5 ms·

Question to all HN Users: what is the best icon library?

pixelready 9mo ago
Honestly, I always default to material icons unless a project calls for a very specific style. The coverage is just so dang good I rarely find a scenario without an appropriate icon and the style is neutral enough to blend in with a number of UI designs.
Bewelge 9mo ago
I really like https://phosphoricons.com/ https://phosphoricons.com/ But other than that, I also usually default to Material UI Icons.
coolewurst 9mo ago
I like Material Symbols best. Largest selection AFAIK and simple enough that you can create unique ones that fit in.
- Alupis 9mo ago
  My only issue with Material-anything is it immediately looks/feels to me like something Google-related. Not a deal-breaker entirely, but for my own things I like differentiate.
  - coolewurst 9mo ago
    I see your point and like to do things myself, just so they're mine, but I feel like there's only so many ways to skin a cat and draw a plus symbol. Most users will not care if they have seen a map icon in another app before anyway.
  - Itoldmyselfso 9mo ago
    If you use rounded or outline variants it's a bit different at least. There's also the two-tone variant which at least I haven't seen used much
tezza 9mo ago
I’ve used FlatIcon extensively. My use case is video games rather than web design. https://www.flaticon.com/ https://www.flaticon.com/
- jojomodding 9mo ago
  Sadly not open source licensed
thecopy 9mo ago
https://lucide.dev/ https://lucide.dev/
- egeozcan 9mo ago
  I learned about this thanks to claude always using it.
- deaux 9mo ago
  These now instantly ring everyone's slop alarm bells. I'd choose any set over them.
  - sabellito 9mo ago
    Completely disagree, don't know of anyone who'd share that opinion.
    - deaux 9mo ago
      Don't worry, after a few years everyone will agree with me. 2 years ago I was talking about the "Not just X, but Y" slop marker and no one had an idea what I was talking about. Now even the average corporate marketer recognizes it as an immediate slop hallmark. Slop websites, and Lucide being one of their hallmarks, are now where that phrase was 2 years ago.
  - greatgib 9mo ago
    Why you don't like this set? You feel negative after looking at their website or you have a more serious reason?
    - deaux 9mo ago
      It's used by 99% of slop websites because it's the go to of any LLM if not prompted to do otherwise.
mbsa7 9mo ago
https://www.svgrepo.com https://www.svgrepo.com I find the site very user friendly as it lets you customize the stroke's width, color etc, see how it looks like and copy the modified version.
- Frotag 9mo ago
  This site shows up on google a lot but it's a bit sketchy that there isn't a link to the source / license text. Not to mention the SEO heavy descriptions. > Free Download Wallet 460 SVG vector file in monocolor and multicolor type for Sketch and Figma from Wallet 460 Vectors svg vector Plus I've found the license listed isn't always accurate. For example the emojione icons are listed as MIT. But the actual repo says CC 4.0, with the non-artwork being MIT. https://www.svgrepo.com/svg/404123/skull-and-crossbones https://www.svgrepo.com/svg/404123/skull-and-crossbones https://github.com/joypixels/emojione/ https://github.com/joypixels/emojione/
  - mbsa7 9mo ago
    I agree with you on the license issue, don't really mind the descriptions being too verbose or SEO oriented though but that's personal taste.
croisillon 9mo ago
famfamfam of course, the only set one will ever need
- swhitf 9mo ago
  The GOAT. I remember when basically every page on the internet had one of these icons on.
ComputerGuru 9mo ago
You’ll get a lot of responses but for me (excuse the nostalgia), icon design peaked with famfamfam’s (aka Mark James’s) Silk iconset from ~2005. It was a shame they were never available at higher resolutions (or as SVG), though I’m betting AI (either as Adobe Illustrator or Artificial Intelligence) can probably rectify that these days (and generate subpar additional icons to expand the set). View: https://peacocksoftware.com/silk https://peacocksoftware.com/silk Download: https://github.com/markjames/famfamfam-silk-icons/tree/master/icons https://github.com/markjames/famfamfam-silk-icons/tree/maste...
qingcharles 9mo ago
I've used Tabler for everything so far (free, 4500 icons) https://tabler.io/icons https://tabler.io/icons

Honestly, I always default to material icons unless a project calls for a very specific style. The coverage is just so dang good I rarely find a scenario without an appropriate icon and the style is neutral enough to blend in with a number of UI designs.

Bewelge 9mo ago

I really like https://phosphoricons.com/ https://phosphoricons.com/ But other than that, I also usually default to Material UI Icons.

coolewurst 9mo ago

I like Material Symbols best. Largest selection AFAIK and simple enough that you can create unique ones that fit in.

Alupis 9mo ago
My only issue with Material-anything is it immediately looks/feels to me like something Google-related. Not a deal-breaker entirely, but for my own things I like differentiate.
- coolewurst 9mo ago
  I see your point and like to do things myself, just so they're mine, but I feel like there's only so many ways to skin a cat and draw a plus symbol. Most users will not care if they have seen a map icon in another app before anyway.
- Itoldmyselfso 9mo ago
  If you use rounded or outline variants it's a bit different at least. There's also the two-tone variant which at least I haven't seen used much

tezza 9mo ago

I’ve used FlatIcon extensively. My use case is video games rather than web design. https://www.flaticon.com/ https://www.flaticon.com/

jojomodding 9mo ago
Sadly not open source licensed

thecopy 9mo ago

https://lucide.dev/ https://lucide.dev/

egeozcan 9mo ago
I learned about this thanks to claude always using it.
deaux 9mo ago
These now instantly ring everyone's slop alarm bells. I'd choose any set over them.
- sabellito 9mo ago
  Completely disagree, don't know of anyone who'd share that opinion.
  - deaux 9mo ago
    Don't worry, after a few years everyone will agree with me. 2 years ago I was talking about the "Not just X, but Y" slop marker and no one had an idea what I was talking about. Now even the average corporate marketer recognizes it as an immediate slop hallmark. Slop websites, and Lucide being one of their hallmarks, are now where that phrase was 2 years ago.
- greatgib 9mo ago
  Why you don't like this set? You feel negative after looking at their website or you have a more serious reason?
  - deaux 9mo ago
    It's used by 99% of slop websites because it's the go to of any LLM if not prompted to do otherwise.

mbsa7 9mo ago

https://www.svgrepo.com https://www.svgrepo.com I find the site very user friendly as it lets you customize the stroke's width, color etc, see how it looks like and copy the modified version.

Frotag 9mo ago
This site shows up on google a lot but it's a bit sketchy that there isn't a link to the source / license text. Not to mention the SEO heavy descriptions. > Free Download Wallet 460 SVG vector file in monocolor and multicolor type for Sketch and Figma from Wallet 460 Vectors svg vector Plus I've found the license listed isn't always accurate. For example the emojione icons are listed as MIT. But the actual repo says CC 4.0, with the non-artwork being MIT. https://www.svgrepo.com/svg/404123/skull-and-crossbones https://www.svgrepo.com/svg/404123/skull-and-crossbones https://github.com/joypixels/emojione/ https://github.com/joypixels/emojione/
- mbsa7 9mo ago
  I agree with you on the license issue, don't really mind the descriptions being too verbose or SEO oriented though but that's personal taste.

croisillon 9mo ago

famfamfam of course, the only set one will ever need

swhitf 9mo ago
The GOAT. I remember when basically every page on the internet had one of these icons on.

ComputerGuru 9mo ago

You’ll get a lot of responses but for me (excuse the nostalgia), icon design peaked with famfamfam’s (aka Mark James’s) Silk iconset from ~2005. It was a shame they were never available at higher resolutions (or as SVG), though I’m betting AI (either as Adobe Illustrator or Artificial Intelligence) can probably rectify that these days (and generate subpar additional icons to expand the set). View: https://peacocksoftware.com/silk https://peacocksoftware.com/silk Download: https://github.com/markjames/famfamfam-silk-icons/tree/master/icons https://github.com/markjames/famfamfam-silk-icons/tree/maste...

qingcharles 9mo ago

I've used Tabler for everything so far (free, 4500 icons) https://tabler.io/icons https://tabler.io/icons