Inter
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 8 of 26 typefaces by recommenders
Recommended as a readable interface font that works at small sizes, with many weights in one file. Critics call it overused and its thin weights too faint.
Recommended as a readable interface font that works at small sizes, with many weights in one file. Critics call it overused and its thin weights too faint.
19 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 13
- criticize it
- 6
- approval share
- 68%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 13 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Readable at small sizes
“produces readable small text on terrible 80 DPI displays”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Public Sans – A strong, neutral typeface” “they are easy for the human eye to read quickly”
Comment from 13 Dec 2025 in “Google releases its new Google Sans Flex font as open source” “such as Inter, which does work on smaller sizes”
Comment from 7 May 2026 in “Show HN: Explore color palettes inspired by 3000 master painter artworks” Many weights and OpenType features
“with tnum for monospace numbers being a good option as well that I hadn't even realised I wanted from a font”
Comment from 6 Aug 2026 in “Pareto Front” “Inter even has "U+1E9E" "Latin Capital Letter Sharp S" and two lower case sharp s variants as well.”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Public Sans – A strong, neutral typeface” “the variable weights from 100 to 900 in a single file”
Comment from 22 Aug 2026 in “Font League – new website typography” - Comment from 6 Aug 2026 in “Pareto Front”
Default choice for interfaces
“I also use Inter heavily in my Obsidian setup, and I'm very happy about it, too.”
Comment from 25 Jun 2026 in “Show HN: Monolisa v3 – a typeface for developers and creatives” “Recently, I have been enjoying https://rsms.me/inter/ for interfaces a bit more”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Public Sans – A strong, neutral typeface” “my personal favorite is Inter these days”
Comment from 24 Dec 2025 in “Volvo Centum is Dalton Maag's new typeface for Volvo” - Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Public Sans – A strong, neutral typeface”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Overused, generic look
“I swear if I see one more Bricolage Grotesque and Inter website I am going to flip.”
Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Amazon Without the Knockoffs” “I was never the biggest fan of the grotesk-style Roboto/Inter/Univers”
Comment from 19 Dec 2025 in “Making Google Sans Flex” “I just assumed people wanted knockoff San Francisco on purpose”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Public Sans – A strong, neutral typeface” Strong dislike of its look
“that font. Inter Variable. That is a new level of garbage.”
Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “Shopify acquires Tailwind” “unreadably thin weights of the already too thin Inter font”
Comment from 27 Sep 2026 in “Tells of a Slop UI”
Other typefaces people recommend
The four most recommended other typefaces, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Times New Roman | 35 | 28 | 56% | 4 | — | — |
| Atkinson Hyperlegible | 23 | 2 | 92% | 6 | — | Approved |
| Shantell Sans | 19 | 1 | 95% | 2 | — | — |
| Calibri | 16 | 36 | 31% | 1 | — | — |
| InterThis page | 13 | 6 | 68% | 6 | — | Approved |
What people said
20 of the 21 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Both Inter and Iosevka are gorgeous fonts.”
“unreadably thin weights of the already too thin Inter font”
“Inter is, for me at any rate, a reasonable font, especially for online usage”
“that font. Inter Variable. That is a new level of garbage.”
“the variable weights from 100 to 900 in a single file”
“with tnum for monospace numbers being a good option as well that I hadn't even realised I wanted from a font”
“Inter with optional open type features turned on?”
“I swear if I see one more Bricolage Grotesque and Inter website I am going to flip.”
“I also use Inter heavily in my Obsidian setup, and I'm very happy about it, too.”
“such as Inter, which does work on smaller sizes”
“it wouldn't have been made the default in Figma and it wouldn't be, well, so generally used”
“But l and I (ell and eye) are identical in Inter.”
“I just assumed people wanted knockoff San Francisco on purpose”
“Inter even has "U+1E9E" "Latin Capital Letter Sharp S" and two lower case sharp s variants as well.”
“produces readable small text on terrible 80 DPI displays”
“Inter has also become my default.”
“Recently, I have been enjoying https://rsms.me/inter/ for interfaces a bit more”
“my personal favorite is Inter these days”
“I was never the biggest fan of the grotesk-style Roboto/Inter/Univers”
“they are easy for the human eye to read quickly”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.