Should we use Glyphs in 2025?

Glyphs has been a faithful companion since the beginning of Easy Web, and even before that for me. I have seen the tool evolve and grow, and it has always been at the heart of our most ambitious typographic projects. What always strikes me about Glyphs is its surgical precision in character design.

For anyone venturing into font design, from digital lettering to complete character families, Glyphs is simply unbeatable. Its interface, although dense, offers intuitive logic once mastered, allowing total control over every curve and every point. It is the benchmark tool for demanding professionals.

However, let's not kid ourselves, this power comes at a cost. It has a steep learning curve, and its price tag can be a deterrent for freelancers or small start-ups. And of course, it remains a highly specialized tool, not an "all-in-one" solution for general graphic design.

If you're new to typographic design, you might think Glyphs is an impenetrable fortress. Think again! I've seen designers here adopt it very quickly for specific tasks. You can start simply: adjust the spacing of an existing font, or modify a few glyphs for a logo. The interface is streamlined for such a powerful tool, guiding you step by step toward concrete results.

It's a real sandbox for learning. Before diving into advanced features such as OpenType feature codes, you'll quickly master vectorization and curve handling. The numerous tutorials and active community make it easy to get started. It's the ideal tool for turning your curiosity into real skills without feeling overwhelmed.

When evaluating Glyphs at Easy Web, its pricing model is a strong point: a one-time purchase, not a subscription, which is rare in 2025. Glyphs 3 is the ultimate professional tool, costing around €399. It's the perfect investment for design studios and experienced typographers who manage variable fonts, multiple masters, or complex typographic projects.

For those who are just starting out or have more basic needs, Glyphs Mini, at around €49, is an affordable entry point. It allows you to create basic fonts, ideal for generalist designers or students exploring typography without the complexity of the full edition. Excellent value for money to get started.

What has always impressed me about Glyphs is its handling of Smart Components and interpolation. For a designer, it changes everything. You create a base, and Glyphs lets you generate variants—weights, widths, styles—almost automatically. No more need to redraw each character for each variation! It's a huge time saver, especially for complete font family projects, or even for anticipating variable fonts.

Next, it's impossible not to mention the interface. Despite the inherent complexity of typography, Glyphs is disconcertingly clear. It's intuitive, and the workflow is designed with the designer in mind. Even if you're new to font creation, the learning curve is surprisingly gentle. This allows our teams to focus on creativity, not on navigating complicated software. This is essential for maintaining our efficiency.

One of the first things that impressed me about Glyphs was the depth of its component management. It's not just copy and paste; it's a modular approach where every part of a character can be a reusable element. For us at Easy Web, when managing font families with hundreds of glyphs and variations, this ability to modify a component and see the update applied everywhere saves us an incredible amount of time. It guarantees perfect consistency and incredible flexibility.

But where Glyphs really stands out for professionals is with its built-in Python scripting engine. Seriously, it's a gold mine! You can automate repetitive tasks, create data reports on your fonts, or even develop your own custom tools. For example, we were able to generate spacing variants for hundreds of kerning pairs in the blink of an eye. That's the kind of power that radically transforms your workflow.