How big is your font collection? If you’ve been busy downloading all the free fonts you can find, or if you’ve invested in some premium typefaces chances are you’ve got hundreds (or thousands!) of font files that are bogging down your system. Font managers are important tools that allow you to activate and deactivate your fonts on the fly, organise your collection into groups, and easily test out multiple typefaces at once to find the perfect choice for your designs. I browsed through graphic design forums and messageboards to find out which font managers were recommended by real professionals. This roundup features the most popular programs for both Windows and Mac, including free and premium apps for you to consider.

What do you want from a font manager?

Aside from the basic function of activating and deactivating fonts, are there any other features you might find useful from a font manager? There’s plenty of lightweight and often free choices, but sometimes the premium apps contain some really handy capabilities that can really benefit design professionals. Grouping, labelling, tagging and organsing your fonts helps you pick out the exact style of typeface that you need from your massive library. Previewing multiple fonts at once with custom wording can really speed up your logo designs by allowing you to visually compare different typefaces. Some font managers even come with Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign plugins so any required fonts will be automatically activated when they’re needed. These are important features to consider when weighing up the value of the different programs on offer.

Windows Only Font Managers

NexusFont (Free!)

Font Manager Deluxe. Mac Font Manager Deluxe Easily preview and manage your font collections with Font Manager Deluxe! Preview Fonts in a grid or custom view, add and remove font collections, install and uninstall with a simple click, save your favorites, and download the current Google Fonts collection to add to the app. Welcome to the World’s Smartest Font Manager.™ Built atop the planet’s most robust viewing, searching, activation and metadata engines, the latest FontAgent adds macOS 11 Big Sur support, sharable tags, nested sets, faster font rendering and activation, smarter searching and set management, support for Adobe Creative Cloud 2021, Affinity applications, Monotype and Adobe Fonts, and more. Try Suitcase Fusion, free for 15 days. Suitcase Fusion is the leading font manager for creative professionals - built to simplify workflows and help you bring your amazing ideas to life. Gather all your fonts in one convenient location so you can find them easily, reduce errors and inconsistencies, and supercharge your creativity.

NexusFont is the most commonly recommended font manager for Windows. It’s simple little freeware application that has all the basic functions of activate & deactivating, sorting and searching your collection.

The Font Thing (Free!)

It was made in 1999, but The Font Thing is a tried and tested piece of freeware that is still in service for many designers. It allows you to install, organise, preview and filter your fonts from a lightweight program.

FontBase (Free!)

FontBase is a new font manager for Windows 7 or higher. Unlike many free programs for Windows, this app has a beautiful interface that makes it easy to live edit, style, preview, search and compare your fonts.

AMP Font Viewer (Free!)

AMP Font Viewer is another free option for Windows users. It has many features for installing and categorising your fonts, including temporary installation of fonts so they remain active until the program is closed.

Mac Only Font Managers

Extensis Suitcase Fusion 2 Download

RightFont ($39.95)

Suitcase Font Mac

RightFont is a relatively new font manager for Mac. It helps you preview, sync, and organise fonts stored in any location without installing them, which is great for users with multiple devices. Fonts can also be filtered by classification, width or weight.

FontAgent Pro ($99)

FontAgent Pro is a classic font manager for Mac. It’s quite pricey, but you know you’re getting a tried and tested piece of software with lots of features. FontAgent Pro also comes with auto-activation plugins for the latest versions of Adobe CC and Quark.

Fontyou (Free!)

Fontyou is a new style of cloud based font manager. Rather than import all your fonts from your hard drive and access them via a traditional utility program, you upload your files to the cloud and manage your collections via the browser.

Font Explorer X 1.2.3 (Free!)

Font Explorer X has been my font manager of choice for many years. Originally this was a free version of Font Explorer X Pro, but it has since been removed from the Font Explorer website. Thankfully this handy free version is still accessible via Softpedia.

The Professional’s Choice (Win & Mac)

Suitcase Fusion ($119.95)

Suitcase is the biggest name in the design industry when it comes to managing fonts. At $120 it’s the most expensive program in this roundup, but it’s compatible with all the Adobe Creative Cloud software, QuarkXPress and even basic desktop appplications.

FontExplorer X Pro ($99)

FontExplorer X Pro is a comprehensive font manager with a wealth of features. It can also connect to FontExplorer X Server, which provides shared font management between entire teams, making it a great solution for teams and agencies.

Installing your Type 1 or OpenType .otf fonts on Mac OS 8.6 to 9.2 or Mac OS X “Classic” requires ATM Light 4.6 or later (4.6.2 for Mac OS X Classic).

If you are running Mac OS X, decide if you want to install fonts into both the Classic environment and the OS X native environment. If you want your fonts to be accessible to both Classic and Carbon/native applications, install your fonts into the Classic environment. If the fonts only need to be accessible to Carbon/native applications, install into the OS X native environment instead.

Note: Do not move an entire folder containing fonts into the System location. The Mac OS can only read font files that are loose in the system font location; it can’t read files inside another folder.

To install your fonts using a font management utility (e.g., Extensis Suitcase, Font Reserve, FontAgent Pro or MasterJuggler), refer to that utility’s documentation for instructions on adding and activating the fonts.

Suitcase Fusion Free

If you are using ATM Light without a font management utility. use the following instructions to install the fonts:

Suitcase Font Manager Mac Free Downloads

1. Before installing your fonts, quit all active applications.
2. Locate the fonts you want to install on your hard drive, or go to the location you downloaded the fonts to. Each font package or collection will be in its own folder.
3. Install your fonts in the System Folder:Fonts folder by moving or copying all the font files from their individual font folders into the System Folder:Fonts folder. For PostScript Type 1 fonts, this includes both the outline font files (red A icons) and the font suitcases. Often a family of outline fonts will be associated with a single font suitcase. OpenType .otf fonts are single-file fonts, and do not include font suitcases.
4. The fonts are now installed and will appear in the font menus of your applications.