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Material Icons VS Glyphicons

Compare Material Icons VS Glyphicons and see what are their differences

Material Icons logo Material Icons

Google Fonts now supports icons

Glyphicons logo Glyphicons

GLYPHICONS is a library of precisely prepared monochromatic icons and symbols, created with an emphasis to simplicity and easy orientation.
  • Material Icons Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-05-22
  • Glyphicons Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-02-08

Material Icons features and specs

  • Extensive Collection
    Material Icons offer a comprehensive set of over 2,000 icons, covering a wide range of use cases and design needs.
  • Consistency
    The icons are designed following Google's Material Design guidelines, ensuring visual and functional consistency across different platforms and applications.
  • Scalability
    Being vector-based, these icons can be scaled to any size without losing quality, making them versatile for various screen resolutions.
  • Ease of Integration
    Material Icons are easy to integrate into projects through the use of the Google Fonts API, CSS, or direct downloading and inclusion in codebases.
  • Customizability
    Icons can be customized in terms of color, size, and other styles to fit the specific needs of a project.
  • Free and Open Source
    Material Icons are free to use under the Apache License 2.0, making them accessible for both personal and commercial projects.

Possible disadvantages of Material Icons

  • Steep Learning Curve
    For designers not familiar with Material Design, there may be a learning curve to understanding and effectively implementing the design principles.
  • Design Limitations
    While Material Icons are highly versatile, their design is rooted in Material Design principles, which may not fit every brand or aesthetic.
  • Performance Overhead
    Including a large number of icons through the Google Fonts API can result in additional HTTP requests, potentially affecting page load times.
  • Less Unique
    Given their popularity, Material Icons are widely used, which may lead to a lack of uniqueness in the design of applications using them.
  • Inconsistent Updates
    While Google does update the icon set, updates can be infrequent or may not include all needed icons for newer features or design trends.

Glyphicons features and specs

  • Comprehensive Icon Set
    Glyphicons provides a wide range of icons that cover various categories, making it versatile for different applications.
  • Consistency
    All icons are designed with a consistent style, ensuring uniformity across web interfaces and enhancing the visual appeal.
  • Ease of Use
    Integrating Glyphicons into a project is straightforward, especially if you are already using Bootstrap, which supports Glyphicons natively up to version 3.
  • Scalable
    Icons are designed as vectors, meaning they can be scaled to different sizes without losing quality, providing flexibility in design.

Possible disadvantages of Glyphicons

  • Limited to Bootstrap
    Glyphicons are tightly coupled with older versions of Bootstrap, making it less ideal for those using newer frameworks or CSS standards.
  • Outdated
    As Bootstrap 4 and later versions do not include Glyphicons, relying on them might mean using outdated or unsupported libraries.
  • License Requirements
    Unlike many free icon sets, Glyphicons come with specific licensing requirements that might limit their use in commercial applications.
  • Lack of Customization
    Compared to some modern icon sets, Glyphicons offer less flexibility in terms of custom styles or animations, which can be a disadvantage for dynamic web designs.

Material Icons videos

NOU - Icon Pack Review Material Icons Best Icon Pack

Glyphicons videos

Replace Glyphicons with New Icons in Mobirise

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Material Icons and Glyphicons)
Design Tools
84 84%
16% 16
Web Icons
67 67%
33% 33
Online Services
48 48%
52% 52
Photos & Graphics
51 51%
49% 49

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Material Icons and Glyphicons

Material Icons Reviews

10 Best Fontello Alternatives 2021
Fontello doesn’t have this capability so this makes Material Icons the more superior tool. Also, the Material Icons font catalog supports over 135 languages—a feature most of its rivals including Fontello cannot do.
Top FontAwesome alternatives to use on your websites
If you are familiar with Google Fonts already, then you will be familiar with Google's Material Icons. You can include Material Icons in the exact same way that you would include a Google Font family on your webpage.

Glyphicons Reviews

We have no reviews of Glyphicons yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Material Icons seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 67 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Material Icons mentions (67)

  • Best Icon Font Libraries for Developers
    By adding Material Design Icons to your project, you can have a clean and professional look that is in line with current design standards. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • Best Flutter Icon Libraries in 2025
    It is a collection of icons provided by Google Fonts, available on their website. This set is the go-to for developers who want to maintain consistency with Google’s Material Design principles. With a wide range of icons, this library is perfect for creating a polished, cohesive app interface. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • The Best 100 Free UI/UX Resources for Every Designer & Developer
    Material Icons Fonts.google.com/icons Google’s open-source icon set for Material Design. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • ✨10 Stunning Icon Libraries to Check Out (That Are Free and Open-Source) 🚀
    Website: Material Symbols GitHub Repo: GitHub Repo. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • Ask HN: Which SVG icon library are you using and why?
    Https://fonts.google.com/icons My preference for new projects is currently swaying towards Google's Material library as its just so easy and fast to use. Nevertheless Fontawesome has been a staple for me for the last several years! - Source: Hacker News / 5 months ago
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Glyphicons mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Glyphicons yet. Tracking of Glyphicons recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Material Icons and Glyphicons, you can also consider the following products

Feather Icons - Simply beautiful open source icons

Iconoir - A diverse and open-source library with 900+ icons

Font Awesome - Font Awesome makes it easy to add vector icons and social logos to your website. And version 5 is redesigned and built from the ground up!

Bootstrap Icons - Official open source SVG icon library for Bootstrap

Heroicons - Beautiful, free SVG icons from the makers of Tailwind CSS.

IconStore - Free icon packs by first-class designers