feather-icons vs font-awesome vs material-design-icons vs react-icons
Icon Libraries for Modern Web Applications
feather-iconsfont-awesomematerial-design-iconsreact-iconsSimilar Packages:

Icon Libraries for Modern Web Applications

feather-icons, font-awesome, material-design-icons, and react-icons are popular npm packages that provide scalable vector icons for web applications. Each offers a distinct design language, integration approach, and technical trade-offs. feather-icons delivers a lightweight, minimalist set of 280+ icons with a consistent stroke-based aesthetic. font-awesome provides a vast, mature icon system with multiple styles (solid, regular, brands) and extensive customization options. material-design-icons implements Google’s Material Design specification with official icon assets across various categories. react-icons is not an icon set itself but a unified React component library that bundles dozens of popular icon sets—including Feather, Font Awesome, and Material—into tree-shakable, SVG-based components.

Npm Package Weekly Downloads Trend

3 Years

Github Stars Ranking

Stat Detail

Package
Downloads
Stars
Size
Issues
Publish
License
feather-icons025,865625 kB5082 years agoMIT
font-awesome076,471-3219 years ago(OFL-1.1 AND MIT)
material-design-icons053,041-40210 years agoApache-2.0
react-icons012,52986.2 MB244a year agoMIT

Icon Libraries Compared: Feather, Font Awesome, Material, and React-Icons

Choosing the right icon solution affects your app’s performance, maintainability, and visual consistency. Let’s compare how these four packages handle real-world frontend challenges.

🖼️ Integration Approach: Fonts vs SVG Components

feather-icons provides raw SVG strings. You must manually render them in React.

// feather-icons: Manual SVG rendering
import { home } from 'feather-icons';

function HomeIcon() {
  return <div dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: home.toSvg() }} />;
}

font-awesome offers two paths: CSS fonts (global styles) or SVG with JavaScript (component-based).

// font-awesome: CSS method (adds global styles)
import '@fortawesome/fontawesome-free/css/all.css';

function App() {
  return <i className="fas fa-home"></i>;
}

// font-awesome: SVG + JS method (React components)
import { FontAwesomeIcon } from '@fortawesome/react-fontawesome';
import { faHome } from '@fortawesome/free-solid-svg-icons';

function App() {
  return <FontAwesomeIcon icon={faHome} />;
}

material-design-icons is deprecated — but historically shipped PNGs, SVGs, and font files in inconsistent formats. No official React support.

// material-design-icons: Not recommended (deprecated)
// Example shows why it's problematic
import 'material-design-icons/iconfont/material-icons.css';

function App() {
  // Works but uses outdated, unoptimized font
  return <i className="material-icons">home</i>;
}

react-icons gives you ready-to-use React components for dozens of icon sets.

// react-icons: Direct component usage
import { FiHome } from 'react-icons/fi'; // Feather
import { FaHome } from 'react-icons/fa'; // Font Awesome
import { MdHome } from 'react-icons/md'; // Material

function App() {
  return <FiHome />;
}

📦 Bundle Impact and Tree Shaking

feather-icons is tiny (~30KB minified) and fully tree-shakable if you import individual icons.

// Only imports the 'home' icon
import { home } from 'feather-icons';

font-awesome can be lean or bloated depending on usage. The SVG + JS method supports tree shaking when you import specific icons.

// Tree-shaken: only faHome included
import { faHome } from '@fortawesome/free-solid-svg-icons';

But the CSS method loads the entire icon font (~50KB+), regardless of usage.

material-design-icons is extremely heavy (~30MB installed!) because it includes every format and density. Even importing one SVG pulls in megabytes of unused assets.

// Avoid: pulls in massive directory structure
import home from 'material-design-icons/action/svg/production/ic_home_24px.svg';

react-icons is fully tree-shakable. Each icon is a separate export, so your bundle only includes what you use.

// Only FiHome is bundled
import { FiHome } from 'react-icons/fi';

🎨 Design Language and Customization

feather-icons has one consistent style: thin, 2px stroke, rounded terminals. No filled variants.

// Custom color and size via SVG attributes
const svg = home.toSvg({
  width: 24,
  height: 24,
  color: 'blue'
});

font-awesome offers five styles (solid, regular, light, duotone, brands) with thousands of icons. Highly customizable via props or CSS.

// Font Awesome SVG component customization
<FontAwesomeIcon 
  icon={faHome} 
  size="lg" 
  color="red" 
  spin 
/>

material-design-icons follows Google’s Material spec but the npm package contains outdated versions that don’t match current guidelines.

react-icons doesn’t enforce a style — it mirrors the original design of each source library. You get Feather’s minimalism, FA’s variety, or Material’s geometric shapes as-is.

// Same API, different aesthetics
<FiHome /> {/* Feather */}
<FaHome /> {/* Font Awesome solid */}
<MdHome /> {/* Material */}

⚠️ Maintenance Status

feather-icons: Actively maintained. Last npm release in 2023.

font-awesome: Actively maintained. Frequent updates across all packages.

material-design-icons: Deprecated. The npm package page states: "This package is no longer maintained. Please use the official Material Icons resources." Do not use in new projects.

react-icons: Actively maintained. Regularly updates underlying icon sets.

🔄 Real-World Migration Scenarios

Scenario 1: Starting a New React App

You want clean, performant icons without fuss.

  • Best choice: react-icons with Feather (Fi*) or Material (Md*) icons
  • Why? Zero config, tree-shakable, pure SVG, no global CSS
import { FiMenu, FiSearch } from 'react-icons/fi';

function Header() {
  return (
    <header>
      <FiMenu />
      <FiSearch />
    </header>
  );
}

Scenario 2: Enterprise Dashboard with Brand Requirements

You need recognizable brand icons (Twitter, GitHub) plus hundreds of UI icons in multiple styles.

  • Best choice: font-awesome with SVG + JS method
  • Why? Official brand icons, solid/regular variants, and robust theming
import { FontAwesomeIcon } from '@fortawesome/react-fontawesome';
import { faTwitter, faGithub } from '@fortawesome/free-brands-svg-icons';
import { faChartLine } from '@fortawesome/free-solid-svg-icons';

function Dashboard() {
  return (
    <div>
      <FontAwesomeIcon icon={faTwitter} />
      <FontAwesomeIcon icon={faChartLine} />
    </div>
  );
}

Scenario 3: Lightweight Marketing Site

You need 5–10 simple icons and care about Lighthouse scores.

  • Best choice: feather-icons with inline SVG
  • Why? Smallest possible footprint, no React overhead
// Pre-render SVG strings at build time
const menuIcon = menu.toSvg({ width: 20, height: 20 });

function MobileNav() {
  return <div dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: menuIcon }} />;
}

Scenario 4: Legacy Project Using Material Icons

You inherited a project using material-design-icons npm package.

  • Action: Migrate to official Material Icons font or react-icons
  • Why? The npm package is abandoned and bloated
// Replace this deprecated import:
// import 'material-design-icons/iconfont/material-icons.css';

// With react-icons:
import { MdHome } from 'react-icons/md';

// Or with official CDN:
// <link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/icon?family=Material+Icons" rel="stylesheet">
// <i class="material-icons">home</i>

📊 Summary Table

PackageIntegrationTree ShakingBundle SizeMaintenanceBest For
feather-iconsRaw SVG stringsVery Small✅ ActiveMinimalist apps, max performance
font-awesomeCSS or SVG comps✅ (SVG only)Medium-Large✅ ActiveEnterprise apps, brand icons
material-design-iconsFonts/SVG/PNGHuge❌ DeprecatedAvoid in new projects
react-iconsReact componentsSmall*✅ ActiveReact apps needing flexibility

* Actual size depends on which icon sets you import

💡 Final Recommendation

  • For React projects: Start with react-icons. It’s the safest, most flexible choice with zero-config SVG components and full tree shaking.
  • For non-React projects needing minimal icons: Use feather-icons and inline the SVGs directly.
  • When you need brand icons or multiple visual styles: Go with font-awesome’s SVG + JS method.
  • Never use material-design-icons from npm — it’s deprecated and inefficient. Use Google’s official CDN or react-icons instead.

The right choice balances design needs, performance constraints, and maintenance reality — not just icon count.

How to Choose: feather-icons vs font-awesome vs material-design-icons vs react-icons

  • feather-icons:

    Choose feather-icons if you need a small, consistent set of clean, outline-style icons with minimal bundle impact and no external dependencies. It’s ideal for projects prioritizing performance and simplicity over variety, especially when you don’t require filled or multi-style icons. Since it exports raw SVG strings, you’ll need to handle rendering yourself in React unless paired with a wrapper.

  • font-awesome:

    Choose font-awesome if your project demands a massive library of icons across multiple visual styles (solid, regular, light, duotone, brands) and you’re comfortable with either CSS-based font loading or the heavier SVG-with-JS implementation. It’s well-suited for enterprise applications where brand recognition and icon diversity outweigh bundle size concerns, but requires careful setup to avoid loading unused icons.

  • material-design-icons:

    Avoid using the material-design-icons npm package in new projects—it’s officially deprecated and unmaintained. While it once provided Google’s official Material icons, the package hasn’t been updated since 2018 and includes outdated, inconsistently formatted assets. Instead, use the official Material Icons font via CDN or consume SVGs directly from Google’s repository.

  • react-icons:

    Choose react-icons if you’re building a React application and want easy access to multiple icon libraries through a consistent, tree-shakable component API. It eliminates font-loading issues by rendering pure SVGs and supports on-demand imports, making it ideal for projects that might switch design systems or need icons from different families without managing multiple integration strategies.

README for feather-icons

Feather

Coverage npm downloads npm version CDNJS version

What is Feather?

Feather is a collection of simply beautiful open-source icons. Each icon is designed on a 24x24 grid with an emphasis on simplicity, consistency, and flexibility.

https://feathericons.com

npm install feather-icons

Table of contents

Quick start

Start with this CodePen Template to begin prototyping with Feather in the browser.

Or copy and paste the following code snippet into a blank html file.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <title></title>
  <script src="https://unpkg.com/feather-icons"></script>
  <body>
    <!-- example icon -->
    <i data-feather="circle"></i>

    <script>
      feather.replace();
    </script>
  </body>
</html>

Usage

At its core, Feather is a collection of SVG files. This means that you can use Feather icons in all the same ways you can use SVGs (e.g. img, background-image, inline, object, embed, iframe). Here's a helpful article detailing the many ways SVGs can be used on the web: SVG on the Web – Implementation Options

The following are additional ways you can use Feather.

Client-side JavaScript

1. Install

[!NOTE] If you intend to use Feather with a CDN, you can skip this installation step.

Install with npm.

npm install feather-icons --save

Or just copy feather.js or feather.min.js into your project directory. You don't need both feather.js and feather.min.js.

2. Include

Include feather.js or feather.min.js with a <script> tag:

<script src="path/to/dist/feather.js"></script>

[!NOTE] > feather.js and feather.min.js are located in the dist directory of the npm package.

Or load the script from a CDN provider:

<!-- choose one -->
<script src="https://unpkg.com/feather-icons"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/feather-icons/dist/feather.min.js"></script>

After including the script, feather will be available as a global variable.

3. Use

To use an icon on your page, add a data-feather attribute with the icon name to an element:

<i data-feather="circle"></i>

See the complete list of icons at feathericons.com.

4. Replace

Call the feather.replace() method:

<script>
  feather.replace();
</script>

All elements that have a data-feather attribute will be replaced with SVG markup corresponding to their data-feather attribute value. See the API Reference for more information about feather.replace().

Node

1. Install

Install with npm:

npm install feather-icons --save

2. Require

const feather = require('feather-icons');

3. Use

feather.icons.x;
// {
//    name: 'x',
//    contents: '<line ... /><line ... />`,
//    tags: ['cancel', 'close', 'delete', 'remove'],
//    attrs: {
//      class: 'feather feather-x',
//      xmlns: 'http://www.w3.org/2000/svg',
//      width: 24,
//      height: 24,
//      viewBox: '0 0 24 24',
//      fill: 'none',
//      stroke: 'currentColor',
//      'stroke-width': 2,
//      'stroke-linecap': 'round',
//      'stroke-linejoin': 'round',
//    },
//    toSvg: [Function],
// }

feather.icons.x.toSvg();
// <svg class="feather feather-x" ...><line ... /><line ... /></svg>

feather.icons.x.toSvg({ class: 'foo bar', 'stroke-width': 1, color: 'red' });
// <svg class="feather feather-x foo bar" stroke-width="1" color="red" ...><line ... /><line ... /></svg>

See the API Reference for more information about the available properties and methods of the feather object.

SVG sprite

1. Install

[!NOTE] If you intend to use Feather with a CDN, you can skip this installation step.

Install with npm.

npm install feather-icons --save

Or just copy feather-sprite.svg into your project directory.

2. Use

Include an icon on your page with the following markup:

<svg
  width="24"
  height="24"
  fill="none"
  stroke="currentColor"
  stroke-width="2"
  stroke-linecap="round"
  stroke-linejoin="round"
>
  <use href="path/to/feather-sprite.svg#circle" />
</svg>

[!NOTE] > circle in the above example can be replaced with any valid icon name. See the complete list of icon names at feathericons.com.

However, this markup can be simplified using a simple CSS class to avoid repetition of SVG attributes between icons:

.feather {
  width: 24px;
  height: 24px;
  stroke: currentColor;
  stroke-width: 2;
  stroke-linecap: round;
  stroke-linejoin: round;
  fill: none;
}
<svg class="feather">
  <use href="path/to/dist/feather-sprite.svg#circle" />
</svg>

Figma

Feather is available as a Figma component library. To use the components, log in to your Figma account and duplicate the file to your drafts.

API reference

feather.icons

An object with data about every icon.

Usage

feather.icons.x;
// {
//    name: 'x',
//    contents: '<line ... /><line ... />',
//    tags: ['cancel', 'close', 'delete', 'remove'],
//    attrs: {
//      class: 'feather feather-x',
//      xmlns: 'http://www.w3.org/2000/svg',
//      width: 24,
//      height: 24,
//      viewBox: '0 0 24 24',
//      fill: 'none',
//      stroke: 'currentColor',
//      'stroke-width': 2,
//      'stroke-linecap': 'round',
//      'stroke-linejoin': 'round',
//    },
//    toSvg: [Function],
// }

feather.icons.x.toString();
// '<line ... /><line ... />'

[!NOTE] > x in the above example can be replaced with any valid icon name. See the complete list of icon names at feathericons.com. Icons with multi-word names (e.g. arrow-right) cannot be accessed using dot notation (e.g. feather.icons.x). Instead, use bracket notation (e.g. feather.icons['arrow-right']).

View Source


feather.icons[name].toSvg([attrs])

Returns an SVG string.

Parameters

NameTypeDescription
attrs (optional)ObjectKey-value pairs in the attrs object will be mapped to HTML attributes on the <svg> tag (e.g. { foo: 'bar' } maps to foo="bar"). All default attributes on the <svg> tag can be overridden with the attrs object.

[!NOTE] You might find these SVG attributes helpful for manipulating icons:

Usage

feather.icons.circle.toSvg();
// '<svg class="feather feather-circle" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"><circle cx="12" cy="12" r="10"></circle></svg>'

feather.icons.circle.toSvg({ 'stroke-width': 1 });
// '<svg class="feather feather-circle" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="1" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"><circle cx="12" cy="12" r="10"></circle></svg>'

feather.icons.circle.toSvg({ class: 'foo bar' });
// '<svg class="feather feather-circle foo bar" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"><circle cx="12" cy="12" r="10"></circle></svg>'

View Source


feather.replace([attrs])

Replaces all elements that have a data-feather attribute with SVG markup corresponding to the element's data-feather attribute value.

Parameters

NameTypeDescription
attrs (optional)ObjectKey-value pairs in the attrs object will be mapped to HTML attributes on the <svg> tag (e.g. { foo: 'bar' } maps to foo="bar"). All default attributes on the <svg> tag can be overridden with the attrs object.

Usage

[!IMPORTANT] > feather.replace() only works in a browser environment.

Simple usage:

<i data-feather="circle"></i>
<!--
<i> will be replaced with:
<svg class="feather feather-circle" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"><circle cx="12" cy="12" r="10"></circle></svg>
-->

<script>
  feather.replace();
</script>

You can pass feather.replace() an attrs object:

<i data-feather="circle"></i>
<!--
<i> will be replaced with:
<svg class="feather feather-circle foo bar" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="1" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"><circle cx="12" cy="12" r="10"></circle></svg>
-->

<script>
  feather.replace({ class: 'foo bar', 'stroke-width': 1 });
</script>

All attributes on the placeholder element (i.e. <i>) will be copied to the <svg> tag:

<i data-feather="circle" id="my-circle" class="foo bar" stroke-width="1"></i>
<!--
<i> will be replaced with:
<svg id="my-circle" class="feather feather-circle foo bar" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="1" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"><circle cx="12" cy="12" r="10"></circle></svg>
-->

<script>
  feather.replace();
</script>

View Source


feather.toSvg(name, [attrs]) (DEPRECATED)

[!WARNING] > feather.toSvg() is deprecated. Please use feather.icons[name].toSvg() instead.

Returns an SVG string.

Parameters

NameTypeDescription
namestringIcon name
attrs (optional)ObjectKey-value pairs in the attrs object will be mapped to HTML attributes on the <svg> tag (e.g. { foo: 'bar' } maps to foo="bar"). All default attributes on the <svg> tag can be overridden with the attrs object.

Usage

feather.toSvg('circle');
// '<svg class="feather feather-circle" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"><circle cx="12" cy="12" r="10"></circle></svg>'

feather.toSvg('circle', { 'stroke-width': 1 });
// '<svg class="feather feather-circle" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="1" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"><circle cx="12" cy="12" r="10"></circle></svg>'

feather.toSvg('circle', { class: 'foo bar' });
// '<svg class="feather feather-circle foo bar" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"><circle cx="12" cy="12" r="10"></circle></svg>'

View Source

Contributing

For more info on how to contribute please see the contribution guidelines.

Caught a mistake or want to contribute to the documentation? Edit this page on Github

Related projects

License

Feather is licensed under the MIT License.