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Font Awesome VS Open Font Library

Compare Font Awesome VS Open Font Library and see what are their differences

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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!

Open Font Library logo Open Font Library

The mission of the Open Font Library is to promote your freedoms as it relates to the use of type.
  • Font Awesome Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-02-09
  • Open Font Library Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-08

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.

Open Font Library features and specs

  • Free to Use
    Open Font Library offers a wide range of fonts that are free to download and use. This makes it accessible for individuals and businesses who need fonts without spending money.
  • Open Licensing
    All fonts on Open Font Library come with open licenses that allow them to be used, modified, and distributed freely. This provides flexibility for a variety of projects.
  • Community Contributions
    The platform is community-driven, allowing designers to contribute their fonts. This helps create a diverse collection of fonts with various styles and utilities.
  • Web Font Support
    Open Font Library supports web fonts, making it easy to integrate them into web projects, improving the typography of websites without additional licensing costs.
  • Transparency
    Since it is an open-source initiative, there is a high level of transparency in the process. Users can see changes and updates to fonts and their licenses.

Possible disadvantages of Open Font Library

  • Quality Variability
    Due to its community-driven nature, the quality of fonts can be inconsistent. Some fonts may not be as polished or professionally designed as those found on commercial font websites.
  • Limited Support
    Being an open-source project, it lacks dedicated customer support. Users may have to rely on community forums or other unofficial channels for help.
  • Search and Navigation
    The website's search and navigation functionalities may not be as advanced as those of commercial font repositories, making it harder to find specific types of fonts.
  • Less Frequent Updates
    Updates to the library may be less frequent compared to commercial services that have dedicated teams working on expanding and updating their font collections.
  • Market Penetration
    Since it isn’t as widely known or used as commercial font libraries, there could be fewer user reviews and ratings to guide new users in selecting the right fonts.

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 Open Font Library

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Open Font Library is considered a good resource for obtaining open-source fonts. Its commitment to open licenses and community contribution makes it a reliable and versatile option for designers, developers, and hobbyists looking for both diversity and freedom in their typography choices.

Why this product is good

  • Open Font Library (fontlibrary.org) is a valuable resource for those seeking high-quality, freely available fonts. The platform is community-driven and focuses on providing a wide variety of fonts under open licenses, encouraging both use and collaboration. Users have access to a large array of typefaces suitable for both personal and commercial projects.

Recommended for

  • Graphic designers in need of unique and customizable fonts
  • Developers seeking open-source fonts for use in web projects
  • Students and hobbyists interested in exploring typography
  • Anyone requiring fonts that are both free and suitable for commercial use

Font Awesome videos

+ Add

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

Open Font Library videos

+ Add

Open Font Library

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Font Awesome and Open Font Library)

Font Awesome

Open Font Library

Web Icons
100 100%
Web Icons
0% 0
Fonts
0 0%
Fonts
100% 100
Vector Icons
100 100%
Vector Icons
0% 0
Web Fonts
0 0%
Web Fonts
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Font Awesome and Open Font Library. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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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 Open Font Library

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.
Source: bootcamp.uxdesign.cc
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.
Source: www.hongkiat.com
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.
Source: rigorousthemes.com

Open Font Library Reviews

We have no reviews of Open Font Library yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Font Awesome seems to be a lot more popular than Open Font Library. While we know about 130 links to Font Awesome, we've tracked only 6 mentions of Open Font Library. 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

Open Font Library mentions (6)

  • GNU based fonts
    Except when they are : https://fontlibrary.org/. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Fonts and related issues
    Ttf fonts are kind of sucky on linux. Try more otf fonts. Go to https://fontlibrary.org/ they are all free and open. You can use them on windows as well. Al so make sire anti-aliasing is enabled. And Hinting should be on, mine is the "slight" setting with RGB as the rendering. (I'm using Kubuntu by the way). My system font Is Open Sans and the Monofonts are Hack. Sometimes you just have to play with settings to... Source: almost 3 years ago
  • Where to get fonts and the license to use in creating game?
    I'm using https://www.1001fonts.com/ and https://fontlibrary.org/ - both have font licenses clearly specified, first one allows filtering by commercial use license, second one has all fonts free for commercial use. Source: about 3 years ago
  • Which fonts can I use in my game?
    I usually use this site: https://fontlibrary.org/ (fonts compatible with open-source licenses). Source: over 3 years ago
  • Fonts
    Uncopyrighted - I'm not sure. But if you're ok with Open Font License, try https://fontlibrary.org/. Source: almost 4 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Font Awesome and Open Font Library, you can also consider the following products

Flaticon - A database of free vector icons.

Google Fonts - Making the web more beautiful, fast, and open through great typography

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

Dafont - Archive of freely downloadable fonts. Browse by alphabetical listing, by style, by author or by popularity.

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

Font Squirrel - Font Squirrel scours the internet in search of FREE, highest-quality, designer-friendly, commercial-use fonts and presents them for easy downloading. We don't have the most, but we do have the best.

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