The best free icon libraries in 2026, compared

On this page 9 sections

There are more free icon libraries than ever, and most “best of” lists just rank them by size. That is not how real people choose. A teacher making slides, a founder building a landing page and a developer wiring up a React app need very different things.

So instead of a fake “number one”, this guide gives each of ten popular libraries a best for label, a plain-English summary and the facts that matter: how many icons, which styles, which licence, and whether you need to give credit. Then a short decision guide helps you pick in a couple of minutes.

The big comparison table

Ten popular free icon libraries at a glance (checked October 2026). “Free styles” counts what you get without paying.
Library	Best for	Free icons	Free styles	Licence	Credit needed?
with icons	One set for code, slides and docs	500 (× 20 styles = 10,000 SVGs)	20 (3 interface + 17 creative)	MIT	No
Font Awesome	Brand logos, the classic `<i>` tag	Over 2,000	3 (Solid, Regular, Brands)	CC BY 4.0 (icons)	Built into the files
Material Symbols	Android and Material Design apps	Over 2,500	3 + adjustable fill and weight	Apache 2.0	No (appreciated)
Lucide	React and shadcn/ui projects	Over 1,800	1 (adjustable stroke)	ISC	No
Heroicons	Tailwind CSS projects	316	4 sizes (outline, solid, mini, micro)	MIT	No
Phosphor	Many weights of one icon	About 1,500	6 weights	MIT	No
Tabler Icons	Maximum free MIT breadth	Over 6,200	2 (outline, filled)	MIT	No
Bootstrap Icons	Bootstrap websites	Over 2,000	Outline + fill versions	MIT	No
Hugeicons	Big rounded set with a paid upgrade	6,000+	1 free (10 in Pro)	MIT (free set)	No
Flaticon / Icons8	One-off, illustrated or rare icons	Millions	Thousands / 130+	Own licences	Yes, on free plans

How we compared them

We looked at each library the way a busy, non-specialist person would:

Licence and credit: can you use it for work, and do you have to show a credit line?
Size: how many free icons, quoted the way the library itself states it.
Styles: how many looks you get for free (outline, filled, weights and so on).
Outside code: how easy it is to get an icon into slides, docs or Canva.
Developer setup: packages, classes and fonts, for the readers who code.

If licence words like MIT, ISC or CC BY are new to you, our guide Can I use free icons commercially? explains them in plain English.

The ten libraries, one by one

1. with icons: best for one set across code, slides and docs

Our own set takes a different approach from everyone else here. We drew 500 everyday icons once each, then rendered every drawing into 20 styles: line, solid and duo for interfaces, plus 17 creative styles for presentations, hero sections and posters, from glossy, glassy and engraved to pixel, retro, kawaii and hand-drawn sketch. That is 10,000 SVGs that always match. Each icon also has 20 to 30 hand-picked colour palettes and optional motion, and 50 “Live” icons show content you set, like dates and counts.

Line

Solid

Duo

Gloss

Engrave

Blueprint

Sketch

Glass

Kawaii

Sticker

Pixel

Retro

Bauhaus

Luxe

Skeuo

Anime

Coquette

Gothic

Pastel

Plush

The star icon, drawn once and rendered in all 20 styles.

Everything is MIT licensed with no credit. Every icon page has Copy image, PNG (any size and colour) and SVG downloads, plus guides for PowerPoint, Canva and more. For developers there are React, Vue, Svelte, Angular and Solid components, a web component and CSS classes, all on npm and the jsDelivr CDN. Where others win: 500 icons is still small next to Tabler, Hugeicons or Font Awesome. No brand logos, no niche icons.

2. Font Awesome: best for brand logos and the classic setup

The most famous icon set on the web. The free set has over 2,000 icons in Solid, Regular (for some icons) and Brands, which includes logos like GitHub and Visa that most open-source sets skip. Free icons use CC BY 4.0, but Font Awesome says the credit already in its files is enough. Pro plans start at $48 a year and unlock many more icons and styles. Read our full with icons vs Font Awesome comparison.

3. Material Symbols: best for Android and Material Design apps

Google’s own set: over 2,500 icons in Outlined, Rounded and Sharp, delivered as a variable font with adjustable fill, weight, grade and optical size. It is free under Apache 2.0, and Google says attribution is appreciated but not required. Perfect when you want your app to feel at home on Android; less ideal if you want your own distinct look. See with icons vs Material Symbols.

4. Lucide: best for React and shadcn/ui projects

A community-built fork of the older Feather icons, with a clean, consistent outline style. The site listed 1,857 icons when we checked, and there are official packages for nearly every framework. It is the default icon set in shadcn/ui, a hugely popular component kit, which makes it a natural pick for React developers. One adjustable stroke style, ISC licence (similar to MIT), no credit needed. Our Lucide alternative page compares it in detail.

5. Heroicons: best for Tailwind CSS projects

Made by the team behind Tailwind CSS. A small, polished set of 316 icons in four versions: Outline, Solid, Mini (20px) and Micro (16px), each drawn for its size. MIT licence, official React and Vue packages. If your site uses Tailwind, these icons will feel right at home. More on our Heroicons alternative page.

6. Phosphor: best for many weights of the same icon

About 1,500 icons, each in six weights: Thin, Light, Regular, Bold, Fill and Duotone. That flexibility is lovely when you want hairline icons in one place and bold ones in another. MIT licence, and packages that reach beyond the web to mobile and desktop. See our Phosphor alternative page.

7. Tabler Icons: best for maximum free MIT breadth

The warehouse of free outline icons: over 6,200 counting filled versions, on a 24 × 24 grid with a 2px line, with packages for most frameworks. MIT, no credit, and optional paid bundles if you want to support the project. If you keep needing rare icons, start here. Read with icons vs Tabler Icons.

8. Bootstrap Icons: best for Bootstrap websites

The official icon set of Bootstrap, the popular website toolkit, though it works without Bootstrap too. Over 2,000 icons on a 16px grid, many with outline and filled versions, and an easy web font. MIT licence. A safe, simple choice for classic websites. More on our Bootstrap Icons alternative page.

9. Hugeicons: best for a big rounded set with a paid upgrade path

A newer library with a generous free tier: 6,000+ icons in one “Stroke Rounded” style, published under MIT on npm. The paid Pro plan ($99 a year, or a one-time Pro Plus licence) unlocks over 60,000 icons in 10 styles. A good fit if you like soft, rounded lines and might want many more styles later.

10. Flaticon and Icons8: best for one-off, illustrated or rare icons

These are marketplaces rather than icon sets. Flaticon lists over 18 million icons and stickers from many artists; its free plan asks you to credit the author, and Premium ($99 a year for US customers) removes that. Icons8 offers over 1.3 million icons in 130+ styles; free use requires a link back to icons8.com, and paid plans remove the link. Brilliant for a specific illustration, less ideal for a whole matching interface. Our with icons vs Flaticon post explains attribution in detail.

Colored pencils arranged on a surface — A big box of pencils is wonderful, as long as you pick colours that work together. Icon libraries are the same.Photo: mdreza jalali on Unsplash

Open-source set or marketplace: what is the difference?

An open-source icon set (Lucide, Tabler, with icons and most of this list) is one family, designed by one team to the same rules, published under a licence like MIT that lets anyone use it. Icons match each other, and you rarely need to give credit.

A marketplace (Flaticon, Icons8) is a huge shop of icons from many artists or styles. You get incredible variety, but free use usually comes with a credit or link requirement, and icons from different artists may not match.

Some sets sit in between: Font Awesome and Hugeicons have a free open-source tier and a paid Pro tier on top.

10: entries in one table
9: open sets with no visible credit
2: marketplaces that want a credit or link
$0: to try any of them

How to choose an icon library in five questions

Answer these in order. Most people have their answer by question three.

1
Are you building on a specific toolkit?
Tailwind: try Heroicons. Bootstrap: Bootstrap Icons. shadcn/ui: Lucide. Android or Material Design: Material Symbols. Matching your toolkit saves time.
2
Do you need brand logos?
If you need GitHub, Slack or payment logos, Font Awesome’s Brands set is the easy answer. Most other sets, including ours, have none.
3
Do you need rare or very specific icons?
For lots of niche icons, go big: Tabler, Hugeicons or Font Awesome. For one special illustration, a marketplace like Flaticon.
4
Will the icons appear outside code?
If you also make slides, docs, social posts or Canva designs, pick a set with easy PNG and SVG downloads. with icons was built for this.
5
Do you want more than one look?
Phosphor gives you six weights of each icon. with icons gives you 20 styles, from simple line to glossy, glassy, pixel, kawaii and hand-drawn.

code palette layout-dashboard smartphone file-text megaphone

Different jobs, different needs: code, design, dashboards, mobile apps, documents and marketing.

Can you mix icon libraries?

Technically yes, since nearly all of these allow it. Visually, be careful. Each set has its own line thickness, corner shapes and proportions, and those small differences add up. Our guide to keeping icons consistent goes deeper.

Choose one main library and use it everywhere: the app, the website and the slides. Borrow from a second set only for things the first truly lacks, like brand logos.

Don’t

Pick each icon from a different library because it was the first search result. The page will feel slightly off, even if nobody can say why.

Man using a laptop at a wooden table — Most teams pick a library once and live with it for years. Ten minutes of thought now saves a lot of swapping later.Photo: Carlos Gil on Unsplash

Which free icon library is best for slides and documents?

Most of this list was made for developers, so getting an icon into PowerPoint can mean downloading an SVG, recolouring it in another tool and then inserting it. Material Symbols, Tabler and the marketplaces all offer downloads. with icons adds a Copy image button and PNG downloads in any size and colour, so you can paste straight into a slide. Our post on icons in presentations has tips on sizes and layout.

rocket target users trending-up lightbulb trophy

A pitch-deck row in the gloss style, ready to copy into a slide.

Our picks, in one sentence each

Font Awesome if you need brand logos or want the most familiar choice.
Material Symbols if you build for Android or follow Material Design.
Lucide if you use React or shadcn/ui and want a big, clean outline set.
Heroicons if you build with Tailwind and need a small, polished set.
Phosphor if you want six weights of the same icon.
Tabler Icons or Hugeicons if you want thousands of free MIT icons.
Bootstrap Icons if your site runs on Bootstrap.
Flaticon or Icons8 if you need one special illustration and do not mind crediting.
with icons if you want one set for code, slides and docs, in 20 styles, with no credit. Browse all 500 icons to see if it covers what you need.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best free icon library?

It depends on the job. Tabler Icons and Hugeicons offer the most free MIT icons, Lucide is the favourite for React and shadcn/ui, Material Symbols suits Android and Material Design, and with icons is best if you want one matching set for websites, slides and docs in 20 styles with no credit.

Which free icon libraries do not require attribution?

Lucide (ISC), Heroicons, Phosphor, Tabler, Bootstrap Icons, Hugeicons’ free set and with icons (all MIT) need no visible credit. Material Symbols (Apache 2.0) says credit is appreciated but not required. Font Awesome Free is CC BY 4.0, but the credit already inside its files counts. Flaticon and Icons8 free plans do require a credit or link.

What is the largest free icon library?

Among open-source sets in this list, Tabler Icons (over 6,200 counting filled versions) and Hugeicons (6,000+ free icons) are the largest. Marketplaces like Flaticon (over 18 million icons and stickers) are far bigger, but their free use comes with attribution.

Can I use free icon libraries for commercial projects?

All ten libraries in this guide allow commercial use. The differences are in the conditions: some need no credit at all, some ask for a credit or link on the free plan, and paid plans usually remove that requirement.

Can I mix two icon libraries on one website?

You can, but different line weights and corner styles often look slightly off next to each other. If you must mix, keep each set to its own area, such as one for the app and one for the marketing pages.

Which icon library is best for PowerPoint and Google Slides?

Any library with PNG or SVG downloads works. with icons adds a Copy image button and PNG downloads in any colour, which is the quickest route into slides. Flaticon and Icons8 have huge choice but ask for a credit on free plans.

Sources and notes

Facts about other icon sets were checked against their official sites in October 2026. Libraries change, so check the links above for the latest numbers.

Published October 2, 2026