What Font Does GitHub Use?
Hunting for the GitHub font for a developer tool, docs site, or brand study? You are in luck: GitHub uses Mona Sans and Hubot Sans, and both are free, open-source typefaces you can download today. That makes GitHub one of the easiest major brands to match exactly. This article is part of our broader look at famous brand fonts and how tech companies build a type identity.
What font does the GitHub logo use?
The GitHub wordmark is custom lettering, and the Octocat mascot is bespoke illustration, neither is a typeface glyph. As with most tech brands, the logo is a fixed asset you should not try to retype. But unlike most brands, the supporting typefaces GitHub built around that logo are fully open, so you can match the surrounding identity precisely. The same custom-logo, open-text pattern appears, in reverse, when proprietary fonts are involved, as in what font does Dropbox use.
What is Mona Sans?
Mona Sans is a variable, slightly grotesque sans-serif GitHub developed with Degarism and released openly. It is the workhorse of the modern GitHub identity: confident, neutral enough for interface text, yet characterful in its heavier weights. Because it is a variable font, it spans a wide range of weights and widths from a single file, which keeps the brand flexible and downloads lean. Mona Sans is free and open-source under the SIL Open Font License.
What is Hubot Sans?
Hubot Sans is Mona Sans’s more expressive companion, also a variable, open-source typeface from GitHub. Named after GitHub’s classic chat bot, Hubot, it carries a slightly more technical, mechanical personality for display and campaign use. Pairing a neutral text face with a punchier display face from the same studio gives GitHub contrast without clutter. Like Mona Sans, Hubot Sans is free under an open license, so you can use the exact pairing in your own projects.
Because both faces ship under the SIL Open Font License, you have wide freedom to use, embed, and bundle them, just keep the license file with the fonts. For the rules on redistributing open fonts, see our font licensing guide.
What font does GitHub use for code?
Inside code blocks, diffs, and the editor, GitHub uses a monospace font stack that prefers your system’s coding fonts, commonly SFMono on macOS, Consolas on Windows, and similar, rather than shipping one fixed code face. This keeps code rendering fast and native. If you want a dedicated coding font in the same spirit, our roundups of the best monospace fonts and best programming fonts are good starting points.
GitHub fonts and free alternatives
Because GitHub open-sourced its type, almost every use case has a free, exact match. Here is the map.
| Use case | GitHub font | Free alternative |
|---|---|---|
| Logo / Octocat | Custom artwork | Not replicable — leave logos to the brand |
| Brand / UI text | Mona Sans | Mona Sans (free, open-source) |
| Display / campaigns | Hubot Sans | Hubot Sans (free, open-source) |
| Code blocks | Monospace system stack | Any free coding font (e.g. JetBrains Mono) |
The headline here: the GitHub font is already free. Download Mona Sans and Hubot Sans directly from GitHub’s own repositories and you are using the exact brand typefaces. If you prefer a neutral grotesque for general UI, Inter is another excellent free option, also under the SIL Open Font License.
Why did GitHub open-source its fonts?
Open-sourcing Mona Sans and Hubot Sans is perfectly on-brand for a company whose entire business is open collaboration. It lets the global developer community use GitHub’s typefaces in tools, extensions, and docs that orbit the platform, strengthening the ecosystem while reinforcing GitHub’s identity everywhere those fonts appear. It also reflects a practical truth: when your audience is developers, giving them the actual assets builds more goodwill than locking them away.
How to match the GitHub look in your own designs
Matching GitHub is unusually straightforward because the brand typefaces are free. Download Mona Sans for your UI and body text and Hubot Sans for headlines or campaign moments, and you are using the genuine pairing GitHub designed to work together. Both are variable fonts, so you can dial in exact weights and widths from a single file, which keeps your CSS lean and your hierarchy precise.
For a developer-facing product, lean into GitHub’s restraint: neutral Mona Sans for the interface, Hubot Sans only where you want a bit of mechanical character, and a monospace system stack for any code so it renders natively and fast. Because both faces ship under the SIL Open Font License, you can self-host them, embed them in apps, and use them commercially at no cost, just keep the license file with the font files when you redistribute. If you are choosing a dedicated coding font to sit alongside them, our roundup of the best programming fonts pairs well with the Mona Sans direction, and our font licensing guide covers the redistribution rules for open fonts.
Frequently Asked Questions
What font does GitHub use?
GitHub uses Mona Sans for brand and interface text and Hubot Sans as an expressive display companion, both open-source variable typefaces GitHub created. Code blocks use a monospace system font stack, and the Octocat and wordmark are custom artwork.
Is the GitHub font free?
Yes. Both Mona Sans and Hubot Sans are released by GitHub as free, open-source fonts under the SIL Open Font License. You can download them from GitHub’s repositories and use them in commercial and personal projects, keeping the license file with the font files.
What is Mona Sans vs Hubot Sans?
Mona Sans is GitHub’s neutral, workhorse sans-serif for UI and brand text. Hubot Sans is its more mechanical, expressive sibling for display and campaigns. Both are variable, open-source typefaces from GitHub, designed to pair together for contrast without clashing.
What font does GitHub use for code?
GitHub renders code with a monospace font stack that prefers your operating system’s coding fonts, such as SFMono on macOS or Consolas on Windows, rather than one fixed face. For a dedicated coding font with the same spirit, free options like JetBrains Mono work well.
How do I download the GitHub font?
Search for the official Mona Sans and Hubot Sans repositories on GitHub and download the font files released there. Both are free under the SIL Open Font License, so you can install them locally or self-host them on the web at no cost.
