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// IN-DEPTH ICON LIBRARY COMPARISON

Simple Icons vs Lucide Icons (2026)

When building modern web applications, choosing the right icon library can significantly impact both your application's aesthetic and its performance. In this comprehensive comparison, we pit Simple Icons against Lucide Icons to help you make an informed decision for your React, Next.js, Vue, or Svelte project.

Together, these libraries represent some of the most popular open-source UI assets available today. Simple Icons boasts an impressive 3,200 icons (licensed under CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)), while Lucide Icons counters with 1,960 highly-polished icons (licensed under ISC).

Below, we dive into the technical details: bundle size impacts, tree-shaking capabilities, TypeScript support, explicit commercial licensing rules, and real-world implementation examples.

⚠️ Upgrading to Lucide React v1.0?

The lucide-react 1.0 release introduced breaking changes — many icons were renamed (e.g. BarChart2ChartBar, PlusCircleCirclePlus). If your build fails with module '"lucide-react"' has no exported member, read our migration guide.

Read the Lucide-React v1.0 Migration Guide →
Simple Icons
3,200
icons
25,047 stars · CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
View full guide →
VS
Lucide Icons
1,960
icons
12,000 stars · ISC
View full guide →

TECHNICAL FEATURE COMPARISON

When comparing Simple Icons and Lucide Icons, developer experience features like TypeScript definitions and tree-shaking support are just as important as the icon count. Review the matrix below to see how they stack up.

FEATURE
Simple Icons
Lucide Icons
Total Icons
3,200
1,960
GitHub Stars
25,047
12,000
License
CC0 1.0 (Public Domain)
ISC
TypeScript
✓ Yes
✓ Yes
Tree Shakable
✓ Yes
✓ Yes
Figma Plugin
✗ No
✓ Yes
Styles
filled
outline
Frameworks
react, nextjs
react, vue, svelte, nextjs

LICENSING & COMMERCIAL USE DEEP-DIVE

Legal compliance is critical when selecting assets for a commercial software project. Understanding the nuances between the CC0 1.0 (Public Domain) license used by Simple Icons and the ISC license used by Lucide Icons will ensure your project remains risk-free.

Simple IconsCC0 1.0 (Public Domain)

Simple Icons uses CC0 1.0 (Public Domain). All copyrights have been waived. You can copy, modify, distribute, and use the icons for any purpose — including commercial — without attribution.

✓ COMMERCIAL USE
Free for personal, commercial, and SaaS projects without recurring fees.
Lucide IconsISC

Lucide Icons uses the ISC License, which is functionally equivalent to the MIT License but written in simpler language. You are free to use it in commercial projects, modify icons, and redistribute without restriction. The only condition is preserving the copyright notice.

✓ COMMERCIAL USE
Free for personal, commercial, and SaaS projects without recurring fees.
Read our complete Icon Library License Guide (MIT vs ISC vs Apache) →

PERFORMANCE & BUNDLE SIZE

Modern front-end frameworks like React and Next.js heavily penalize large JavaScript bundles. This makes tree-shaking—the ability of a bundler to remove unused code—a crucial factor when choosing between Simple Icons and Lucide Icons.

  • Simple Icons Performance: Because Simple Icons supports tree-shaking, importing a single icon will only add a tiny fraction of a kilobyte to your final bundle. You can safely install the entire package without performance concerns.
  • Lucide Icons Performance: Similarly, Lucide Icons is fully tree-shakable. Your Webpack or Turbopack build step will strip out any unused icons, ensuring your First Contentful Paint (FCP) metrics remain exceptional.

REACT IMPORT SYNTAX & INTEGRATION

Here is how you actually write the code to import and use each library in a React or Next.js component. Both libraries offer distinct APIs and integration patterns.

Simple Icons Integration
import {
  SiGithub,
  SiVercel,
  SiStripe,
  SiReact,
  SiNextdotjs,
  SiTailwindcss,
} from '@icons-pack/react-simple-icons'
// All components use 'Si' prefix + PascalCase brand name

export function TechStack() {
  return (
    <div className="flex items-center gap-4">
      {/* Use currentColor — inherits from parent */}
      <SiGithub size={24} />
      <SiVercel size={24} />

      {/* Use official brand color */}
      <SiStripe size={24} color="#635BFF" />
      <SiReact size={24} color="#61DAFB" />

      {/* Social links row */}
      <a href="https://github.com" aria-label="GitHub">
        <SiGithub size={20} className="text-gray-600 hover:text-gray-900" />
      </a>
    </div>
  )
}
Lucide Icons Integration
import { Home } from 'lucide-react'

export default function App() {
  return <Home size={24} />
}

FINAL VERDICT: WHICH SHOULD YOU CHOOSE?

Still undecided? Here is our definitive breakdown of when to use Simple Icons versus when to opt for Lucide Icons.

CHOOSE SIMPLE ICONS IF...
3,109 brand icons — 6x more than Font Awesome Brands (465) at zero cost
CC0 public domain — no attribution required, no license notices, use in any commercial project
Official brand hex colors included — render SiStripe in #635BFF, SiGithub in #181717 with one prop
Works in Next.js Server Components — renders static SVG HTML with no use client required
Full TypeScript support — all 3,109 Si-prefixed components are typed with full VS Code autocomplete
Actively maintained — new brand icons added regularly, existing icons updated on rebrands
CHOOSE LUCIDE ICONS IF...
Actively maintained
Consistent style
TypeScript support
Tree-shakable

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Which is better: Simple Icons or Lucide Icons?

Choosing between Simple Icons and Lucide Icons depends entirely on your project's technical requirements and design aesthetic. Simple Icons provides 3,200 icons and is notable for 3,109 brand icons — 6x more than font awesome brands (465) at zero cost, while Lucide Icons offers 1,960 icons and is best known for actively maintained.

Are Simple Icons and Lucide Icons completely free to use?

Yes. Both libraries are highly permissive open-source projects. Simple Icons is licensed under CC0 1.0 (Public Domain), and Lucide Icons is licensed under ISC. Both licenses permit free commercial usage, modification, and redistribution in both personal and enterprise projects.

Do these libraries support TypeScript natively?

Yes, Simple Icons includes excellent built-in TypeScript definitions. Similarly, Lucide Icons offers robust native TypeScript support for an improved developer experience.

NPM INSTALLATION COMMANDS

Install Simple Icons
npm install @icons-pack/react-simple-icons
Install Lucide Icons
npm install lucide-react

RELATED RESOURCES

Simple Icons — Comprehensive License, Installation & React GuideLucide Icons — Comprehensive License, Installation & React GuideSearch 15,000+ Icons Across All Libraries InstantlyIcon Library License Guide — MIT vs Apache vs ISC ExplainedFind the Best Icons For Your Project — Interactive Wizard

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