font-awesome vs ionicons vs bootstrap-icons vs material-icons vs feather-icons vs heroicons vs line-awesome vs octicons
Icon Libraries for Web Development
font-awesomeioniconsbootstrap-iconsmaterial-iconsfeather-iconsheroiconsline-awesomeocticonsSimilar 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
font-awesome918,47275,821-3,7909 years ago(OFL-1.1 AND MIT)
ionicons557,00817,9206.22 MB584 months agoMIT
bootstrap-icons522,4157,7942.99 MB4566 months agoMIT
material-icons234,4213542.23 MB139 months agoApache-2.0
feather-icons134,27225,728625 kB5032 years agoMIT
heroicons60,68223,089700 kB0a year agoMIT
line-awesome38,1951,290-476 years agoMIT
octicons10,0478,597-17 years agoMIT
Feature Comparison: font-awesome vs ionicons vs bootstrap-icons vs material-icons vs feather-icons vs heroicons vs line-awesome vs octicons

Design Style

  • font-awesome:

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

  • ionicons:

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

  • 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.

  • heroicons:

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

Customization

  • font-awesome:

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

  • ionicons:

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

  • 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.

  • heroicons:

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

Integration

  • font-awesome:

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

  • ionicons:

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

  • 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.

  • heroicons:

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

Icon Variety

  • font-awesome:

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

  • ionicons:

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

  • 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.

  • heroicons:

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

Performance

  • font-awesome:

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

  • ionicons:

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

  • 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.

  • heroicons:

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

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

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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 font-awesome

Font Awesome v4.7.0

The iconic font and CSS framework

Font Awesome is a full suite of 675 pictographic icons for easy scalable vector graphics on websites, created and maintained by Dave Gandy. Stay up to date with the latest release and announcements on Twitter: @fontawesome.

Get started at http://fontawesome.io!

License

Changelog

Contributing

Please read through our contributing guidelines. Included are directions for opening issues, coding standards, and notes on development.

Versioning

Font Awesome will be maintained under the Semantic Versioning guidelines as much as possible. Releases will be numbered with the following format:

<major>.<minor>.<patch>

And constructed with the following guidelines:

  • Breaking backward compatibility bumps the major (and resets the minor and patch)
  • New additions, including new icons, without breaking backward compatibility bumps the minor (and resets the patch)
  • Bug fixes, changes to brand logos, and misc changes bumps the patch

For more information on SemVer, please visit http://semver.org.

Author

Component

To include as a component, just run

$ component install FortAwesome/Font-Awesome

Or add

"FortAwesome/Font-Awesome": "*"

to the dependencies in your component.json.

Hacking on Font Awesome

Before you can build the project, you must first have the following installed:

From the root of the repository, install the tools used to develop.

$ bundle install
$ npm install

Build the project and documentation:

$ bundle exec jekyll build

Or serve it on a local server on http://localhost:7998/Font-Awesome/:

$ bundle exec jekyll -w serve