I built a free tool to test Google Fonts with your actual text after years of guessing
Hey everyone! 👋
I'm a designer who got tired of guessing how fonts would look with real client content. Most preview tools only show "Lorem Ipsum" – which tells you nothing about how a font handles actual words.
So I built FontPreview – a free, client-side tool where you can test 1,500+ Google Fonts with your own text.
What it does:
• Type your actual text – see it instantly in any font
• Compare Google Fonts with your system fonts side-by-side
• Adjust size, weight, spacing, colors in real-time
• Test dark/light mode with one click
• Try variable fonts with live sliders
• Download any Google Font as ZIP
Why I built it:
I was tired of downloading fonts, installing them, testing in design tools, and realizing they didn't work with my actual content. Everything runs in your browser – your text never leaves your device. 100% free, no account needed.
Tech stack:
• Vanilla JavaScript
• Google Fonts API
• Local Font Access API (for system fonts)
• HTML2Canvas for screenshots
Link: https://fontpreview.online
Would love feedback from this community! What features would you add? What fonts should I prioritize?
Thanks for reading! 🚀
Congrats on the launch! The landing page looks really polished.
Quick question: What was your biggest technical challenge while building this? I'm working on browser-based tools myself and always
curious about how others solve similar problems.
Also, what channel drove your first users?
Looking forward to following your progress! 🚀
Thanks so much! Really appreciate the kind words. 🙏
Biggest technical challenge? Definitely the system font comparison feature. Getting the Local Font Access API to work consistently across browsers was tricky – especially handling permission states and fallbacks. Also making sure the font preview renders exactly as it would in production (no weird anti-aliasing surprises) took some trial and error.
First users actually came from Reddit and Indie Hackers! A comment I left on someone's post got noticed, and a few people checked it out. Then Product Hunt gave it a nice boost.
What kind of browser tool are you building? Would love to check it out!
Thanks for stopping by! 🚀