12 Free Open-Source Icon Sets for Your Next Design Project

Icons are an essential part of user interfaces, helping users navigate, understand, and engage with your design. Whether you're developing a website, mobile app, or even a print project, these free open-source icons provide flexibility, quality, and style without the need for complex licensing. Let's explore 12 excellent open-source icon sets, each offering its own unique strengths.

Material Symbols and Icons

Google's Material Symbols are part of their Material Design ecosystem, designed to maintain visual harmony and consistency across platforms. With over 2,000 icons, this collection covers a wide range of categories—from actions and navigation to social media and communication. The icons are available in various styles, including outlined, filled, rounded, and sharp, which ensures that they can adapt to different design aesthetics while keeping a cohesive look. These icons are ideal for web and mobile apps, particularly if you're following Google's Material Design guidelines.

Lucide Icons

Lucide Icons is a free and open-source icon library created by a passionate community of developers and designers. It features simple, clean, and highly readable icons, making them great for minimalistic and functional designs. With over 900 icons in the collection, Lucide provides excellent coverage of common interface needs, including navigation, social media, and more. These icons are SVG-based, which means they are scalable without losing quality, and they can be easily customized to fit the look and feel of your project.

Eva Icons

Eva Icons offers more than 480 icons, specifically designed to work within user interfaces. Each icon in this collection is available in two styles: outline and fill, giving you flexibility depending on your design's context. The icons are perfect for dashboards, mobile applications, or any other interactive system where clarity and functionality are key. Additionally, Eva Icons integrates smoothly with the Eva Design System, a comprehensive UI framework that supports consistency across your design project.

iconmonstr

iconmonstr is an extensive library of over 4,000 free icons, focusing on simplicity and usability. These icons are perfect for projects that need clear and easy-to-understand visual elements. iconmonstr's strength lies in its straightforward, minimal design that avoids overly complex shapes, making it a favorite for developers looking to implement icons quickly. The icons are available in different formats, including SVG and PNG, making them versatile for use in web, mobile, and print designs.

Basicons

Basicons provides a lightweight and modern collection of icons, designed to be as flexible as possible while maintaining a minimal aesthetic. Each icon is designed to scale easily, ensuring they remain sharp and clear even at small sizes. Basicons are perfect for interfaces where simplicity is key, and they excel in digital environments like websites, applications, or software dashboards. The icons are highly customizable, allowing you to adjust the stroke width, colors, and size to suit your specific design needs.

Line Awesome

Line Awesome is a free alternative to Font Awesome, offering a collection of beautiful, scalable outline icons. If you're familiar with Font Awesome's functionality but prefer a sleek outline look, Line Awesome is a perfect match. With over 1,300 icons, it covers a wide range of categories like navigation, actions, media, and more. The line-based icons are particularly well-suited for modern web designs, as their scalable nature allows them to be easily resized while maintaining visual integrity.

Forge Icons

Forge Icons offers a collection of 300 high-quality SVG icons that strike the right balance between detail and simplicity. These icons are specifically designed for industries like e-commerce, travel, and social media, making them ideal for targeted applications in these fields. The icons in Forge are designed to work well at various sizes, ensuring they are clear and legible whether you're using them on large banners or small mobile buttons. Their design is modern, and they fit seamlessly into both digital and print media.

Ionicons

Initially created for the Ionic Framework, Ionicons have grown to become a widely-used icon set in general web development. With over 1,200 icons in three different styles (outline, filled, and sharp), Ionicons are versatile enough to fit into almost any design scenario. They are particularly useful for mobile and web apps, thanks to their clean and modern design. Whether you're developing an app with Ionic or just need a solid set of icons for your project, Ionicons offer a professional and polished look.

Remix Icon

Remix Icon is a systemized, open-source icon library that offers over 2,200 icons. These icons are available in both outline and fill styles, making them perfect for projects that require a mix of different visual elements. Remix Icon's minimal design language allows them to fit seamlessly into a wide range of projects, whether you're working on a web application, mobile app, or a SaaS platform. They are SVG-based, making them fully scalable and easy to modify to match your project's color scheme.

Iconhub

Iconhub is a growing platform that offers stunning icons for developers and designers alike. The icons are carefully crafted to be both practical and aesthetically pleasing. With over 10,000 icons available, Iconhub covers almost every category you can think of, from user interface elements to industry-specific icons. The icons are designed to be highly functional without sacrificing beauty, making them a great choice for web, app, and software projects. They are available in various formats, ensuring compatibility with different design tools and workflows.

Teenyicons

As the name suggests, Teenyicons are tiny, minimalist icons with a 1px stroke width. Despite their small size, these icons are designed to be highly legible and versatile. With over 1,200 icons, Teenyicons are ideal for projects where space is limited, such as mobile applications or toolbars. Their lightweight design means they won't add bulk to your project, ensuring fast loading times and a sleek, modern look. Teenyicons are perfect for designers looking for minimal, no-frills icons that still pack a visual punch.

Akar Icons

Akar Icons offer a well-balanced collection of modern icons that are highly adaptable to different project needs. The icons in this set are simple yet elegant, with a focus on functionality and clarity. Akar Icons work well in various settings, from user interface design to web development, and can be customized easily to fit different styles. Their clean and straightforward approach makes them suitable for a wide range of design contexts, ensuring your projects stay visually consistent and professional.

These free open-source icons provide a wide range of options for any project, whether you're looking for sleek, minimal designs or detailed icons for specific industries. Each of these sets is fully customizable and easy to integrate, ensuring that you can adapt them to your project's specific needs. Explore the links provided to find the best set of icons to enhance your next design!