Serif · OFL 1.1 · No. 0119
Is Source Serif 4 free for commercial use?
Yes. Source Serif 4 is licensed under the SIL Open Font License 1.1, so you can use it on commercial websites, in print, logos, apps and products you sell. The one firm limit: you cannot sell the font file by itself.
- 200 ExtraLight
- 300 Light
- 400 Regular
- 500 Medium
- 600 SemiBold
- 700 Bold
- 800 ExtraBold
- 900 Black
Specimen served by the Google Fonts CSS API at view time.
What the OFL 1.1 lets you do with Source Serif 4
Verdicts are our plain-English reading of the SIL Open Font License 1.1; the right-hand column names the clause each one rests on. This is not legal advice.
| Use | Verdict | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Use it on a website (self-hosted or via the Google Fonts API)Yes. Embedding is explicitly permitted. Self-hosted font files must keep the copyright notice and license; the OFL lets that live in the font file’s own metadata, which Google Fonts files already carry. | yes | Permission & Conditions: “use, study, copy, merge, embed, modify, redistribute”; condition 2 on including the notice and license. |
| Print, packaging, posters, PDFs and other documentsYes. Documents you create with the font are not covered by the OFL’s distribution conditions at all. | yes | Condition 5: “The requirement for fonts to remain under this license does not apply to any document created using the Font Software.” |
| Set a logo or wordmark in itYes. A logo is a document made with the font, so the OFL places no restriction on it. Note that other people can use the same font, and trademark registration is a separate question the font license does not answer. | yes | Condition 5 (documents are outside the license); OFL FAQ on logos and trademarks. |
| Put it on products I sell (T-shirts, mugs, book covers)Yes. Printed or embroidered artwork is a document created with the font, and selling that product is not selling the font. | yes | Condition 5 (documents); condition 1 only forbids selling the font software by itself. |
| Bundle the font file inside an app, game or software I sellYes, with conditions. You may bundle and even sell the font inside software, as long as each copy includes the copyright notice and the OFL text (a license file or the font’s metadata). | with conditions | Condition 2: bundled, redistributed and/or sold with any software, provided that each copy contains the copyright notice and this license. |
| Modify the font (add glyphs, change shapes, subset) and ship itYes, with conditions. Modified versions must stay under the OFL, must not use any Reserved Font Name without written permission, and must not use the authors’ names to promote the modified version. | with conditions | Conditions 3, 4 and 5 (Reserved Font Names, author names, remain under OFL). |
| Sell the font file on its own (or in a font bundle)No. The font, modified or not, may not be sold by itself. You can sell things made with it, or software that includes it, but not the font file as the product. | no | Condition 1: “Neither the Font Software nor any of its individual components, in Original or Modified Versions, may be sold by itself.” |
| Use it in video, broadcast, social posts or adsYes. Rendered text in video, images or ads is output created with the font, which the OFL does not restrict. | yes | Condition 5 (documents created using the Font Software). |
How Source Serif 4 compares in the library
Source Serif 4 is No. 119 of 1,950 families in Google Fonts’ own popularity order and No. 19 of 351 serif families (snapshot 16 Oct 2026). It offers 16 styles and is a variable font with Optical Size (opsz) 8–60, Weight (wght) 200–900. Its 6 subsets give it broader script coverage than 93% of serif families. It was added to Google Fonts on 16 Nov 2021 and its files were last updated on 1 Oct 2026.
Which fonts pair with Source Serif 4?
Computed from metadata, not taste: each body face shares Source Serif 4’s scripts, has a usable weight range for text and sits close in line-height. How the score works.
- Open Sans for body text — serif heading over a sans serif body gives clear contrast; 6 shared subsets (cyrillic, cyrillic-ext, greek, latin, …); Open Sans is variable (wght 300–800). Proof this pair
- Nunito Sans for body text — serif heading over a sans serif body gives clear contrast; 5 shared subsets (cyrillic, cyrillic-ext, latin, latin-ext, …); Nunito Sans is variable (wght 200–1000). Proof this pair
- Google Sans for body text — serif heading over a sans serif body gives clear contrast; 6 shared subsets (cyrillic, cyrillic-ext, greek, latin, …); Google Sans is variable (wght 400–700). Proof this pair
How do I add Source Serif 4 to a website?
Paste the embed into your <head>, then use the family in CSS. The URL requests the full variable weight range (200–900); trim it to the weights you actually use.
<link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com">
<link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.gstatic.com" crossorigin>
<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Source+Serif+4:wght@200..900&display=swap" rel="stylesheet"> font-family: 'Source Serif 4', Georgia, serif;
font-weight: 200 900; /* variable range */ To self-host instead (often preferred for privacy, see self-hosting and GDPR), download the files from the specimen page and declare them yourself. The OFL 1.1 allows redistribution with the licence kept alongside:
@font-face {
font-family: 'Source Serif 4';
src: url('/fonts/source-serif-4-variable.woff2') format('woff2');
font-weight: 200 900;
font-style: normal;
font-display: swap;
} Source Serif 4: licence questions
- Can I use Source Serif 4 in a logo?
- Yes. A logo is a document made with the font, so the OFL places no restriction on it. Note that other people can use the same font, and trademark registration is a separate question the font license does not answer.
- Can I bundle Source Serif 4 in an app or game I sell?
- Yes, with conditions. You may bundle and even sell the font inside software, as long as each copy includes the copyright notice and the OFL text (a license file or the font’s metadata).
- Can I sell the Source Serif 4 font file itself?
- No. The font, modified or not, may not be sold by itself. You can sell things made with it, or software that includes it, but not the font file as the product.
- Which scripts does Source Serif 4 support?
- On Google Fonts, Source Serif 4 ships 6 subsets: Cyrillic, Cyrillic Extended, Greek, Latin, Latin Extended, Vietnamese.
Similar serif families
Sources
- Source Serif 4 on Google Fonts (specimen and download)
- METADATA.pb in google/fonts — licence field: OFL
- Licence file in the family folder · SIL Open Font License 1.1 full text · licence FAQ
- Upstream source repository
- Google Fonts family metadata, fetched 16 Oct 2026