Carbon Icons is a solid choice — 2,644 icons, Apache 2.0 licensed. But it is not the only one, and it is not the best fit for every project. Below are 8 open-source alternatives ranked by how directly they answer the reasons people look for a replacement: more coverage, more visual range, or a simpler license.
| Library | Icons | Variants | License | React package | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fluent UI Icons | 20,170 | regular and filled | MIT | @fluentui/react-icons |
vs Carbon |
| Ant Design Icons | 1,870 | outlined, filled and two-tone | MIT | @ant-design/icons |
vs Carbon |
| Material Symbols | 18,547 | variable weight, fill, grade and optical size axes | Apache 2.0 | @material-symbols/svg-400 |
vs Carbon |
| Octicons | 929 | outline only | MIT | @primer/octicons-react |
vs Carbon |
| Lucide Icons | 1,979 | outline only | ISC | lucide-react |
vs Carbon |
| Heroicons | 1,297 | outline and solid | MIT | @heroicons/react |
vs Carbon |
| Phosphor Icons | 9,198 | thin, light, regular, bold, fill and duotone | MIT | phosphor-react |
vs Carbon |
| Tabler Icons | 6,324 | outline only | MIT | @tabler/icons-react |
vs Carbon |
Enterprise software, data and analytics platforms, and products that need to satisfy accessibility review and ship in multiple locales.
For a lighter, more contemporary feel, Lucide and Tabler are easier to work with. Fluent UI is the other major enterprise set, with far more icons.
Start from the constraint that actually binds your project. If it is coverage, sort by icon count — the difference between a 286-icon set and a 20,000-icon set is whether you ever have to design a glyph yourself. If it is visual range, look at variants per concept: a library with six weights lets you build hierarchy without a second dependency. If it is legal simplicity, avoid CC BY sets where attribution is impractical.
All of these libraries are indexed on IconStash, so you can search one concept and compare how every set drew it before committing.
The usual reasons are coverage, style range and licensing. Carbon Icons ships 2,644 icons in outline only. If you need concepts it does not cover, or several visual weights from one set, or a license without attribution, one of the alternatives below will fit better.
Every library listed here is open source and free for commercial use. Most are MIT, ISC or Apache 2.0, none of which require attribution. The exception in this list is any CC BY 4.0 set, which does require a visible credit — check the license column in the table above before committing.
Technically yes, but mixing sets usually looks inconsistent because each one draws to its own grid and stroke weight. If you need to fill a gap, prefer pulling a single icon and redrawing it to match your primary set.