Source Sans Pro vs Verdana

Verdana is a common reference point; Source Sans Pro is one of the closest free families to reach for. With 75% similarity, Source Sans Pro shares Verdana's emphasis on screen legibility with similar open apertures and clear letterforms. Source Sans Pro also ships as a variable font, so you can dial in weights instead of being stuck with fixed steps.

75% Similarity

Visual Comparison

Source Sans Pro

Free

Aa Bb Cc 123

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
0123456789 !@#$%^&*()

Verdana

Premium

Feature Comparison

Feature Source Sans Pro Verdana
Type Free Premium
Classification sans-serif sans-serif
Variable Font Yes No
Weights Variable (100-900) Multiple
Italics Yes Yes
License OFL-1.1 Commercial License Required
Language Support latin, latin-extended, cyrillic, cyrillic-extended, greek, greek-extended, vietnamese latin, latin-extended, cyrillic, greek
Source Google Fonts Microsoft

Performance Comparison

Metric Source Sans Pro Verdana
Score 69/100 N/A
File Size 181.1 KB N/A
Weights 9 (var) N/A
Italics Yes N/A
Variable Font Yes (1 axes) N/A
Language Groups 7 N/A
CDN Delivery Yes N/A
x-Height Ratio 0.486 N/A
Cap Height Ratio 0.66 N/A

Where You'll See These Fonts

Verdana

  • IKEA (historical)
  • Early web design
  • Email signatures
  • Microsoft applications
  • Corporate intranets

Which Should You Choose?

Recommended: Source Sans Pro

  • Particularly suited for user interfaces and government websites
  • Variable font with continuous weight adjustment
  • Supports 7 scripts including cyrillic and cyrillic-extended
  • Delivers a professional, clean, minimal aesthetic
  • Popular in enterprise-corporate and financial-services design
View Source Sans Pro →

Consider: Verdana

  • Original design with refined typographic details
  • Designed specifically for web and ui
  • Used by IKEA (historical), Early web design
  • Commercial license with professional support
View Verdana →

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Free Alternatives to Consider

Other free alternatives to Verdana


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