What Is coolLabs Fonts?

Updated

coolLabs Fonts is a privacy-friendly drop-in replacement for Google Fonts. It serves the same fonts through a different domain and, according to the project, does not log anything about your visitors. You use it by changing fonts.googleapis.com to api.fonts.coollabs.io in your font tags. This suits sites that already use Google Fonts and want to keep the same fonts and API while moving font requests away from Google's servers.

What problem it solves

Google Fonts requests go to Google's servers, which means your visitors' details reach Google. coolLabs Fonts keeps the same font service but routes requests elsewhere. The project states that the API does not log IP addresses, browser agents, or request details, and that font files are served from BunnyCDN with logging disabled on their side.

The practical effect: font requests no longer go to Google, so visitor details stay away from Google's servers. The project describes this as GDPR friendly.

How to switch

The change is a single domain swap in your existing font tags.

Before:

<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Roboto&display=swap" rel="stylesheet">

After:

<link href="https://api.fonts.coollabs.io/css2?family=Roboto&display=swap" rel="stylesheet">

Steps:

  1. Find every fonts.googleapis.com reference in your HTML or CSS (font <link> tags and @import rules).
  2. Replace the domain with api.fonts.coollabs.io, keeping the rest of the URL unchanged.
  3. Load the page and confirm the fonts render as before.

Expected result: the same fonts appear, but requests go to coolLabs Fonts instead of Google.

What it supports

Capability Detail
Google Fonts CSS API Supports the css2 and css endpoints
Material Icons Available through the same domain swap on the icon endpoint
Delivery Font files served from BunnyCDN
Logging Project states the API logs nothing and CDN logging is disabled

Because it mirrors Google Fonts' API endpoints, existing font URLs generally work after the domain change. If a font or icon set is available through Google Fonts' CSS API, the same URL path should work on the coolLabs domain.

Who it is for

  • Sites already using Google Fonts that want to stop sending font requests to Google.
  • Projects with privacy or GDPR concerns about third-party requests to Google.
  • Developers who want a minimal change rather than reworking their font setup.

It is less relevant if you already self-host fonts or use a different font delivery method, since the main benefit is the one-line domain swap.

Things to know

  • It is a third-party service. You are still depending on an external domain for font delivery, just not Google's. Check that this fits your privacy requirements.
  • Availability depends on the project. The service is described as open source, self-hosted on a Hetzner server, and funded by sponsors. There is no stated uptime guarantee in the provided material, so consider a fallback font stack in your CSS.
  • Verify after switching. Load a page with the new domain and confirm fonts and icons render. If a font fails to load, check that the URL path matches the original Google Fonts URL exactly.
  • Pricing and access terms are not specified in the available material beyond the project describing itself as free and open source; confirm current terms on the site if you need certainty.

The project reports over 7,000,000 monthly requests, which suggests real-world use, but treat that as the project's own figure rather than an independent measurement.