Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

The Noun Project VS Bootstrap Icons

Compare The Noun Project VS Bootstrap Icons and see what are their differences

The Noun Project logo The Noun Project

Creating, Sharing and Celebrating the World's Visual Language

Bootstrap Icons logo Bootstrap Icons

Official open source SVG icon library for Bootstrap
  • The Noun Project Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-07-28
  • Bootstrap Icons Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-01

The Noun Project features and specs

  • Extensive Library
    The Noun Project offers a vast collection of over 3 million icons, covering a wide range of themes and styles, which can be used across various projects.
  • Quality & Consistency
    Icons in The Noun Project are designed by professional designers, ensuring high quality and visual consistency across different icons.
  • Ease of Use
    The platform has a user-friendly interface, making it easy to search, download, and integrate icons into projects.
  • Community Contributions
    The platform allows designers from all over the world to contribute their work, encouraging a diverse range of design styles and cultural representations.
  • Cost-Effective
    Offers both free and premium options, allowing users to access a wide range of icons even with a limited budget.
  • Customizable Icons
    Many icons are customizable in terms of color, size, and format, allowing users to tailor them to their specific needs.

Possible disadvantages of The Noun Project

  • Premium Pricing
    While there are many free icons, access to the entire library and some premium icons may require a subscription which could be costly for some users.
  • Attribution Requirement
    Free icons often require attribution to the designer, which might not be practical or desirable for all users or projects.
  • Limited Uniqueness
    Since the icons are openly available, the same icons might be used by many people, reducing the uniqueness of a project.
  • Overwhelming Choices
    The sheer volume of available icons can be overwhelming, making it difficult for users to find the perfect icon quickly.
  • Dependent on External Platform
    Relying on an external platform means that changes, downtime, or disruptions in The Noun Project's service can affect users' access to icons.
  • Limited Integration
    While there are plugins for some design tools, The Noun Project might not seamlessly integrate with every software or platform designers use.

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 The Noun Project

Overall verdict

  • Yes, The Noun Project is generally considered a valuable resource for designers, educators, and other professionals who require high-quality icons. Its extensive collection and commitment to diversity and accessibility make it a standout platform.

Why this product is good

  • The Noun Project is highly regarded for its vast and diverse library of icons and symbols that are designed by a global community of designers. It provides users with a wide array of creative options, supports multiple file formats, and offers both free and premium subscription plans. The platform is user-friendly, making it easy to search and find the perfect icons for a wide range of projects. It also emphasizes accessibility and inclusivity by offering culturally diverse representations in its iconography.

Recommended for

  • graphic designers looking for high-quality icons
  • educators in need of visual aids for presentations
  • web developers in search of icons for user interfaces
  • anyone needing icons for social media posts or print materials
  • organizations aiming to find culturally diverse iconography

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.

The Noun Project videos

The Noun Project review: using icons in your slides - The Good, the Bad and the Tip

More videos:

  • Review - The Noun Project: Brian's Go-To Catalog of Over 1 Million Icons!

Bootstrap Icons videos

Bootstrap 5 Crash Course Tutorial #13 - Bootstrap Icons

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to The Noun Project and Bootstrap Icons)
Web Icons
80 80%
20% 20
Vector Icons
83 83%
17% 17
Icon Fonts
83 83%
17% 17
Design Tools
76 76%
24% 24

User comments

Share your experience with using The Noun Project and Bootstrap Icons. 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 The Noun Project and Bootstrap Icons

The Noun Project Reviews

12 Best Free FontAwesome Alternatives in 2023 
The Noun Project is another excellent pack of font icons that you can go for. This pack contains icons for practically everything under the sun. You can find more than 5 million curated icons in this pack that have been created by a global and culturally diverse community. All these icons are royalty-free, and you can get them easily in your workflow.
Source: lineicons.com
7 Best Free Icon Libraries
The Noun Project's web icons library offers integrations with Adobe, Mac, Office, and Google apps. This might make you assume spending for a yearly plan. Remember, you can download and use it for free and without attribution.
Source: www.atatus.com
10 Best Fontello Alternatives 2021
Designers and photographers from all walks of life can submit their original designs and images on The Noun Project, under the Creative Commons Zero license. This way, anyone can freely use these designs or photos without restrictions or the need for attributions.

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, The Noun Project should be more popular than Bootstrap Icons. It has been mentiond 143 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.

The Noun Project mentions (143)

  • IcôNES
    If you’re looking for icons http://thenounproject.com (no affiliation) has a huge collection. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • The Best 100 Free UI/UX Resources for Every Designer & Developer
    The Noun Project Thenounproject.com Free icons with attribution (CC license). - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • How to make mix-blend-mode round to black or white only
    Relying on backdrop-filter has one issue: even if you have a transparent background behind your blending element, the rectangle behind it will look black or white too. This is fine for rectangular elements such as the simple scroller inside the CodePen example, but not for complex shapes such as the planet logo from the Noun Project shown in the same example. - Source: dev.to / 4 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 / 11 months ago
  • Useful Websites for Cheat Sheets and Programming Resources
    Content: The Noun Project offers a vast collection of icons that can be used in various projects, providing a wide range of icons for different purposes. Benefits: Access to high-quality icons for use in design and development projects, enhancing visual communication and design. Link: https://thenounproject.com/. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
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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 / 9 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 / 9 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 / 11 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 The Noun Project 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.

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

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!

Feather Icons - Simply beautiful open source icons

Iconfinder - Iconfinder is the leading search engine and market place for vector icons in SVG, PNG, CSH and AI format..