A practical font choice
When to choose Lato or Roboto
For a welcoming heading, start with Lato. For a more geometric feel in labels or information-heavy layouts, start with Roboto. These are design starting points, not a readability ranking: the best choice depends on your actual words, size and surrounding layout.
Lato: rounded details
Lato combines structured proportions with softly rounded details. Its original design aimed to stay unobtrusive in body text while revealing more character at larger sizes. This makes it a useful candidate for a friendly presentation title, a reading-corner heading or a short quote.
Try the uppercase letters in your title, then switch to mixed case. Look at the curves and the way the letters sit together before choosing Regular or Bold.
Roboto: geometric structure
Roboto combines a largely geometric structure with open curves and naturally proportioned letter widths. Try it for slide labels, event details or a heading that sits beside diagrams and numbers.
Include the dates, prices or measurements from your project. Compare the spacing around punctuation and the overall width of the line; neither font will always fit a given phrase better.
Design descriptions: Lato in the Google Fonts catalogue and Roboto in the Google Fonts catalogue. The project suggestions above are FontStyleLab’s editorial recommendations.
Compare the details that matter to your project
- Use your real text. Replace the sample with your title or a few lines from your layout. Include accented names and punctuation you will actually use.
- Start at the same size and weight. Keep both at Regular, then try Bold. Look at the lowercase a, g and e, the capital R and numerals such as 1, 4 and 7. Check ambiguous combinations such as Il1 in context.
- Check the intended viewing size. A large heading shows details that disappear in a small caption. Adjust Font size and compare line breaks. Equal numeric sizes do not guarantee equal visible letter heights or widths.
- Review a printed sample. Choose A4 or US Letter above and download the handout. Both font names appear beside your text, and the samples keep the same type size. Print at 100% to assess the physical result.
Use your choice in a finished design
Select “Use this font” beside the sample to carry your words into the text generator. Add color, adjust spacing and download a transparent PNG for a slide or a PDF for printing. No font installation is needed to make the graphic. For placement advice, follow the text graphics guide.
The live samples start with Lato and Roboto. You can add more fonts or remove either one; the handout always uses your current selection. This comparison uses the standard families, not Roboto Condensed, Roboto Slab or Roboto Mono.
Can I use Lato and Roboto commercially?
Google Fonts supports commercial use under the individual font licences. Check the licence supplied with the font files you use, especially when distributing or modifying those files. Our Fonts & licences page explains rendered artwork, bundled fonts and local font files.