Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Font Awesome VS Bootstrap Icons

Compare Font Awesome VS Bootstrap Icons and see what are their differences

Font Awesome logo Font Awesome

Font Awesome makes it easy to add vector icons and social logos to your website. And version 5 is redesigned and built from the ground up!

Bootstrap Icons logo Bootstrap Icons

Official open source SVG icon library for Bootstrap
  • Font Awesome Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-02-09
  • Bootstrap Icons Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-01

Font Awesome features and specs

  • Comprehensive Icon Library
    Font Awesome offers a vast collection of icons, providing a wide range of options for different use cases and making it easier for developers to find the perfect icon to fit their needs.
  • Easy Integration
    Font Awesome can be easily integrated into web projects using either a CDN link or by downloading the icon set. This makes it convenient for developers to start using icons quickly without extensive setup.
  • Scalability
    Since Font Awesome icons are vector-based, they are infinitely scalable without losing quality. This ensures that icons look sharp on all devices and screen resolutions.
  • Customizable
    Font Awesome icons can be customized easily with CSS, allowing developers to change colors, sizes, and even create animations to match the design of their projects.
  • Consistent Design
    The icons in Font Awesome are designed to be consistent with each other in terms of style, line weight, and aesthetic, which helps in maintaining a uniform look across a web project.
  • Accessibility
    Font Awesome includes ARIA attributes and support for screen readers, ensuring that icons can be interpreted correctly by assistive technologies for better accessibility.

Possible disadvantages of Font Awesome

  • File Size
    Font Awesome can add substantial size to web projects, particularly if the entire library is imported. This can slow down load times, especially on mobile devices or slower internet connections.
  • Dependence on External Resources
    Using a CDN for Font Awesome can create a dependency on external resources. If the CDN is down or blocked, the icons will not display correctly.
  • License Fees
    While Font Awesome offers a free version, the Pro version with more icons and features requires a subscription. This can be a limitation for projects with tight budgets.
  • Overhead for Simple Projects
    For small projects that only require a few icons, using Font Awesome can be overkill. The overhead of including the entire library may not be justified when only a handful of icons are needed.
  • Potential for Version Conflicts
    Using Font Awesome alongside other libraries or different versions of Font Awesome can sometimes lead to conflicts, resulting in icons not displaying correctly or styling issues.
  • Limited to Available Icons
    Despite its large collection, users are restricted to the icons available in Font Awesome. Custom or niche icons that aren't included in the library will need to be sourced or created elsewhere.

Bootstrap Icons features and specs

  • Comprehensive Collection
    Bootstrap Icons offer a large library of icons, which covers most common types of user interface needs, making it convenient for developers who need a one-stop solution.
  • Consistency
    Icons are designed to harmonize with Bootstrap's styling, ensuring a consistent look and feel with Bootstrap based projects.
  • Open Source
    Bootstrap Icons are free to use and open source, which enhances accessibility for developers working on different types of projects.
  • Ease of Use
    Bootstrap Icons are simple to implement, especially for those already using Bootstrap, as they integrate seamlessly into projects.
  • SVG Support
    Icons are available as SVGs, providing scalability and flexibility in design without loss of quality.

Possible disadvantages of Bootstrap Icons

  • Limited to Bootstrap Users
    While the icons can be used independently, they are primarily designed for Bootstrap, which may not appeal to developers using other frameworks.
  • Design Limitations
    Design style may not suit all project aesthetics, as the icons follow a standard Bootstrap visual style that might not align with every project's theme.
  • Feature Set
    Compared to some dedicated icon packs, Bootstrap Icons might lack certain specialized icons or variations, which could be restrictive for complex applications.
  • Frequent Updates
    While updates ensure new additions, they may also result in breaking changes which require developers to modify their existing codebases regularly.

Analysis of Font Awesome

Overall verdict

  • Font Awesome is highly regarded as a reliable and comprehensive icon toolkit for web developers and designers.

Why this product is good

  • Font Awesome is considered good due to its vast collection of scalable vector icons that are easy to use and customize. It offers a consistent and professional look, and integrates seamlessly with web development workflows. Being open-source and frequently updated, it supports modern web standards and is compatible across various browsers and platforms.

Recommended for

  • Web developers looking for a wide variety of icons
  • Designers who need scalable and customizable icons
  • Projects that require integration with frameworks like Bootstrap
  • Applications aiming for consistent UI design across platforms
  • Beginners who want an accessible and straightforward icon library

Analysis of Bootstrap Icons

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Bootstrap Icons is considered good. It offers a robust collection of high-quality icons that integrate smoothly with Bootstrap and other frameworks, providing a reliable resource for developers looking to enhance their web applications with scalable vector graphics.

Why this product is good

  • Bootstrap Icons is a well-regarded library for several reasons. First, it is created and maintained by the team behind Bootstrap, ensuring a high level of quality and consistency. The icons are designed to work seamlessly with Bootstrap components, providing a cohesive design experience. Additionally, the library is open-source, regularly updated, and offers a comprehensive set of icons that cover many common use cases. Its ease of use, compatibility, and accessibility make it a practical choice for web developers.

Recommended for

    Bootstrap Icons is especially recommended for developers and designers using Bootstrap for their projects, as the icons are tailored to integrate effortlessly with Bootstrap's grid and component structure. Additionally, it is a great choice for any web development project that requires a comprehensive set of icons due to its ease of use and high-quality design.

Font Awesome videos

Star Ratings With JavaScript & Font Awesome

More videos:

  • Review - Add Font Awesome Icons to our Buttons, freeCodeCamp Bootstrap Review, lesson 13
  • Review - Add Font Awesome Icons to all of our Buttons, freeCodeCamp Bootstrap Review, lesson 14

Bootstrap Icons videos

Bootstrap 5 Crash Course Tutorial #13 - Bootstrap Icons

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Font Awesome and Bootstrap Icons)
Web Icons
77 77%
23% 23
Vector Icons
86 86%
14% 14
Icon Fonts
84 84%
16% 16
Web Fonts And Design Assets

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Font Awesome and Bootstrap Icons

Font Awesome Reviews

Revolutionize Your Icon Collection: 5 CSS Icon Sites to Boost Your Web Designs
Font Awesome is one of the most comprehensive libraries of CSS icons available, with over 1,500 scalable vector icons that can be customized using CSS classes.
7 Best Free Icon Libraries
While Font Awesome was a font-based asset library i.e font icon library, Bootstrap chose to use SVG-based icons. At this time, Bootstrap Icons consists of over 1,000 ready-to-use library icons in the alpha version.
Source: www.atatus.com
The Best Free And Paid Icon Fonts - Font Awesome Alternatives
On the Internet, you can easily find many services that give everyone thousands of beautiful icons for free or for a fee. With their help, you can design a website or a page on a social network. There are many alternatives to Font Awesome, but, unfortunately, there are few Russian-language sites. Although, even without translation, it is clear how to find the desired icon...
Source: www.wcido.com
9 FontAwesome Alternatives That Are Equally As Good
FontAwesome is by far one of the most popular source for font icons, with a huge collection of icons. But it is highly unnecessary to download the whole collection when you need to use just a few.
10 Best Fontello Alternatives 2021
Similar to other vector makers and Fontello, you can use Font Awesome to create custom icons of your own using a variety of colors, shapes, and font styles. When you’re done, you can share your newly minted icons with others or save them directly on your computer.

Bootstrap Icons Reviews

7 Best Free Icon Libraries
The Bootstrap Icons package can be installed via npm or manually downloaded. There are several ways to include Bootstrap Icons on your site, depending on your setup:
Source: www.atatus.com
Top FontAwesome alternatives to use on your websites
Everyone is familiar with Bootstrap for the most part. It is one of the most highly used HTML, CSS and JS libraries out today. But fewer people are aware of Bootstrap Icons, which feature over 1300 icons that can be used as SVG items or web fonts for free.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Font Awesome should be more popular than Bootstrap Icons. It has been mentiond 130 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Font Awesome mentions (130)

View more

Bootstrap Icons mentions (23)

  • Icons gem for Phlex
    When it comes to building sleek, interactive UIs, having access to a robust set of icons is essential. Over the last few weeks, I've been migrating one of my projects from ERBs to Phlex. During this process, I found myself frequently reaching for SVG icons from popular libraries like Heroicons, Bootstrap icons, and Flag icons. After some frustration with manual integration into a Shared::Icon Phlex component, I... - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • How to create a Blazor app for WASM, Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android
    In my previous Blazor project, I used Font Awesome icons and Google Fonts, but now I use embedded font files and Bootstrap Icons because I think they work better with Bootstrap 5. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • Modern Dropdown component HTML
    An icon to indicate the state of the dropdown (open or closed). Note that the svg used is adapted from Bootstrap icons. - Source: dev.to / 12 months ago
  • Show HN: LogoMVP – Generate quick, professional logos for your MVP
    Hey, great work! You could easily add the Bootstrap Icons library to this. And then perhaps the Noun Project. https://icons.getbootstrap.com/ https://thenounproject.com/. - Source: Hacker News / 10 months ago
  • My open source video editor made with Godot, editor layout progress + Roadmap
    Not sure if you already are using, but bootstrap has a lot of readymade icons for a project like this. Source: over 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Font Awesome and Bootstrap Icons, you can also consider the following products

Flaticon - A database of free vector icons.

Heroicons - Beautiful, free SVG icons from the makers of Tailwind CSS.

The Noun Project - Creating, Sharing and Celebrating the World's Visual Language

Feather Icons - Simply beautiful open source icons

Icons8 - Free app for Mac & Windows already containing 39,800 icons. Allows to search and import icons…

Material Icons - Google Fonts now supports icons