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- SVG vs icon font
SVG icons vs icon fonts: which should you use?
Use SVG icons, through a component package or inline SVG, for most modern apps: they support duotone, scale perfectly and only ship the icons you use. Use an icon font when you need icons in plain HTML or CSS with no build step and a single color is enough.
Side-by-side comparison
| SVG (components or files) | Icon font | |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | npm package or copy a file | One stylesheet link |
| Colors | Any color, plus duotone | One color per icon |
| Weights in Icon Monks | All six | Five (no duotone) |
| Bundle size | Only the icons you import | Whole font per weight, cached once |
| Rendering | Pixel-exact vector | Text rendering, can blur slightly at odd sizes |
| Accessibility | aria-label / title on the SVG | Needs aria-hidden plus a text label |
| Best for | React, Vue, Next.js, native apps | Static sites, WordPress, CSS-only themes |
When to choose SVG
Pick SVG when you use a framework, need duotone or multicolor icons, care about bundle size, or want icons that render identically everywhere. The React and Vue packages and the web component all render SVG.
When to choose an icon font
Pick the icon font when you cannot run a build step, want icons to flow with text and inherit font-size, or are styling an existing site with CSS only. Icon Monks glyphs keep the same codepoints between releases, so upgrades do not break your CSS.
Frequently asked questions
Are icon fonts bad for accessibility?
Not if you mark the icon aria-hidden="true" and give the button or link a text label. Screen readers then skip the glyph and read the label.
Do SVG icons slow down a page?
No. A single Icon Monks icon is about 1 KB, and component packages include only the icons you import.
Can I use both?
Yes. All Icon Monks packages share the same names and shapes, so you can use the font on a marketing site and React components in the app.
More guides
Last updated with version 0.4.3. Release notes