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Plantin vs Merriweather
Merriweather is a popular open-source alternative to Plantin's old style design. At 82% similarity, Merriweather delivers a classic, professional aesthetic. Compare which works better for editorial and books projects.
Design DNA
Design overlap:17%
Plantin
Merriweather
Highlighted traits are shared between both fonts
Visual Comparison
Plantin
Premium
Merriweather
FreeAa Bb Cc 123
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
0123456789 !@#$%^&*()
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Plantin | Merriweather |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Premium | Free |
| Classification | serif | serif |
| Variable Font | No | No |
| Weights | Multiple | 300, 400, 700, 900 |
| Italics | Yes | Yes |
| License | Commercial License Required | OFL-1.1 |
| Language Support | latin, latin-extended | latin, latin-extended, cyrillic, cyrillic-extended |
| Source | Monotype | Google Fonts |
Best Use Cases
Typography suited for magazines, newspapers, and long-form content. Editorial fo...
Typography optimized for extended reading, book publishing, and literary content...
Typography optimized for printed materials, physical production, and offset or d...
Typography for newspaper design, print journalism, and daily publications. Newsp...
Typography for magazine design, periodicals, and print publications. Magazine fo...
Typography optimized for websites, landing pages, and web applications. Web font...
Typography for academic papers, research publications, and scholarly documents. ...
Performance Comparison
| Metric | Plantin | Merriweather |
|---|---|---|
| Score | N/A | 33/100 |
| File Size | N/A | 674.4 KB |
| Weights | N/A | 4 |
| Italics | N/A | Yes |
| Variable Font | N/A | No |
| Language Groups | N/A | 4 |
| CDN Delivery | N/A | Yes |
| x-Height Ratio | N/A | 0.556 |
| Cap Height Ratio | N/A | 0.743 |
Which Should You Choose?
Consider: Plantin
- Shares Plantin's retro character
- Supports 4 scripts including cyrillic and cyrillic-extended
- Delivers a classic, professional, heritage aesthetic
- Popular in legal-law and education-academia design
- Versatile enough to replace 27+ premium fonts
Recommended: Merriweather
- Original design with refined typographic details
- Designed specifically for editorial and books
- Commercial license with professional support
Free Alternatives to Consider
Other free alternatives to Plantin