Font licensing · Explainer
MyFonts licensing explained, priced from a live listing
MyFonts sells seven kinds of license and meters each one differently. A video needs only the cheapest; an app costs fifteen times as much and expires after a year.
- Pick by where the font file goes. MyFonts licenses are scoped to a use: Desktop for designs you export, Webfonts for live web text, App for software, Electronic Doc for ebooks, Digital Ad/Email for ads, Server for automated output.
- Video is a Desktop job. MyFonts' own listing says the Desktop license lets you "Apply fonts in titles, credits, and on-screen text." No listing we read sells a separate broadcast tier.
- Desktop counts people, cumulatively. Everyone who ever uses the font needs a seat. Canva and other cloud editors are off limits under every MyFonts license.
Which MyFonts license do I need?
- List every place the font will appear. A video, a website, an app and an ebook are four separate uses, and MyFonts sells a separate license for each.
- Count people, not computers. A Desktop license covers a number of users, and MyFonts counts them cumulatively: anyone who uses the font, even once, is a seat.
- Match the meter. Webfonts meter pageviews per month on one domain, Digital Ad meters impressions, Electronic Doc meters titles, App meters titles per year.
- Keep the font off cloud editors. MyFonts states that none of its licenses permits uploading fonts to Canva, and it names cloud-based platforms generally.
- Buy the family if you need three styles or more. On the listing below, eight styles cost $102.40 one at a time and $32.10 as a family.
How this was compiled. License types and metering are quoted from the MyFonts FAQ and a live font listing, both read on 19 October 2026; the worked prices name that listing. No license was purchased for this article. This is a reading of published terms, not legal advice: the EULA attached to your purchase governs.
What licenses does MyFonts sell?
MyFonts sells licenses by use, not by project size. Its FAQ puts it plainly: "We sell Desktop, Webfont, Mobile App, Digital Ad and Electronic Doc licenses." The family listing we priced adds two more, Company Desktop and Server, so it offers seven license types, each with its own meter.
The meter is the part that changes your bill. MyFonts' Desktop license is counted in users, Webfonts in monthly pageviews, Digital Ad/Email in impressions, Electronic Doc in titles, App in titles per year, Server in CPU cores and Company Desktop in total employees. Buying more of one never covers another: a 200-user Desktop license still does not let you serve the font on a website.
- Font file stays on your machine
- Font file travels with the output
- Not permitted under any MyFonts license
The tree above is the whole decision. MyFonts' licenses follow the font file: if the file stays on your machine and you ship flattened output, Desktop covers it; the moment the file itself travels (to a browser, into an app, inside an ebook), a different license applies. The OpenType OS/2 table even carries an embedding-permissions field (fsType) inside the font, which is the technical side of the same idea.
How is a MyFonts Desktop license counted?
A MyFonts Desktop license is counted by people. The FAQ says "Desktop licenses are based on the number of users of the fonts," and the clause that catches teams out follows: "Licensed Desktop Users are cumulative, not concurrent." Five people who each use the font at different times need five seats, even if only one of them has it open on a given day.
The FAQ is equally direct about lending: "Generally, it is not permitted to 'lend' font licenses." Adding users later means a new Desktop purchase for the extra seats, not an upgrade of the old one.
Per-seat prices fall with volume. On the VideoTech family, one user costs $32.10, ten users $192.60 and two hundred users $2,247.00, so the price per seat drops by about two thirds between a solo creator and a large team.
When does Company Desktop make sense?
MyFonts Company Desktop is an annual license priced by headcount rather than by users. The FAQ describes it as "an annual license for internal employee collaboration" that "covers your direct employees, with the tier based on total employee headcount," and adds that "The first tier covers organizations with up to 50 employees, even if only a few of them use the font." On the VideoTech family that first tier is $120.38 a year.
Two limits matter. MyFonts says the license "does not cover contractors, agencies, freelancers or other service providers," and that it "does not cover using the font as a webfont or embedding it in a mobile app or digital ad." MyFonts offers it online for organizations with up to 250 employees; larger companies are sent to Monotype Sales.
How do Webfont, App, Electronic Doc and Digital Ad licenses meter use?
Each non-desktop MyFonts license meters the thing that grows with your audience. Webfonts are the clearest case: "Webfonts can be used on a single domain," the FAQ says, and agencies "may not share a single webfont license across multiple websites." The pageview count is monthly: "if you purchase 250,000 pageviews per month, when your webpages using the webfonts have been viewed 250,000 times in a single month, you will need to buy the webfont package again for a higher tier."
| License | What it meters | Entry tier, family | Entry tier, one style | Term |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Desktop | Users, cumulative | $32.10 (1 user) | $12.80 | One-time |
| Company Desktop | Total employees | $120.38 (up to 50) | $48.00 | Annual |
| Webfonts | 1 domain, pageviews per month | $32.10 (10,000) | $12.80 | One-time per tier |
| Digital Ad/Email | Impressions | $32.10 (1,000,000) | $12.80 | One-time per tier |
| Electronic Doc | Titles | $64.20 (1 title) | $25.60 | One-time |
| App | Titles per year | $481.50 (1 title) | $192.00 | One year |
| Server | CPU cores | $321.00 (1 core) | $128.00 | One-time |
Read across the table and one pattern stands out: four of the seven entry tiers sit within a few dollars of each other, and the App license sits an order of magnitude above them. A creator who needs titles, a website and the occasional ad pays the same $32.10 three times; a creator who ships an app pays $481.50 and pays it again next year.
Does a MyFonts Desktop license cover video and TV commercials?
For a video, a MyFonts Desktop license is the license the listing itself points to. Under "Videos" the VideoTech licensing tab reads: "Apply fonts in titles, credits, and on-screen text." The same tab describes Desktop as the license that "enables personal and commercial traditional graphic designer work."
The reason is mechanical. A rendered video contains pictures of the letters, not the font file. Microsoft's typography team states the same logic for its own fonts: it views captions and on-screen text "the same as graphic files, providing the captions or text is rendered as a bitmap image, and the font files themselves are not embedded within the video file" (Microsoft font redistribution FAQ).
For a TV commercial or a broadcast campaign, the listing offers no separate broadcast license: the seven options are Desktop, Company Desktop, Webfonts, App, Electronic Doc, Digital Ad/Email and Server. What MyFonts does say is that its licenses "are tailored for individual creatives" and that agency, company or unlisted uses should contact them. An agency producing a commercial for a client should therefore treat it as a Desktop purchase per user plus a question to MyFonts before air, not as an assumption.
Can I use a MyFonts font in Canva or a cloud editor?
No. This is the one MyFonts rule with no tier that unlocks it. The FAQ answers the question directly: "Unfortunately, none of our licenses available through MyFonts permits the upload or use of fonts within Canva." It then widens the rule: "Uploading or using these fonts on cloud-based or server-hosted platforms, including Canva, is not permitted, as this extends the fonts beyond the licensed desktop environment."
That clause reaches further than Canva. Five of the six tools in our kinetic typography roundup run in a browser, which makes uploading a purchased font into them the same cloud use. Our AI kinetic typography roundup marks which tools run in the browser and which keep the font on your machine.
What does a MyFonts font family cost?
A MyFonts family usually costs far less than its styles bought one at a time. VideoTech lists its eight styles "from $12.80 USD" each, and the "Complete family of 8 fonts: $32.10 USD," which the listing breaks down as $4.01 per style.
The family discount carries into every license type: the family's App license is $481.50 against $192.00 for one style, so three styles already cost more singly than the family. Other families carry other prices, so treat these as a worked example of how a listing is structured, not as what any other font costs. For a cross-vendor view, our font license pricing comparison sets MyFonts against subscriptions and other per-font stores, and the Font Licensing Calculator checks a specific font.
Mistakes have a short exit. MyFonts' refund policy "allows you to 'return' a font within 7 days by informing us of its deletion by email, quoting the invoice number."
Your MyFonts license spec sheet
The fastest way to buy the right MyFonts license is to answer the meters before you open the listing. Copy this sheet, fill it in, and each line maps to one license on the tree above.
FONT: ______________ FAMILY or single styles: ______ 1. People who will ever use the font on a computer (cumulative): ____ -> Desktop, that many users 2. Company over 10 people, many staff editing branded files? yes / no -> consider Company Desktop (annual, by headcount; staff only) 3. Website using the font as live text? domain: ________ pageviews per month: ________ -> Webfonts, one per domain 4. Ads or marketing emails? impressions: ________ -> Digital Ad/Email 5. Ebooks or commercial electronic documents? titles: ____ -> Electronic Doc 6. Mobile apps that embed the font? titles: ____ -> App, renews yearly 7. Server that generates output with the font? cores: ____ -> Server 8. Canva or any cloud editor? -> not permitted; use the editor's own fonts 9. Freelancers, agencies or a client's editor touching the font? -> they need their own license 10. Broadcast or TV commercial? -> Desktop for the render, and ask MyFonts before air Refund window if you buy the wrong one: 7 days, by email with the invoice number.
Which MyFonts license, by who you are
- Solo YouTuber or editorDesktop, 1 user
Your videos carry rendered type, which Desktop covers by name. Buy the family if you will use three or more styles.
- Small studio or agencyDesktop, one seat per person who ever touches it
Seats are cumulative, freelancers count, and Company Desktop excludes agencies and contractors, so per-user Desktop is the honest fit.
- In-house brand teamCompany Desktop
Priced by headcount and annual, it covers staff editing shared files. Add Webfonts and Digital Ad separately for the site and campaigns.
- App developerApp license, budgeted yearly
It is the expensive line at 15 times Desktop and it renews. Consider an open-licensed font if the app is free or early.
- Canva-first creatorDo not buy from MyFonts for Canva
No MyFonts license permits the upload. Use Canva's own library or a font whose license allows cloud use.
- Agency making a TV spotDesktop per user, then ask MyFonts
The listing sells no broadcast tier and tells agencies to get in touch for uses it does not list. Get the answer in writing before the media buy.
How MyFonts compares with other license sources
MyFonts is one of several ways to license a font, and each alternative is strongest at a different job.
MyFonts
Per licenseThe broadest per-family store, with every license type on one listing and published per-tier prices, which is what makes this page's arithmetic possible. MyFonts was part of Bitstream's font business that Monotype Imaging agreed to acquire in November 2011, and its FAQ refers to "the current Monotype Desktop Font End User License Agreement".
7license types per listing7 daysrefund window
Monotype Fonts
SubscriptionFor organizations that want one contract instead of many: Monotype Fonts offers "400,000+ fonts from 5,000+ foundries, all in one subscription" under "a single, transparent agreement that covers your entire organization." Pricing is by demo, not published.
Adobe Fonts
SubscriptionThe lowest-friction start: Adobe Fonts offers "more than 5,000 fonts for free," licensed for personal and commercial use, and names in-house or commercial video as a supported use. Source: fonts.adobe.com.
Envato
SubscriptionFonts bundled with stock video, music and templates. Envato's license lets you use an installed font "to create as many projects as you like," and finished projects keep their rights after you cancel. Read the Envato Elements License, or the full comparison in Envato Elements vs Adobe Fonts vs Monotype Fonts.
YouWorkForThem
Per licenseIndependent foundries on one-time licenses: YouWorkForThem promises "no annual fees" and "Buy once, own it outright, use it indefinitely," with listings from $9.60 on sale on the day we read it. Terms on its licensing page.
- C
Creative Market
Per licenseDesigner-led display faces. Creative Market offers "Desktop, Webfont, E-pub, and App licenses for fonts," and spells out broadcast caps by tier: up to 500,000 lifetime viewers on Commercial, unlimited on Extended Commercial. Terms on its license page.
- F
Fontspring
Per licenseA per-font store that also sells app and embedding licenses. Its license page refused our crawler on 19 October 2026, so no term is quoted here; read it before you buy.
The free route sits outside all of them: fonts under the SIL Open Font License, whose FAQ lists "video titling" among permitted uses with "No additional license or permission is required." Our Google Fonts guide covers that path, and desktop vs webfont vs broadcast explains the tiers across foundries.
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Frequently asked questions
What licenses does MyFonts sell?
The MyFonts FAQ says "We sell Desktop, Webfont, Mobile App, Digital Ad and Electronic Doc licenses." Live listings also offer Company Desktop, an annual license priced by headcount, and Server, priced per CPU core.
Is a MyFonts Desktop license enough for YouTube videos?
Yes for the video itself. The Desktop section of a MyFonts listing names videos as a covered use: "Apply fonts in titles, credits, and on-screen text." A rendered video carries pictures of the type, not the font file. A website using the same font as live text needs a separate Webfonts license.
How does MyFonts count Desktop users?
By people, cumulatively. The FAQ states "Licensed Desktop Users are cumulative, not concurrent," so everyone who ever uses the font needs a seat, and lending a license is generally not permitted.
Can I upload a MyFonts font to Canva?
No. MyFonts states that "none of our licenses available through MyFonts permits the upload or use of fonts within Canva," and that uploading to cloud-based or server-hosted platforms generally is not permitted.
Why is the MyFonts App license so expensive?
Because the font file ships inside software that anyone can install. On the VideoTech family listing read on 19 October 2026, App costs $481.50 for one title for one year, 15 times the $32.10 Desktop license, and it renews yearly.
Does MyFonts sell a broadcast or TV license?
The listing we read offers no separate broadcast license: Desktop, Company Desktop, Webfonts, App, Electronic Doc, Digital Ad/Email and Server. Desktop names videos as a covered use; for a TV commercial, MyFonts asks agencies and unlisted uses to contact it.
Can I get a refund if I bought the wrong MyFonts license?
MyFonts allows a return within 7 days: delete the font, email MyFonts with the invoice number, and it refunds the invoice amount. For a wrong license, buy the correct one first and send both invoice numbers.