Commercial · Sans serif · Emigre
Base 9 & 12
Base 9 & 12 is a licensed font from Emigre: $299.00, as printed on the foundry or reseller’s page on 2026-09-05. The 3 open-licence families below are suggested in its place, each with the basis for the substitution.
The name above is set in a fallback face. Base 9 & 12 is a licensed font and there is no file here to show it in; the foundry’s page has the real specimen.
- Designer
- Zuzana Licko
- Released
- 1995
- Styles
- 24
- Classification
- Sans serif
- Price
- $299.00 (Base 9 & 12 Volume; single-family packages $150.00; individual fonts $49.00) — as printed, read 2026-09-05
Screen-first family designed 1994–95 with companion printer fonts: Base-12 (sans and serif) and Base-9, 24 faces in all, similar in purpose to Verdana.
Free alternatives to Base 9 & 12
Suggested, not measured
Typecase measures fonts from their outlines. Base 9 & 12 is not on this machine, so these were chosen by what is known about it — classification, lineage, common use — and each is labelled with that basis. Open one to see its measured character and neighbours.
Quiet luxury, approachable
The PT Sans webfont did not load here — this is a fallback face, not PT Sans.
same classification
A screen-oriented humanist sans with economical proportions.
Quiet luxury, approachable
The Source Sans 3 webfont did not load here — this is a fallback face, not Source Sans 3.
commonly substituted
A UI sans with open shapes made for small sizes on screen.
Quiet luxury, approachable
The Cousine webfont did not load here — this is a fallback face, not Cousine.
same classification
A screen-hinted family from the same lineage of pixel-aware design; monospaced, unlike Base.
Own Base 9 & 12? Point the app at the file and this list becomes measured: every open family ranked by how close it actually is, with the difference named. The file never leaves your machine.
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