diff --git a/esphome/components/display/__init__.py b/esphome/components/display/__init__.py
index c4bb12b75d..32a8b3b090 100644
--- a/esphome/components/display/__init__.py
+++ b/esphome/components/display/__init__.py
@@ -1,15 +1,15 @@
+from esphome import automation, core
+from esphome.automation import maybe_simple_id
 import esphome.codegen as cg
 import esphome.config_validation as cv
-from esphome import core, automation
-from esphome.automation import maybe_simple_id
 from esphome.const import (
     CONF_AUTO_CLEAR_ENABLED,
+    CONF_FROM,
     CONF_ID,
     CONF_LAMBDA,
-    CONF_PAGES,
     CONF_PAGE_ID,
+    CONF_PAGES,
     CONF_ROTATION,
-    CONF_FROM,
     CONF_TO,
     CONF_TRIGGER_ID,
 )
@@ -195,3 +195,4 @@ async def display_is_displaying_page_to_code(config, condition_id, template_arg,
 @coroutine_with_priority(100.0)
 async def to_code(config):
     cg.add_global(display_ns.using)
+    cg.add_define("USE_DISPLAY")
diff --git a/esphome/components/font/__init__.py b/esphome/components/font/__init__.py
index 7e4674ffda..b5ed02e89a 100644
--- a/esphome/components/font/__init__.py
+++ b/esphome/components/font/__init__.py
@@ -1,43 +1,35 @@
+import functools
 import hashlib
 import logging
-
-import functools
-from pathlib import Path
 import os
+from pathlib import Path
 import re
+
 from packaging import version
 import requests
 
-from esphome import core
-from esphome import external_files
-import esphome.config_validation as cv
+from esphome import core, external_files
 import esphome.codegen as cg
-from esphome.helpers import (
-    copy_file_if_changed,
-    cpp_string_escape,
-)
+import esphome.config_validation as cv
 from esphome.const import (
     CONF_FAMILY,
     CONF_FILE,
     CONF_GLYPHS,
     CONF_ID,
+    CONF_PATH,
     CONF_RAW_DATA_ID,
-    CONF_TYPE,
     CONF_REFRESH,
     CONF_SIZE,
-    CONF_PATH,
-    CONF_WEIGHT,
+    CONF_TYPE,
     CONF_URL,
+    CONF_WEIGHT,
 )
-from esphome.core import (
-    CORE,
-    HexInt,
-)
+from esphome.core import CORE, HexInt
+from esphome.helpers import copy_file_if_changed, cpp_string_escape
 
 _LOGGER = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 DOMAIN = "font"
-DEPENDENCIES = ["display"]
 MULTI_CONF = True
 
 CODEOWNERS = ["@esphome/core", "@clydebarrow"]
@@ -400,10 +392,7 @@ class EFont:
 
 
 def convert_bitmap_to_pillow_font(filepath):
-    from PIL import (
-        PcfFontFile,
-        BdfFontFile,
-    )
+    from PIL import BdfFontFile, PcfFontFile
 
     local_bitmap_font_file = external_files.compute_local_file_dir(
         DOMAIN,
diff --git a/esphome/components/font/font.cpp b/esphome/components/font/font.cpp
index 3b62b8ca66..aeca0f5cc0 100644
--- a/esphome/components/font/font.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/font/font.cpp
@@ -1,9 +1,8 @@
 #include "font.h"
 
+#include "esphome/core/color.h"
 #include "esphome/core/hal.h"
 #include "esphome/core/log.h"
-#include "esphome/core/color.h"
-#include "esphome/components/display/display_buffer.h"
 
 namespace esphome {
 namespace font {
@@ -68,6 +67,7 @@ int Font::match_next_glyph(const uint8_t *str, int *match_length) {
     return -1;
   return lo;
 }
+#ifdef USE_DISPLAY
 void Font::measure(const char *str, int *width, int *x_offset, int *baseline, int *height) {
   *baseline = this->baseline_;
   *height = this->height_;
@@ -164,6 +164,7 @@ void Font::print(int x_start, int y_start, display::Display *display, Color colo
     i += match_length;
   }
 }
+#endif
 
 }  // namespace font
 }  // namespace esphome
diff --git a/esphome/components/font/font.h b/esphome/components/font/font.h
index 57002cf510..5cde694d91 100644
--- a/esphome/components/font/font.h
+++ b/esphome/components/font/font.h
@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 #pragma once
 
-#include "esphome/core/datatypes.h"
 #include "esphome/core/color.h"
-#include "esphome/components/display/display_buffer.h"
+#include "esphome/core/datatypes.h"
+#include "esphome/core/defines.h"
+#ifdef USE_DISPLAY
+#include "esphome/components/display/display.h"
+#endif
 
 namespace esphome {
 namespace font {
@@ -38,7 +41,11 @@ class Glyph {
   const GlyphData *glyph_data_;
 };
 
-class Font : public display::BaseFont {
+class Font
+#ifdef USE_DISPLAY
+    : public display::BaseFont
+#endif
+{
  public:
   /** Construct the font with the given glyphs.
    *
@@ -50,9 +57,11 @@ class Font : public display::BaseFont {
 
   int match_next_glyph(const uint8_t *str, int *match_length);
 
+#ifdef USE_DISPLAY
   void print(int x_start, int y_start, display::Display *display, Color color, const char *text,
              Color background) override;
   void measure(const char *str, int *width, int *x_offset, int *baseline, int *height) override;
+#endif
   inline int get_baseline() { return this->baseline_; }
   inline int get_height() { return this->height_; }
   inline int get_bpp() { return this->bpp_; }
diff --git a/esphome/core/defines.h b/esphome/core/defines.h
index 52cf7d4dd0..ffd5cc6f1b 100644
--- a/esphome/core/defines.h
+++ b/esphome/core/defines.h
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 #define USE_DATETIME_DATETIME
 #define USE_DATETIME_TIME
 #define USE_DEEP_SLEEP
+#define USE_DISPLAY
 #define USE_EVENT
 #define USE_FAN
 #define USE_GRAPH
diff --git a/tests/components/font/test.host.yaml b/tests/components/font/test.host.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..017328ec83
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/components/font/test.host.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+font:
+  - file: "gfonts://Roboto"
+    id: roboto
+    size: 20
+    glyphs: "0123456789."
+    extras:
+      - file: "gfonts://Roboto"
+        glyphs: ["\u00C4", "\u00C5", "\U000000C7"]
+  - file: "gfonts://Roboto"
+    id: roboto_web
+    size: 20
+  - file: "https://github.com/IdreesInc/Monocraft/releases/download/v3.0/Monocraft.ttf"
+    id: monocraft
+    size: 20
+  - file:
+      type: web
+      url: "https://github.com/IdreesInc/Monocraft/releases/download/v3.0/Monocraft.ttf"
+    id: monocraft2
+    size: 24
+  - file: $component_dir/Monocraft.ttf
+    id: monocraft3
+    size: 28
+