Top 10 Monospace Fonts for Developers

Developers are extremely passionate about certain things: developer tools, tabs vs. spaces, CSS in JS (or not!), and FONTS! I started a Celý článek

Developers are extremely passionate about certain things: developer tools, tabs vs. spaces, CSS in JS (or not!), and FONTS! I started a Twitter thread asking for developer's favorite fonts for writing code, and here's what we came up with.

There are 10 fonts listed here, most of which are free. There are a couple of paid ones, so you'll have to decide whether or not it's worth it or not to pay for one. So, without further adieu, here ya go!

Fira Code

Try it out!

Cost - FREE

Fira Code is hands down my favorite, and seemed to be the favorite on the twitter conversation. It's incredibly easy to get started with and incorporate with VS Code, my favorite editor. It's free and includes some pretty sweet font ligatures!

Example

Source Code Pro

Try it out!

Cost - FREE

I didn't take specific stats from the Twitter conversation, but I'm pretty sure Source Code Pro came in a strong second. It was designed "to work well in user interface (UI) environments", and developers are really high on it.

One friend of mine, Joe Ferguson, loves it so much he even got it tattooed on his arm (there's a backstory)! If this doesn't let you know it's worth a try, I don't know what will!

Example

Victor Mono

Try it out!

Cost - FREE (but you can donate)

This font comes with font ligatures as well as "semi-connected cursive italics". With these two features and the fact that it's free, there's no reason not to give it a shot. Then, if you like it, consider leaving a donation!

Example

Inconsolata

Try it out!

Cost - FREE

Another free font with font ligatures designed for a great coding experience. It is the open source alternative to Consolas listed below.

Example

Monaco

Try it out!

Cost - FREE (and included with Mac)

Monaco is a monospaced sans-serif that comes with OS X. I've come across a few articles and videos explaining how to install on Linux, but it doesn't seem like the license legally agrees with that. So, Monaco is worth a shot but only if you are running OS X.

Example

Dank Mono

Try it out!

Cost - $40

Honestly, I want this font just because of the name! Chris, founder of Scotch, first introduced me to this, and I highly value his opinion. I haven't heard of as many other people using it, but at a pretty low price point, if you're looking for an amazing new font with ligatures to work with, check it out!

Dank was created by Phil Pluckthun who works on styled-components.

Example

Ubuntu Mono

Try it out!

Cost - FREE

Can't find a ton of information on this one, honestly, but had lots of comments in the thread. The good thing is that you can get it easily from Google Fonts. Just a quick download and there you go!

Example

Consolas

Try it out! Cost - FREE

Consolas is another monospaced sans-serif that just so happens to be included with Windows, specifically within Microsoft Office. Looks like it is available to include on Mac as well.

Example

Iosevka

Try it out! Cost - FREE

I've seen this one listed more recently in several "Top Font" lists, so I figured it would be a good include here as well. It's available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, so you're good no matter what!

Example

Operator Mono

Try it out!

Cost - $200

This font has lots of support, but it does come at a pretty steep price tag at $200. For me personally, this is a big pill to swallow, but I did feel it was worth sharing because of the comments. I'll let you gauge this for yourself.

Operator Mono is the favorite font of Scotch.io founder Chris on Code.

One cool takeaway for Operator Mono is that it will display code a bit differently in different contexts. For example, variable names are italicised to differentiate them from other pieces of code. With the amount of time that developers stare at code, these differences might just be worth it!

Example

Screenshot is taken from a YouTube video by Paul Halliday in a review of Operator Mono.

Wrap Up

Developers are passionate. They love their tools and think no other tool can do the job. There's lots of equally strong opinions about fonts, so hopefully this list helps you up your development game!