# Open Sans font

> A humanist sans by Steve Matteson with upright stress and open forms, variable in weight and width, with Hebrew added.

Open Sans is a sans serif typeface of the humanist kind, drawn by Steve Matteson with upright stress and open letterforms. Open Sans is a variable font with weight and width axes and six named weights with italics, covering Latin, Cyrillic, Greek and Hebrew. It is released under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 and suits web, interfaces and print.

## Facts

- Classification: [Sans Serif](https://trendhub.net/fonts/category/sans-serif)
- Designed by: Steve Matteson
- License: SIL Open Font License 1.1 (https://openfontlicense.org/open-font-license-official-text/)
- Styles: 12 (Light 300, Regular 400, Medium 500, SemiBold 600, Bold 700, ExtraBold 800; with italics)
- Variable font: Yes (wght 300–800, wdth 75–100)
- Glyphs: 1152
- Character sets: cyrillic, cyrillic-ext, greek, hebrew, latin, latin-ext, vietnamese
- Last updated: 2025-09-16
- Official source: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Open+Sans
- Page: https://trendhub.net/fonts/open-sans
- Tagged for: Body text, Interfaces, Branding

## About Open Sans

Open Sans is a humanist sans serif whose letters have wide openings, an upright axis and a neutral but approachable tone. The specimen shows a tall lowercase, a two-storey a and g, and generous space inside the letters. Steve Matteson designed it, and the official notes say it was tuned for print, web and mobile interfaces. In March 2021 the family was rebuilt as a variable font and gained Hebrew. It now has two axes: weight from 300 to 800 and width from 75 to 100. Six named weights, Light to ExtraBold, each have an italic, which makes 12 styles. The files contain 1,152 glyphs with subsets for Latin Extended, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew and Vietnamese. The same 2021 update placed the family under the SIL Open Font License. Open Sans was added to Google Fonts in 2011.

## License

SIL Open Font License 1.1. Copyright 2020 The Open Sans Project Authors (https://github.com/googlefonts/opensans)

Allowed:
- Use the fonts in personal and commercial work, in print, on the web and in apps.
- Modify the fonts and build new versions from them.
- Redistribute the fonts, on their own or bundled with software, as long as the license text and copyright notice go with them.

Conditions:
- The fonts cannot be sold by themselves.
- A modified version must stay under the same license and cannot use a Reserved Font Name without the copyright holder's permission.
- The authors' names cannot be used to promote a modified version without permission.

Summary only, not legal advice. Full text: https://openfontlicense.org/open-font-license-official-text/

## Where it works

- **Website body text**: Open apertures and a tall lowercase were drawn for legibility on web and mobile screens.
- **Forms and settings screens**: Regular, Medium and SemiBold separate labels, values and section titles without changing family.
- **Printed reports**: The design was tuned for print as well as screens, with italics for citations and emphasis.
- **Hebrew and Latin side by side**: The Hebrew subset added in 2021 lets bilingual pages use one typeface.
- **Compact navigation**: Reducing width towards 75 fits menu items and table headers into less space.

## Things to know

- **Weights run from 300 to 800**: There is no Thin or Black; the lightest named weight is Light and the heaviest ExtraBold.
- **Width only narrows**: The width axis goes from 75 to 100.
- **Hebrew arrived in 2021**: Older copies of the family from before the variable update do not contain Hebrew.

## FAQs

### Is Open Sans free for commercial use?

Open Sans is released under the SIL Open Font License 1.1, so it can be used free of charge in personal and commercial projects, changed and passed on. It cannot be sold on its own, and a modified version keeps the same license.

### Who designed Open Sans?

Open Sans was designed by Steve Matteson. The copyright notice names The Open Sans Project Authors.

### How many weights does Open Sans have?

Open Sans has six named weights, from Light 300 to ExtraBold 800, each with an italic, for 12 styles.

### Is Open Sans a variable font?

Yes. Open Sans is a variable font with a weight axis from 300 to 800 and a width axis from 75 to 100.

### Which languages does Open Sans support?

Open Sans includes the letters needed for English and other Latin-script languages such as German, Turkish, Polish and Vietnamese, as well as Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian and Greek. It also has a Hebrew subset.

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Source: https://trendhub.net/fonts/open-sans (trendhub)