Get Icons: 30+ Free Icon Packs for Web & UI DesignIcons are small, visual building blocks that help users navigate interfaces, understand content quickly, and add personality to digital products. Whether you’re designing a website, a mobile app, or a dashboard, having a strong collection of icons — preferably scalable, well-crafted, and properly licensed — makes the design process faster and the result more consistent. This guide lists 30+ free icon packs ideal for web and UI design, explains when to use different icon styles, and offers tips on customization, accessibility, and licensing.
Why icons matter in UI design
Icons serve multiple roles:
- Improve scannability: Users can find actions and features faster with clear visual cues.
- Reduce textual noise: Icons can replace or pair with labels to save space.
- Create visual hierarchy: Size, weight, and color guide users’ attention.
- Reinforce brand and tone: Rounded, hand-drawn, or geometric styles convey different personalities.
Choosing the right icons involves considering context (app vs. website), platform conventions (iOS, Android, web), and accessibility (clear meaning and proper labels).
Icon styles and when to use them
- Line (outline) icons — clean, modern; great for minimal interfaces.
- Solid (filled) icons — strong presence; useful for emphasis or small sizes.
- Glyph icons — compact and legible at tiny sizes, commonly used in toolbars.
- Duotone/multicolor icons — add brand personality; useful in marketing/UI where visual flair is desired.
- Hand-drawn and illustrative icons — friendly, informal; good for creative or niche brands.
- Isometric/3D icons — great for hero sections, illustrations, and data dashboards that need depth.
How to choose and combine icon packs
- Match line weight/visual weight across packs.
- Use consistent size and grid (commonly 24px, 32px, or 48px grids).
- Check stroke caps and joins for visual consistency.
- Prefer vector formats (SVG, Figma components) for scalability.
- Ensure licensing allows your intended use (commercial, modification).
30+ Free Icon Packs (with quick notes)
Below are 30+ free icon packs that cover a broad range of styles and use cases. All listed packs offer free-usable options (some with paid pro versions). Verify license terms on each site before using commercially.
- Feather Icons — lightweight, simple line icons; easy to customize stroke width.
- Heroicons — by the Tailwind Labs team; solid and outline sets; popular in web apps.
- Font Awesome Free — large library; both solid and regular styles; web-font + SVG.
- Material Icons — Google’s icon system; comprehensive and platform-friendly.
- Octicons — GitHub’s icon set; great for developer tools and documentation.
- Ionicons — originally for Ionic framework; modern and mobile-friendly.
- Boxicons — simple line and solid icons; easy to use as a web font or SVG.
- Remix Icon — neutral and extensive; designed for UI consistency.
- Tabler Icons — open-source, clean, and beginner-friendly.
- Modern Pictograms — geometric and minimal; suitable for dashboards.
- Streamline Icons (free set) — curated selection of the premium set; polished visuals.
- Heroicons Mini — smaller, squarer versions of Heroicons for compact UIs.
- Eva Icons — customizable with platform-friendly design tokens.
- Zondicons — a smaller but stylish set of UI icons.
- CSS.gg — vector icons built with CSS and SVG, useful for web-native styling.
- Unicons (free subset) — many categories; flexible styles.
- Simple Icons — brand logos as icons; useful for social links and tool stacks.
- Phosphor Icons — versatile, multiple weights, designed for interfaces.
- Boxicons — (listed earlier) provides both line and solid; repeat only if needed.
- Google Material Symbols — expanded Material Icons with new variable weights.
- Fluent UI System Icons — Microsoft’s iconography for consistent Windows experiences.
- Remixicon — (repeat of Remix Icon) extensive library; good neutral style.
- Iconoir — clean, consistent line icons with many options.
- Lucide — community fork of Feather with extra icons and contributions.
- LineIcons (free subset) — neat line icons suitable for web UIs.
- Tabler Icons — (repeat) wide set of open-source icons.
- Hero Patterns Icons — matching patterns and icons for consistent visuals.
- Bootstrap Icons — designed for Bootstrap but useful anywhere; wide coverage.
- Phosphor — (repeat) multi-weight versatility.
- FlatIcon (free selection) — huge repository of icons and illustrations (attribution may be required).
- IcoMoon — build custom icon sets and generate fonts/SVGs; includes a free pack.
- Noun Project (free with attribution) — massive community collection; ideal when you need niche symbols.
- Fontello — create custom fonts from multiple icon sets; handy for optimizing delivery.
- Svgrepo — many free SVG icons; quick for grabbing specific symbols.
Notes on duplicates in the list
Several popular systems appear multiple times across different sources or subsets (for example, Font Awesome variants, Heroicons/Heroicons Mini, Remix/Remixicon). That’s because many projects offer multiple styles or community forks. When choosing, focus on single-family consistency unless you’re careful to harmonize stroke, size, and weight.
File formats and workflow tips
- Use SVG for crisp, scalable icons. Inline SVG allows easier styling with CSS.
- Keep icons on a 24px or 16px grid depending on target platform.
- Export optimized SVGs (SVGO) to reduce file size.
- Create a single sprite or icon font for many small icons to reduce requests, or use inlined SVGs for performance and accessibility.
- Use design system components (Figma/Sketch/Studio) for reusable, easily-swappable icon components.
Accessibility and semantics
- Always provide accessible names: use aria-label or visually hidden text for interactive icons.
- Avoid using icons alone when their meaning is ambiguous; pair with a text label.
- Ensure sufficient color contrast for icons that convey critical information.
- Test on screen readers and keyboard navigation.
Licensing checklist
Before using any free icon pack commercially:
- Confirm if commercial use is allowed.
- Check whether attribution is required and how it should be given.
- Verify whether modifications are permitted.
- For brand logos (Simple Icons, Noun Project), check trademark rules.
Quick customization recipes
- Color change: edit SVG fill/stroke or use CSS variables.
- Stroke weight: use stroke-width or swap to a different weight from icon families offering multiple weights.
- Combine icons: use layered SVGs for duotone or multicolor effects.
- Animated icons: animate SVG properties (transform, stroke-dashoffset) or use Lottie for complex motion.
Example: Integrating SVG icons inline (basic pattern)
<button aria-label="Search"> <svg width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" role="img" aria-hidden="true"> <path d="..."></path> </svg> </button> - Keep role and aria attributes appropriate. Set aria-hidden=“true” when you provide a visible label outside the SVG, or supply aria-label on the button.
Conclusion
A robust icon toolkit speeds up design, improves usability, and keeps your UI consistent. Start with a small curated set that matches your brand and add specialty packs for edge cases. Always check licenses and prioritize vector formats for maximum flexibility.
If you want, I can:
- Extract a curated subset of 12 icons (with download links) matching a specific style (line, filled, or duotone).
- Create a Figma file with a cohesive 24px icon set.
- Provide a short script to convert multiple SVGs into an optimized sprite.
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