Calligraphy fonts are the best way to add a unique touch to your design projects. But there are so many types of calligraphy fonts to choose from. Scrolling through countless fonts can become overwhelming and time-consuming.
On top of finding one that fits the style of your design, you also need to figure out what fonts are best suited for the medium of your design, such as printing, cutting, and digital.
We created the ultimate guide to choosing a top-tier font. We also made a list of the best calligraphy fonts available right now. Continue reading to discover the perfect calligraphy font for your next project.
Best Calligraphy Fonts – Our Top Picks
- Best Overall – Little Love
- Most Popular – Randy Sofia
- Best for Cricut Pen – Dear Agatha
- Best for Tattoos – Chicano
- Best for Wedding Invitations – Ms. Claudy
- Best Modern – Modernline
- Best for Logos – Amalfi Coast
- Best Old English – Just Imagine
- Best Handwriting – Serathine
- Best Brush – Madina
- Best Copperplate – Fairyfiesta
- Best Spencerian – Ecatherina
Best Calligraphy Fonts
Drawing from our graphic design expertise, we've handpicked a collection of free and premium fonts. The fonts in this list cover a wide variety of design needs. They’ll give any of your creative projects a beautiful handwritten touch.
Keep reading to find the perfect one for your next design.
Little Love
Best Calligraphy Font Overall
Little Love is a graceful modern calligraphy font with thin, smooth letters. It features elegant tails and connecting hearts that are perfect for adding a sweet touch to your designs.
This font is our top pick because it’s versatile. You can use it on a variety of projects, such as wedding invitations, wall art, or stationery. We also like this font because the alternates and swashes are easy to use.
Randy Sofia
Most Popular Calligraphy Font
This lovely script is a favorite font for designers and crafters. Randy Sofia is easy to use and looks great on various types of projects.
Each of the letters has a distinguishable shape, giving the text a unique look. Moreover, the dancing baseline adds a playful charm to the designs.
The alternates, as well as the beginning and ending swashes, will transform your project into a work of art.
Dear Agatha
Best Font for Cricut Pen Calligraphy
Dear Agatha is a font pairing featuring a cute cursive and fun sans serif font. The single-line lettering makes it easy for the machine to draw the text. Thereby ensuring you’ll end up with a precise and polished design.
The font works seamlessly with Cricut tools such as sketch pens, engraving tools, and foil quills. It’s the perfect choice for wedding invitations, addressing envelopes, and labels.
Chicano
Best Calligraphy Font for Tattoos
Chicano is our top recommendation for a script calligraphy tattoo font. The bold font is inspired by traditional Chicano-style tattoos.
The uppercase and lowercase letters connect as a cursive script. This gives the text an artful look. It also makes the text easy to read, whether the design is on paper or skin.
Whether you are designing a number, name, or a quote tattoo, Chicano is your go-to font.
Ms. Claudy
Best Calligraphy Font for Wedding Invitations
Ms. Claudy is a stunning wedding calligraphy font. The style of the letters replicates natural calligraphy handwriting. This gives the entire font an elegant and romantic look.
Because it has a mature appearance, this wedding font is best suited for weddings with a formal style. Use it to create invitations, save-the-dates, ceremony programs, and more.
Modernline
Best Modern Calligraphy Font
Modernline is the most popular choice for making stylish designs. The dancing baseline and smooth lines of the letters give the Modernline its authentic handwritten look.
You can use this modern script to create a variety of beautiful designs ranging from signs to logos and branding.
The shape of this font makes it readable on both plain and textured backgrounds. The gorgeous alternates and swashes look especially stunning on names, initials, and logos.
Amalfi Coast
Best Calligraphy Font for Logos
Amalfi Coast is a stylish script made for designing signature-style logos. It’s perfect for any brand that is modern and chic.
Our favorite feature of this font is the alternate characters. The beginning and end swashes, along with the ligatures, will help you create a personalized logo.
Just Imagine
Best Old English Calligraphy Font
If you want a gothic calligraphy font, Just Imagine is the top choice for you.
The letters are drawn up in a bold black letter style. The capital letters feature elaborate alternates and swashes. Meanwhile, the lowercase letters are simpler and connect as cursive text.
Just Imagine is perfect for designing tattoos. You can also use the font to create wine labels, graphic tees, certificates and awards, and more.
Serathine
Best Handwriting Calligraphy Font
Serathine is the perfect font if you’re looking to add a feminine and modern touch to your projects. It’s a popular choice for designing product labels, logos, websites, and other branding projects.
Like most calligraphy fonts, it comes with a variety of ligatures and swashes. Therefore, it’s ideal for creating one-of-a-kind designs.
Madina
Best Brush Calligraphy Font
Madina, a cute and playful brush font, is a popular choice among designers and DIY enthusiasts.
The font is known for its bouncy loops and curves, and it is perfect for creating beautiful typography in an instant. Madina is the ideal font for projects such as invitations, greeting cards, and quotes.
The font was recently updated to include two versions. Use the textured brush version for projects that have a rustic or handmade style. Meanwhile, the smooth font is perfect for Cricut projects.
Fairyfiesta
Best Copperplate Calligraphy Font
Fairyfiesta is perfect for creating Copperplate calligraphy designs with a classy look. The font has flowing cursive letters that are easy to read, and the lowercase characters have fancy alternates to elevate your text further.
Whether you’re designing a logo, invitation, or business card, Fairyfiesta will give your item an elegant touch.
Ecatherina
Best Spencerian Calligraphy Font
Ecatherina is a fantastic choice for emulating the Spencerian calligraphy style of writing.
The script font features a full set of lowercase and uppercase letters. It also includes alternates and swashes. Use them to give the text extra visual appeal.
Spencerian fonts like Ecatherina are also great for engraving. This font style is based on scripts used in the United States from 1850 to 1925. It was considered the standard of writing until the adoption of typewriters.
Nicholia
Best Cute Calligraphy Font
Nicholia is a perfect choice for a cute calligraphy font. The dancing baseline gives the text a playful vibe.
This font only comes with basic characters (no swashes or alternates). It’s simple compared to other fonts on this list but perfect for all your fun crafts and DIY projects.
Switzerland
Best Elegant Calligraphy Font
If you need an elegant calligraphy font, choose Switzerland. This font is styled after traditional calligraphy. It also includes a variety of stylistic alternates and swashes.
Whether you’re creating place cards for a dinner party, wedding invitations, or a family holiday card, Switzerland will give your design an elegant touch.
Antura
Best Fancy Calligraphy Font
Antura is another font that’s perfect for elegant designs. The smooth swashes and alternates give the text a sophisticated look. Use them to personalize your text and make an eye-catching design.
Reserve this font for your fanciest projects. It’s perfect for wedding stationery, formal greeting cards, fine-dining restaurant menus, and more.
Bailenson
Best Vintage Calligraphy Font
Give your designs an elegant vintage touch with Bailenson. This classic calligraphy font is inspired by Italian handwriting and ancient manuscript text.
Bailenson is another beautiful option for weddings, logos, and other branding projects. Use the alternates and ligatures to create a unique design.
Limon Mint
Best Bold Calligraphy Font
Limon Mint is our top recommendation if you need a bold font. It’s a fun script that’s playful and light. It’s perfect for projects that need a splash of excitement.
The download includes capital letters and two sets of lowercase letters. (One set is regular, and the other set is alternate.) As a bonus, it comes with free doodles lemonade-themed doodles.
Heliconia
Best Font for Simple Calligraphy
Heliconia, a minimalistic font, is the best choice for anyone needing a simple calligraphy font. Unlike other fonts in this article, Heliconia has very subtle stylistic alternates.
Because this font is simple, it can be used for a wide variety of projects. We recommend pairing it with a thin-serif or sans-serif font if your design needs supplemental text.
Daydream
Best Calligraphy Font on Canva
Daydream is the best Canva font for calligraphy. It's a modern calligraphy font with a dancing baseline and unique letterforms. From printed mugs and t-shirts to digital graphics and prints, this font will look lovely on all your Canva creations.
Lucida Calligraphy
Best Font in Word
Lucida Calligraphy is the best calligraphy font to use if you're working in Word. This font has been a favorite for years.
It's easy to read because the letters aren't connected. The slanted shape of the letters gives the text an elegant look. Use this font to type up manuscripts, poems, letters, and other documents.
Kristi
Best Google Font
Kristi is our top pick from Google Fonts. It's drawn up in cursive letters and looks like the text is actually written on the page with a pen or marker.
Use this font for digital notebooks and planners, scrapbooks, journaling, and other designs that need an authentic handwritten look.
Nautica
Best Adobe Font
For designers working in Adobe, we recommend Nautica. This vintage-inspired calligraphy typeface has a regal look.
It's perfect for projects like certificates, awards, or diplomas. It will also look stunning as a wedding font or on designs that need a formal calligraphy font.
Cottage
Free Calligraphy Font for Commercial Use
Cottage is a simple modern calligraphy font that's free for commercial use. You can use it for commercial projects worry-free.
We love the style of this font because the letters have an abstract shape. Whether you're working on commercial or personal projects, this font will add an artistic style to your designs.
Loving
Best Free Calligraphy Font for Cricut
We love a good Cricut font, especially when it's free. That's why Loving is our top free pick for Cricut crafting projects.
The smooth shape of the letters and swashes allows for easy cutting and weeding. This ensures you end up with a flawless final product.
Heart
Best Free Font with Tails
Heart is another free calligraphy typeface to add to your collection of fonts. This font is a modern script. It's suitable for elegant and minimalistic designs.
We especially love the tails that are included as alternate characters. They're a great way to add style to the design of your text.
Popular Types of Calligraphy Fonts
There are many different types of calligraphy fonts to add a beautiful handwritten touch to your projects. Let’s dive into the most popular types and their unique characteristics so you can pick the perfect one.
Modern Calligraphy
Modern calligraphy follows a relaxed style compared to traditional calligraphy fonts. These fonts usually have dancing baselines and letters with a unique style. They’re best used for fun, creative projects. They also look stunning on logos, names, and initials.
Brush Script Calligraphy
Brush script calligraphy looks like it's written with a brush pen. A brush pen is what allows a writer to create thick and thin lines as they write calligraphy. Most brush script fonts are modern in style. They're another great option for projects that are fun and laid back.
Blackletter/Gothic Calligraphy
Blackletter calligraphy (also called Gothic calligraphy) looks like the typeface printed in medieval texts. Today, Blackletter fonts are commonly used to design tattoos, t-shirts, labels, and logos. They’re also perfect to use on gothic or grunge-themed designs.
Copperplate Calligraphy
Copperplate script is one of the most well-known calligraphy styles. This type of calligraphy is classic and elegant compared to other calligraphy styles. Moreover, Copperplate fonts usually come with elaborate flourishes. They’re perfect for designing traditional invitations, engraving, or etching awards and gifts, but you can use them for any formal design.
Spencerian Calligraphy
Spencerian calligraphy is a style of writing that was standard during the 19th century. The letters are written at an angle. The text as a whole has a more slanted appearance than other calligraphy fonts. Spencerian calligraphy is a popular choice for designing logos, luxury branding, and other nostalgic vintage designs.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best calligraphy font for me?
The first step to choosing the best calligraphy font for you is to consider the style and purpose of your project.
You’ll want to choose a brush calligraphy font or a modern calligraphy font if your project has a casual overall vibe. If you’re creating a formal design for a wedding, tattoo, or official document, you’ll want to consider using Copperplate, Spencerian, or Blackletter fonts.
We labeled each font in this article to indicate what type of project it is best used for. Use these labels as your guide to help you make the right choice.
What fonts pair well with calligraphy fonts?
Calligraphy fonts pair well with modern serif fonts and minimal sans-serif fonts. Since calligraphy fonts are decorative in style, you want to pair them with simple fonts.
By balancing out an elaborate calligraphy font with a simple serif or sans-serif font, you will ensure your entire design is easy to read.
What is the best font to use with Cricut calligraphy pens?
Our top font recommendation to use with Cricut calligraphy pens is Dear Agatha. This font was specifically designed for writing because it’s a single-line font. The simple structure of the letters without any outlines allows the machine to draw seamlessly.
Of course, you can use any font with Cricut calligraphy pens as long as they are a single-line font. Be sure to check the specifics before using a font with Cricut calligraphy pens so that you end up with a precise and polished design.