Best Free Icon Sites for Slides, Websites and Apps (2026)
Need good icons for slides, websites or apps? Here's my hands-on take on Flaticon, Icons8, Tabler and Heroicons — with licence and attribution notes, and which is best for variety, commercial use without attribution, or developer-friendly SVGs.
Good icons lift the polish of slides, websites and apps a lot — but icons have licences too, and grabbing them carelessly causes problems. Here's my hands-on take on the free icon resources I use, with the often-missed attribution rules made clear.
What's your use case?
- Slides, posters (image use), lots of styles → Flaticon, Icons8
- Websites, apps (code use), clean integration → Tabler, Heroicons, Lucide
- Free, commercial, no attribution → open-source sets (MIT)
The resources at a glance
| Resource | Style/volume | Commercial | Attribution? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flaticon | Largest, every style | Yes (free) | Usually required |
| Icons8 | Large, many styles | Yes | Depends on plan |
| Tabler Icons | Clean line | Yes (MIT) | No |
| Heroicons | Clean, modern | Yes (MIT) | No |
| Lucide / Font Awesome (free) | Developer favourites | Yes | Mostly no |
Licences and attribution rules vary — confirm before downloading.
My take
Flaticon / Icons8: volume and style
Flaticon has the largest library — almost any theme or style — great for picking icons for slides and posters. Icons8 is also large and varied. Note their free use usually requires attribution (a credit line); to skip that, pay or use an open-source set.
Tabler / Heroicons / Lucide: developer favourites, no attribution
For websites and apps, Tabler Icons, Heroicons and Lucide are MIT-licensed open-source sets — clean SVGs that drop into code and take CSS colour/size control, free for commercial use with no attribution and no baggage. Font Awesome's free set is also widely used.
Keeping icons consistent
- Pick one library. Mixing sources clashes — stick to one set.
- Uniform stroke and colour. Keep weights and colours consistent; record brand colour with a colour converter.
- Use SVG. Vector, scales cleanly, easy to recolour, more flexible than PNG.
The bottom line
Good icons don't cost money, but don't grab them carelessly: use Flaticon/Icons8 for slides and posters (mind attribution); use Tabler, Heroicons and Lucide MIT sets for websites and apps (no attribution, easy integration). Consistency comes from one library plus uniform colour. For making a logo, see free logo makers.
FAQ
Are there free icon sites I can use commercially?
Yes. Flaticon has the largest library in every style, free to use but it usually requires attribution; Icons8 is also large with many styles. If you want 'free, commercial, and no attribution required,' use open-source icon sets — Tabler Icons, Heroicons and Lucide are MIT-licensed and free for commercial use without attribution. Designers who want volume and style pick Flaticon; developers who want zero hassle pick the open-source sets.
Do free icons always require attribution?
It depends on the licence. Flaticon's free plan typically requires a credit line; if you don't want to attribute, you either pay or choose another source. But open-source sets (Tabler, Heroicons, Lucide, the free parts of Font Awesome) use permissive licences like MIT, with no attribution required even commercially. Check each site's terms for free use before you ship.
Same icon source for slides and for websites/apps?
They can differ. For 'image' uses like slides and posters, Flaticon and Icons8's PNG/SVG icons offer lots of styles to choose from. For 'code' uses like websites and apps, developers prefer Tabler, Heroicons, Lucide and Font Awesome — clean SVGs that integrate into code and can be colour- and size-controlled with CSS, with no licence baggage. Choose by use case.
How do I make a set of icons look consistent?
Use SVG, which is vector — scales without loss and lets you change colour and stroke. For a consistent set: pick one icon library (so the style matches), keep stroke weights uniform, and keep colours uniform (record your brand colour with a colour tool and apply it). Mixing icons from different sources is the quickest way to a clashing look.