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Font licensing cost

Pricing that reflects how businesses actually use fonts

Font licensing costs can vary widely.

That’s not because fonts are inherently complicated.
It’s because most pricing models are.

Many licences are based on:

  • Page views

  • Number of users

  • App installs

  • Downloads

  • Specific use cases (web, app, desktop)

Each of these introduces a variable that needs to be estimated, tracked, and managed.

For businesses, that quickly becomes difficult to maintain.


Why font licensing pricing often feels unclear

Most pricing models are built around usage metrics.

At first, this can seem precise.
In practice, it creates uncertainty.

For example:

  • Website traffic changes over time

  • Teams grow or restructure

  • New platforms and products are introduced

  • Fonts are reused in ways not originally anticipated

This leads to:

  • Re-licensing conversations

  • Unexpected cost increases

  • Procurement delays

  • Ongoing monitoring requirements

In some cases, pricing can also be influenced by how usage is interpreted or measured, which makes long-term planning harder.


A simpler approach: pricing based on Business Size

We take a different approach.

Pricing is based on Business Size—the number of people working within your organisation.

That includes:

  • Employees

  • Contractors

  • Consultants

  • Freelancers

  • Temporary staff

Nothing else.

No page views.
No seat tracking.
No usage reporting.


Why Business Size works

Fonts are not used in isolation.

They move across:

  • Teams

  • Systems

  • Outputs

  • Partners

Trying to price each of those uses separately adds complexity.

Business Size pricing reflects a simpler reality:

Fonts are used by organisations, not by individual channels.


Clear, structured pricing tiers

Our pricing is structured in tiers based on Business Size.

These tiers are designed to:

  • Scale predictably as organisations grow

  • Avoid sudden jumps in cost

  • Reflect real differences in organisational scale

Smaller teams pay less.
Larger organisations pay more.

But the structure remains consistent and easy to understand.


No gaming, no guesswork

Because pricing is not tied to usage metrics:

  • There is no need to estimate traffic or installs

  • There is no incentive to under-report usage

  • There are no unexpected thresholds

You don’t need to “fit” your usage into a pricing model.

The pricing already fits how your organisation works.


Annual or Perpetual

You can choose how you pay.

Annual

  • Lower upfront cost

  • Full use across all media

  • Renews each year

Perpetual

  • One-time payment

  • Ongoing use under your licence

  • Not affected by future growth

Both options follow the same Business Size model.
You’re simply choosing the payment structure that fits your organisation.


What your licence includes

The cost of your licence covers:

  • Use across all media (web, apps, print, video, environments)

  • Installation across your organisation

  • Use in branding, products, and communications

  • Deployment across your platforms

  • The full set of weights within the family

There is no need to license separate use cases.


Designed for procurement clarity

For procurement teams, pricing needs to be:

  • Predictable

  • Defensible

  • Easy to audit

Usage-based pricing often requires:

  • Ongoing monitoring

  • Internal reporting

  • Reconciliation against licence terms

Business Size pricing removes this.

It provides:

  • A single, clearly defined variable

  • A stable cost structure

  • Straightforward verification

If helpful, we have a page dedicated to procurement teams.

Procurement guidance
/licensing/procurement


How this compares to traditional pricing models

Traditional font licensing often involves:

  • Multiple licences for different uses

  • Separate pricing for web, app, and desktop

  • Metrics that change over time

  • Terms that require interpretation

This can work for small, contained use cases.

At organisational scale, it introduces friction.

A Business Size model replaces this with:

  • One licence

  • One pricing structure

  • Full coverage


A practical way to think about cost

Instead of asking:

  • How many page views do we have?

  • How many users need access?

  • How will this be used in future?

You only need to ask:

How large is our organisation?

That single input defines the licence.


Not sure what your Business Size is?

In most cases, it’s straightforward.

If your organisation is:

  • A small team — count everyone involved

  • A growing company — include all active contributors

  • A larger organisation — include all personnel working within the business

If you’re unsure, we’ll help you define it properly.


To understand how font licensing works more broadly:

Font licensing explained

For enterprise use:

Enterprise font licensing

For procurement:
Font licensing procurement

For compliance and risk:

Font licensing compliance



A clear, stable approach

Font licensing cost should not depend on variables that are difficult to predict or control.

It should reflect:

  • The scale of your organisation

  • The reality of how fonts are used

  • The need for long-term clarity

That’s what Business Size pricing is designed to provide.


Questions?

If you’d like to sense-check pricing for your organisation, or compare it to your current setup, we’re happy to help.

Just drop me an email.