Should I self-host my web fonts?

Browsers now key their HTTP cache by the site that made the request, not only by the resource's URL.

So a font downloaded while visiting one site is not reused when another site requests the same file.

Every site therefore pays the download for every new visitor, whether the font comes from a shared service or from the site itself.

With the shared-cache benefit removed, the comparison comes down to connections, control and privacy.

Advice written before that change still circulates widely, which is why the question keeps being asked.

A font from another origin needs its own DNS lookup, TCP connection and TLS handshake before the first byte arrives.

Some services split the stylesheet and the font files across two origins, which means two sets of connection setup.

The stylesheet must be downloaded and parsed before the browser even knows which font file to request, adding a round trip.

A preconnect hint reduces this cost and does not remove it.

Self-hosted fonts travel over the connection already open to your own origin, which is the whole saving.

Caching: you set the lifetime, and versioned file names let you cache fonts essentially forever.

Subsetting: serving only the characters your content uses can reduce a font file to a fraction of its size.

Formats: serving only a modern compressed format rather than whatever the service negotiates.

Loading behaviour: the font-display value and preload hints for the one or two files needed above the fold.

Availability: the font no longer depends on a third party's uptime or on its policy changes.

Every request to a third-party font service sends the visitor's IP address and the page they were on to that provider.

Some European regulators and courts have treated that transfer as processing of personal data that needs a legal basis.

Self-hosting removes the transfer entirely, which removes the question.

It also removes one item from the list of third parties a consent banner or a privacy notice has to account for.

A prototype or an internal tool, where convenience matters more than a round trip.

A site with no build process, where downloading and serving fonts is real extra work.

A font whose licence does not permit self-hosting — check the licence before copying files, since open-source families usually allow it and commercial ones vary.

Even then, preconnect to the font origins and set a font-display value, which recovers most of the cost.

Preload only the one or two font files used above the fold; preloading every weight competes with more important resources.

Set a font-display value so text renders in a fallback rather than staying invisible while the font loads.

Choose a fallback with similar metrics, or adjust it, to limit the layout shift when the font swaps in.

Serve the files with a long cache lifetime and a correct content type.

Remove the old third-party stylesheet link, since leaving both in place downloads the font twice.