# Free alternatives to Minion Pro

Minion Pro is a commercial old-style serif from Adobe (Robert Slimbach) (https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/minion). Commercial; included with Adobe Fonts subscriptions, otherwise licensed from Adobe. The name is used only to identify the typeface; BrandSweets does not host or embed it. Below: the 8 closest free, open-licensed families, ranked by a published deterministic score (https://brandsweets.com/fonts/alternatives/methodology).

## Reference profile

- Slug: `minion`
- Also searched as: Minion
- Category: serif · Class: old-style
- Traits: classic, editorial, neutral, refined
- Roles: body, longform
- Metrics: x-height 0.44, cap height 0.65, normal width, medium contrast (approximate, publicly documented)
- Languages: latin, latin-ext, cyrillic, greek · Variable: yes
- Page: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/alternatives/minion

## Score

`score = 0.35·classification + 0.25·metrics + 0.20·traits + 0.10·useCase + 0.05·language + 0.05·variable`; every axis in [0, 1]. A family gate runs first: specialist families (blackletter, script, glyphic, stencil, monospace, pixel) only list same-family fonts; elsewhere a cross-family mismatch is capped at 0.2. Curated picks are listed first, then pure formula; ties break on popularity, then slug.

## Ranked alternatives

### 1. EB Garamond — 76%

- Slug: `eb-garamond` · serif · OFL-1.1 · Georg Duffner, Octavio Pardo · static
- Page: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/eb-garamond · font.md: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/eb-garamond/font.md
- Classification (×0.35): 1.00 — Same class: old-style.
- Metrics (×0.25): 0.79 — x-height 0.40 vs 0.44 for Minion Pro (close); cap height 0.65 vs 0.65 for Minion Pro (near-identical); both normal width; high stroke contrast vs medium for Minion Pro.
- Traits (×0.20): 0.33 — Shares classic, refined (2 of 6 traits).
- Role (×0.10): 1.00 — Both suit body, longform.
- Language (×0.05): 1.00 — Covers all of Minion Pro's subsets (cyrillic, greek, latin, latin-ext).
- Variable (×0.05): 0.00 — Static instances only; Minion Pro is variable.
- Family gate: pass — Same family: serif.

### 2. Alegreya — 75%

- Slug: `alegreya` · serif · OFL-1.1 · Juan Pablo del Peral, HT Fonts · static
- Page: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/alegreya · font.md: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/alegreya/font.md
- Classification (×0.35): 1.00 — Same class: old-style.
- Metrics (×0.25): 0.94 — x-height 0.45 vs 0.44 for Minion Pro (near-identical); cap height 0.64 vs 0.65 for Minion Pro (near-identical); both normal width; both medium stroke contrast.
- Traits (×0.20): 0.25 — Shares classic (1 of 4 traits).
- Role (×0.10): 0.67 — Both suit body, longform.
- Language (×0.05): 1.00 — Covers all of Minion Pro's subsets (cyrillic, greek, latin, latin-ext).
- Variable (×0.05): 0.00 — Static instances only; Minion Pro is variable.
- Family gate: pass — Same family: serif.

### 3. Literata — 75%

- Slug: `literata` · serif · OFL-1.1 · TypeTogether · static
- Page: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/literata · font.md: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/literata/font.md
- Classification (×0.35): 1.00 — Same class: old-style.
- Metrics (×0.25): 0.73 — x-height 0.51 vs 0.44 for Minion Pro (noticeably different); cap height 0.70 vs 0.65 for Minion Pro (noticeably different); both normal width; both medium stroke contrast.
- Traits (×0.20): 0.50 — Shares classic, editorial (2 of 4 traits).
- Role (×0.10): 0.67 — Both suit body, longform.
- Language (×0.05): 1.00 — Covers all of Minion Pro's subsets (cyrillic, greek, latin, latin-ext).
- Variable (×0.05): 0.00 — Static instances only; Minion Pro is variable.
- Family gate: pass — Same family: serif.

### 4. Crimson Pro — 75%

- Slug: `crimson-pro` · serif · OFL-1.1 · Jacques Le Bailly · static
- Page: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/crimson-pro · font.md: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/crimson-pro/font.md
- Classification (×0.35): 1.00 — Same class: old-style.
- Metrics (×0.25): 0.77 — x-height 0.42 vs 0.44 for Minion Pro (near-identical); cap height 0.57 vs 0.65 for Minion Pro (noticeably different); both normal width; both medium stroke contrast.
- Traits (×0.20): 0.40 — Shares classic, editorial (2 of 5 traits).
- Role (×0.10): 1.00 — Both suit body, longform.
- Language (×0.05): 0.50 — Covers latin, latin-ext; lacks cyrillic, greek.
- Variable (×0.05): 0.00 — Static instances only; Minion Pro is variable.
- Family gate: pass — Same family: serif.

### 5. Brygada 1918 — 74%

- Slug: `brygada-1918` · serif · OFL-1.1 · static
- Page: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/brygada-1918 · font.md: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/brygada-1918/font.md
- Classification (×0.35): 1.00 — Same class: old-style.
- Metrics (×0.25): 0.91 — x-height 0.46 vs 0.44 for Minion Pro (near-identical); cap height 0.67 vs 0.65 for Minion Pro (close); both normal width; both medium stroke contrast.
- Traits (×0.20): 0.25 — Shares classic (1 of 4 traits).
- Role (×0.10): 0.67 — Both suit body, longform.
- Language (×0.05): 1.00 — Covers all of Minion Pro's subsets (cyrillic, greek, latin, latin-ext).
- Variable (×0.05): 0.00 — Static instances only; Minion Pro is variable.
- Family gate: pass — Same family: serif.

### 6. Vollkorn — 74%

- Slug: `vollkorn` · serif · OFL-1.1 · Friedrich Althausen · static
- Page: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/vollkorn · font.md: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/vollkorn/font.md
- Classification (×0.35): 1.00 — Same class: old-style.
- Metrics (×0.25): 0.90 — x-height 0.46 vs 0.44 for Minion Pro (near-identical); cap height 0.68 vs 0.65 for Minion Pro (close); both normal width; both medium stroke contrast.
- Traits (×0.20): 0.25 — Shares classic (1 of 4 traits).
- Role (×0.10): 0.67 — Both suit body, longform.
- Language (×0.05): 1.00 — Covers all of Minion Pro's subsets (cyrillic, greek, latin, latin-ext).
- Variable (×0.05): 0.00 — Static instances only; Minion Pro is variable.
- Family gate: pass — Same family: serif.

### 7. Gentium Book Plus — 74%

- Slug: `gentium-book-plus` · serif · OFL-1.1 · static
- Page: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/gentium-book-plus · font.md: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/gentium-book-plus/font.md
- Classification (×0.35): 1.00 — Same class: old-style.
- Metrics (×0.25): 0.88 — x-height 0.45 vs 0.44 for Minion Pro (near-identical); cap height 0.61 vs 0.65 for Minion Pro (close); both normal width; both medium stroke contrast.
- Traits (×0.20): 0.25 — Shares classic (1 of 4 traits).
- Role (×0.10): 0.67 — Both suit body, longform.
- Language (×0.05): 1.00 — Covers all of Minion Pro's subsets (cyrillic, greek, latin, latin-ext).
- Variable (×0.05): 0.00 — Static instances only; Minion Pro is variable.
- Family gate: pass — Same family: serif.

### 8. Crimson Text — 73%

- Slug: `crimson-text` · serif · OFL-1.1 · Sebastian Kosch · static
- Page: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/crimson-text · font.md: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/crimson-text/font.md
- Classification (×0.35): 1.00 — Same class: old-style.
- Metrics (×0.25): 0.94 — x-height 0.42 vs 0.44 for Minion Pro (near-identical); cap height 0.64 vs 0.65 for Minion Pro (near-identical); both normal width; both medium stroke contrast.
- Traits (×0.20): 0.25 — Shares classic (1 of 4 traits).
- Role (×0.10): 0.67 — Both suit body, longform.
- Language (×0.05): 0.50 — Covers latin, latin-ext; lacks cyrillic, greek.
- Variable (×0.05): 0.00 — Static instances only; Minion Pro is variable.
- Family gate: pass — Same family: serif.

## Self-host EB Garamond (woff2)

- 400 normal: https://fonts.brandsweets.com/eb-garamond/eb-garamond-400.woff2
- 500 normal: https://fonts.brandsweets.com/eb-garamond/eb-garamond-500.woff2
- 600 normal: https://fonts.brandsweets.com/eb-garamond/eb-garamond-600.woff2
- 700 normal: https://fonts.brandsweets.com/eb-garamond/eb-garamond-700.woff2
- 800 normal: https://fonts.brandsweets.com/eb-garamond/eb-garamond-800.woff2
- 400 italic: https://fonts.brandsweets.com/eb-garamond/eb-garamond-400i.woff2
- 500 italic: https://fonts.brandsweets.com/eb-garamond/eb-garamond-500i.woff2
- 600 italic: https://fonts.brandsweets.com/eb-garamond/eb-garamond-600i.woff2
- 700 italic: https://fonts.brandsweets.com/eb-garamond/eb-garamond-700i.woff2
- 800 italic: https://fonts.brandsweets.com/eb-garamond/eb-garamond-800i.woff2

## Connect an agent

Point any MCP client at the BrandSweets fonts endpoint to get this list with scores, or search the catalog:

- Endpoint: https://mcp.brandsweets.com/fonts/mcp
- Tools: `find_alternatives` (e.g. `find_alternatives({ commercialFont: "minion", limit: 8 })`), `list_commercial_fonts`, `list_fonts`, `suggest_fonts`.