Is Courier (Courier New) free?

No. Courier (Courier New) is a commercial typeface from Monotype / IBM. Courier New ships with Windows/macOS under those EULAs; web use needs a license. The fonts listed here are free, open-licensed alternatives you can download, self-host and use commercially.

What is the closest free alternative to Courier (Courier New)?

Courier Prime scores 70% against Courier (Courier New) on our published formula. A redrawn Courier with the same typewriter feel and better screen weight. It is licensed OFL-1.1, so it is free to self-host.

How are these alternatives ranked?

By a fixed, published score — 0.35 classification, 0.25 measured proportions (x-height, cap height, width, stroke contrast), 0.20 traits, 0.10 role, 0.05 language coverage, 0.05 variable support — after a family gate: specialist families (blackletter, script, glyphic, stencil, monospace) only list same-family fonts, and any cross-family match is capped at 0.2. No model or vote; the same inputs always give the same ranking. Hand-curated picks are labelled and listed first.

Free font alternatives

Free alternatives to Courier (Courier New)

Courier (Courier New) is a commercial monospace from Monotype / IBM. Courier New ships with Windows/macOS under those EULAs; web use needs a license. Below are the 8 closest free, open-licensed families in the BrandSweets library, ranked by our published, deterministic score — classification, measured proportions, traits, role, language and variable support. Each one is shown in its own face and is free to self-host.

Courier (Courier New) is a trademark of its owner, named here only to identify the typeface. We do not host, embed or distribute it; “similar” means similar classification and proportions, nothing more.

#170% matchcurated pickmonoOFL-1.1 · Alan Dague-Greene
Courier Prime
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
A redrawn Courier with the same typewriter feel and better screen weight.
Show score breakdownScore breakdown
Classification×0.35
100%
Same class: monospace, slab.
Metrics×0.25
81%
x-height 0.45 vs 0.43 for Courier (Courier New) (near-identical); cap height 0.58 vs 0.57 for Courier (Courier New) (near-identical); wide width vs normal for Courier (Courier New); both low stroke contrast.
Traits×0.20
20%
Shares technical (1 of 5 traits).
Role×0.10
33%
Both suit code; Courier Prime is not tagged for display.
Language×0.05
50%
Covers latin, latin-ext; lacks cyrillic, greek.
Variable×0.05
100%
Static instances, like Courier (Courier New).
Family gate
Both in the monospace family.
View Courier Prime specimen →Pairings →400 · 700
#264% matchcurated pickmonoApache-2.0
Cousine
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Metric-compatible with Courier New — identical widths.
Show score breakdownScore breakdown
Classification×0.35
100%
Same class: monospace.
Metrics×0.25
45%
x-height 0.53 vs 0.43 for Courier (Courier New) (noticeably different); cap height 0.66 vs 0.57 for Courier (Courier New) (noticeably different); wide width vs normal for Courier (Courier New); both low stroke contrast.
Traits×0.20
20%
Shares technical (1 of 5 traits).
Role×0.10
33%
Both suit code; Cousine is not tagged for display.
Language×0.05
100%
Covers all of Courier (Courier New)'s subsets (cyrillic, greek, latin, latin-ext).
Variable×0.05
100%
Static instances, like Courier (Courier New).
Family gate
Both in the monospace family.
View Cousine specimen →Pairings →400 · 700
#373% matchmonoOFL-1.1
Anonymous Pro
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Show score breakdownScore breakdown
Classification×0.35
100%
Same class: monospace.
Metrics×0.25
78%
x-height 0.46 vs 0.43 for Courier (Courier New) (close); cap height 0.64 vs 0.57 for Courier (Courier New) (noticeably different); both normal width; both low stroke contrast.
Traits×0.20
25%
Shares technical (1 of 4 traits).
Role×0.10
33%
Both suit code; Anonymous Pro is not tagged for display.
Language×0.05
100%
Covers all of Courier (Courier New)'s subsets (cyrillic, greek, latin, latin-ext).
Variable×0.05
100%
Static instances, like Courier (Courier New).
Family gate
Both in the monospace family.
View Anonymous Pro specimen →Pairings →400 · 700
#472% matchmonoOFL-1.1 · Raph Levien
Inconsolata
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Show score breakdownScore breakdown
Classification×0.35
100%
Same class: monospace.
Metrics×0.25
81%
x-height 0.46 vs 0.43 for Courier (Courier New) (close); cap height 0.62 vs 0.57 for Courier (Courier New) (noticeably different); both normal width; both low stroke contrast.
Traits×0.20
20%
Shares technical (1 of 5 traits).
Role×0.10
50%
Both suit code; Inconsolata is not tagged for display.
Language×0.05
50%
Covers latin, latin-ext; lacks cyrillic, greek.
Variable×0.05
100%
Static instances, like Courier (Courier New).
Family gate
Both in the monospace family.
View Inconsolata specimen →Pairings →200 · 300 · 400 · 500 · 600 · 700 · 800 · 900
#569% matchmonoOFL-1.1 · Colophon Foundry
Space Mono
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Show score breakdownScore breakdown
Classification×0.35
100%
Same class: monospace.
Metrics×0.25
61%
x-height 0.50 vs 0.43 for Courier (Courier New) (noticeably different); cap height 0.70 vs 0.57 for Courier (Courier New) (far apart); both normal width; both low stroke contrast.
Traits×0.20
40%
Shares retro, technical (2 of 5 traits).
Role×0.10
33%
Both suit code; Space Mono is not tagged for display.
Language×0.05
50%
Covers latin, latin-ext; lacks cyrillic, greek.
Variable×0.05
100%
Static instances, like Courier (Courier New).
Family gate
Both in the monospace family.
View Space Mono specimen →Pairings →400 · 700
#668% matchmonoOFL-1.1 · The Mozilla Foundation, Telefonica S.A., Nikita Prokopov
Fira Code
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Show score breakdownScore breakdown
Classification×0.35
100%
Same class: monospace.
Metrics×0.25
55%
x-height 0.53 vs 0.43 for Courier (Courier New) (noticeably different); cap height 0.69 vs 0.57 for Courier (Courier New) (far apart); both normal width; both low stroke contrast.
Traits×0.20
20%
Shares technical (1 of 5 traits).
Role×0.10
50%
Both suit code; Fira Code is not tagged for display.
Language×0.05
100%
Covers all of Courier (Courier New)'s subsets (cyrillic, greek, latin, latin-ext).
Variable×0.05
100%
Static instances, like Courier (Courier New).
Family gate
Both in the monospace family.
View Fira Code specimen →Pairings →300 · 400 · 500 · 600 · 700
#767% matchmonoUFL-1.0
Ubuntu Mono
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Show score breakdownScore breakdown
Classification×0.35
100%
Same class: monospace.
Metrics×0.25
56%
x-height 0.52 vs 0.43 for Courier (Courier New) (noticeably different); cap height 0.69 vs 0.57 for Courier (Courier New) (far apart); both normal width; both low stroke contrast.
Traits×0.20
25%
Shares technical (1 of 4 traits).
Role×0.10
33%
Both suit code; Ubuntu Mono is not tagged for display.
Language×0.05
100%
Covers all of Courier (Courier New)'s subsets (cyrillic, greek, latin, latin-ext).
Variable×0.05
100%
Static instances, like Courier (Courier New).
Family gate
Both in the monospace family.
View Ubuntu Mono specimen →Pairings →400 · 700
#867% matchmonoOFL-1.1
Fira Mono
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow
Show score breakdownScore breakdown
Classification×0.35
100%
Same class: monospace.
Metrics×0.25
55%
x-height 0.53 vs 0.43 for Courier (Courier New) (noticeably different); cap height 0.69 vs 0.57 for Courier (Courier New) (far apart); both normal width; both low stroke contrast.
Traits×0.20
25%
Shares technical (1 of 4 traits).
Role×0.10
33%
Both suit code; Fira Mono is not tagged for display.
Language×0.05
100%
Covers all of Courier (Courier New)'s subsets (cyrillic, greek, latin, latin-ext).
Variable×0.05
100%
Static instances, like Courier (Courier New).
Family gate
Both in the monospace family.
View Fira Mono specimen →Pairings →400 · 500 · 700

mcpConnect your agent — find Courier (Courier New) alternatives live

live endpoint

Point any MCP client at the shared fonts endpoint and your agent gets the same ranked list with every axis score — find_alternatives, list_commercial_fonts, list_fonts and suggest_fonts, read-only, no key.

endpointhttps://mcp.brandsweets.com/fonts/mcp

claude mcp add --transport http brandsweets-fonts https://mcp.brandsweets.com/fonts/mcp

try this prompt

›find a free alternative to Courier (Courier New) for a technical brand

Want the agent to remember your picks and write them into a living brand? Create a free BrandSweets workspace.

Use Courier Prime instead

Courier Prime is the top-ranked alternative to Courier (Courier New) (70%) and is free to self-host under OFL-1.1. Drop these @font-face rules into your CSS — the .woff2 files are served straight from BrandSweets.

css

@font-face {
  font-family: "Courier Prime";
  font-style: normal;
  font-weight: 400;
  font-display: swap;
  src: url("https://fonts.brandsweets.com/courier-prime/courier-prime-400.woff2") format("woff2");
}
@font-face {
  font-family: "Courier Prime";
  font-style: italic;
  font-weight: 400;
  font-display: swap;
  src: url("https://fonts.brandsweets.com/courier-prime/courier-prime-400i.woff2") format("woff2");
}
@font-face {
  font-family: "Courier Prime";
  font-style: normal;
  font-weight: 700;
  font-display: swap;
  src: url("https://fonts.brandsweets.com/courier-prime/courier-prime-700.woff2") format("woff2");
}
@font-face {
  font-family: "Courier Prime";
  font-style: italic;
  font-weight: 700;
  font-display: swap;
  src: url("https://fonts.brandsweets.com/courier-prime/courier-prime-700i.woff2") format("woff2");
}

/* Usage */
.heading { font-family: "Courier Prime", monospace; }

What we compare Courier (Courier New) on

Class: monospace, slab
x-height: 0.43 ≈
Cap height: 0.57 ≈
Width · contrast: normal · low
Traits: technical, retro, classic
Roles: code, display
Languages · variable: latin, latin-ext, cyrillic, greek · no

≈ proportions are publicly documented approximations of the regular cut, not measured by us. Open-font metrics are measured from the files. Full formula and thresholds: methodology. Machine-readable: alternatives.md

Questions

Is Courier (Courier New) free?: No. Courier (Courier New) is a commercial typeface from Monotype / IBM. Courier New ships with Windows/macOS under those EULAs; web use needs a license. The fonts listed here are free, open-licensed alternatives you can download, self-host and use commercially.
What is the closest free alternative to Courier (Courier New)?: Courier Prime scores 70% against Courier (Courier New) on our published formula. A redrawn Courier with the same typewriter feel and better screen weight. It is licensed OFL-1.1, so it is free to self-host.
How are these alternatives ranked?: By a fixed, published score — 0.35 classification, 0.25 measured proportions (x-height, cap height, width, stroke contrast), 0.20 traits, 0.10 role, 0.05 language coverage, 0.05 variable support — after a family gate: specialist families (blackletter, script, glyphic, stencil, monospace) only list same-family fonts, and any cross-family match is capped at 0.2. No model or vote; the same inputs always give the same ranking. Hand-curated picks are labelled and listed first.

Build a brand around Courier Prime

Turn the pick into a full identity — colors, type roles, logo, and agent-readable tokens your future sessions already know.

Extract a brand Design one on a canvas