Thai font · OFL

Kanit

คณิต

By Narongsak Chaiwong

Typography & Licensing Specialist, ThaiGraph · April 16, 2026 · Updated August 5, 2026

Information verified as of August 2026

อ่านหน้า ฟอนต์ Kanit เป็นภาษาไทย — พร้อมลิงก์ดาวน์โหลดและวิธีติดตั้ง →

<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Kanit:wght@400;700&display=swap" rel="stylesheet">

@import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Kanit:wght@400;700&display=swap');

font-family: 'Kanit', sans-serif;

What Kanit is, and why it is called คณิต

Kanit is a loopless geometric Thai sans-serif from Cadson Demak, published on Google Fonts on 7 December 2015 in nine weights from Thin (100) to Black (900), each with a matching italic, for 18 styles in total, under the SIL Open Font License. It covers Thai, Latin, Latin Extended and Vietnamese.

The name is a real Thai word, not an invention. The Cadson Demak project repository states it plainly: “Kanit means mathematics in Thai.” The name matches the design — the letterforms are built from measurable geometric shapes rather than from pen strokes.

That is why a large share of Thai searchers look for this font as ฟอนต์คณิต rather than typing the romanised name. If you arrived that way: yes, ฟอนต์คณิต is this same Kanit, and it is a free download. (A “maths font” for typesetting equations is a different thing entirely.)

Kanit belongs to the generation of loopless Thai faces that removed the traditional circular head (หัว) from consonants in favour of open terminals, bringing Thai closer to contemporary Latin sans-serifs. That shift is covered in our loopless Thai type article. Because it sits inside Google Fonts for free, Kanit shows up in Thai startup branding, fashion sites, and property developer marketing more than almost any other free Thai typeface.

Is Kanit really free, and can you use it commercially?

Yes to both. Kanit is released under the SIL Open Font License, which permits use in commercial work, web embedding, app embedding, modification, and bundling into products, at no cost and with no permission required. The only condition is that the OFL notice travels with the font files when the files themselves are passed on.

The point that confuses people most: the OFL restricts selling the font files on their own. It does not restrict selling work made with the font. Logos, packaging, posters, templates and applications set in Kanit are all fine to sell, and no credit line is required on printed work.

One rule to know if you modify it: a modified and redistributed version must be renamed — it cannot keep the name “Kanit” — and it stays under the OFL. Our Thai font licensing guide compares these terms against commercial Thai foundries.

How to download and install Kanit

Kanit is a free download from Google Fonts — the family ZIP contains all 18 TTF styles, no registration, no payment. Three routes:

1. Google Fonts ZIP — open the Kanit specimen, click “Get font”, and download the family. It works in Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma and Microsoft Word as soon as it is installed.
2. CSS embed — load https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Kanit:ital,wght@0,400;0,700;1,400&display=swap in a <link> tag (add weight pairs as needed), then set font-family: 'Kanit', sans-serif;.
3. GitHub source — the cadsondemak/kanit repository holds the upstream project files under OFL-1.1.

A file-weight warning: do not load all 18 styles on a website. The Google Fonts TTFs run roughly 164–188 KB per style, so requesting every weight through one <link> measurably slows the page. Pick only the cuts you actually use — most projects need Regular (400) and Bold (700) and nothing else.

Windows and macOS install steps are in the download panel at the top of this page. To try it with your own text first, use the Thai font tester.

All 9 weights and 18 styles

Kanit ships nine weights, each with a true italic, for 18 styles — one of the most complete free Thai type systems available. The full range:

There is no variable-font build. The Google Fonts directory for Kanit contains only the 18 static TTFs. If you need continuous weight interpolation via font-variation-settings, this family cannot do it — each weight loads as its own file.

Character design and tone

The project repository describes Kanit as mixing a humanist sans-serif motif with capsulated geometric curves, and singles out one technical feature: the stroke terminals have flat angles, which lets the design use tighter letter spacing while staying legible at small point sizes. That is the designers’ own account.

A detail that shows the care behind it: the repository records that special attention went to the consonant groups that become easy to confuse once the loop is removed — ก ถ ภ ฤ ฦ / ฎ ฏ / บ ป / ข ช — so that each glyph stays distinct. This is the central problem in loopless Thai design, because the loop is exactly what separates several of those pairs in traditional letterforms.

The repository also notes that the sizes and positions of vowels and tone marks had to be managed carefully, since they all bear on readability, legibility and overall texture. That is why Kanit still reads cleanly at Black, where many Thai faces begin to clog.

One more landmark: the repository states that Kanit is the first Thai font family to be hinted with TTFAutohint, which directly affects how crisp the letterforms are on Windows screens at small sizes.

The Latin companion is a clean geometric sans, deliberately less ornamented than the Thai so the two scripts align without the Latin pulling focus.

Best use cases

Kanit performs best on display and mid-length text for modern, commercial, urban-feeling brands. Concrete briefs where it wins:

• Thai startup landing pages, SaaS marketing sites, fintech UI
• Fashion, beauty and lifestyle packaging where the brand wants an international feel
• Property developer signage and print collateral in Bangkok and Phuket
• Co-working spaces, coffee chains, and F&B brands targeting younger urban Thais
• Bilingual app interfaces where the Latin pair is a geometric sans

Where it struggles: formal government documents (Sarabun is the mandated default), long-form reading at 9–10pt, and traditional Thai cultural contexts where looped Thai remains the more respectful choice.

Kanit versus Prompt and Mitr

All three are loopless Thai sans faces from Cadson Demak on Google Fonts, and they get compared constantly. The differences are personality and weight range. In short:

• Prompt — rounder and friendlier than Kanit; better where the brief calls for warmth
• Mitr — wider and more humanist; strong on headlines and posters
• Bai Jamjuree — squarer and more technical
• Chakra Petch — a harder, more institutional and technological register

If your criterion is the widest weight range, Kanit wins this group with nine weights and 18 styles. See every option in the loopless Thai font category.

Pairings

Kanit pairs best with geometric Latin sans faces that match its high x-height and circular construction. Three that work:

• Poppins — a geometric Latin sans on a similar circular skeleton, which lines up neatly against Kanit
• Montserrat — similar tone with slightly narrower proportions, good for editorial headlines
• Sarabun — when you want looped Thai body text under Kanit headings for easier long-form reading

See the typography hub for more combinations.

Name variants and spellings

This font is searched for in several forms, all meaning the same family:

• Kanit — the official Google Fonts name
• คณิต / ฟอนต์คณิต — the Thai name; the word means mathematics
• Kanit font Thai / font Kanit ไทย — searches for the Thai version, which is the same file published on Google Fonts

Licensing

Kanit is released under the SIL Open Font License and can be used commercially, bundled in products, and modified provided the original copyright and OFL licence travel with the file. The canonical source is the Cadson Demak GitHub repository; Google Fonts mirrors the same OFL-licensed files. No commercial licence purchase is required for any weight or style.

Browse every licence-verified free Thai family in the free Thai fonts category.

Information verified as of August 2026