shouldiuse.io

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Should I Use Font Awesome?

fontawesome.com·Analyzed 1 week ago··Based on 10 sources

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

Verdict

Worth it

The free tier is a safe default for nearly any web project — mature, huge library, zero cost.

Confidence: High

Don't pay for Pro unless you need extra icon families or paid support, and know lighter rivals are winning over some devs.

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

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
Best for and not for

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

Biggest gotcha

  • highThird-party WordPress integrations keep generating CVEs — vet plugins, not just core.
  • mediumPro is a subscription, and the hosted kit enforces pageview-based limits — self-host or subset to dodge them.
  • mediumSubscription pushback is real: one founder spent $60K building an alternative over pricing gripes.
  • mediumDev and design support only comes with a paid Pro subscription.

Pros

  • Free, open-source core with thousands of icons in SVG, font, and CSS²
  • Used by millions as of 2024; massive community and docs⁹
  • Multiple icon families and styles in one toolkit¹
  • Product Hunt reviewers praise the library's breadth⁵
  • Free tier can be started anytime, no commitment¹

Cons

  • Vocal devs have switched to lighter alternatives like Lucide³
  • Performance suffers unless you subset or optimize the kit⁶
  • Hosted kit carries pageview-based restrictions
  • Ecosystem plugins have recurring XSS vulnerabilities⁷
  • Some report the library lacks niche or newer icons

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

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.

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

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