On allaboutberlin.com, I serve Google Fonts locally. Aside from the benefits mentioned in the article, it also makes HTTP2 server push possible. This means the font is pushed along with the page, without first having to parse the HTML and the CSS. It's significantly faster. There are fewer server round trips.
The website loads from start to finish in 200ms on my end (in Berlin of course). At this point, DNS and server distancs are bigger issues than what's on the page. I find the call for system fonts rather funny, because it's such a pointless sacrifice.
Another significant benefit is privacy. I don't like sending visitor information to third parties. I removed Google Fonts requests, and I'm working on removing Analytics. Once this is done, there won't be any third party requests on the page.
I also removed yesterday the Google Fonts import and just imported them locally. Performance seemed the same in my case, but I finally managed to completely remove Google 3rd party scripts from my site (no more GA, Google Fonts or Google Tag Manager). The only 3rd party left in my case is the chat widget from Tawk.to, but I will soon replace it with a simple contact form, as I am only using it as one anyway.
The website loads from start to finish in 200ms on my end (in Berlin of course). At this point, DNS and server distancs are bigger issues than what's on the page. I find the call for system fonts rather funny, because it's such a pointless sacrifice.
Another significant benefit is privacy. I don't like sending visitor information to third parties. I removed Google Fonts requests, and I'm working on removing Analytics. Once this is done, there won't be any third party requests on the page.