Is ClearResume really free?

Yes — building, editing, and exporting to PDF, Word, and JSON are free forever, with no download paywall. Paid plans only unlock AI tailoring, cover letters, and the recruiter screen.

What does honest tailoring mean?

When you tailor to a job, ClearResume reframes and reprioritizes your real experience to match the role. It never invents employers, titles, or metrics, and anything it adds is flagged for you to confirm before you send it.

What is the AI recruiter screen?

Before you apply, ClearResume runs your resume through an AI that scores it against a specific job the way a recruiter screens — giving a fit verdict, your strengths, the gaps, and concrete fixes — so you can close the gaps before a real recruiter sees it.

How does ClearResume prove a resume is ATS-friendly?

The live X-ray renders your real resume to PDF, then re-extracts the text exactly like an applicant tracking system would, and shows you which fields survived. What you see is what an ATS sees.

Your resume is stored in an encrypted database and sent to the AI provider only when you ask for tailoring or screening. ClearResume does not sell your data or use it to train models, and you can delete your account anytime.

What formats can I import and export?

Import from PDF, DOCX, or plain text. Export to PDF, Microsoft Word (.docx), or the open JSON Resume standard.

What is the best font for a resume in 2026?

For a modern look, Calibri (or its equivalents like Carlito) and Inter are excellent. For a classic, space-efficient look, Garamond and Georgia are top choices. All are legible at small sizes and parse cleanly in ATS software.

What font size should a resume be?

Use 10–12pt for body text, 12–14pt for section headings, and 18–24pt for your name. Don't go below 10pt to fit more — tighten content instead.

Is Times New Roman a bad resume font?

It's not bad technically — it's legible and ATS-safe — but it's so common it reads as a non-choice. A font like Georgia or Garamond gives the same classic feel while looking more intentional.

Does my resume font affect ATS scanning?

The ATS reads the text layer, not the visual font, but non-standard or badly-embedded fonts can make a PDF extract as garbled text or as an image. Stick to standard fonts and export real, selectable text.

The Best Resume Fonts for 2026 (and 5 to Avoid)

The best resume fonts are legible, professional, ATS-safe, and space-efficient. Here are the top serif and sans-serif picks for 2026, the sizes to use, and the fonts that quietly hurt you.

Your font is the first thing a recruiter notices and the last thing they consciously think about — which is exactly why it matters. A clean, readable typeface makes a six-second skim feel effortless. A cramped or quirky one makes a strong candidate look amateur. And a font that renders badly can even break the text extraction that applicant tracking systems (ATS) rely on.

Here's what actually makes a resume font good, the best options for 2026, and the ones to drop.

What makes a font good for a resume

Legible at 10–12pt. It has to read perfectly at small sizes, in print and on screen.
Professional, not decorative. Neutral typefaces get out of the way of your content.
Space-efficient. A font that fits more words per line keeps you to one page without shrinking the type.
ATS-safe. Standard, well-supported fonts extract reliably as real text — no garbled characters.

The best serif fonts

Serif fonts (the ones with small feet on the letters) read as classic, authoritative, and traditional — ideal for law, finance, academia, and senior roles.

Garamond / EB Garamond — elegant and remarkably space-efficient; a long-time recruiter favorite for fitting more text cleanly.
Georgia — designed for screen legibility, warm and highly readable.
Cambria — sturdy and clear, built for small sizes.

The best sans-serif fonts

Sans-serif fonts read as modern, clean, and approachable — great for tech, design, startups, and most general roles.

Calibri — the modern default reviewers expect; soft, friendly, and easy to read.
Helvetica / Arial — neutral workhorses that never look out of place.
Inter / Lato / Source Sans — contemporary, screen-optimized, and professional.

ClearResume's Classic template uses EB Garamond and the Modern template uses Carlito (a Calibri-equivalent) — both chosen for readability and clean ATS parsing. You can switch between them in one click and see the result instantly.

See both templates →

5 fonts to avoid

Comic Sans / novelty fonts — instantly unprofessional.
Times New Roman — not broken, just so overused it reads as a default no one chose.
Calibri Light (and other 'Light' weights) — too thin to read at small sizes, especially in print.
Century Gothic / wide geometric fonts — beautiful but they eat horizontal space and push you to a second page.
Decorative or condensed display fonts — they can confuse ATS text extraction and tire the eye.

Font size, spacing, and consistency

Body text: 10–12pt. Name: 18–24pt. Headings: 12–14pt.
Line spacing: roughly 1.15–1.5 — enough to breathe without wasting space.
Use one font for the whole resume (two at most: one for headings, one for body). More than that looks chaotic.

Does the font affect ATS parsing?

Indirectly, yes. An ATS reads the underlying text, not the visual font — but unusual or poorly-embedded fonts can cause a PDF to extract as garbled characters or images, and then your perfectly-worded resume parses as nonsense. Sticking to standard fonts and exporting real, selectable text avoids this entirely.

Not sure your resume parses cleanly? Run a free ATS X-ray: it renders your resume, re-extracts the text exactly like a parser would, and shows you what survived — no signup needed.

Run a free ATS X-ray →

ClearResume builds one resume that parses cleanly in ATS software, reads well to humans, and carries structured data for AI screeners — and you can verify it with a free live ATS X-ray. Building and exporting are free, no download paywall.

Try the free builder →