# Free alternatives to National

National is a commercial grotesque sans from Klim Type Foundry (https://klim.co.nz/retail-fonts/national-2/). Commercial; licensed from Klim. 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: `national`
- Also searched as: National 2
- Category: sans · Class: grotesque
- Traits: neutral, friendly, clean, editorial, monoline
- Roles: body, ui, heading
- Metrics: x-height 0.51, cap height 0.70, normal width, low contrast (approximate, publicly documented)
- Languages: latin, latin-ext · Variable: no
- Page: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/alternatives/national

## 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. Hanken Grotesk — 86%

- Slug: `hanken-grotesk` · sans · OFL-1.1 · Alfredo Marco Pradil, Hanken Design Co. · static
- Page: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/hanken-grotesk · font.md: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/hanken-grotesk/font.md
- Classification (×0.35): 1.00 — Same class: grotesque.
- Metrics (×0.25): 0.96 — x-height 0.49 vs 0.51 for National (near-identical); cap height 0.70 vs 0.70 for National (near-identical); both normal width; both low stroke contrast.
- Traits (×0.20): 0.33 — Shares monoline, neutral (2 of 6 traits).
- Role (×0.10): 1.00 — Both suit body, heading, ui.
- Language (×0.05): 1.00 — Covers all of National's subsets (latin, latin-ext).
- Variable (×0.05): 1.00 — Static instances, like National.
- Family gate: pass — Same family: sans.

### 2. Instrument Sans — 85%

- Slug: `instrument-sans` · sans · OFL-1.1 · Rodrigo Fuenzalida, Jordan Egstad · static
- Page: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/instrument-sans · font.md: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/instrument-sans/font.md
- Classification (×0.35): 1.00 — Same class: grotesque.
- Metrics (×0.25): 0.95 — x-height 0.51 vs 0.51 for National (near-identical); cap height 0.72 vs 0.70 for National (close); both normal width; both low stroke contrast.
- Traits (×0.20): 0.33 — Shares monoline, neutral (2 of 6 traits).
- Role (×0.10): 1.00 — Both suit body, heading, ui.
- Language (×0.05): 1.00 — Covers all of National's subsets (latin, latin-ext).
- Variable (×0.05): 1.00 — Static instances, like National.
- Family gate: pass — Same family: sans.

### 3. Barlow — 85%

- Slug: `barlow` · sans · OFL-1.1 · Jeremy Tribby · static
- Page: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/barlow · font.md: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/barlow/font.md
- Classification (×0.35): 1.00 — Same class: grotesque.
- Metrics (×0.25): 0.99 — x-height 0.51 vs 0.51 for National (near-identical); cap height 0.70 vs 0.70 for National (near-identical); both normal width; both low stroke contrast.
- Traits (×0.20): 0.25 — Shares clean, monoline (2 of 8 traits).
- Role (×0.10): 1.00 — Both suit body, heading, ui.
- Language (×0.05): 1.00 — Covers all of National's subsets (latin, latin-ext).
- Variable (×0.05): 1.00 — Static instances, like National.
- Family gate: pass — Same family: sans.

### 4. IBM Plex Sans — 85%

- Slug: `ibm-plex-sans` · sans · OFL-1.1 · Mike Abbink, Bold Monday · static
- Page: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/ibm-plex-sans · font.md: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/ibm-plex-sans/font.md
- Classification (×0.35): 1.00 — Same class: grotesque.
- Metrics (×0.25): 0.98 — x-height 0.52 vs 0.51 for National (near-identical); cap height 0.70 vs 0.70 for National (near-identical); both normal width; both low stroke contrast.
- Traits (×0.20): 0.25 — Shares monoline, neutral (2 of 8 traits).
- Role (×0.10): 1.00 — Both suit body, heading, ui.
- Language (×0.05): 1.00 — Covers all of National's subsets (latin, latin-ext).
- Variable (×0.05): 1.00 — Static instances, like National.
- Family gate: pass — Same family: sans.

### 5. Public Sans — 83%

- Slug: `public-sans` · sans · OFL-1.1 · USWDS, Dan Williams, Pablo Impallari, Rodrigo Fuenzalida · static
- Page: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/public-sans · font.md: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/public-sans/font.md
- Classification (×0.35): 1.00 — Same class: grotesque.
- Metrics (×0.25): 0.93 — x-height 0.52 vs 0.51 for National (near-identical); cap height 0.72 vs 0.70 for National (close); both normal width; both low stroke contrast.
- Traits (×0.20): 0.43 — Shares clean, monoline, neutral (3 of 7 traits).
- Role (×0.10): 0.67 — Both suit body, ui; Public Sans is not tagged for heading.
- Language (×0.05): 1.00 — Covers all of National's subsets (latin, latin-ext).
- Variable (×0.05): 1.00 — Static instances, like National.
- Family gate: pass — Same family: sans.

### 6. Spline Sans — 83%

- Slug: `spline-sans` · sans · OFL-1.1 · static
- Page: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/spline-sans · font.md: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/spline-sans/font.md
- Classification (×0.35): 1.00 — Same class: grotesque.
- Metrics (×0.25): 0.86 — x-height 0.55 vs 0.51 for National (close); cap height 0.73 vs 0.70 for National (close); both normal width; both low stroke contrast.
- Traits (×0.20): 0.33 — Shares monoline, neutral (2 of 6 traits).
- Role (×0.10): 1.00 — Both suit body, heading, ui.
- Language (×0.05): 1.00 — Covers all of National's subsets (latin, latin-ext).
- Variable (×0.05): 1.00 — Static instances, like National.
- Family gate: pass — Same family: sans.

### 7. IBM Plex Sans Arabic — 83%

- Slug: `ibm-plex-sans-arabic` · sans · OFL-1.1 · Mike Abbink, Bold Monday, Khajag Apelian, Wael Morcos · static
- Page: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/ibm-plex-sans-arabic · font.md: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/ibm-plex-sans-arabic/font.md
- Classification (×0.35): 1.00 — Same class: grotesque.
- Metrics (×0.25): 0.98 — x-height 0.52 vs 0.51 for National (near-identical); cap height 0.70 vs 0.70 for National (near-identical); both normal width; both low stroke contrast.
- Traits (×0.20): 0.17 — Shares monoline (1 of 6 traits).
- Role (×0.10): 1.00 — Both suit body, heading, ui.
- Language (×0.05): 1.00 — Covers all of National's subsets (latin, latin-ext).
- Variable (×0.05): 1.00 — Static instances, like National.
- Family gate: pass — Same family: sans.

### 8. Overpass — 83%

- Slug: `overpass` · sans · OFL-1.1 · Delve Withrington, Dave Bailey, Thomas Jockin · static
- Page: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/overpass · font.md: https://brandsweets.com/fonts/overpass/font.md
- Classification (×0.35): 1.00 — Same class: grotesque.
- Metrics (×0.25): 1.00 — x-height 0.51 vs 0.51 for National (near-identical); cap height 0.70 vs 0.70 for National (near-identical); both normal width; both low stroke contrast.
- Traits (×0.20): 0.14 — Shares monoline (1 of 7 traits).
- Role (×0.10): 1.00 — Both suit body, heading, ui.
- Language (×0.05): 1.00 — Covers all of National's subsets (latin, latin-ext).
- Variable (×0.05): 1.00 — Static instances, like National.
- Family gate: pass — Same family: sans.

## Self-host Hanken Grotesk (woff2)

- 100 normal: https://fonts.brandsweets.com/hanken-grotesk/hanken-grotesk-100.woff2
- 200 normal: https://fonts.brandsweets.com/hanken-grotesk/hanken-grotesk-200.woff2
- 300 normal: https://fonts.brandsweets.com/hanken-grotesk/hanken-grotesk-300.woff2
- 400 normal: https://fonts.brandsweets.com/hanken-grotesk/hanken-grotesk-400.woff2
- 500 normal: https://fonts.brandsweets.com/hanken-grotesk/hanken-grotesk-500.woff2
- 600 normal: https://fonts.brandsweets.com/hanken-grotesk/hanken-grotesk-600.woff2
- 700 normal: https://fonts.brandsweets.com/hanken-grotesk/hanken-grotesk-700.woff2
- 800 normal: https://fonts.brandsweets.com/hanken-grotesk/hanken-grotesk-800.woff2
- 900 normal: https://fonts.brandsweets.com/hanken-grotesk/hanken-grotesk-900.woff2
- 100 italic: https://fonts.brandsweets.com/hanken-grotesk/hanken-grotesk-100i.woff2
- 200 italic: https://fonts.brandsweets.com/hanken-grotesk/hanken-grotesk-200i.woff2
- 300 italic: https://fonts.brandsweets.com/hanken-grotesk/hanken-grotesk-300i.woff2
- 400 italic: https://fonts.brandsweets.com/hanken-grotesk/hanken-grotesk-400i.woff2
- 500 italic: https://fonts.brandsweets.com/hanken-grotesk/hanken-grotesk-500i.woff2
- 600 italic: https://fonts.brandsweets.com/hanken-grotesk/hanken-grotesk-600i.woff2
- 700 italic: https://fonts.brandsweets.com/hanken-grotesk/hanken-grotesk-700i.woff2
- 800 italic: https://fonts.brandsweets.com/hanken-grotesk/hanken-grotesk-800i.woff2
- 900 italic: https://fonts.brandsweets.com/hanken-grotesk/hanken-grotesk-900i.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: "national", limit: 8 })`), `list_commercial_fonts`, `list_fonts`, `suggest_fonts`.