Do you want to add custom fonts in WordPress? Custom fonts allow you to use beautiful combination of different fonts on your website to improve typography and user experience.
Apart from looking good, custom fonts can also help you improve readability, create a brand image, and increase time users spend on your website.
In this article, we will show you how to add custom fonts in WordPress using Google Fonts, TypeKit, and CSS3 @Font-Face method.
Note: Loading too many fonts can slow down your website. We recommend choosing two fonts and use them across your website. We’ll also show you how to properly load them without slowing down your website.
Before we look at how to add custom fonts in WordPress, let’s take a look at finding custom fonts that you can use.
How to Find Custom Fonts to Use in WordPress
Fonts used to be expensive, but not any more. There are many places to find great free web fonts such as Google Fonts, Typekit, FontSquirrel, and fonts.com.
If you don’t know how to mix and match fonts, then try Font Pair. It helps designers pair beautiful Google fonts together.
As you are picking your fonts, remember that using too many custom fonts will slow down your website. This is why you should select two fonts and use them throughout your design. This will also bring consistency to your design.
Video Tutorial
If you don’t like the video or prefer the written guide, then please continue reading.
Adding Custom Fonts in WordPress from Google Fonts
Google Fonts is the largest, free, and most commonly used font library among website developers. There are multiple ways you can add and use Google Fonts in WordPress.
Method 1: Adding Custom Fonts Using Easy Google Fonts Plugin
If you want to add and use Google Fonts on your website, then this method is by far the easiest and recommended for beginners.
First thing you need to do is install and activate the Easy Google Fonts plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, you can go to Appearance » Customizer page. This will open the live theme customizer interface where you’ll see the new Typography section.
Clicking on Typography will you show different sections of your website where you can apply Google Fonts. Simply click on ‘Edit Font’ below the section you want to edit.
Under the font family section, you can choose any Google Font you want to use on your website. You can also choose font style, font size, padding, margin, and more.
Depending on your theme, the number of sections here could be limited and you may not be able to directly change font selection for many different areas of your website.
To fix this, the plugin also allows you to create your own controls and use them to change fonts on your website.
First, you need to visit Settings » Google Fonts page and provide a name for your font control. Use something that helps you quickly understand where you will be using this font control.
Next, click on the ‘Create font control’ button and then you will be asked to enter CSS selectors.
You can add HTML elements you want to target (for instance, h1, h2, p, blockquote) or use CSS classes.
You can use Inspect tool in your browser to find out which CSS classes are used by the particular area you want to change.
Now click on the ‘Save font control’ button to store your settings. You can create as many font controllers as you need for different sections of your website.
To use these font controllers, you need to head over to Appearance » Customizer and click on the Typography tab.
Under Typography, you will now see a ‘Theme Typography’ Option as well. Clicking on it will show your custom font controls you created earlier. You can now just click on the edit button to select the fonts and appearance for this control.
Don’t forget to click on the save or publish button to save your changes.
Method 2: Manually Add Google Fonts in WordPress
This method requires you to add code to your WordPress theme files. If you haven’t done this before, then see our guide on how to copy and paste code in WordPress.
First, visit the Google fonts library and select a font that you want to use. Next, click on the quick use button below the font.
On the font page, you’ll see the styles available for that font. Select the styles that you want to use in your project and then click on the sidebar button at the top.
Next, you will need to switch to the ‘Embed’ tab in the sidebar to copy the embed code.
There are two ways you can add this code to your WordPress site.
First, you can simply edit your theme’s header.php file and paste the code before the <body> tag.
However, if you are unfamiliar with code editing in WordPress, then you can use a plugin to add this code.
Simply install and activate the Insert Headers and Footers plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, go to Settings » Insert Headers and Footers page and paste the embed code in the ‘Scripts in header’ box.
Don’t forget to click on the Save button to store your changes. The plugin will now start loading the Google Font embed code on all pages of your website.
You can use this font in your theme’s stylesheet like this:
.h1 site-title {
font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, sans-serif;
}
For more detailed instructions see our guide on how to add Google fonts in WordPress themes.
Adding Custom Fonts in WordPress Using Typekit
Typekit by Adobe Fonts is another free and premium resource for awesome fonts that you can use in your design projects. They have a paid subscription as well as a limited free plan that you can use.
Simply signup for an Adobe Fonts account and visit the browse fonts section. From here you need to click on the </> button to select a font and create a project.
Next, you’ll see the embed code with your project ID. It will also show you how to use the font in your theme’s CSS.
You need to copy and paste this code inside the <head> section of your website.
There are two ways you can add this code to your WordPress site.
First, you can simply edit your theme’s header.php file and paste the code before the <body> tag.
However, if you are unfamiliar with code editing in WordPress, then you can use a plugin to add this code.
Simply install and activate the Insert Headers and Footers plugin.
Upon activation, go to Settings » Insert Headers and Footers page and paste the embed code in the ‘Scripts in header’ box.
That’s all, you can now use the Typekit font you selected in your WordPress theme’s stylesheet like this:
h1 .site-title {
font-family: gilbert, sans-serif;
}
For more detailed instructions check out our tutorial how to add awesome typography in WordPress using Typekit.
Adding Custom Fonts in WordPress Using CSS3 @font-face
The most direct way of adding custom fonts in WordPress is by adding the fonts using CSS3 @font-face method. This method allows you to use any font that you like on your website.
First thing you need to do is download the font that you like in a web format. If you do not have the web format for your font, then you can convert it using the FontSquirrel Webfont generator.
Once you have the webfont files, you would need to upload it on your WordPress hosting server.
The best place to upload the fonts is inside a new “fonts” folder in your theme or child theme‘s directory.
You can use FTP or File Manager of your cPanel to upload the font.
Once you have uploaded the font, you need to load the font in your theme’s stylesheet using CSS3 @font-face rule like this:
@font-face {
font-family: Arvo;
src: url(http://www.example.com/wp-content/themes/your-theme/fonts/Arvo-Regular.ttf);
font-weight: normal;
}
Don’t forget to replace the font-family and URL with your own.
After that you can use that font anywhere in your theme’s stylesheet like this:
.h1 site-title {
font-family: "Arvo", Arial, sans-serif;
}
Loading fonts directly using CSS3 @font-face is not always the best solution. If you are using a font from Google Fonts or Typekit, then it is best to serve the font directly from their server for optimal performance.
That’s all, we hope this article helped you add custom fonts in WordPress. You may also want to checkout our guide on how to use icon fonts in WordPress and how to change the font size in WordPress.
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You should’ve said you needed to be a business WordPress member to do this. Misleading.
All of our content is for WordPress.org sites, you are on WordPress.com, you can see our comparison between the two in our article below:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/self-hosted-wordpress-org-vs-free-wordpress-com-infograph/
Which font are you using on this site ? It looks very attractive
We’re currently using Proxima Nova
Can you pleaseee tell me how do you make such beautiful animated photos for you blog? Which software do you use?
There are multiple tools, for the moment you may want to take a look at Recordit for an option for creating a GIF
Thanks a lot, I was trying @font-face on WordPress but the font was not displaying, so I followed the recommendations to place the fonts inside the theme directory and voila!
Glad our recommendation could help
Thank you once again for a useful article.
Would you know why my font is displaying correctly on laptop but not on mobile phone?
Your specific theme may have device-specific CSS that is overwriting the font you added. If you check with your theme’s support they should be able to let you know.
Thank you very much!
You’re welcome
Thank you for making this simple video. Fixed my font in minutes with the second method. You saved me a lot of time messing with my theme code. Much appreciated!
Hey Katherine,
You are welcome. We are glad you found it helpful.
Hey, my font is not a Google font. I uploaded it using font face, but I don’t see it on my theme’s customizer. Any advice?
Hi, i absolutely got tons of value from your post. Please i have 2 quick questions.
1. What is the number of plugins every blogger shouldn’t exceed? I currently have about 18 installed, would you consider that number outrageous. Please could you also check out my site and offer me a
2. Your font is really beautiful. would you suggest plugins that would give me beautiful fonts just like yours?
Finally, would you spare a few seco
Hi Giri,
1. Please see our article on how many WordPress plugins should you install on your site.
2. For fonts, pleasesee best typography plugins for WordPress.
I have uploaded custom fonts url in font-face but its showing error of 404 on developer tools. Prior of loading the web page it shows normal fonts.
Please help me with this
I’m having issue with for Khmer font while using Google Font. The problem is that some of the texts are showing symbol.
thanks for your tutorials , really it helps , and thanks for your kind effort
Okay, never mind… I could figure it out by removing the @font-face code from the custom css field
This is truly the best guide to adding fonts that I’ve found. All methods are in one place and each method is easy to follow. I’ve spent the past couple of days searching the internet trying to figure out how to add a custom font that was not from Google or Typekit, and finally I found a guide that was easy to follow. Thank you!
Okay, so I used Font Squirrel and got the @font-face kits. I uploaded to my theme in Siteground. Then I made sure to change the URL in WP Editor -> Fonts. Here’s an example of what I did:
@font-face {
font-family: ‘walpurgis_nightregular’;
src: url(‘www.example.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/pique/fonts/walpurgisnight-regular-webfont.woff2’) format(‘woff2’),
url(‘www.wanderlustconqueror.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/pique/fonts/walpurgisnight-regular-webfont.woff’) format(‘woff’);
font-weight: normal;
font-style: normal;
}
Despite doing this, the font will not come up in the “Typography” section of the customization options. I thought perhaps I was also supposed to add it to the “Additional CSS Editor” so I put it there too. That didn’t seem to work either.
I just want to be able to use my font for my Headers. What am I doing wrong here? For this tutorial to be for beginners, it’s making me feel really stupid. Am I missing a step? Is there a better, more in-depth tutorial on just using the Font Face option? Help!
Hi Amber,
We are not sure. Please try following the steps mentioned above once again.
I am having a similar problem as Amber. Despite following the step by step instructions, my fonts still are not loading.
I am using a custom theme based off of the twenty seventeen theme. My css file is located at wp-content/themes/twentyseventeen-child. This is also where I have placed my fonts. In the css file I have the following:
However, my site is still not showing this font! What am I doing wrong?
I have a question too. I have uploaded the .ttf files in my
publichtml/folder-name-of-web/wp-content/theme/font
and I have added the name of the font in stylesheet css of theme in wordpress editor. But it is not picking the font.
Kindly give me the solution
Thanks for the valuable information. I tried and it’s working good. I used two fonts from google, when using google fonts website performance is bit slow.
if you can post in detailed how to upload fonts directly into the word press it would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Raghava
If I am viewing a “glyph” through Photoshop that is a special character in a font I had purchased – how can I transfer this glyph into Photoshop?
Thank you!
silly questions im sure! But, in the url- where it reads ‘your theme’ this is to be replaced with the title of our theme, correct? Or do we leave that part as is?
Also, for fonts that have long names, do you just need to leave spaces in between or add + signs or anything?
for example:
@font-face { font-family: Arvo example one; src: url(http://www.example.com/wp-content/themes/your-theme/fonts/Arvo example one-Regular.ttf); font-weight: normal; }Thank you so much
Hi dsb,
Yes you will need to replace your-theme with the actual name of your theme folder. If you uploaded your font to your current theme’s fonts directory, then you can see what the font file is called. or Copy the file name and just paste it in CSS.
“The best place to upload the fonts is inside a new “fonts” folder in your theme or child theme‘s directory.”
Why is this the best place, exactly? Creating a child theme for a single font is a little annoying, but uploading it inside the theme itself means it could disappear when the theme has an update, right? Or will it still be safe from that as it’s technically an unrelated file?
I would probably say it’s silly to not have a child theme in general, regardless of what you’re using it for.
And no, it wouldn’t be safe if your theme gets an update. It would be overwritten by the update.
> I would probably say it’s silly to not have a child theme in general, regardless of what you’re using it for.
Why do you think so? Consider the case where someone is not changing the theme in any way, shape or form whatsoever. It would be entirely pointless to run a child theme, and adds just another layer of code on top of everything in this case.
> And no, it wouldn’t be safe if your theme gets an update. It would be overwritten by the update.
I kinda figured. I feel like this should be highlighted in the article or it’s going to make some people unhappy.
Hi,
I don’t have any problem with adding custom fonts anywhere in m theme, just when I was going to change the font in wp-embed-template.php my custom fonts don’t work. I mean it’s like they are not @font-faced at all.
Would you please help me to change the fonts in the wordpress embed part? Should I add @font-face again in the php? It is already added though!
Many thanks in advance,
Thank you for your help!
Once I’ve upload the font to my fonts folder, do I add this to my CSS? Do I leave the font family that is there? Because I’m using that mostly. This is a specialized font only used for specific occasions.
I’m so confused.
Really great! Been struggling a while (I’m quite new to all this) but now it works
Thanks a lot!
Hi. Thanks for this. How do I find the licensing information for a font? Some fonts are all over the web, and I want to use one but it’s hard to find the EULA info
It’s usually included in the font’s own metadata. In Windows, you can right-click and view the properties of a font. If that’s not enough, you might want to download a full-featured font viewer that supports showing font metadata.
Hello, which extension should has the font to be installed on wordpress?
Cause i am having issue to install mine
Hi guys I used the last technique (@fontface), it has added the font to wordpress but it has made it the default font. I only wanted it to be an option on my fonts list. Can you help?
Used CSS @font-face method. Works like a charm. Thanks.
Assalam o Alaikum!
I am a beginner in wordpress. I want to add Noori Nastaleeq font to my website. How could i done so. I need your help.
Can you provide performance comparison between these methods?
Hi,
I’m completely new to wordpress so I hope you can help me. I have just literally bought a custom domain from bluehost, then installed wordpress and lastly installed and activated the so simple theme. So what I want to know is will my font changes be lost if I update my theme in the future, if so how do I prevent that?
It’s just I’ve noticed a lot of other sites advise adding a custom css plugin first and I have no idea how to do that.
Kind regards
Please take a look at our guide on how to easily add custom CSS to your WordPress site.
Thanks a lot.It helped
This was truly helpful! Thank you very much!!!
Just a quick question…
How would I adjust the code if I have a font with different weights?
I’ve got a regular and bold version of the font I’d like to use installed on my laptop. I used FontSquirrel to convert those in webfonts. And I uploaded those webfonts to a folder in my child theme like you explained. I just don’t know how to use @font-face to use both weights.
I’m really looking forward to your reply. The way you explained this is great!
Thank you in advance!
Sincerely,
Hashim
You will use font-weight in CSS. Like this:
h1 { font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, serif; font-weight: 400; }I don’t see the “editor” button in my wordpress under appearance. I used font squirrel to upload my font but when I went to add it in the theme editor that wasn’t an option. Maybe I have a different version of wordpress. Please help. Thank you.
Can you give a sample of the URL source for the @fontface example? I’m doing g something wrong and feel like pulling all my hair out :/
Isn’t the correct way of adding custom google fonts is by using enqueue_script function?
It is ideal but not necessary. This method is correct too, and easier for beginners.
Hi guys
I always read your posts and love the site, great work you always help me out. I’ve been stuck on moving a site for a customer and needed to change the font. I thought I had done everything , copies the css files etc, but it was reading this that made me realise I hadn’t changed the code in the header.
Been stuck on this for a week!
Anyway just wanted to say thanks