react-icons vs @phosphor-icons/react vs react-feather vs react-bootstrap-icons vs react-fontawesome
React Icon Libraries Comparison
1 Year
react-icons@phosphor-icons/reactreact-featherreact-bootstrap-iconsreact-fontawesomeSimilar Packages:
What's React Icon Libraries?

Icon libraries in React provide a collection of customizable icons that can be easily integrated into React applications. These libraries help developers enhance user interfaces with visually appealing icons that represent actions, objects, or concepts. Each library has its own style, features, and usage patterns, catering to different design needs and preferences.

Package Weekly Downloads Trend
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Package
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react-icons3,207,82311,90186.2 MB20012 days agoMIT
@phosphor-icons/react328,8211,25829 MB118 months agoMIT
react-feather287,6631,9401 MB38-MIT
react-bootstrap-icons71,3961868.78 MB93 months agoMIT
react-fontawesome41,548667-95 years agoMIT
Feature Comparison: react-icons vs @phosphor-icons/react vs react-feather vs react-bootstrap-icons vs react-fontawesome

Icon Variety

  • react-icons:

    react-icons aggregates icons from multiple libraries, providing a vast selection of styles and designs. This flexibility allows developers to choose from a wide range of icons without being limited to a single design language.

  • @phosphor-icons/react:

    @phosphor-icons/react offers a diverse range of icons, including both outline and filled styles. The collection is designed to cover common use cases while maintaining a modern aesthetic, making it suitable for various applications.

  • react-feather:

    react-feather features a curated selection of minimalist icons that are lightweight and easy to use. The icons are designed to be simple and elegant, making them perfect for modern web applications that emphasize clean design.

  • react-bootstrap-icons:

    react-bootstrap-icons provides a set of icons specifically designed to match the Bootstrap framework. It includes essential icons that are commonly used in web applications, ensuring consistency with Bootstrap's design principles.

  • react-fontawesome:

    react-fontawesome boasts one of the largest icon libraries available, with thousands of icons across different styles (solid, regular, brands). This extensive variety allows developers to find the perfect icon for any context or application.

Customization Options

  • react-icons:

    react-icons offers a unified API for importing and customizing icons from different libraries, allowing developers to easily adjust size and color while maintaining consistency across various icon styles.

  • @phosphor-icons/react:

    @phosphor-icons/react allows for easy customization of icon size, color, and stroke width, making it simple to adapt icons to fit the design of your application. This flexibility is crucial for maintaining visual consistency across your UI.

  • react-feather:

    react-feather icons are designed to be easily customizable through CSS, enabling developers to change colors, sizes, and other properties with minimal effort. This makes it easy to integrate them into various design contexts.

  • react-bootstrap-icons:

    react-bootstrap-icons icons can be styled using Bootstrap's utility classes, allowing for straightforward customization in line with Bootstrap's design system. This integration simplifies the process of adapting icons to your application's theme.

  • react-fontawesome:

    react-fontawesome provides extensive customization options, including the ability to change icon size, color, and animation effects. This level of customization is beneficial for creating dynamic and engaging user interfaces.

Performance

  • react-icons:

    react-icons is designed to be modular, allowing developers to import only the icons they use, which can help reduce the overall bundle size and improve application performance.

  • @phosphor-icons/react:

    @phosphor-icons/react is optimized for performance, ensuring that icons are lightweight and do not significantly impact the load time of your application. This is particularly important for applications with many icons or complex interfaces.

  • react-feather:

    react-feather is designed to be minimalistic and lightweight, which contributes to faster rendering times and improved performance. Its small size makes it an excellent choice for performance-sensitive applications.

  • react-bootstrap-icons:

    react-bootstrap-icons is lightweight and integrates seamlessly with Bootstrap, ensuring that it does not add unnecessary bloat to your application. This efficiency is crucial for maintaining fast load times and smooth user experiences.

  • react-fontawesome:

    react-fontawesome can be heavier due to its extensive icon library, but it offers tree-shaking capabilities to help reduce bundle size by allowing developers to import only the icons they need. This feature helps manage performance effectively.

Ease of Use

  • react-icons:

    react-icons is designed for ease of use, allowing developers to import icons from various libraries with minimal setup. This flexibility makes it a convenient choice for projects requiring diverse icon styles.

  • @phosphor-icons/react:

    @phosphor-icons/react is straightforward to use, with a simple API that allows developers to quickly integrate icons into their projects. This ease of use is beneficial for rapid development cycles.

  • react-feather:

    react-feather is user-friendly, with a simple syntax for importing and using icons. Its minimalist approach makes it easy for developers to get started without a steep learning curve.

  • react-bootstrap-icons:

    react-bootstrap-icons is easy to implement, especially for developers familiar with Bootstrap. The icons can be easily added to components without extensive configuration, streamlining the development process.

  • react-fontawesome:

    react-fontawesome has a slightly steeper learning curve due to its extensive features, but once familiar, developers can leverage its full potential for creating dynamic iconography in their applications.

Community and Support

  • react-icons:

    react-icons is widely used and has a strong community backing, offering plenty of resources and documentation to help developers navigate its features and capabilities.

  • @phosphor-icons/react:

    @phosphor-icons/react has a growing community and is actively maintained, ensuring that developers can find support and resources as needed. This is important for long-term project sustainability.

  • react-feather:

    react-feather has a supportive community and is open-source, allowing developers to contribute and access a wealth of resources and documentation to assist with implementation.

  • react-bootstrap-icons:

    react-bootstrap-icons benefits from the large Bootstrap community, providing ample resources, documentation, and support for developers using the library in their projects.

  • react-fontawesome:

    react-fontawesome has a large and active community, with extensive documentation and support available. This makes it easier for developers to find solutions to common issues and leverage community knowledge.

How to Choose: react-icons vs @phosphor-icons/react vs react-feather vs react-bootstrap-icons vs react-fontawesome
  • react-icons:

    Select react-icons if you want a flexible solution that combines multiple icon libraries into one package. This library allows you to import icons from various sources, providing a wide range of styles and options for your project.

  • @phosphor-icons/react:

    Choose @phosphor-icons/react if you need a modern and versatile icon set with a focus on simplicity and clarity. It offers a wide range of icons that are easily customizable and suitable for various applications, especially those requiring a clean aesthetic.

  • react-feather:

    Opt for react-feather if you prefer a minimalist design with a lightweight footprint. This library features a set of open-source icons that are simple and elegant, making them ideal for projects that prioritize performance and clean design.

  • react-bootstrap-icons:

    Select react-bootstrap-icons if you are already using Bootstrap in your project and want a seamless integration of icons that match the Bootstrap design language. This library provides a straightforward way to incorporate Bootstrap-styled icons without additional styling efforts.

  • react-fontawesome:

    Choose react-fontawesome if you require a comprehensive icon library with extensive customization options. Font Awesome offers a vast collection of icons, including solid, regular, and brands, making it suitable for applications needing diverse iconography.

README for react-icons
React Icons

React Icons

npm

Include popular icons in your React projects easily with react-icons, which utilizes ES6 imports that allows you to include only the icons that your project is using.

Installation (for standard modern project)

yarn add react-icons
# or
npm install react-icons --save

example usage

import { FaBeer } from "react-icons/fa";

function Question() {
  return (
    <h3>
      Lets go for a <FaBeer />?
    </h3>
  );
}

View the documentation for further usage examples and how to use icons from other packages. NOTE: each Icon package has it's own subfolder under react-icons you import from.

For example, to use an icon from Material Design, your import would be: import { ICON_NAME } from 'react-icons/md';

Installation (for meteorjs, gatsbyjs, etc)

Note This option has not had a new release for some time. More info https://github.com/react-icons/react-icons/issues/593

If your project grows in size, this option is available. This method has the trade-off that it takes a long time to install the package.

yarn add @react-icons/all-files
# or
npm install @react-icons/all-files --save

example usage

import { FaBeer } from "@react-icons/all-files/fa/FaBeer";

function Question() {
  return (
    <h3>
      Lets go for a <FaBeer />?
    </h3>
  );
}

Icons

| Icon Library | License | Version | Count | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------- | ----: | | Circum Icons | MPL-2.0 license | 1.0.0 | 288 | | Font Awesome 5 | CC BY 4.0 License | 5.15.4-3-gafecf2a | 1612 | | Font Awesome 6 | CC BY 4.0 License | 6.5.2 | 2045 | | Ionicons 4 | MIT | 4.6.3 | 696 | | Ionicons 5 | MIT | 5.5.4 | 1332 | | Material Design icons | Apache License Version 2.0 | 4.0.0-98-g9beae745bb | 4341 | | Typicons | CC BY-SA 3.0 | 2.1.2 | 336 | | Github Octicons icons | MIT | 18.3.0 | 264 | | Feather | MIT | 4.29.1 | 287 | | Lucide | ISC | v5.1.0-6-g438f572e | 1215 | | Game Icons | CC BY 3.0 | 12920d6565588f0512542a3cb0cdfd36a497f910 | 4040 | | Weather Icons | SIL OFL 1.1 | 2.0.12 | 219 | | Devicons | MIT | 1.8.0 | 192 | | Ant Design Icons | MIT | 4.4.2 | 831 | | Bootstrap Icons | MIT | 1.11.3 | 2716 | | Remix Icon | Apache License Version 2.0 | 4.2.0 | 2860 | | Flat Color Icons | MIT | 1.0.2 | 329 | | Grommet-Icons | Apache License Version 2.0 | 4.12.1 | 635 | | Heroicons | MIT | 1.0.6 | 460 | | Heroicons 2 | MIT | 2.1.3 | 888 | | Simple Icons | CC0 1.0 Universal | 12.14.0 | 3209 | | Simple Line Icons | MIT | 2.5.5 | 189 | | IcoMoon Free | CC BY 4.0 License | d006795ede82361e1bac1ee76f215cf1dc51e4ca | 491 | | BoxIcons | MIT | 2.1.4 | 1634 | | css.gg | MIT | 2.1.1 | 704 | | VS Code Icons | CC BY 4.0 | 0.0.35 | 461 | | Tabler Icons | MIT | 3.2.0 | 5237 | | Themify Icons | MIT | v0.1.2-2-g9600186 | 352 | | Radix Icons | MIT | @radix-ui/react-icons@1.3.0-1-g94b3fcf | 318 | | Phosphor Icons | MIT | 2.1.1 | 9072 | | Icons8 Line Awesome | MIT | 1.3.1 | 1544 |

You can add more icons by submitting pull requests or creating issues.

Configuration

You can configure react-icons props using React Context API.

Requires React 16.3 or higher.

import { IconContext } from "react-icons";

<IconContext.Provider value={{ color: "blue", className: "global-class-name" }}>
  <div>
    <FaFolder />
  </div>
</IconContext.Provider>;

| Key | Default | Notes | | ----------- | --------------------- | ---------------------------------- | | color | undefined (inherit) | | | size | 1em | | | className | undefined | | | style | undefined | Can overwrite size and color | | attr | undefined | Overwritten by other attributes | | title | undefined | Icon description for accessibility |

Migrating from version 2 -> 3

Change import style

Import path has changed. You need to rewrite from the old style.

// OLD IMPORT STYLE
import FaBeer from "react-icons/lib/fa/beer";

function Question() {
  return (
    <h3>
      Lets go for a <FaBeer />?
    </h3>
  );
}
// NEW IMPORT STYLE
import { FaBeer } from "react-icons/fa";

function Question() {
  return (
    <h3>
      Lets go for a <FaBeer />?
    </h3>
  );
}

Ending up with a large JS bundle? Check out this issue.

Adjustment CSS

From version 3, vertical-align: middle is not automatically given. Please use IconContext to specify className or specify an inline style.

Global Inline Styling

<IconContext.Provider value={{ style: { verticalAlign: 'middle' } }}>

Global className Styling

Component

<IconContext.Provider value={{ className: 'react-icons' }}>

CSS

.react-icons {
  vertical-align: middle;
}

TypeScript native support

Dependencies on @types/react-icons can be deleted.

Yarn

yarn remove @types/react-icons

NPM

npm remove @types/react-icons

Contributing

./build-script.sh will build the whole project. See also CI scripts for more information.

Development

yarn
cd packages/react-icons
yarn fetch  # fetch icon sources
yarn build

Add/Update icon set

First, check the discussion to see if anyone would like to add an icon set.

https://github.com/react-icons/react-icons/discussions/categories/new-icon-set

The SVG files to be fetched are managed in this file. Edit this file and run yarn fetch && yarn check && yarn build.

https://github.com/react-icons/react-icons/blob/master/packages/react-icons/src/icons/index.ts

Preview

Note The project is not actively accepting PR for the preview site at this time.

The preview site is the react-icons website, built in Astro+React.

cd packages/react-icons
yarn fetch
yarn build

cd ../preview-astro
yarn start

Demo

The demo is a Create React App boilerplate with react-icons added as a dependency for easy testing.

cd packages/react-icons
yarn fetch
yarn build

cd ../demo
yarn start

Why React SVG components instead of fonts?

SVG is supported by all major browsers. With react-icons, you can serve only the needed icons instead of one big font file to the users, helping you to recognize which icons are used in your project.

Related Projects

Licence

MIT

  • Icons are taken from the other projects so please check each project licences accordingly.