FontCreator 16 is here

High-Logic Announcements
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Hi everyone,

After a long stretch of work, FontCreator 16 is out — the biggest release we’ve shipped in years. A lot of what’s in it came directly from feedback you shared on this forum, so first of all: thank you.

The short list of what’s new:

  • Mask — flag any contour or component as a mask to subtract it from the geometry that precedes it. Compound shapes (rings, donuts) work as you’d expect, the original geometry stays in the project file, and masks are flattened only on export. The subtractive design tool that was missing from the toolbox.
  • Background Layer — every master now has a proper background layer with its own outline, metrics, anchors, and color.
  • Helper Layers — auxiliary layers attached to a master for sketches, references, and comparison overlays. Listed alongside everything else in the new Masters and Layers panel.
  • Smart Components — component references with parameters. Define internal axes on a glyph, carry alternate layers along them, and reuse the same component at different positions in different host glyphs. Round-trips through .glyphs v3 and our own project format.
  • Path Decorations — corner and cap components attached to specific outline points. Survives editing, copy and paste, and round-trip with .glyphs.
  • Reference Artwork — multiple bitmap or vector reference images per master, attached as layers in the Masters and Layers panel.
  • A refreshed editor — new visualisations (Curvature Comb, Contour Direction Indicators, Marquee Zoom), a Shift constraint on the Pen tool, click-to-edit color swatches, and a Masters and Layers panel that’s now consistent across Windows and macOS.

There’s a lot more — the complete changelog has the full list.

A licensing note while I have your attention: there is now one license that includes every feature; the Home, Standard, and Professional editions are retired. Pricing is on the New Licenses page.

You can grab v16 from the download page. It runs on Windows and macOS.

Please share what you build with it, and let me know if anything misbehaves — bug reports here on the forum get fixed the fastest.

Erwin

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Hi, could you prepare a video tutorial showing us new futures of Font Creator 16. Another thing: Can you revise the licensing options. I’m not satisfied with the annual paying. Thanks.

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Sad to hear you’ve changed licensing model. I enjoyed being able to update when I wanted and not have to worry about recurring fees. :frowning:

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Thanks for the feedback, both of you.

I’ve reconsidered the licensing change. Perpetual licenses are back for FontCreator 16, sold alongside the subscription option. You can buy and own a copy as before, or subscribe if that suits you better. The feedback from long-time users carried real weight in the rethink.

One thing that is staying: the three editions (Home / Standard / Professional) are being consolidated into a single FontCreator with all features included. Whether you go perpetual or subscription, you get the full feature set.

@Nebuldu — on the video tutorial, that’s a fair request. I’ll put something together covering what’s new in v16. No firm date yet, but it’s on the list.

Thanks for sticking with FontCreator.

Erwin

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Thank you very much. It’s so fine.

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Hello,

Nice to hear, if you keep perpetual edition. :slight_smile:

I’m a new FontCreator user, I purchased FontCreator 15 Pro on November 24th during BlackFriday. Am I eligible for the free upgrade? Do I need a new serial number?

Thanks Erwin,

Bruno

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Good question. If you purchased a FontCreator 15 Standard or Professional perpetual license within six months before the release of FontCreator 16 on April 29, 2026, your v16 perpetual license is included at no additional charge. We will send it later today.

FontCreator 15 Home edition customers within the same window: please contact support for a custom upgrade arrangement.

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Thank you Erwin, I got the email today. One of the best customer support! :slight_smile:

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That is a long list of substantial changes. It will take me months to try them all out.

I wonder if there has been any progress on hinting or editing of colour glyphs for the MacOS version?

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I agree, I’m retired and a hobbyist and am happy with V15 home. If I don’t upgrade, will my current version stop working? I find the price of an upgrade a bit steep for features I won’t be using, even before I convert the price from what I assume are US$ into Canadian $.

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@bbruno — Enjoy the new features!

@Bhikkhu_Pesala — Yes, it is quite a list, and I don’t expect anyone to try everything at once!

There has been major progress on colour glyph editing on macOS. FontCreator 16 includes the redesigned Masters and Layers panel with support for color layers, editable color swatches, a palette-entry picker, a color picker, improvements to the Paint Bucket tool, and a new Palette Manager dialog on macOS.

Hinting has not changed in this release, so there is no real progress to report there yet. My main focus for this release was the editor, layers, masks, smart components, stroked paths, and bringing the Windows and macOS versions much closer together.

@Pigpen510 — No, your current FontCreator 15 Home license will not stop working. It is a perpetual license, so you can continue using it for as long as it works on your system.

FontCreator 16 is completely optional. If version 15 Home still meets your needs, especially as a hobbyist, then there is no need to upgrade right away.

I do understand the upgrade feels steep coming from the Home Edition. With FontCreator 16 we decided to merge the old Home, Standard, and Professional editions into one FontCreator edition that includes all features. Years ago the separate editions made a lot of sense, as we had many hobbyists using the software. Today most users are serious font designers, type foundries, or graphic designers, so a single full-featured edition is more in line with how software is generally offered now.

That said, I fully understand that not everyone needs all those features, so staying with version 15 is perfectly fine.

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I just purchased a license to update to v16 but it fails to activate. I received an invoice with an invoice ID and a purchase ID, and both are rejected for being invalid. As far as I know I’ve received no other codes.

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You should also have received an email with subject:
Your FontCreator Activation Code – High-Logic

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I searched through all my email accounts and checked my spam boxes as well, but didn’t find an email with that particular subject. It seems it got lost somewhere. I’ll get in touch with customer support and ask for that email to be resent.

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I have received your support ticket and replied to it.

I have also manually resent the license email, so I hope you have received it by now. Please do check your spam/junk folder again, just in case it ends up there.

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That is great… I try not to use subscription models for programs… and having one version must be way easier to handle from your side of the aisle, code being code!

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Congratulations on your hard work to bring us a new version. So glad to hear that you’ve kept the existing pricing strategy and have just upgraded to Pro 16 permanent in support of your sterling efforts …

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