Do you know the use of icons on your website, content, or design can dramatically increase the acceptance of it to the visitors? Using the icons&...

Do you know the use of icons on your website, content, or design can dramatically increase the acceptance of it to the visitors? Using the icons always give it a more realistic and intuitive look than static. It abruptly increases the charisma of your design.

But choosing the best icon sets sometimes make you confused. There are several icon sites available on the internet. Don't you think knowing those sites can help you to get a more attractive design? Indeed it can.

Okay, in this article, I will give you a detail comparison between Font Awesome and IcoMoon. Of course, it will help you to get to a decision which one is suitable for you and why.
So no more delay! Let's dig in....

 

What Is Font Awesome?

​Font Awesome is a huge collection of icons. Font Awesome free version is completely free either for personal or commercial use. It has a pro version with more stunning icons.

Originally, it was designed for Bootstrap; however, you can use it in any of your favorite frameworks. In simple words, they look like icons, but you can handle them as fonts. 

In their cheat sheet, you can see the names of all the available icons in the package.

Why We Use Font Awesome?

  1. ​A Large Variety of Icons​​: There is a wide range of web-related icons to choose from. Moreover, Large library with more icons being added frequently. Categories include web-application, directional, transportation, and brand icons.​
  2. IE7 Support with Older Versions​​​: IE7 support has been removed from Font Awesome 4.4.0. However, you can still use an older version for IE7 support.​
  3. Designed to Be Used with Bootstrap​​​: Though Font Awesome is exceptionally easy to use with Bootstrap, it can be used with any framework.​ Though Font Awesome is exceptionally easy to use with Bootstrap, it can be used with any framework.​
  4. It's Retina Ready & Easy to Style​​​: There's no need to worry about creating retina graphics since Font Awesome will give you high-quality iconography on every device. ​CSS is used to style the font and can easily change the color, size, drop shadow, or any other customization of an icon. You get all of the styling benefits of regular text, but now with icons!​
  5. Browsers Support​​​: You don't need to think about Font Awesome's browser compatibility; it's well supported by all modern browsers. With all file formats included (.eot, .ttf, .woff, and SVG), it's treated the same as other web fonts.​
  6. Community Support​​​: Font Awesome offers you community support. You will get any kind of assistance regarding Font Awesome from the community.​
  7. Icons Are Searchable​​​: Font Awesome has a search option on the website. There are a lot of icons on the website, and you can get your one. You just need to do is type the name on the search option and get it.​

How Can You Integrate Font Awesome in Your HTML?

There are 2 ways to integrate Font Awesome in your HTML;

  1. Download & Install
  2. Font Awesome Link (CDN)

Download & Install:

Do you want to work with Font Awesome even without an internet connection? You just need to download and install it in your project directory.

You can download and unzip the Font Awesome package into your project directory and add the following code inside <head> tag.

<link rel="stylesheet" href="/myProjectPath/font-awesome/css/font-awesome.min.css">

Font Awesome Link (CDN)

This is the easiest way to get Font Awesome with just one line of code in your HTML page <head> tag. No downloading, installing, or configuration required in this case. The one line of code is mentioned below;

<link rel="stylesheet" href="/https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/font-awesome/4.7.0/css/font-awesome.min.css">

3 Simple Steps to Use Font Awesome in Photoshop

Step 01: Download the Icons

  • Go to the Font Awesome website and download the free icons for desktop.
  • Unzip the downloaded file
  • Open the Unzipped file and click on the "otfs" folder. If you don't have "otfs" folder, you will have "use-on-desktop" folder, click on it.
  • In that folder, you will see 3 Font Awesome font lists. Install them all.
  • Go to your desktop Font Setting to check those fonts correctly installed or not.
  • Launch your Photoshop and see the result.

Step 02: Find the Icon Names 

Go to Font Awesome Cheatsheet and select the icon which you want to use. Copy that icon.

Step 03: Add the Icon to Your Photoshop ​

Go back to your Photoshop and paste that icon. Done!

What Is IcoMoon?

​IcoMoon is an icon solution that provides three main services for you. They are the Vector Icon Packs, The IcoMoon App, and hosting icons as SVGs or fonts. 

In their cheat sheet, you can see the names of all the available icons in the package.

  1. Vector Icon Packs: IcoMoon provides many free icon packs. You can find them in the library tab of the IcoMoon app. Each of them has a license link that you can refer to.​ Besides, these free icon, you can purchase three high-quality premium icon packs separately.​
  2. The IcoMoon App: ​​This app allows you to browse and search for the icons you need quickly. You can download these icons, do some basic editing, import your own icons, generate icons in SVG, Polymer, PDF, XAML, PNG, and CSS sprites.​
  3. Hosting Icons as SVGs​: ​In addition to icon fonts, the IcoMoon app allows you to download your chosen icons as SVGs, which can be used as inline SVGs in HTML.​

Why We Use IcoMoon?

  1. ​Free IcoMoon App with Free Icons​: ​The IcoMoon app is free. Moreover, Its library contains so many high-quality icon sets those are totally free. You can easily use these icons, and you just need to do is browse the app and search the icons that are required to you.​
  2. Build Custom Fonts​​​: Using the IcoMoon App, you can simply create your own custom fonts that only contain the icons that you would need.​
  3. Pixel Perfect Results​​: The IcoMoon app takes grid sizes of icons into account and generates pixel-perfect results with proper alignment. The font size set will display perfectly to the front end.​
  4. Import Your Own Vectors​​: By using the IcoMoon app, you can import your own SVG images(Scalable Vector Graphics) or SVG fonts.​
  5. Offline Facility​​: Once loaded in your browser, the IcoMoon app works offline. When you import an icon or generate a font, everything happens locally, in your own browser.​
  6. ​Flexibility​​: Usually, optimized texts are displayed on a web page that makes it easy to apply CSS properties to your icons similar to do for text.​
  7. Scalability​​: You can change the display size of a font icon like you change the size of the text on a web page.​ You can change the display size of a font icon like you change the size of the text on a web page.​
  8. Vector Independent​​: Font icons are vector and resolution-independent. All the icons are displayed sharply on all kinds of displays with different resolutions. They look perfect both in mobile and desktop.​

2 Easy Steps to Use IcoMoon 

​Step 01: Import SVG into IcoMoon

  • Click on the "Import Icon" button and upload your SVG files.
  • Select the icons you want to use.
  • Click on the "Generate Font" button. This will generate your icons into fonts.

Step 02: Download .zip folder

  • After you click Generate Font, it will take you to the window where you can download your .zip file.
  • Before downloading the font, please click on "Preferences".
  • Make sure "Support IE7 & IE6" and "Includes Metadata in Fonts" options are ON.
  • Click on the "Download" button to download the .zip folder.
  • ​Unzip the downloaded file and install the .ttf file.
  • Launch your Photoshop and check the font is available or not. Done!

IcoMoon vs. Font Awesome​

​ ​IcoMoon ​​Font Awesome 
​Number of Free Icons  ​5500+ ​1264
Number of ​Pro Icons ​4000+ ​2068
​Convert SVGs to Font? ​Yes ​No
​Font Generator App? ​Yes ​No
​Create Own Icon-Kit? ​Yes ​Yes
​Icons Are Searchable?  ​Yes ​​Yes
​Launched in ​​November, 2011 ​​December, 2017
​Designers/Developers Per License ​10 ​5 (You can add extra seats with extra payment)

I've shown all of the features, functionalities, and compatibilities of both of them. Now it's your call to decide who is more applicable to you. Both of them are much necessary to increase the attractiveness of your design. 

But you should get a clear vision which one is going to make you more profitable. I can give you a screenshot of Google trends that reflects the demand for them. Here it is....

Convinced?

I want you to understand the IcoMoon and Font Awesome clearly so that you can easily pick one of them in your need.

Do you have further confusion? Let us know if you have one. We always ready to hear you. Drop your thoughts through the comment box.