40 free retro fonts

There are hundreds of paid-for and free fonts available online, and we’ve got details of all sorts here on Creative Bloq – including tattoo fonts, cursive fonts and handwriting fonts. But for this article, we’re going to focus on retro fonts.

Retro designs have the ability to transport audiences back in time so it’s important to choose a typeface that reflects the era that you’re representing. Here, we’ve selected some of our favourite retro-style font designs that won’t cost you a penny!

01. Noir

Add a touch of elegance and style to your designs with Noir

Add a touch of elegance and style to your designs with this beautiful retro font Noir, by designer Matthias Guggisberg.

FORMAT: TTF

02. Frontage Condensed (Outline)

Created by Swiss art director Juri Zaech, Frontage Condensed is a beautiful family of retro fonts. Perfect for any vintage-style designs, Frontage Condensed is available in a variety of weights, one of which, Outline, Zaech offers as a free download. 

FORMAT: TTF

03. Say It Fat

Designer Timo Titzmann is behind free retro font Say It Fat. A bold, slab typeface, Say It Fat is great for creating eye-catching retro-style posters and much more.

FORMAT: TTF

04. Portico

Portico is a display typeface, which includes an urban and rough version

Created by designer Mehmet Reha Tugcu, Portico is a display typeface, which includes an urban and rough version – perfect for any retro-style designs.

FORMAT: TTF

05. Monthoers

Add a touch of vintage style to your designs with Monthoers typeface

Retro-style typeface Monthoers was created by graphic designer Agga Swist’blnk. She comments on Behance: “Monthoers is the latest version of Rochoes typeface, which I made almost a year ago. It is free for personal and commercial use.”

FORMAT: TTF

06. Hamster

Hamster is a cursive typeface inspired by brush lettering and traditional sign painting

Hamster is a cursive typeface inspired by brush lettering and traditional sign painting. Crafted carefully to equalise its dynamic flow and legibility, Hamster is free to download for both personal and commercial use.

FORMAT: TTF

07. Lazer 84

Transport your designs back to the 80s with Lazer 84

Transport yourself back in time with Lazer 84. Created by art director Juan Hodgson, 80’s-inspired Lazer 84 is a retro-style brush font that comes complete with numbers, symbols and accents.

FORMAT: TTF

08. Ansley

Graphic designer Kady Jesko created typeface Ansley after being unable to find a retro font that suited

Graphic designer Kady Jesko created typeface Ansley, after searching for a free retro-style font and couldn’t find one that suited. Jesko now generously offers it as a free download for both personal and commercial use, with donations, as ever, gratefully received.

FORMAT: TTF

09. Berlin

Berlin is inspired by classic geometric typefaces

Berlin was created by Brazilian graphic designer and illustrator Antonio Rodrigues Jr. “Berlin is a group of display fonts, inspired by the classic geometric typefaces from early last century,” he explains. So far Rodrigues Jr has created four versions – Berlin, Berlina, Slaberlin and Uberlin – all of which are available in regular, bold and x-bold.

FORMAT: TTF

10. Sabo

Need an arcade-themed font? Give Sabo a go

Sabo, by graphic designer Philippe Moesch, is a striking pixel-style font. Available in two styles – inline and filled – Sabo is great for any retro arcade-themed design.

FORMAT: OTF

11. Bobber

This slab serif is inspired by bobber motorcycles

Looking for a unique typeface, designers Lucas Almeida and Dmitry Goloub decided to create their own. Inspired by bobber motorcyles, the duo developed this slab serif. With a cool, vintage design, this grid-based font is free to use for both personal and commercial projects.

FORMAT: .AI

12. Glasoor

Sergiy Tkachenko’s Glasoor is perfect for posters and logos

Created by type designer Sergiy Tkachenko, Glasoor is an experimental font with a playful retro design that’s perfect for posters, logos and more.

FORMAT: TTF, OTF

13. Zebrazil

Zebrazil’s elegant forms and bold serifs give it a wonderful 1920s feel

Zebrazil was created by Burmese graphic designer Zarni. This deliciously retro font features lovely thin letterforms married to bold serifs, and is one of many created by Zarni, who generously offers his design as a free download.

FORMAT: TTF

14. Unique

A retro-contemporary offering from designer Anna Pocius

Unique was created by designer Anna Pocius aka Artmaker. She describes her design on Behance as ‘a display hybrid typeface, which is a little bit flashy, retro but still contemporary font designed specially for headings and logotypes’.

FORMAT: TTF

15. Canter

Canter is perfect for headlines and titles

Designed by New York-based creative Christopher J. Lee, Canter is an all caps, condensed typeface available in six different weights. It was designed as a display type for titles, headlines, and posters and will work well with any retro execution.

FORMAT: TTF

16. Alt Retro

This free retro font comes in five different weights

Alt Retro Typeface is a free five-weight typeface that channels all the art deco inspiration you can muster. Perfect for eye-catching creations, Alt Retro is a playful font that will serve as a brilliant experimental offering. The intricate design makes it a stand out retro font.

FORMAT: TTF

17. Rispa

This retro font is inspired by the designer’s hometown

This retro typeface was inspired by designer Konrad Bednarski’s new hometown. The free test version is available to download for free, with
a corrected and extended version with more weights soon to be available. Like this font? You can also get Rispa Regular T-shirts, prints, tote bags, pillows and much more from Society6.

FORMAT: TTF

18. Betty Noir

One of our favourite free retro fonts, Betty Noir is definitely worth checking out

This typeface was developed Blambot, a company ‘proudly provide comic fonts and lettering’. You have to pay for many of its brilliant designs, but the team generously offer Betty Noir free for use in personal projects. One of our favourite free retro fonts, it’s definitely worth checking out.

FORMAT: TTF

19. White Rabbit

Inspired by eras gone by, this is one of the coolest free retro fonts we’ve seen in a while

Inspired by eras gone by, this is one of the coolest free retro fonts we’ve seen in a while. Developed by Alice Creative, this typeface is available free for personal use, with donations to the author, as always, greatfully received.

FORMAT: TTF

20. Andes

The gorgeous vintage-style font is available in two styles

Looking for retro fonts to use in your personal project? Then you can download this baby for free. The gorgeous vintage-style font is available in two styles, with letters featuring both a curved design (as seen above) and more basic approach.

FORMAT: TTF

Next page: 20 more free retro fonts…