How the library grew, year by year
Of the 1,899 families measured, 639 (34%) were added in the library’s first three years, 2010 to 2012, and 2011 alone brought 336. After a quiet middle decade the pace rose again from 2020, with larger character sets than before.
The record we use
Each family’s metadata carries a date_added field. It records when the family entered the library. It does not record when the design was made, and it does not change when a family is updated, made variable or extended to new scripts. Families that were removed before 28 October 2026 are not in the repository and so not in these counts.
The first years
The earliest date in the records is in 2010, shared by 60 families still in the library, among them Inconsolata, Molengo, Cantarell and Nobile. The following year was the busiest of all, and its additions lean towards display and handwriting: 74 handwriting families were added in 2011 alone. Many of these early families have small character sets; their median is 369 glyphs.
The Noto families of 2020
In 2020 alone, 250 families were added, and 173 of them belong to the Noto project, mostly single-script companions to Noto Sans and Noto Serif. Without them 2020 would have brought 77 families. Together those Noto families of 2020 list 154 different subsets, more than all the families of 2010 to 2012 combined (20).
| Year | Families | Sans-serif | Serif | Display | Handwriting | Monospace | Median glyphs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 60 | 18 | 21 | 10 | 8 | 3 | 369.0 |
| 2011 | 336 | 70 | 63 | 125 | 74 | 4 | 360.0 |
| 2012 | 243 | 67 | 47 | 91 | 33 | 5 | 371 |
| 2013 | 21 | 11 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 604 |
| 2014 | 28 | 17 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1,030.0 |
| 2015 | 49 | 21 | 14 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 931 |
| 2016 | 81 | 35 | 17 | 26 | 1 | 2 | 827 |
| 2017 | 41 | 18 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 927 |
| 2018 | 63 | 29 | 14 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 2,495 |
| 2019 | 61 | 26 | 9 | 16 | 7 | 3 | 786 |
| 2020 | 250 | 171 | 41 | 28 | 6 | 4 | 591.0 |
| 2021 | 147 | 42 | 26 | 22 | 55 | 2 | 891 |
| 2022 | 128 | 48 | 28 | 31 | 20 | 1 | 774.0 |
| 2023 | 95 | 39 | 18 | 29 | 7 | 2 | 643 |
| 2024 | 156 | 42 | 15 | 40 | 54 | 5 | 1,159.5 |
| 2025 | 92 | 59 | 7 | 17 | 6 | 3 | 798.0 |
| 2026 | 48 | 19 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 746.0 |
Bigger files
Families added since 2020 have a median of 774.0 glyphs in their regular file, against 369 for 2010 to 2012. More scripts, more figure styles and more OpenType features all add glyphs, and recent additions are also far more often variable fonts, as the note on variable fonts shows.
A shifting mix of classes
Display and handwriting families made up 53% of the additions from 2010 to 2012 and 42% of those from 2022 on. Sans serifs went the other way, from 24% to 40%. The last column counts designer names that appear for the first time in each period, a rough measure of how many new hands joined the library.
| Added | Families | Sans-serif | Serif | Display | Handwriting | Monospace | New designer names |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 to 2012 | 639 | 24% | 21% | 35% | 18% | 2% | 173 |
| 2013 to 2017 | 220 | 46% | 25% | 20% | 6% | 2% | 69 |
| 2018 to 2021 | 521 | 51% | 17% | 15% | 14% | 2% | 188 |
| 2022 to 2026 | 519 | 40% | 15% | 24% | 18% | 3% | 265 |
The earliest records
These are the ten families with the earliest dates in the repository. Their date_added marks their first appearance, whatever has changed in the files since.
| Family | Added | Class | Designer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inconsolata | 2010-02-19 | Sans-serif | Raph Levien |
| Molengo | 2010-04-19 | Sans-serif | Denis Jacquerye |
| Cantarell | 2010-05-10 | Sans-serif | Dave Crossland |
| Nobile | 2010-05-10 | Sans-serif | Vernon Adams |
| Reenie Beanie | 2010-05-10 | Handwriting | James Grieshaber |
| Yanone Kaffeesatz | 2010-05-11 | Sans-serif | Yanone, Cyreal |
| IM Fell Double Pica | 2010-05-17 | Serif | Igino Marini |
| IM Fell DW Pica | 2010-05-17 | Serif | Igino Marini |
| IM Fell DW Pica SC | 2010-05-17 | Serif | Igino Marini |
| IM Fell English | 2010-05-17 | Serif | Igino Marini |
More variable, more scripts
The share of families that are variable today rises with the period they were added in: 8% for 2010 to 2012, 22% for 2013 to 2017, 35% for 2018 to 2021 and 53% for 2022 to 2026. Some early families were converted to variable fonts later, so the oldest group is not entirely static either. The median number of subsets went from 2 in the first period to 3 in the latest.
Busy days and quiet years
Families often arrive in batches. The single busiest date in the records is 19 November 2020, with 173 families, followed by 19 December 2011 (49) and 16 May 2024 (45). The quietest year was 2013, with 21 additions. The largest number credited to one name in a single year is 173, for Google in 2020.
The current year
The 48 families dated 2026 so far are led by sans serifs (19) and serifs (10); 25 of them are variable fonts. These counts will change as the year goes on; this site describes the repository as of 28 October 2026.
Names that return
Some designers contribute over many years. Among the names credited on three families or more, 37 have additions at least ten years apart. The longest spans belong to Carolina Giovagnoli (2011 to 2026), Omnibus-Type (2011 to 2026), SIL International (2011 to 2026), Tyler Finck (2011 to 2026). Their designer pages list every family in order of addition.
Licences over time
Almost every family is published under the SIL Open Font License: 1,858 of 1,899. The 36 families under the Apache License were added between 2010 and 2021, and the five under the Ubuntu Font Licence are the Ubuntu families themselves. The table shows the split by period; the licence of each family is named on its page.
| Added | Families | Open Font License | Apache License | Ubuntu Font Licence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 to 2012 | 639 | 603 | 33 | 3 |
| 2013 to 2017 | 220 | 219 | 1 | 0 |
| 2018 to 2021 | 521 | 519 | 2 | 0 |
| 2022 to 2026 | 519 | 517 | 0 | 2 |
The latest additions
The first families dated 2026 were Alyamama, Betania Patmos and Playwrite NZ Basic. Every family page states the month it was added, and the type finder sorted by newest lists the most recent first.
Sources
Family metadata (METADATA.pb) and font files from the google/fonts repository as of 28 October 2026; all measurements computed by this site as described in How we measure.