Do I need to purchase a webfont license to use your typefaces in web projects?

Not necessarily. Our webfont license is specifically for using our fonts with the CSS rule @font-face. Webfonts are formatted differently than traditional fonts (we call them desktop fonts, now) and cannot be installed then used in design, layout, illustration, word-processing or any other programs on your computer. Unless your web project is using @font-face, our desktop license is probably a better fit for your project (see the Desktop FAQ web usage section for more information).

Can I use your typefaces with @font-face?

Yes! A webfont license can be purchased for a select number of our fonts. For a one-time fee, you’ll receive two web-specific formats – EOT and WOFF – that can be hosted on your own server. If you’d like to extend browser support or prefer the ease of using a webfont service, the purchased fonts can be hosted and served by Typekit, too. If you already have a Typekit account, the fonts are added to your existing plan at no additional charge. New Typekit users can host the fonts with any of their plans, including their free Trial plan. To start using our fonts with @font-face, the first step is to purchase a webfont license available exclusively on our website. You can find more general information about our webfonts scheme in our help section.

Can I serve OTFs, TTFs or another format that isn’t WOFF or EOT?

Our webfont license does not allow any other font format to be served besides the WOFFs and EOTs provided by us. Font replacement techniques such as Cufon or typeface.js are also not allowed by either our desktop or webfont license.

If I host the fonts myself, do I have to protect them in any way?

Yes, there are two minimum requirements stated in the license:
1. Prevent unlicensed third-party access, ie. hotlinking
2. Disallow direct download of the webfonts (unrelated to the @font-face process of styling text)

There are multiple ways to achieve these requirements and implementation is up to you. If you prefer not to implement these requirements, we suggest using Typekit to host the fonts.

If the fonts are licensed per domain, how do I figure out how many domains I need?

First, count how many ‘primary domains’ need to use the fonts. A primary domain is defined in our webfont license as the home page of a website. For example: example.com, example.net, and example.co.uk, etc. are all distinct primary domains. Often, example.com/~user/ or user.example.com also qualify as primary domains since they are separate home pages that bear no content affiliation with their parent domain.

Each primary domain also includes the use of the fonts on five ‘subdomains’. Examples of subdomains include: shop.example.com, blog.example.com or login.example.com, etc. Only primary and subdomains that display the fonts need to be licensed.

On our webfonts purchase options pages, there are two options for licensing: ‘single domain’ or ‘up to 10 domains’. Choose the number of domains that matches all those ‘primary domains’ you just tallied. If you need more than one domain but less than nine, add the ‘single domain’ product to your cart and change the quantity to the required number of domains in the shopping cart.

I need more than 10 domains, now what?

We can quote any project on a case-by-case basis. Please feel free to contact us with any license needs above what we offer on our website.

Something else?

If you have a situation that is not addressed here, please don’t hesitate to contact us.