari Type, but this one features a cursive design. It was uploaded to Font Squirrel on February 07, 2011 and has over 694,000 downloads. It comes with a small set of glyphs and is licensed under the SIL Open Font License Version 1.1. A webfont version can be generated with the Webfont Generator from Font Squirrel.

Playball by TypeSETit

Playball is a connected script by TypeSETit designed with sporting and festive events in mind. The font was created in 2011 and has over 319,000 downloads on FontSpace.com. It’s licensed under the SIL Open Font License, and the designer claims it’s a “unicode font that uses the Latin script and its variants,” making it capable of expanding to “support other scripts.” This font comes with basic letters, numbers, punctuation and glyphs.

Sacramento by Astigmatic

Sacramento is a monoline, semi-connected script font designed by Brian J. Bonislawsky of Astigmatic. It was created in 2012 and has over 151,000 downloads on FontSpace.com. It’s licensed under the SIL Open Font License. The designer claims the font was inspired by brochures from the 1950s and 60s where artists would perform hand-lettered work. The font comes with typical letters, numbers and punctuation as well as a large set of glyphs.

Variane Script by Work Ins Studio

Variane Script is a semi-connected script designed by Boy Moch Tomi of Work Ins Studio. The font was created in 2015 and has over 109,000 downloads on FontSpace.com. The font is licensed as Freeware on FontSpace.com, making it free for personal and commercial use. The font is a first by the designer, who admires the font’s complexity. It comes with basic letters, numbers and punctuations. No glyphs are available.

Premium Script Fonts

Free fonts are economical choices for designers on small budgets, but many professional designers grow tired of using and seeing the same free fonts over and over again. If you’re bored with the free selection, you might not mind investing in new and fresh fonts, and that’s exactly why we’ve included a nice selection of  premium script fonts, too. Let’s check them out:

Fresh Script by Sam Parrett

Fresh Script is a brush script font designed by Sam Parrett. The font has a hand-painted, typeface design, which the designer used to help the user “create the look of stunning custom hand-lettering.” The font is available on CreativeMarket.com for $16 with a standard license, which grants permission for most uses. An extended license can be purchased for $40. This license allows you to use the font in an end product.

The font comes with typical lettering and glyphs, and the designer suggests using the { } and [ ] characters to create extra swashes to pop out your text. The font also supports international languages. Designers can access stylistic alternates for lowercase keys in the Adobe Illustrator Glyphs panel and the Stylistic Alternates submenu in the Adobe Photoshop OpenType menu.

Bloomsbury by Design Vintage Co.

Bloomsbury is a hand-drawn typeface by Ian Barnard of Design Vintage Co. It comes with two additional styles, which are sans and serif. The font is available at Creative Market with a Standard license for $16, and an Extended license can be purchased for $30. The script font can be used by itself, but the designer recommends using all three fonts to create stunning logos and title images. Different-sized end letter flourishes can be found in the glyphs panel in various design programs. The font also supports dozens of international languages.

Avaline Regular by Kimmy Design

Avaline is a hand-drawn script font designed by Kimmy Kirkwood of Kimmy Design. The font’s design was inspired by hand-lettering doodles and combines a “mischievous spirit” with a “cheerful style.” Avaline Regular can be purchased at FontSpring.com by itself for $20, and its Light, Bold and Sketch alternatives can be purchased for the same price each. You can also purchase add-ons individually or purchase the entire family for $60. The font comes with a large set of glyphs, OpenType features and four licenses, which include desktop and webfont versions.

Bakery by StereoType

Bakery is a script font designed by StereoType that’s available free for personal use on DaFont.com, but a commercial license can be purchased from the designer’s website for $39. The commercial version comes with alternate glyphs as well as 13 ligatures and swashes that allow you to create your own set of custom styles.

Master of Break by StereoType

Master of Break is another script font by StereoType available free for personal use on DaFont.com. Just like Bakery, a commercial version of this font can be purchased for $39. This font also comes with alternate glyphs, ligatures and swashes that allow you to create your own styles. You can also embed the font in PDF files while you edit them.

Alana Regular by Laura Worthington

Alana is a modern calligraphic, semi-connected script font designed by Laura Worthington. The designer claims the font has a unique ability to “transform from casual to formal.” Alana Regular is available for $39 on FontSpring, and additional versions can be purchased separately. The entire Alana font family can be purchased for $98. The font comes with large sets of glyphs and OpenType characters, and its licenses include desktop and webfont versions.

Local Brewery by Cultivated Mind

Local Brewery is a script font designed by Cultivated Mind that also comes with a sans-serif style. Both styles were hand-drawn with rough edges. The standard license for this font is available at Creative Market for $45 while the extended license, which covers 40 users, is available for $90. The script font also comes with lowercase y, g and end tails that add a dash of more style in a simple way. Vector alternates can be found in illustrator and eps files. The designer recommends using the script and sans-serif styles together to create stylish labels for products, magazines and film titles.

Birds of Paradise by Script House

Birds of Paradise is a calligraphic script font designed by Script House that’s available free for personal use on DaFont.com, but a commercial version can be purchased on PayHip.com for $49. The designers claim the font is “a revival of a font made by Al Elliot in 1975.” The designers also claim the font will be licensed to the name attributed to the PayPal account that’s used to pay for the Pro license. The font comes with basic letters, numbers, punctuation and glyphs.

GraduateScript Regular by Fontforecast

Graduate is “a 2 font, dingbat, script & modern calligraphy family by Fontforecast.” The font is available by itself for $54 on FontSpring. An add-on that includes stylish ornaments can be purchased for $34, but the Graduate font with the ornaments can be purchased together at a price of $60 in a package called the Graduate Family. The font comes with basic letters, numbers and punctuation as well as large sets of glyphs and OpenType characters. It comes in desktop and webfont versions and can be embedded into ebooks and applications.

Final Thoughts

Script fonts make beautiful choices for logos, labels and title images. Keep in mind these fonts, whether free or paid, come with individual licenses that must be researched carefully before using, especially if you intend to use them for commercial purposes. Double this warning if you intend to use them in end products.

I hope this list has inspired you to come up new stunning designs. Happy creating! Oh, and please let us know in the comments below if there are other font types you’d like us to cover in the future.

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