Fonts like Microsoft Sans Serif
12 open fonts whose letters are closest to Microsoft Sans Serif, ranked by a glyph comparison. All free for commercial use.
Quick answer
The closest open font to Microsoft Sans Serif is Almarai (similarity 90), then Zalando Sans and Istok Web. Almarai is released under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 and is free for commercial use.
System font No preview: commercial font, described from its sources
Microsoft Sans Serif
Vendor Microsoft Corp.
Supplied With
Windows 11Windows 10Windows 8.1
CSS fallback font stack
font-family: "Microsoft Sans Serif", "Almarai", sans-serif;Use Microsoft Sans Serif when installed on the visitor's device, automatically falling back to Almarai (closest open lookalike).
Microsoft Sans Serif Licence & Permissions
Fonts supplied with Windows (Microsoft's font FAQ)LicenseRef-Windows-Font
Commercial workAllowed, with conditions
Logo or wordmarkAllowed, with conditions
WebsiteNot allowed
App or gameNot allowed
Modify the fontNot allowed
Share the font fileNot allowed
Sell the font fileNot allowed
No credit needed in your workAllowed
Side-by-side comparison
Top lookalikes compared at the same size Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Top lookalikes: licence permissions
Commercial rights side by sideAlmaraiOFL-1.1
Commercial workAllowed
Logo or wordmarkAllowed
WebsiteAllowed, with conditions
App or gameAllowed, with conditions
Modify the fontAllowed, with conditions
Share the font fileAllowed, with conditions
Sell the font fileNot allowed
No credit needed in your workAllowed
Zalando SansOFL-1.1
Commercial workAllowed
Logo or wordmarkAllowed
WebsiteAllowed, with conditions
App or gameAllowed, with conditions
Modify the fontAllowed, with conditions
Share the font fileAllowed, with conditions
Sell the font fileNot allowed
No credit needed in your workAllowed
Istok WebOFL-1.1
Commercial workAllowed
Logo or wordmarkAllowed
WebsiteAllowed, with conditions
App or gameAllowed, with conditions
Modify the fontAllowed, with conditions
Share the font fileAllowed, with conditions
Sell the font fileNot allowed
No credit needed in your workAllowed
All 12 open lookalikes, ranked
Comparison based on letter shape and edge texture#1
Almarai OFL-1.1
Similarity 90 — 100 = identical letters, 0 = an average pair
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
#2
Zalando Sans OFL-1.1
Similarity 89 — 100 = identical letters, 0 = an average pair
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
#3
Istok Web OFL-1.1
Similarity 87 — 100 = identical letters, 0 = an average pair
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
#4
Arimo OFL-1.1
Similarity 86 — 100 = identical letters, 0 = an average pair
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
#5
Inter OFL-1.1
Similarity 86 — 100 = identical letters, 0 = an average pair
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
#6
Pretendard OFL-1.1
Similarity 86 — 100 = identical letters, 0 = an average pair
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
#7
Funnel Sans OFL-1.1
Similarity 86 — 100 = identical letters, 0 = an average pair
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
#8
Liter OFL-1.1
Similarity 86 — 100 = identical letters, 0 = an average pair
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
#9
Akt OFL-1.1
Similarity 85 — 100 = identical letters, 0 = an average pair
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
#10
Open Sauce One OFL-1.1
Similarity 85 — 100 = identical letters, 0 = an average pair
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
#11
Archivo OFL-1.1
Similarity 85 — 100 = identical letters, 0 = an average pair
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
#12
Adwaita Sans OFL-1.1
Similarity 85 — 100 = identical letters, 0 = an average pair
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Fonts made for other scripts with similar Latin letters
How the similarity score works
Each score is calculated by comparing 62 letters and digits (A-Z a-z 0-9) rendered at a 160px cap height on a 32×32 grid with 3px gaussian blur, combined with edge-orientation texture (weighted at 15%).
Scores are normalized on a standardized scale: 100 represents identical letterforms, and 0 represents an average pair among the 1571 fonts compared.