diff --git a/packages/font/google/index.js b/packages/font/google/index.js
index f3d7e7c80ab0a..b86140fd452a3 100644
--- a/packages/font/google/index.js
+++ b/packages/font/google/index.js
@@ -1 +1,7 @@
-throw new Error('@next/font/google is not correctly configured')
+let message = '@next/font/google failed to run or is incorrectly configured.'
+if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development') {
+  message +=
+    '\nIf you just installed `@next/font`, please try restarting `next dev` and resaving your file.'
+}
+
+throw new Error(message)
diff --git a/packages/font/local/index.js b/packages/font/local/index.js
index bc2f598aaa23d..c2eda14c0128f 100644
--- a/packages/font/local/index.js
+++ b/packages/font/local/index.js
@@ -1 +1,7 @@
-throw new Error('@next/font/local is not correctly configured')
+let message = '@next/font/local failed to run or is incorrectly configured.'
+if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development') {
+  message +=
+    '\nIf you just installed `@next/font`, please try restarting `next dev` and resaving your file.'
+}
+
+throw new Error(message)
diff --git a/packages/font/src/google/loader.ts b/packages/font/src/google/loader.ts
index 758815be8c599..173318093543b 100644
--- a/packages/font/src/google/loader.ts
+++ b/packages/font/src/google/loader.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 import type { AdjustFontFallback, FontLoader } from 'next/font'
 // @ts-ignore
 import { calculateSizeAdjustValues } from 'next/dist/server/font-utils'
+// @ts-ignore
+import * as Log from 'next/dist/build/output/log'
+// @ts-ignore
+import chalk from 'next/dist/compiled/chalk'
 import {
   fetchCSSFromGoogleFonts,
   fetchFontFile,
@@ -19,10 +23,15 @@ const downloadGoogleFonts: FontLoader = async ({
   emitFontFile,
 }) => {
   if (!config?.subsets) {
-    throw new Error(
-      'Please specify subsets for `@next/font/google` in your `next.config.js`'
+    Log.warn(
+      `${chalk.bold('@next/font/google')} is missing ${chalk.bold(
+        'options.subsets'
+      )} in your ${chalk.bold(
+        'next.config.js'
+      )}. Please specify subsets, otherwise no fonts will be preloaded.`
     )
   }
+  const subsets = config?.subsets || []
 
   const {
     fontFamily,
@@ -63,7 +72,7 @@ const downloadGoogleFonts: FontLoader = async ({
       if (googleFontFileUrl) {
         fontFiles.push({
           googleFontFileUrl,
-          preloadFontFile: !!preload && config.subsets.includes(currentSubset),
+          preloadFontFile: !!preload && subsets.includes(currentSubset),
         })
       }
     }
@@ -121,7 +130,7 @@ const downloadGoogleFonts: FontLoader = async ({
         sizeAdjust: `${sizeAdjust}%`,
       }
     } catch {
-      console.error(
+      Log.error(
         `Failed to find font override values for font \`${fontFamily}\``
       )
     }
diff --git a/packages/font/src/local/utils.ts b/packages/font/src/local/utils.ts
index 541517da28f3c..90cdf807e15d1 100644
--- a/packages/font/src/local/utils.ts
+++ b/packages/font/src/local/utils.ts
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ export function validateData(functionName: string, data: any): FontOptions {
     throw new Error(`Unexpected file \`${src}\``)
   }
 
-  const family = /.+\/(.+?)\./.exec(src)![1]
+  const family = /(.*\/)?(.+?)\.(woff|woff2|eot|ttf|otf)$/.exec(src)![2]
 
   if (Array.isArray(declarations)) {
     declarations.forEach((declaration) => {
diff --git a/packages/next/build/webpack/loaders/next-font-loader/index.ts b/packages/next/build/webpack/loaders/next-font-loader/index.ts
index 6edc12b4dddc6..de340cddd0d55 100644
--- a/packages/next/build/webpack/loaders/next-font-loader/index.ts
+++ b/packages/next/build/webpack/loaders/next-font-loader/index.ts
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
 import type { FontLoader } from '../../../../font'
 
+import { promises as fs } from 'fs'
 import path from 'path'
 import loaderUtils from 'next/dist/compiled/loader-utils3'
 import postcssFontLoaderPlugn from './postcss-font-loader'
 import { promisify } from 'util'
 import chalk from 'next/dist/compiled/chalk'
+import { CONFIG_FILES } from '../../../../shared/lib/constants'
 
 export default async function nextFontLoader(this: any) {
   const fontLoaderSpan = this.currentTraceSpan.traceChild('next-font-loader')
@@ -17,6 +19,24 @@ export default async function nextFontLoader(this: any) {
       postcss: getPostcss,
     } = this.getOptions()
 
+    const nextConfigPaths = CONFIG_FILES.map((config) =>
+      path.join(this.rootContext, config)
+    )
+    // Add next.config.js as a dependency, loaders must rerun in case options changed
+    await Promise.all(
+      nextConfigPaths.map(async (configPath) => {
+        const hasConfig = await fs.access(configPath).then(
+          () => true,
+          () => false
+        )
+        if (hasConfig) {
+          this.addDependency(configPath)
+        } else {
+          this.addMissingDependency(configPath)
+        }
+      })
+    )
+
     const emitFontFile = (content: Buffer, ext: string, preload: boolean) => {
       const opts = { context: this.rootContext, content }
       const interpolatedName = loaderUtils.interpolateName(
@@ -55,7 +75,7 @@ export default async function nextFontLoader(this: any) {
               path.dirname(
                 path.join(this.rootContext, relativeFilePathFromRoot)
               ),
-              src
+              src.startsWith('.') ? src : `./${src}`
             ),
           fs: this.fs,
         })
diff --git a/packages/next/lib/get-package-version.ts b/packages/next/lib/get-package-version.ts
index a924adc2cabb1..636faf7eb215d 100644
--- a/packages/next/lib/get-package-version.ts
+++ b/packages/next/lib/get-package-version.ts
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ type PackageJsonDependencies = {
 
 let cachedDeps: Promise<PackageJsonDependencies>
 
-function getDependencies({
+export function getDependencies({
   cwd,
 }: {
   cwd: string
diff --git a/packages/next/server/config-shared.ts b/packages/next/server/config-shared.ts
index 942f5d41e514e..9e81357dab704 100644
--- a/packages/next/server/config-shared.ts
+++ b/packages/next/server/config-shared.ts
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ export interface ExperimentalConfig {
   // A list of packages that should always be transpiled and bundled in the server
   transpilePackages?: string[]
 
-  fontLoaders?: [{ loader: string; options?: any }]
+  fontLoaders?: Array<{ loader: string; options?: any }>
 
   webVitalsAttribution?: Array<typeof WEB_VITALS[number]>
 }
diff --git a/packages/next/server/config.ts b/packages/next/server/config.ts
index 83ee128ac16fd..2a3d9de917428 100644
--- a/packages/next/server/config.ts
+++ b/packages/next/server/config.ts
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import {
 } from '../shared/lib/image-config'
 import { loadEnvConfig } from '@next/env'
 import { gte as semverGte } from 'next/dist/compiled/semver'
+import { getDependencies } from '../lib/get-package-version'
 
 export { DomainLocale, NextConfig, normalizeConfig } from './config-shared'
 
@@ -77,6 +78,46 @@ export function setHttpClientAndAgentOptions(options: NextConfig) {
   ;(global as any).__NEXT_HTTPS_AGENT = new HttpsAgent(options.httpAgentOptions)
 }
 
+async function setFontLoaderDefaults(config: NextConfigComplete, dir: string) {
+  if (config.experimental?.fontLoaders) return
+
+  // Add @next/font loaders by default if they're installed
+  const hasNextFontDependency = (
+    await getDependencies({
+      cwd: dir,
+    })
+  ).dependencies['@next/font']
+
+  if (hasNextFontDependency) {
+    const googleFontLoader = {
+      loader: '@next/font/google',
+    }
+    const localFontLoader = {
+      loader: '@next/font/local',
+    }
+    if (!config.experimental) {
+      config.experimental = {}
+    }
+    if (!config.experimental.fontLoaders) {
+      config.experimental.fontLoaders = []
+    }
+    if (
+      !config.experimental.fontLoaders.find(
+        ({ loader }: any) => loader === '@next/font/goggle'
+      )
+    ) {
+      config.experimental.fontLoaders.push(googleFontLoader)
+    }
+    if (
+      !config.experimental.fontLoaders.find(
+        ({ loader }: any) => loader === '@next/font/local'
+      )
+    ) {
+      config.experimental.fontLoaders.push(localFontLoader)
+    }
+  }
+}
+
 function assignDefaults(dir: string, userConfig: { [key: string]: any }) {
   const configFileName = userConfig.configFileName
   if (typeof userConfig.exportTrailingSlash !== 'undefined') {
@@ -835,12 +876,14 @@ export default async function loadConfig(
           : canonicalBase) || ''
     }
 
-    return assignDefaults(dir, {
+    const completeConfig = assignDefaults(dir, {
       configOrigin: relative(dir, path),
       configFile: path,
       configFileName,
       ...userConfig,
     }) as NextConfigComplete
+    await setFontLoaderDefaults(completeConfig, dir)
+    return completeConfig
   } else {
     const configBaseName = basename(CONFIG_FILES[0], extname(CONFIG_FILES[0]))
     const nonJsPath = findUp.sync(
@@ -869,5 +912,6 @@ export default async function loadConfig(
   ) as NextConfigComplete
   completeConfig.configFileName = configFileName
   setHttpClientAndAgentOptions(completeConfig)
+  await setFontLoaderDefaults(completeConfig, dir)
   return completeConfig
 }
diff --git a/test/e2e/app-dir/next-font/fonts/index.js b/test/e2e/app-dir/next-font/fonts/index.js
index 55074a79d13cc..d9d8746396cef 100644
--- a/test/e2e/app-dir/next-font/fonts/index.js
+++ b/test/e2e/app-dir/next-font/fonts/index.js
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import localFont from '@next/font/local'
 
 export const font1 = localFont({ src: './font1.woff2', variable: '--font-1' })
-export const font2 = localFont({ src: './font2.woff2', variable: '--font-2' })
+export const font2 = localFont({ src: 'font2.woff2', variable: '--font-2' })
 export const font3 = localFont({
   src: './font3.woff2',
   weight: '900',
@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@ export const font3 = localFont({
 })
 export const font4 = localFont({ src: './font4.woff2', weight: '100' })
 export const font5 = localFont({
-  src: './font5.woff2',
+  src: './test/font5.woff2',
   style: 'italic',
   preload: false,
 })
-export const font6 = localFont({ src: './font6.woff2' })
+export const font6 = localFont({ src: 'test/font6.woff2' })
diff --git a/test/e2e/app-dir/next-font/fonts/font5.woff2 b/test/e2e/app-dir/next-font/fonts/test/font5.woff2
similarity index 100%
rename from test/e2e/app-dir/next-font/fonts/font5.woff2
rename to test/e2e/app-dir/next-font/fonts/test/font5.woff2
diff --git a/test/e2e/app-dir/next-font/fonts/font6.woff2 b/test/e2e/app-dir/next-font/fonts/test/font6.woff2
similarity index 100%
rename from test/e2e/app-dir/next-font/fonts/font6.woff2
rename to test/e2e/app-dir/next-font/fonts/test/font6.woff2
diff --git a/test/e2e/app-dir/next-font/next.config.js b/test/e2e/app-dir/next-font/next.config.js
index fd841b325c948..cfa3ac3d7aa94 100644
--- a/test/e2e/app-dir/next-font/next.config.js
+++ b/test/e2e/app-dir/next-font/next.config.js
@@ -1,10 +1,5 @@
 module.exports = {
   experimental: {
     appDir: true,
-    fontLoaders: [
-      {
-        loader: '@next/font/local',
-      },
-    ],
   },
 }
diff --git a/test/e2e/next-font/font-loader-in-document-error.test.ts b/test/e2e/next-font/font-loader-in-document-error.test.ts
index 7e6d39cd5d610..8c4dc13951665 100644
--- a/test/e2e/next-font/font-loader-in-document-error.test.ts
+++ b/test/e2e/next-font/font-loader-in-document-error.test.ts
@@ -17,9 +17,6 @@ describe('font-loader-in-document-error', () => {
     next = await createNext({
       files: {
         pages: new FileRef(join(__dirname, 'font-loader-in-document/pages')),
-        'next.config.js': new FileRef(
-          join(__dirname, 'font-loader-in-document/next.config.js')
-        ),
       },
       dependencies: {
         '@next/font': 'canary',
diff --git a/test/e2e/next-font/font-loader-in-document/next.config.js b/test/e2e/next-font/font-loader-in-document/next.config.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 3f4a776b7f409..0000000000000
--- a/test/e2e/next-font/font-loader-in-document/next.config.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,10 +0,0 @@
-module.exports = {
-  experimental: {
-    fontLoaders: [
-      {
-        loader: '@next/font/google',
-        options: { subsets: ['latin'] },
-      },
-    ],
-  },
-}
diff --git a/test/unit/google-font-loader.test.ts b/test/unit/google-font-loader.test.ts
index 8d69df45b676d..4b15723270d3d 100644
--- a/test/unit/google-font-loader.test.ts
+++ b/test/unit/google-font-loader.test.ts
@@ -201,21 +201,6 @@ describe('@next/font/google loader', () => {
             `)
     })
 
-    test('Missing config with subsets', async () => {
-      await expect(
-        loader({
-          functionName: 'Inter',
-          data: [],
-          config: undefined,
-          emitFontFile: jest.fn(),
-          resolve: jest.fn(),
-          fs: {} as any,
-        })
-      ).rejects.toThrowErrorMatchingInlineSnapshot(
-        `"Please specify subsets for \`@next/font/google\` in your \`next.config.js\`"`
-      )
-    })
-
     test('Missing function name', async () => {
       await expect(
         loader({