Categories: Other
Yesicon Review: Your Free Icon Library Game-Changer?
Let’s have a little heart-to-heart. You, me, and the 27 browser tabs you have open right now. I’m willing to bet at least three of them are for finding one simple, decent-looking icon. One for ‘settings,’ maybe a ‘share’ icon that doesn’t look like it was designed in 1998. It’s a familiar kind of pain for any of us in the web design, development, or even the content creation space. The endless scroll, the mismatched styles, the wrestling with licensing… it’s a total workflow killer.
I’ve been there more times than I care to admit. It’s a special kind of purgatory. But every now and then, a tool comes along that feels less like a tool and more like a rescue mission. Today, that tool is Yesicon. And yes, I’m a little excited about it. It’s one of those, “Why didn’t this exist sooner?” moments.
So, What Exactly is This Yesicon Thing?
Put simply, Yesicon is a massive, beautifully curated library of open-source vector icons. We’re not talking about a few hundred icons here. We’re talking over 250,000 icons pulled from nearly 200 different icon sets. Think of it as the grand central station for icons. Instead of visiting a dozen different websites for Material Design Icons, Font Awesome, Feather, and all the rest, you just go to one place. It’s an aggregator, but one that’s been thoughtfully designed by people who clearly understand the struggle.
It’s all open-source and free. Let that sink in for a second. Free. In an industry where everything seems to be moving to a subscription model, finding a high-quality resource that doesn’t ask for your credit card is like finding a unicorn. Or at least, a really good parking spot at the mall on a Saturday.
My First Impressions (And Why I’m Sticking Around)
When I first landed on the Yesicon page, I was struck by how clean it was. No pop-ups, no aggressive marketing banners, just a big, friendly search bar. It invites you right in. The UI is minimalist to a fault, which I love. It knows why you’re there: to find an icon and get out.
You’ve got your search, a simple way to filter by icon set if you have a favorite, and some handy toggles for size and language. And for the keyboard shortcut fans among us (my people!), hitting `Ctrl + K` pulls up the search, just like in all our other favorite modern apps. It’s a small thing, but it shows they care about efficiency.
Visit Yesicon
The speed is what really sold me. You type a keyword, and icons from all those libraries appear almost instantly. It’s a seamless experience that makes the whole process feel less like a chore and more like… well, fun. Is it weird to say an icon library is fun? Maybe. But I’m sticking with it.
The Features That Actually Matter
A giant library is great, but it’s useless if you can’t find what you need. This is where Yesicon really shines. The features aren’t just fluff; they’re genuinely useful additions that solve real problems.
A Search Bar That Reads Your Mind
The core of the platform is its search. Searching across 194 libraries at once is the main draw. No more remembering, “Was that nice arrow icon in Feather or Tabler?” You just type “arrow” and see the best of all worlds. It even supports multiple languages, which is a fantastic touch for global teams and non-English-speaking designers. It’s a simple concept executed brilliantly.
Customization on the Fly
This is my favorite part. Found an icon you like but it’s the wrong color? No problem. A little color-picker tool lets you change it to your project’s brand color right in the browser. You can also tweak the size with a simple slider. This completely eliminates the need to download the icon, open it in Figma or Illustrator, change the color, and re-export it. For quick mockups or simple projects, this is a massive timesaver. It’s the kind of feature that makes you wonder how you ever lived without it.
One-Click Copy & Go
Once you’ve got your perfect, custom-colored icon, getting it into your project is ridiculously easy. You can download it as an SVG or a PNG. For my fellow web developers, the real magic is the one-click copy. You can copy the raw SVG code, a data URL, or even framework-specific code for things like React or Vue. It’s just… chef’s kiss. This deep understanding of a developer’s workflow is what separates a good tool from a great one.
The Good, The Bad, and The Free
No tool is perfect, of course. So lets be honest about what you’re getting into. The biggest advantage, obviously, is that it’s a huge collection of high-quality vector icons that costs you absolutely nothing. The search and customization are top-notch and will genuinely speed up your design process. It’s hard to argue with that value proposition.
On the flip side, having over 250,000 icons can sometimes feel like drinking from a firehose. If you’re someone who gets decision paralysis, the sheer volume of choice might be a little overwhelming at first. My advice? Use the filter to narrow it down to a few of your favorite sets to keep things manageable.
The other thing to be aware of is licensing. Because Yesicon pulls from open-source libraries, each icon set has its own license. Most are very permissive (like the MIT license), but some might require you to give attribution, meaning you have to credit the original creator somewhere in your project. Yesicon doesn’t make this super obvious on the main page, so it’s always a good idea to double-check the license of the icon set you’re pulling from. A little due diligence goes a long way.
So, How Does Yesicon Make Money?
This is the question I always ask with amazing free tools. The site itself doesn’t have a pricing page. It’s powered by the open-source Iconify project, so it could be a passion project or a way to showcase the power of the Iconify API. I did notice a small, unobtrusive ad for another app on the homepage, which suggests they might be using affiliate marketing or light advertising to cover server costs. Whatever the model, for now, it’s a free resource for the community, and I’m not going to question it too much. I’m just going to enjoy it.
Frequently Asked Questions about Yesicon
Is Yesicon really free to use?
Yes, as of right now, Yesicon is completely free. It’s built on open-source icon libraries, making it an accessible resource for everyone.
Do I need to give credit when I use the icons?
It depends on the icon set. Many open-source licenses (like MIT) don’t require attribution, but some (like Creative Commons) do. It’s your responsibility to check the license for the specific icon set you’re using. A quick search for the icon set’s name should lead you to its licensing page.
What formats can I download the icons in?
You can download icons as SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) or PNG files. For developers, you can also copy the SVG code directly, which is often the most efficient way to use them on the web.
How is this different from just using Google Icons or Font Awesome?
Think of Yesicon as a search engine for those libraries and many more. Instead of just searching within Google’s Material Icons library, you’re searching it plus 193 other libraries at the same time. It gives you more choice and a better chance of finding the perfect icon.
Can I use these icons for commercial projects?
Generally, yes. Most of the popular open-source icon licenses permit commercial use. However, as with attribution, you should always verify the license of the icon set to be 100% sure.
The site showed an error when I visited, is it reliable?
Like any web application, occasional glitches can happen. I saw one myself. But the platform is actively maintained, and these are usually temporary hiccups. Given the immense value it provides for free, a rare loading error is a small price to pay.
The Final Verdict: Is Yesicon Worth Your Bookmark?
In a word: absolutely. Yesicon isn’t just another icon library; it’s a powerful workflow utility. It solves a real, frustrating problem for developers, designers, marketers and content creators. It consolidates the scattered world of open-source icons into one fast, intuitive, and highly functional interface.
Will it replace your need for custom-designed icon sets for huge, bespoke projects? Probably not. But for 95% of day-to-day tasks—mockups, presentations, web development, blog posts—it’s an absolute game-changer. It’s earned a permanent spot in my browser bookmarks, and I have a feeling it will in yours, too.
Give it a try. The next time you feel the dread of the icon hunt setting in, head over to Yesicon instead. Your sanity will thank you.
