Phosphor Icons is a solid choice — 9,198 icons, MIT 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lucide Icons | 1,979 | outline only | ISC | lucide-react |
vs Phosphor |
| Heroicons | 1,297 | outline and solid | MIT | @heroicons/react |
vs Phosphor |
| Solar Icons | 7,410 | six coordinated styles | CC BY 4.0 | solar-icon-set |
vs Phosphor |
| Remix Icon | 3,244 | line and fill | Apache 2.0 | remixicon |
vs Phosphor |
| Tabler Icons | 6,324 | outline only | MIT | @tabler/icons-react |
vs Phosphor |
| Feather Icons | 286 | outline only | MIT | react-feather |
vs Phosphor |
| Material Design Icons | 14,001 | outlined, rounded, sharp, two-tone and filled | Apache 2.0 | @mui/icons-material |
vs Phosphor |
| Material Symbols | 18,547 | variable weight, fill, grade and optical size axes | Apache 2.0 | @material-symbols/svg-400 |
vs Phosphor |
Design systems, products with strong visual hierarchy, and teams that want one library to cover every context. The weight range also solves the common problem of outline icons disappearing on coloured or photographic backgrounds.
If you only need one weight, the six-weight structure is overhead you will not use — Lucide or Tabler are simpler. If you want duotone plus a premium aesthetic, compare Solar and Huge 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. Phosphor Icons ships 9,198 icons in thin, light, regular, bold, fill and duotone. 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.