I’ve updated my ‘Avenir alternatives’ post with three typefaces that I think work better than the ones I’d originally recommended back in January this year.
What’s changed?
Recommended paid alternatives
Chesna Grotesk from Horizon Type is my new favourite paid alternative to Avenir.
Hint from Paratype and Sailec from Type Dynamic remain my other two recommended paid alternatives.
I’ve dropped Noah from Fontfabric from my list of recommendations. It wasn’t my favourite alternative anyway.
Recommended free alternatives
I’ve replaced Figtree from Eric Kennedy with Satoshi from Indian Type Foundry. Figtree is a better alternative to Frutiger than it is to Avenir. Satoshi, on the other hand, is an interesting blend of Avenir and Futura, which I really like.
I’ve replaced Poppins from Indian Type Foundry with DM Sans from Colophon Foundry. DM Sans is actually based on the Latin character set of Poppins, though with an expanded glyph set, additional weights, and accompanying serif display typefaces (DM Serif Display for larger headings and DM Serif Text for smaller headings).
Montserrat from Julieta Ulanovsky and others remains as my third recommended free alternative.
Typefaces I don’t recommend
When you look online for recommended alternatives to Avenir, you get a pretty long list. Many of the most commonly recommended alternatives are not typefaces that I would recommend, and here’s why:
I don’t recommend Nunito Sans and Mulish because they’re both too neutral and, therefore, don’t have the elegance of Avenir. I would classify Nunito Sans as stylish, but not necessarily as elegant.
Metropolis is a good Gotham alternative, not a great Avenir alternative.
Geologica, Hind, Kumbh Sans, Manrope, and Sen are all decent enough alternatives (ie they’re geometric typefaces that are somewhat elegant and humanistic) but they are limited to only upright letters (ie they don’t have italics).
Plus Jakarta Sans is nice, but go for that if you want to use its cool stylistic alternative characters, not if you want an alternative to Avenir.
Microsoft’s Segoe UI and Corbel are good Frutiger alternatives, not Avenir alternatives.
Adobe’s Gibson, Europa, and Objectiv are all supposed to be good paid alternatives to Avenir, but I actively avoid Adobe subscriptions so I haven’t been able to test and closely compare them.
TT Chocolates is a good paid alternative to Avenir, but it’s a little pricey.
What hasn’t changed?
Avenir is still one of my favourite typefaces and it remains too expensive for most people to use, so the search for a good, well-priced alternative keeps on going too :)