

Faster, better performance: Google Fonts load a lot extra CSS that you won’t need plus if you self-host, you can bundle and minify your font-related CSS rules/files too (which also results in fewer HTTP requests).Better for security: it’s not likely that Google Fonts will be hacked, but on your own server, you still have full control over your security.Better for privacy: third-party CDNs frequently use cookies and other tracking algorithms that you don’t necessarily know about this is especially problematic in countries where you are required to get your users’ explicit consent to be tracked on your site (for instance, here’s a good case study of the GDPR-compliance of Google Fonts).

Plus, you don’t have to worry that the service will be discontinued at some time in the future. The one difference that’s probably worth noting is that Google Fonts are stored on Google’s CDN, so you can expect low latency, proper maintenance, and good performance (as opposed to some smaller providers). These pros and cons don’t only apply to Google Fonts but any web-hosted fonts. Pros and Cons of Self-Hosting Google Fonts This applies to both locally hosted websites on your system, or your own web server. Even though self-hosting Google Fonts might seem easy and self-explanatory at first, there are loads of things to pay attention to if you want to keep performance in mind.īefore getting into the practical details, let’s see when it’s worth hosting Google Fonts on your own server. In this article, we’ll have a look at how to self-host a frequently used static asset: Google Fonts.

Sometimes, it’s still better to stick to your own infrastructure and host your assets on your local server. However, this is not always the best decision. As web designers living in the era of high-speed internet, we have picked up the habit of adding external dependencies such as fonts from third-party servers, most frequently from content delivery networks (CDNs).
