Font Pairing Finder — Curated Heading + Body

Free tool No sign-up
1 · Pick your heading fontEight curated identities
Playfair Display · Editorial · High-contrast · weights 700, 900
2 · Curated body pairings for Playfair Display4 hand-picked
Live preview · Playfair Display + Inter

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Setting body copy is the most consequential typographic decision you make. Tune until the eye glides without effort across each line and lands cleanly on the next. Everything else is decoration.

Updated 2 minutes ago · 14 min read · 3.2k views

/* Add this <link> to your <head> */
<link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com">
<link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.gstatic.com" crossorigin>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Playfair+Display:700,900&family=Inter:400,500&display=swap">

/* CSS variables */
:root {
  --font-heading: 'Playfair Display', Georgia, serif;
  --font-body:    'Inter', system-ui, sans-serif;
}

h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 { font-family: var(--font-heading); }
body { font-family: var(--font-body); }

About this generator

Find a working font pairing in seconds — eight curated headings (Inter, Playfair, Space Grotesk, Fraunces) each with 3–4 hand-picked body fonts. Multi-size live preview, auto Google Fonts loading, copy-ready CSS.

Why use this Font Pairing Finder?

Curated, not algorithmic
Every pairing is human-tested. Algorithm-suggested pairings often look fine in isolation but clash at real type sizes — these are the ones that actually work.
Multi-size live preview
Hero, subhead, card title, body, caption — all rendered at once with your pairing. See if the contrast holds across the whole type scale.
Auto Google Fonts loading
Pick a pairing and the right Google Fonts CSS injects automatically. The export tab gives you the production <link> tag plus the CSS variables.
Four export formats
CSS variables + Google Fonts <link>, Tailwind config, raw import tag, SCSS variables. Drop straight into your stack.

How to find a font pairing that works

  1. 01
    Pick a heading font
    Eight curated headings: Inter, Playfair, Space Grotesk, Fraunces, Archivo, Manrope, Syne, Libre Caslon. Pick the identity, then the body comes from a tested shortlist.
  2. 02
    Pick a curated body
    Each heading shows 3–4 hand-picked body fonts that pair well. Click one and watch the entire preview update — Google Fonts loads automatically.
  3. 03
    Preview at every size
    Hero (48px), subhead (24px), card title (18px), body (16px), caption (12px) all render simultaneously. If the body looks dense at 16px or the heading looks thin at 48px, try a different pairing.
  4. 04
    Try your own text
    Replace the hero text with your real product name. Pairings that work for "Aurora Pass" might not work for "Acme Industrial Solutions LLC".
  5. 05
    Export and ship
    Switch tabs to CSS, Tailwind, raw import, or SCSS. Hit Copy. Or hit "Share this pairing" to send a colleague the URL with both fonts encoded in the query string.

Pairing strategies

PatternVibeWhen to use
Serif heading + sans bodyeditorialThe classic news-site setup. Playfair + Inter, Fraunces + Work Sans. Heading carries the personality, body stays out of the way.
Sans heading + serif bodylong-formInverted classic. Inter + Lora, Manrope + Merriweather. Modern brand, traditional reading. Great for blogs and magazines.
Sans heading + sans bodyproductInter + Source Sans, Space Grotesk + Work Sans. Clean, neutral, gets out of the way. Default for SaaS apps and dashboards.
Display + supportive bodybrandSyne + Inter, Archivo + Inter. Display heading screams personality; clean body lets the heading shine. For landing pages and brand-led marketing.
Same family, two weightsminimalInter 800 + Inter 400. The safest option. Use when you want zero typographic distraction (admin tools, internal apps).

Common font-pairing patterns

Two CSS variables (recommended)
:root {
  --font-heading: 'Playfair Display', Georgia, serif;
  --font-body:    'Inter', system-ui, sans-serif;
}

h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 { font-family: var(--font-heading); }
body { font-family: var(--font-body); }
Tailwind config
// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
  theme: {
    extend: {
      fontFamily: {
        heading: ['Playfair Display', 'Georgia', 'serif'],
        body:    ['Inter', 'system-ui', 'sans-serif'],
      }
    }
  }
};

<h1 className="font-heading">Title</h1>
<p  className="font-body">Body</p>
Performance: preload critical fonts
<!-- In <head> — preconnect first, then preload the actual font file -->
<link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com">
<link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.gstatic.com" crossorigin>
<link rel="preload" as="style" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Inter:wght@400;500&family=Playfair+Display:wght@700&display=swap">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Inter:wght@400;500&family=Playfair+Display:wght@700&display=swap">

Pro tips

01
Two fonts, max
Three or more fonts on a page reads as inexperienced design. Pick one heading, one body. Use weight + size for hierarchy, not new fonts.
02
Test at production sizes
A pairing that looks great at the demo size on this page might fail at YOUR product's 14px navigation labels. Use the custom-text input with your real copy.
03
Match x-height for harmony
When pairing serif + sans, the body font's x-height should be close to the heading's. Wildly different x-heights make the page feel unbalanced.
04
Use display:swap
Always include &display=swap in Google Fonts URLs. Without it, text is invisible until the font loads (FOIT). With it, fallback fonts show immediately and swap when ready.

See it used in real designs

Browse hand-coded collections that put this tool to work.

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