Font Awesome vs Material Icons – Full Comparison 2026

Font Awesome and Google Material Icons are the two most historically dominant icon libraries on the web. In 2026, both have evolved significantly — Font Awesome into a freemium model, Material into the variable-font-based Material Symbols.

Library

Font Awesome 6 Solid

Material Symbols

Samples

Icons

1,402

15,009

License

CC-BY-4.0

Apache-2.0

Author

Dave Gandy

Google

Category

Archive / Unmaintained

Material

Multicolor

No

No

Browse Font Awesome 6 Solid →Browse Material Symbols →

Origins and philosophy

Font Awesome started in 2012 as a CSS font icon library. It pioneered the <i class="fa fa-..."> pattern and became the default icon solution for a generation of web projects. Today it operates as a freemium product: Font Awesome Free (CC BY 4.0) offers ~2,000 icons; the paid Pro tier unlocks thin, light, sharp, and duotone weights.

Material Symbols is Google’s official successor to the original Material Design Icons. It ships as a variable icon font with five axes: fill, weight, grade, optical size, and style. All ~3,400 icons across all five styles are completely free under Apache 2.0.

Common icons compared

HouseMagnifying GlassUserBellGearTrashHomeSearchPersonNotificationsSettingsDelete

Style and aesthetics

Font Awesome Free’s Solid style uses bold, filled icons with high visual weight — excellent for accessibility and high-contrast interfaces. The Light and Thin weights (Pro only) look more refined but require a paid license.

Material Symbols uses a geometric, modular grid with optically calibrated strokes. The variable font allows you to adjust weight from hairline to bold at runtime via CSS — no separate icon files required.

/* Material Symbols variable font — adjust weight, fill, and size via CSS */
.icon {
  font-variation-settings:
    "FILL" 0,
    "wght" 400,
    "GRAD" 0,
    "opsz" 24;
}
.icon-filled {
  font-variation-settings:
    "FILL" 1,
    "wght" 400,
    "GRAD" 0,
    "opsz" 24;
}

React integration

# Font Awesome (multiple packages needed)
npm install @fortawesome/fontawesome-svg-core @fortawesome/react-fontawesome @fortawesome/free-solid-svg-icons

# Material Symbols — use with @mui/icons-material or Iconify
npm install @iconify/react

// Font Awesome
import { FontAwesomeIcon } from "@fortawesome/react-fontawesome";
import { faSearch } from "@fortawesome/free-solid-svg-icons";
<FontAwesomeIcon icon={faSearch} size="lg" />;

// Material Symbols via Iconify (simplest approach)
import { Icon } from "@iconify/react";
<Icon icon="material-symbols:search" width={24} />;

Font Awesome’s React setup requires three packages and a library registry. Material Symbols is simpler via Iconify or the official @mui/icons-material package.

Licensing at a glance

Material Symbols: Apache 2.0 — free for commercial use with no attribution required and no Pro tier.

When to choose each

Frequently asked questions