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I'm looking for fonts, available from Google Webfonts (ideally) or Typekit, that would look similar to Avenir Next Pro, specifically, Bold and Demi:

Capital letters ABCDE, followed by lowercase a. Black on white

Capital letters ABCDE, followed by lowercase abcde, and numeral 1. Black on white

Any similar-looking fonts, with good cross-browser rendering?

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19 Answers 19

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33

Nunito is really quite different to Avenir - the letters are quite rounded.

I've done some serious work on this for a client and found the Google font Lato is virtually indistinguishable from Avenir - you can literally put two words in the two fonts next to each other and not tell the difference.

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    I disagree here. The Q and the g are quite different, and it is enough that we were reluctant to use Lato as an alternative. You can see a comparison here
    – Eric K
    Nov 2, 2016 at 20:51
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If you really want to use a Google Font, I highly suggest using NUNITO. It has 3 styles: Book, Normal, and Bold. Here is a sample comparison between Book 300 and Avenir: https://web.archive.org/web/20140415053621/http://joelcrawfordsmith.com/new/font/avenir The sentence length is a perfect match and x-height is great. Its only fault is that the ascenders and descenders are a tiny bit shorter.

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    Hmm... in lowercase it really doesn't look that similar, way too round-ish. I'll keep looking.
    – julien_c
    May 20, 2013 at 15:51
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    For small-sized copy sure but definitely not for titling.
    – Marcel
    Oct 29, 2013 at 6:01
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    Yes, way too rounded. Almost comic(-sans)ical.
    – jbyrd
    Nov 22, 2017 at 18:15
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    And actually, Nunito Sans is the non-rounded equivalent, so it's much better - you can find it at Google Fonts or google fonts web helper.
    – jbyrd
    Nov 22, 2017 at 18:45
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I think Museo Sans is good enough:

enter image description here

On Google fonts there is also Montserrat could be used for some words :)

enter image description here

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    I think Museo is beautiful, but when I tried it the browser rendering was less from perfect, specially in older Windows. If that's the main public, I'd test it thoroughly!
    – Yisela
    Feb 20, 2013 at 19:46
11

I ended up using Muli from Google Fonts, I think it's pretty close:

enter image description here

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  • What about PT Sans?
    – julien_c
    Jul 1, 2013 at 18:26
  • I tried the other ones and this definitely appears to be the most similar.
    – Michael J. Calkins
    Dec 11, 2015 at 6:45
  • The Q is really quite different - but the graphic does not reflect the actual Q in Muli.
    – featherbelly
    Dec 31, 2017 at 20:31
  • The font "Muli" is no longer available via Google Fonts.
    – Mikko Rantalainen
    Nov 1, 2022 at 9:39
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I have found Prompt to be very close to Avenir Next Pro within google fonts.

https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Prompt

You can check the comparison here

enter image description here

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  • I agree - it's super close!!!!
    – featherbelly
    Dec 31, 2017 at 20:38
  • The biggest difference seems to be lowercase letter "a". Prompt also seems heavier than many other fonts for the same nominal weight.
    – Mikko Rantalainen
    Nov 1, 2022 at 9:41
7

Lato is also a comparable Google font:

enter image description here

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FYI, for the lighter AvenirNext faces, don't overlook Ideal Sans. They are virtually identical. I haven't compared the heavier weights, but for the lighter, this is my go-to. Yes, the lower-case g is different, but otherwise, it's pretty good. I realize I'm necro-posting, but for anyone else that comes along:

Comparing AvenirNext Light with IdealSans

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  • welcome to GD.SE! Necro posting is ok, as long as the answer is useful and answers the question. If you want to know more about the site check the help center.
    – Luciano
    Aug 18, 2016 at 8:48
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Avenir is available for the web at fonts.com

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  • I didn't know that, thanks! It's not served though, I have to host it myself, right?
    – julien_c
    Feb 21, 2013 at 8:10
  • @julien_c You can however, they offer a plan to host it themselves. You would just use CSS or Javascript that that they give you to load them on your page (like Typekit or Webtype).
    – Chris Burton
    Feb 21, 2013 at 12:48
  • Just for the sake of saying, Google Web Fonts aren't much different than embedding it yourself on your own server. All they're doing is pointing to a CSS stylesheet that does pretty much the same types of declarations you'd do on your own stylesheet to embed them. Check out this link and you'll see all they're doing is referencing the font from their servers instead of local. fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Tauri
    – jbwharris
    Apr 10, 2013 at 20:14
  • @ChrisBurton License-wise, I'm not sure I am allowed to buy the font and just serve it myself as a Web font. Or am I?
    – julien_c
    May 20, 2013 at 15:52
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    @julien_c you have to have a webfonts subscription. normally they'll serve you a javascript or css to point to, but you can choose to self-host on Pro plans. more info on pricing here - fonts.com/web-fonts/plans-and-pricing
    – Mattc0m
    Oct 18, 2013 at 14:47
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I believe that Sofia Pro Light from Font Squirrel is a close match.

enter image description here

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    nice looking font but from the license, "Licensee may not link the Font to web sites using the @font-face selector in CSS. An extended license may be available for an additional fee."
    – cwd
    Mar 28, 2015 at 18:36
  • At least lowercase "a" and "e" look pretty different from Avenir.
    – Mikko Rantalainen
    Nov 1, 2022 at 9:45
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No no, Nunito or Lato are very different to my eyes. I've done a lot of work around this and found the below fonts pretty similar if treated with attention (font size, weight, letter spacing):

(from TypeKit)

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    would you mind adding some images to help us understand why those are a good choice without having to get out of GD.SE? Also link rot is a problem, if those links die your answer loses relevance
    – Luciano
    Apr 19, 2017 at 8:37
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The question is by now three years old, but I really feel I should mention League Spartan from the League of Movable Type. It's not from Google Fonts, but it's free and Open Source:

The League has given only the most well-made, free & open-source, @font-face ready fonts

It's available in 8 different styles. enter image description here

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  • Actually, League Spartan is available in eight weights now, plus a variable font.
    – BertD
    Dec 30, 2020 at 16:03
  • @BertD That is good news!
    – Ideogram
    Dec 31, 2020 at 7:41
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Not sure if this is the best place but you wont go far wrong with either of these

OpenSans:

enter image description here

SourceSans:

enter image description here

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Except for the uppercase "Q" and the lower height of the ascenders, Proxima Nova on Typekit is quite close.

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  • Lower case "a" is slightly different too, but I agree this is an excellent alternative.
    – Eric K
    Nov 2, 2016 at 21:01
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Nunito is an excellent alternative to Avenir. The ascenders are slightly higher in Avenir but even the most persnickety designer would have a hard time telling them apart. It can be found at http://www.google.com/webfonts/specimen/Nunito it has 3 styles created by Vernon Adams

Avenir

enter image description here

Nunito (Book 300)

enter image description here

Source: http://joelcrawfordsmith.com/new/font/avenir

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    Nunito is a rounded face. At anything above the sizes shown here, the face would look very different.
    – DA01
    Dec 19, 2013 at 3:04
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    Would look pretty much the same for blind people, apart from that, nah.
    – Capsule
    Jan 15, 2016 at 3:44
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    "Nunito Sans" is the version with the non-rounded terminals: fonts.google.com/specimen/…
    – siburb
    Jan 24, 2017 at 9:16
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I've been hunting for a good replacement for this. Open Sans, Source Sans Pro, and all the other popular sans-serif fonts on Google Fonts are really nothing like Avenir Next. Avenir Next is a thin font. I used this filtering on Google fonts to find similar thin sans-serif fonts. I found two: Heebo and Yantramanav. Using these with the Thin or Light style gets me pretty close to Avenir Next.

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    Please include screenshots of the two recommended fonts you have mentioned.
    – user9447
    Jun 14, 2016 at 19:58
  • Great choices. Beats all of the other Google Fonts suggestions.
    – ifugu
    Feb 8, 2019 at 1:45
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I came across Open Sans, and it seems like the uppercase J is the only letter that's obviously different.

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I personally think Gibson on Typekit looks more similar than any of the other suggestions here.

enter image description here

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I would recommend Futura as an alternative to Avenir or Avenir Next

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In google font try POPPINS is best answer

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    Hello Kekeman Kayasawa, welcome to GD.SE. Could you please include a screenshot of and a link to the typeface? That way, viewers can judge whether your option is a good one without having to search the Google fonts site themselves. Thanks. If you have any questions about this site, have a look at the help center. Keep contributing and enjoy the site!
    – Vincent
    Jul 26, 2017 at 8:28

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