Summary only, not legal advice. The licence text governs; confirm with the rights holder for your use. Read more
Fonts for websites
Live web text needs a web licence. Here's what each source allows.
If type is live HTML text, the font is embedded and usually needs a web licence. Type baked into an image usually doesn't.
Can I use it on a website (live text or web embedding)?
Fonts
| Source | Verdict | What it says |
|---|---|---|
| Fontshare | Allowed | Self-hosting or the Fontshare API.“You may self-host the Font Software on your own servers or infrastructure for use on your own websites and applications, including through standard webfont technologies such as CSS @font-face.” fontshare.com |
| Google Fonts | Allowed | Embed via the Google Fonts CSS API or self-host.“Use the Google Fonts CSS API to embed the fonts directly on your website.” developers.google.com |
| Adobe Fonts | Conditional | Web use is via Adobe-hosted web projects; self-hosting is not included.“The full library is licensed for web use with no pageview limits” fonts.adobe.com |
| Creative Market | Conditional | Needs the separate Webfont licence (pageview limit).“The Licensee is only permitted to embed the Fonts in websites using the @font-face syntax in CSS stylesheets.” creativemarket.com |
| Envato Elements | Conditional | Web-enabled fonts can be part of an end product if users can't extract the font or type new text.“c. You can incorporate a web-enabled Font as part of an End Product, but your End Product must not encourage or facilitate users to extract the Font or create new text using it.” help.elements.envato.com |
| Font Squirrel | Conditional | Each font page shows which uses it believes are allowed (incl. @font-face).“Each font has an row of symbols indicating what typical uses we think it allows for free.” fontsquirrel.com |
| MyFonts (Monotype) | Conditional | Needs a Webfont licence (single domain, priced by pageviews).“Webfonts can be used on a single domain.” myfonts.com |
| Fontspring | Needs manual check | Licence page blocked automated fetching; needs manual verification. |
Stock & content
| Source | Verdict | What it says |
|---|---|---|
| Adobe Stock | Allowed | Websites and social with unlimited views.“Post the asset to a website or social media site with no limitation on views.” stock.adobe.com |
| Pexels | Allowed | Websites, shops, newsletters, e-books and templates you sell.“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 |
| Canva | Conditional | Pro content online is capped at 480,000 pixels unless published via Canva.“The use of Pro Content in online or electronic publications, including web pages, blogs e-books and videos, is limited to a maximum of 480,000 total pixels (for example, 600px x 800px) per Content file where un-edited, unless the use is:” 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
| Source | Verdict | What 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. |