Bootstrap Icons vs Font Awesome — Which Icon Library for Bootstrap 5

I've used both on production projects. Here's what I actually think after using them day-to-day.

Bootstrap Icons

Bootstrap Icons launched with Bootstrap 5 and it shows — the icons are designed with Bootstrap's visual style in mind. They look consistent with Bootstrap components out of the box.

What I like:

• Completely free. No pro tier, no locked icons. All 2000+ icons available to everyone.
• Maintained by the Bootstrap team. When Bootstrap updates, the icons stay consistent.
• SVG-first approach. Use them as <img>, inline SVG or icon font.
• Clean, modern aesthetic that matches Bootstrap's design language.
• No sign-up or account required.

Copy
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap-icons@1.11.3/font/bootstrap-icons.min.css">

<i class="bi bi-house"></i>
<i class="bi bi-person-circle"></i>
<i class="bi bi-gear"></i>

Where it falls short:

• Brand icons are limited. No GitHub, Twitter, LinkedIn, Discord etc. in the main set.
• Smaller community than Font Awesome so fewer ready-made icon pairings in tutorials.

Font Awesome

Font Awesome is the most used icon library in the world and has been for over a decade. The free tier is generous.

What I like:

• More brand icons than Bootstrap Icons — GitHub, Twitter, LinkedIn, Discord, Slack and hundreds more.
• Huge community — tons of examples and usage patterns documented.
• Font Awesome 6 added thin and sharp styles that look excellent.

Where it falls short:

• Free vs Pro split. The duotone icons, many brand icons and the thin/sharp variants require a paid Pro licence ($99/year for individuals).
• Slightly heavier than Bootstrap Icons for the same icon count.
• The icons have a slightly different visual weight than Bootstrap's default aesthetic.

Copy
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/font-awesome/6.5.0/css/all.min.css">

<i class="fa-solid fa-house"></i>
<i class="fa-brands fa-github"></i>
<i class="fa-solid fa-gear"></i>

The Decision Framework

Use Bootstrap Icons if:

• You're building with Bootstrap 5 (designed to match)
• You don't need brand/social icons
• You want everything free without thinking about it
• You prefer the same team maintaining your CSS and icons

Use Font Awesome if:

• You need brand icons — GitHub, Twitter, Discord, Slack etc.
• You're already using Font Awesome elsewhere and want consistency
• You need the Pro icon variants (if you have a licence)

My default: Bootstrap Icons. For Bootstrap 5 projects it's the natural choice — same team, same visual style, completely free, no account needed. I only add Font Awesome when a specific brand icon isn't in Bootstrap Icons.

Worth noting: Lucide Icons is a third option worth knowing, especially for React projects. It's the icon set used by shadcn/ui and has clean SVG icons. For pure Bootstrap HTML projects it's less convenient since it's designed for component-based usage, but for React + Bootstrap combinations it works well.