Summary only, not legal advice. The licence text governs; confirm with the rights holder for your use. Read more

Use cases

Ebooks & PDFs

Embedding fonts in ebooks, interactive PDFs and documents.

Read-only PDFs are often fine; ebooks and editable documents frequently need an extra licence.

Can I use or embed it in ebooks and PDFs?

Fonts

SourceVerdictWhat it says
Adobe Fonts Allowed Embedding in protected ebook formats and PDFs is allowed.“Yes, Adobe Fonts are licensed for embedding in ebook formats that protect font data, such as EPUB, iBooks, Kindle (MOBI), Adobe’s Digital Publishing Suite (DPS), and PDFs.” helpx.adobe.com
Fontshare Allowed Documents with embedded fonts can be distributed.“Documents containing embedded Font Software may be distributed without restriction as to the number of recipients.” fontshare.com
Google Fonts Allowed Embedding in documents is allowed, in full or subset.“Yes, either in full or a subset. The restrictions regarding font modification and redistribution do not apply, as the font is not intended for use outside the document.” openfontlicense.org
Creative Market Conditional Read-only PDFs are OK under Desktop; ebooks need the Ebook licence.“Licensed Users are prohibited from distributing or embedding the Fonts in Documents to unlicensed End Users in any format other than read-only PDF.” creativemarket.com
Font Squirrel Conditional Shown per font via the usage symbols.“Each font has an row of symbols indicating what typical uses we think it allows for free.” fontsquirrel.com
MyFonts (Monotype) Conditional Embedding needs an Electronic Doc licence (per publication).“You can use an Electronic Doc license to embed the font in an electronic publication such as an eBook, eMagazine, eNewspaper, or interactive PDF.” myfonts.com
Envato Elements Unclear Not addressed separately for fonts.
Fontspring Needs manual check Licence page blocked automated fetching; needs manual verification.

Stock & content

SourceVerdictWhat it says
Pexels Allowed E-books are listed.“Use the photos and videos online – whether it’s a website, e-commerce shop, newsletter, e-book, presentation, blog or a template you sell.” pexels.com
Adobe Stock Conditional Digital documents up to 500,000 copies on Standard.“Reproduce up to 500,000 copies of the asset in all media, including product packaging, printed marketing materials, digital documents, or software.” stock.adobe.com
Canva Conditional Ebooks allowed; Pro content subject to the pixel limit.“online or electronic publications, including web pages, blogs, ebooks and videos, in the case of Pro Content, subject to the restrictions in section 5A;” canva.com
Shutterstock Needs manual check Licence page blocked automated fetching; needs manual verification.
Unsplash Needs manual check Licence page blocked automated fetching; needs manual verification.

AI image tools

SourceVerdictWhat it says
Adobe Firefly Conditional General commercial-use statement; no use-specific clause.“For features without the beta label, you can use Firefly-generated outputs in your commercial projects.” helpx.adobe.com
ChatGPT / DALL·E (OpenAI) Conditional Ownership is assigned; no use-specific clause.“As between you and OpenAI, and to the extent permitted by applicable law, you (a) retain your ownership rights in Input and (b) own the Output. We hereby assign to you all our right, title, and interest, if any, in and to Output.” openai.com
Leonardo.Ai Conditional Commercial use allowed; ownership depends on plan.“Yes, you can use the images you generate on the platform for commercial purposes. This applies for free users too.” intercom.help
Midjourney Conditional As above.“Feel free to use them however you like, with just a couple of exceptions:” docs.midjourney.com
Ideogram Unclear Not addressed on the pages we checked.

Newsletter · weekly · free

License Changes + 5 Fonts Cleared for Commercial Use

Weekly plain-English updates on font, stock and AI image licences: what changed, what it means for client work, and 5 fonts cleared for commercial use. From License Ledger.

    One email a week. Unsubscribe any time. See privacy.