Commercial · Sans serif · Linotype
Optima Nova
Optima Nova is a licensed font from Linotype: Complete family of 20 fonts: $576.99 USD, 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. Optima Nova is a licensed font and there is no file here to show it in; the foundry’s page has the real specimen.
- Designer
- Hermann Zapf, Akira Kobayashi
- Released
- 2002
- Styles
- 20
- Classification
- Sans serif
- Price
- Complete family of 20 fonts: $576.99 USD (Individual Styles from $57.99 USD) — as printed, read 2026-09-05
Hermann Zapf and Akira Kobayashi's 2002 redesign of Optima without the technical compromises of the metal original, adding small caps, old-style figures, light, heavy and condensed weights; 20 styles.
Free alternatives to Optima Nova
Suggested, not measured
Typecase measures fonts from their outlines. Optima Nova 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 Alegreya Sans webfont did not load here — this is a fallback face, not Alegreya Sans.
same classification
A humanist sans with a calligraphic feeling and varied rhythm; the nearest free relative of Optima's serifless-roman idea, though its stems do not flare.
Quiet luxury, approachable
The Marcellus webfont did not load here — this is a fallback face, not Marcellus.
same classification
A flared serif inspired by Roman inscriptional letterforms; shares Optima's classical proportions and slight stem flare, but is a single weight.
Quiet luxury, approachable
The Tenor Sans webfont did not load here — this is a fallback face, not Tenor Sans.
same classification
A humanist sans intended for body text with classical proportions; plainer than Optima and without the tapering stems.
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