The short version
- iFontMaker is a $9.99 iPad app (there is a Windows version too) where you draw every letter with a finger or an Apple Pencil, edit the curves, and export a TTF. Any character you like, including Greek, Cyrillic, and Japanese.
- SnapFont never asks you to draw on glass. You write 72 letters on paper with a real pen, take one photo, and the font is your actual handwriting about 20 minutes later.
- iFontMaker is the better tool for designing a font. SnapFont is the better tool for capturing your hand.
Feature by feature
| Feature | SnapFont | iFontMaker |
|---|---|---|
| Device | iPhone, Android | iPad (also Windows) |
| Price | Free first font; Pro subscription for install/export | $9.99 one time |
| How letters are made | Written on paper, photographed | Drawn on screen with finger or Pencil |
| Looks like your handwriting | Yes, it is your handwriting | As close as you can draw it |
| Design a font from scratch | No | Yes |
| Editing individual shapes | Re-capture a letter | Full vector editing |
| Characters | 72 fixed | Any, including Greek, Cyrillic, Japanese |
| Time to a full font | About 20 minutes | Varies; drawing 60+ letters takes a while |
| Install on iPhone | Built in | Export and use a profile app |
| Output | TTF | TTF, web font |
Where iFontMaker wins
Control and range. You can design a display face from nothing, edit every curve, and cover any script, not just basic Latin. It imports font files, so it also works as a repair shop for a letter that came out wrong somewhere else. And it costs $9.99 once, which for a single font is cheaper than any subscription. If you own an iPad and enjoy drawing, it is a good afternoon.
Where SnapFont wins
Honesty of the source. Anyone who has signed their name on a tablet knows that glass has no drag and the pen is the wrong weight, so the letters come out as a nervous impression of your writing. With practice and a Pencil it gets close; it never gets to "that is exactly my hand," because it is your hand doing an unfamiliar thing.
Paper has none of that. You write the way you have written for decades and the photo keeps it. SnapFont then straightens the page, reads every box, sets the sizes and the baseline from your own writing, and installs the font on your iPhone with one tap. No iPad, no drawing, no separate profile app.
Using them together
This is more common than either app would admit. Capture the real handwriting with SnapFont, export the TTF, and open it in iFontMaker to fix the one letter that never comes out right or to add a character SnapFont does not cover. The reverse, drawing in iFontMaker and hoping it looks like your handwriting, works less well, because the source was never your hand. The longer version, with the pricing shapes and the drawing-on-glass argument in full, is in the full SnapFont vs iFontMaker post.
Questions people ask
- Is SnapFont cheaper than iFontMaker?
- For one font, no. iFontMaker is $9.99 once. SnapFont is free to make and type with a font, and Pro is a subscription to install or export it. Pro pays off if you make several fonts over time or want the iPhone install handled for you.
- Can iFontMaker capture my real handwriting?
- You draw the letters on the screen with a finger or Apple Pencil, so it captures your drawing of your handwriting. That is close, but not the same as pen on paper.
- Which one has more characters?
- iFontMaker, by a wide margin: any Unicode character. SnapFont is fixed at 72: letters, digits, and the punctuation people actually type.
- Does SnapFont work on an iPad?
- Yes, it is an iPhone app that runs on iPad too, and the font installs system-wide on both. iFontMaker is iPad and Windows, not iPhone.
Other comparisons
Write it instead of drawing it
Print the free sheet, write one page with a real pen, take one photo. Your first font is free.
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