shouldiuse.io

Categories

VERDICT

Font Awesome Review

Worth it

Should I use Font Awesome?

The internet's icon library + toolkit. Open-source. Always free. Always awesome. - fontawesome.com

· 1 month ago

The free tier is a safe default for nearly any web project — mature, huge library, zero cost. Don't pay for Pro unless you need extra icon families or paid support, and know lighter rivals are winning over some devs.

Confidence

High. Based on ~30 public sources including Reddit, Product Hunt, Trustpilot, G2, NVD, and vendor docs. Some review snippets were truncated, limiting verbatim quote depth.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

$0

Free

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes
ProPaid subscription (see plans)

Best for

  • Web projects needing quick, consistent icons
  • Prototypes and MVPs
  • Teams wanting an open-source default
  • WordPress and CMS sites

Not for

  • Performance-critical sites unwilling to subset the icon kit
  • Design teams wanting one modern, cohesive style — Lucide fits better
  • Anyone refusing subscriptions just for icons
  • Products needing fully custom iconography

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

Third-party WordPress integrations keep generating CVEs — vet plugins, not just core.

medium

Pro is a subscription, and the hosted kit enforces pageview-based limits — self-host or subset to dodge them.

medium

Subscription pushback is real: one founder spent $60K building an alternative over pricing gripes.

medium

Dev and design support only comes with a paid Pro subscription.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Free, open-source core with thousands of icons in SVG, font, and CSS
  • Used by millions as of 2024; massive community and docs
  • Multiple icon families and styles in one toolkit
  • Product Hunt reviewers praise the library's breadth
  • Free tier can be started anytime, no commitment

Cons

  • Vocal devs have switched to lighter alternatives like Lucide
  • Performance suffers unless you subset or optimize the kit
  • Hosted kit carries pageview-based restrictions
  • Ecosystem plugins have recurring XSS vulnerabilities
  • Some report the library lacks niche or newer icons

Sources & method

- 10 sources - Core library is largely clean; most CVEs sit in third-party WordPress plugins that integrate Font Awesome.

official x2review x4security x2news x2
  • CVE-2025-31861 — npm font-awesome package, Improper Neutralization of Input vulnerability listed for the npm package.
  • CVE-2026-6415 — WordPress plugin stored XSS, Stored cross-site scripting in the Advanced Custom Fields: Font Awesome Field plugin.
  • CVE-2023-4718 — Font Awesome 4 Menus plugin, Vulnerability in the Font Awesome 4 Menus WordPress plugin.
  • Infostealer credential exposure tied to domain, 106,679 credentials from the domain appear in infostealer logs — user/endpoint risk signal, not a vendor breach.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 10

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Free open-source core; Pro is optional
  • Ease of use: 4/5. Drop-in CDN install; occasional integration friction
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Huge multi-family SVG, font, CSS toolkit
  • Support quality: 3/5. Dev/design support gated behind Pro subscription
  • Security posture: 3/5. Core mostly clean; recurring plugin CVEs
  • Millions Claimed users Designers, devs, creators per vendor and Wikipedia
  • Yes Free tier Open-source core, always free
  • $120K Funding raised Per PitchBook profile
  • v7 Current version Latest major release

Pricing

Free

$0

  • All free icons, open source
  • SVG, font, and CSS formats

Pro

Paid subscription (see plans)

  • All icon families and styles
  • Customizable icon kits
  • Dev and design support

Security

Core library is largely clean; most CVEs sit in third-party WordPress plugins that integrate Font Awesome.

  • CVE-2025-31861 — npm font-awesome packageImproper Neutralization of Input vulnerability listed for the npm package.⁸
  • CVE-2026-6415 — WordPress plugin stored XSSStored cross-site scripting in the Advanced Custom Fields: Font Awesome Field plugin.⁷
  • CVE-2023-4718 — Font Awesome 4 Menus pluginVulnerability in the Font Awesome 4 Menus WordPress plugin.
  • Infostealer credential exposure tied to domain106,679 credentials from the domain appear in infostealer logs — user/endpoint risk signal, not a vendor breach.

What users say

Long-time developers largely respect the library's breadth and reliability, but a visible minority has moved to lighter alternatives.

“I mostly use Lucide these days.”
Reddit, r/webdev
“In all of my projects I'd use font”
Reddit, r/webdev
“I'm not a fan of the font awesome sub”
Reddit, r/startups
Full analysis

Based on ~30 public sources including Reddit, Product Hunt, Trustpilot, G2, NVD, and vendor docs. Some review snippets were truncated, limiting verbatim quote depth.

Free icon library that works. Use Free, skip Pro unless you need more icon families; rivals like Lucide are gaining.

Methodology

Based on ~30 public sources including Reddit, Product Hunt, Trustpilot, G2, NVD, and vendor docs. Some review snippets were truncated, limiting verbatim quote depth.

Read how a report is made.

Sources

  1. Plans & Pricing — Font Awesomefontawesome.com
    official
  2. FortAwesome/Font-Awesome on GitHubgithub.com
    official
  3. To me, Iconfiy > Font Awesome (Reddit)reddit.com
    review
  4. I'm officially done with FontAwesome (DEV)dev.to
    review
  5. Font Awesome Reviews — Product Huntproducthunt.com
    review
  6. Font Awesome Speed & Performanceswarmify.com
    review
  7. CVE-2026-6415 — WordPress plugin XSSsentinelone.com
    security
  8. CVE-2025-31861 — NVDnvd.nist.gov
    security
  9. Font Awesome — Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
    news
  10. Font Awesome — PitchBook funding profilepitchbook.com
    news

Add this review to your site

Font Awesome earned a Worth it check.

Put the badge on your site, pricing page, or docs.

Visitors see an independent review.

The link points here, and search engines follow it.

This is the badge visitors see on your site.

Worth it Font Awesome Independent review on Should I Use It

Paste one snippet. Keep the link as it is. A nofollow tag stops search engines from following it.

Rate this review

Anonymous. You can change your vote.

Loading votes…

Comments

One queue. No nested comments. Give a display name first. Limit: 200 words per comment and 7 comments per day. You can edit or delete yours.

Save a name to write a comment.

0 / 200 words

No comments yet.