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Material Icons VS Bootstrap Icons

Compare Material Icons VS Bootstrap Icons and see what are their differences

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Material Icons logo Material Icons

Google Fonts now supports icons

Bootstrap Icons logo Bootstrap Icons

Official open source SVG icon library for Bootstrap
  • Material Icons Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-05-22
  • Bootstrap Icons Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-01

Material Icons features and specs

  • Extensive Collection
    Material Icons offer a comprehensive set of over 2,000 icons, covering a wide range of use cases and design needs.
  • Consistency
    The icons are designed following Google's Material Design guidelines, ensuring visual and functional consistency across different platforms and applications.
  • Scalability
    Being vector-based, these icons can be scaled to any size without losing quality, making them versatile for various screen resolutions.
  • Ease of Integration
    Material Icons are easy to integrate into projects through the use of the Google Fonts API, CSS, or direct downloading and inclusion in codebases.
  • Customizability
    Icons can be customized in terms of color, size, and other styles to fit the specific needs of a project.
  • Free and Open Source
    Material Icons are free to use under the Apache License 2.0, making them accessible for both personal and commercial projects.

Possible disadvantages of Material Icons

  • Steep Learning Curve
    For designers not familiar with Material Design, there may be a learning curve to understanding and effectively implementing the design principles.
  • Design Limitations
    While Material Icons are highly versatile, their design is rooted in Material Design principles, which may not fit every brand or aesthetic.
  • Performance Overhead
    Including a large number of icons through the Google Fonts API can result in additional HTTP requests, potentially affecting page load times.
  • Less Unique
    Given their popularity, Material Icons are widely used, which may lead to a lack of uniqueness in the design of applications using them.
  • Inconsistent Updates
    While Google does update the icon set, updates can be infrequent or may not include all needed icons for newer features or design trends.

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.

Material Icons videos

+ Add

NOU - Icon Pack Review Material Icons Best Icon Pack

Bootstrap Icons videos

+ Add

Bootstrap 5 Crash Course Tutorial #13 - Bootstrap Icons

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Material Icons and Bootstrap Icons)

Material Icons

Bootstrap Icons

Web Icons
48 48%
Web Icons
52% 52
Design Tools
75 75%
Design Tools
25% 25
Vector Icons
35 35%
Vector Icons
65% 65
Photos & Graphics
100 100%
Photos & Graphics
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

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

Material Icons Reviews

10 Best Fontello Alternatives 2021
Fontello doesn’t have this capability so this makes Material Icons the more superior tool. Also, the Material Icons font catalog supports over 135 languages—a feature most of its rivals including Fontello cannot do.
Source: rigorousthemes.com
Top FontAwesome alternatives to use on your websites
If you are familiar with Google Fonts already, then you will be familiar with Google's Material Icons. You can include Material Icons in the exact same way that you would include a Google Font family on your webpage.
Source: www.thatsoftwaredude.com

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.
Source: www.thatsoftwaredude.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Material Icons should be more popular than Bootstrap Icons. It has been mentiond 67 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.

Material Icons mentions (67)

  • Best Icon Font Libraries for Developers
    By adding Material Design Icons to your project, you can have a clean and professional look that is in line with current design standards. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Best Flutter Icon Libraries in 2025
    It is a collection of icons provided by Google Fonts, available on their website. This set is the go-to for developers who want to maintain consistency with Google’s Material Design principles. With a wide range of icons, this library is perfect for creating a polished, cohesive app interface. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • The Best 100 Free UI/UX Resources for Every Designer & Developer
    Material Icons Fonts.google.com/icons Google’s open-source icon set for Material Design. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • ✨10 Stunning Icon Libraries to Check Out (That Are Free and Open-Source) 🚀
    Website: Material Symbols GitHub Repo: GitHub Repo. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Ask HN: Which SVG icon library are you using and why?
    Https://fonts.google.com/icons My preference for new projects is currently swaying towards Google's Material library as its just so easy and fast to use. Nevertheless Fontawesome has been a staple for me for the last several years! - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
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 / 11 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 / 9 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 Material Icons and Bootstrap Icons, you can also consider the following products

Feather Icons - Simply beautiful open source icons

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

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!

IconStore - Free icon packs by first-class designers

Iconoir - A diverse and open-source library with 900+ icons

Glyphicons - GLYPHICONS is a library of precisely prepared monochromatic icons and symbols, created with an emphasis to simplicity and easy orientation.

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