bootstrap-icons vs feather-icons vs font-awesome vs heroicons vs ionicons vs line-awesome vs material-icons vs octicons
Icon Libraries for Web Development
bootstrap-iconsfeather-iconsfont-awesomeheroiconsioniconsline-awesomematerial-iconsocticonsSimilar Packages:

Icon Libraries for Web Development

Icon libraries provide a collection of scalable vector icons that can be easily integrated into web applications. They enhance user interfaces by offering visual cues and improving usability. Each library has its own design philosophy, icon styles, and usage scenarios, catering to different aesthetic preferences and project requirements. These libraries help developers maintain consistency in design while saving time on creating custom icons from scratch.

Npm Package Weekly Downloads Trend

3 Years

Github Stars Ranking

Stat Detail

Package
Downloads
Stars
Size
Issues
Publish
License
bootstrap-icons07,9462.99 MB470a year agoMIT
feather-icons025,857625 kB5082 years agoMIT
font-awesome076,463-3209 years ago(OFL-1.1 AND MIT)
heroicons023,425700 kB3a year agoMIT
ionicons018,0126.22 MB679 months agoMIT
line-awesome01,300-476 years agoMIT
material-icons03622.23 MB13a year agoApache-2.0
octicons08,668-37 years agoMIT

Feature Comparison: bootstrap-icons vs feather-icons vs font-awesome vs heroicons vs ionicons vs line-awesome vs material-icons vs octicons

Design Style

  • bootstrap-icons:

    Bootstrap Icons feature a simple and consistent design that aligns with Bootstrap's aesthetic, making them ideal for Bootstrap-based projects.

  • feather-icons:

    Feather Icons are designed with a minimalist approach, featuring thin lines and a clean look that enhances modern web applications.

  • font-awesome:

    Font Awesome offers a diverse range of styles, including solid, regular, and brands, providing flexibility in design choices for various projects.

  • heroicons:

    Heroicons provide a modern and clean design, with both outline and solid styles, making them versatile for different UI contexts.

  • ionicons:

    Ionicons have a sleek and modern design, optimized for mobile interfaces, ensuring clarity and usability on smaller screens.

Customization

  • bootstrap-icons:

    Bootstrap Icons can be easily customized using CSS, allowing developers to change colors, sizes, and other styles to fit their design needs.

  • feather-icons:

    Feather Icons are highly customizable, as they are vector-based and can be modified in terms of stroke width and color, providing great flexibility.

  • font-awesome:

    Font Awesome offers extensive customization options, including the ability to use CSS classes to change size, color, and even animation effects.

  • heroicons:

    Heroicons can be customized through CSS and are available in both outline and solid styles, allowing for easy integration into various design systems.

  • ionicons:

    Ionicons allow for customization through CSS variables, enabling developers to adapt icons to match their application's color scheme.

Integration

  • bootstrap-icons:

    Bootstrap Icons integrate seamlessly with Bootstrap components, making them a natural choice for Bootstrap users looking for consistency in their UI.

  • feather-icons:

    Feather Icons can be easily integrated into any project, regardless of the framework, due to their simple SVG format.

  • font-awesome:

    Font Awesome provides easy integration options through CDN, npm, or SVG, making it accessible for various project setups.

  • heroicons:

    Heroicons are designed to work effortlessly with Tailwind CSS, making them an excellent choice for developers using this utility-first framework.

  • ionicons:

    Ionicons can be integrated into both web and mobile applications, with specific optimizations for Ionic Framework users.

Icon Variety

  • bootstrap-icons:

    Bootstrap Icons offers a limited but well-curated set of icons that cover common use cases, ensuring quality over quantity.

  • feather-icons:

    Feather Icons provides a smaller selection of icons, focusing on essential and commonly used symbols, ideal for minimalist designs.

  • font-awesome:

    Font Awesome boasts one of the largest icon libraries available, with thousands of icons covering a wide range of categories and styles.

  • heroicons:

    Heroicons includes a growing set of icons that are particularly useful for web applications, with a focus on modern UI elements.

  • ionicons:

    Ionicons features a comprehensive set of icons tailored for mobile applications, covering a wide array of functionalities.

Performance

  • bootstrap-icons:

    Bootstrap Icons are lightweight and optimized for performance, ensuring fast loading times in web applications.

  • feather-icons:

    Feather Icons are designed to be minimal and lightweight, contributing to faster rendering and improved performance in web apps.

  • font-awesome:

    Font Awesome can be heavier due to its extensive library, but it offers optimization techniques like SVG sprites to enhance performance.

  • heroicons:

    Heroicons are optimized for performance, ensuring that they do not significantly impact load times while providing high-quality visuals.

  • ionicons:

    Ionicons are lightweight and designed for mobile performance, ensuring that they load quickly and efficiently on mobile devices.

How to Choose: bootstrap-icons vs feather-icons vs font-awesome vs heroicons vs ionicons vs line-awesome vs material-icons vs octicons

  • bootstrap-icons:

    Choose Bootstrap Icons if you are already using Bootstrap for your project, as it seamlessly integrates with Bootstrap components and follows the same design language, ensuring a cohesive look and feel.

  • feather-icons:

    Select Feather Icons for a minimalist design aesthetic. They are lightweight and customizable, making them ideal for modern web applications that prioritize simplicity and elegance.

  • font-awesome:

    Opt for Font Awesome if you need a comprehensive icon set with extensive options and styles. It offers both free and premium icons, making it suitable for projects with diverse iconography needs.

  • heroicons:

    Use Heroicons if you are building a Tailwind CSS project. They are designed specifically for Tailwind and provide a clean, modern look that complements Tailwind's utility-first approach.

  • ionicons:

    Choose Ionicons for mobile-first applications, as they are optimized for use in mobile interfaces and provide a wide range of icons that cater to mobile app design.

  • line-awesome:

    Select Line Awesome if you prefer a line-based icon style that is similar to Font Awesome but with a more modern twist. It's a great alternative for projects looking for a fresh look.

  • material-icons:

    Use Material Icons if you are developing applications that follow Material Design guidelines. They provide a consistent and recognizable iconography that aligns with Google's design principles.

  • octicons:

    Choose Octicons if you are building applications related to GitHub or need icons that resonate with the developer community. They are specifically designed for GitHub's interface.

README for bootstrap-icons

Bootstrap logo

Bootstrap Icons

Official open source SVG icon library for Bootstrap with over 2,000 icons.
Explore Bootstrap Icons »

Bootstrap · Themes · Blog

Bootstrap Icons preview

Install

Bootstrap Icons are packaged up and published to npm. We only include the processed SVGs in this package—it's up to you and your team to implement. Read our docs for usage instructions.

npm i bootstrap-icons

For those using Packagist, you can also install Bootstrap Icons via Composer:

composer require twbs/bootstrap-icons

Also available in Figma.

Usage

Depending on your setup, you can include Bootstrap Icons in a handful of ways.

  • Copy-paste SVGs as embedded HTML
  • Reference via <img> element
  • Use the SVG sprite
  • Include via CSS

See the docs for more information.

Development

Build Status npm version

Clone the repo, install dependencies, and start the Hugo server locally.

git clone https://github.com/twbs/icons/
cd icons
npm i
npm start

Then open http://localhost:4000 in your browser.

npm scripts

Here are some key scripts you'll use during development. Be sure to look to our package.json or npm run output for a complete list of scripts.

ScriptDescription
startAlias for running docs-serve
docs-serveStarts a local Hugo server
pagesGenerates permalink pages for each icon with template Markdown
iconsProcesses and optimizes SVGs in icons directory, generates fonts and sprite

Adding SVGs

Icons are typically only added by @mdo, but exceptions can be made. New glyphs are designed in Figma first on a 16x16px grid, then exported as flattened SVGs with fill (no stroke). Once a new SVG icon has been added to the icons directory, we use an npm script to:

  1. Optimize our SVGs with SVGO.
  2. Modify the SVGs source code, removing all attributes before setting new attributes and values in our preferred order.

Use npm run icons to run the script, run npm run pages to build permalink pages, complete those pages, and, finally, commit the results in a new branch for updating.

Warning: Please exclude any auto-generated files, like font/** and bootstrap-icons.svg from your branch because they cause conflicts, and we generally update the dist files before a release.

Publishing

Documentation is published automatically when a new Git tag is published. See our GitHub Actions and package.json for more information.

License

MIT

Author

@mdo