Top 9 Free Web Icon Sites
Below is a list of the top websites where can find free royalty free icons to download for your own use.
Each of the listings has the title, quick screenshot and also a little background info on the service, click on them to open them in a new tab/window.
1) Vista Icons
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Usage/Review: Great icon sets, very easy to use and beautifully designed website. Definitely recommended. No account necessary.
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Usage/Review: Lots of nice icons, please read licenses before using though.
3) Fast Icon
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Usage/Review: Very few icons in each pack but the ones they do have look great, quality over quantity. An account isn’t required in order to download what you want.
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Usage/Review: Really smart icon sets, only free for personal use so might have to pay for license dependent on the type of website you run.
5) Web Sets
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Usage/Review: An overview linking to individual sets from lots of other resources. They pick some good ones, but normally not very elaborate so if you want to find stuff to download which is a bit more elaborate then look elsewhere.
6) Cool Archive
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Usage/Review: A lot of old style icons. Nice and easy to use and reasonable choice to pick from.
7) DryIcons
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Usage/Review: Highly professional sets. Very popular sets downloaded by high amounts of people. Must put a link back to them if you aren’t prepared to pay for a license.
8) IconArchive
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Usage/Review: Great selection with over 1000 sets, which together total tens of thousands of individual icons. Site also includes a good availability based around the latest web 2.0 properties.
9) Iconz World
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Usage/Review: Doesn’t appear to have been updated (at time of writing last update was May 2009) in quite some time. And lots of intrusive ads in the design. Still some good sets so worth looking.
Licenses
Respect the requirements of the creators of what you download, this is very important. If you don’t respect licenses you face legal action against you.
Here is a collection of user questions and expert answers to help you.
Question: Do I need to credit owners of stock icons?
Answer: Various developers have different licenses under which to distribute their work. These licenses will sometimes require crediting the original owner. Other times, however, the items are by and large free. Whether or not you need to credit them depends on individual circumstances. You should be sure to read the individual documentation that is associated with the particular icons in question.
Question: Can I use individual icons over and over again?
Answer: Yes, you can, as long as the license requirements are fulfilled each time that they are used. When accreditation is required then it must be done every time.
Question: Is there a time limit on how long I can use them?
Answer: No, there is no time limit. They generally may be used as long as you wish. While there maybe be other concerns, such as whether or not credit needs to be given, this sort of thing does not carry any sort of an expiration date.
Question: Can I use any for commercial purposes?
Answer: That depends on the individual licenses for each of the sets. Some developers have no quarrels with people who want to use their work for commercial applications. However, others forbid this practice. Always be sure to check the documentation before using anything in any commercial capacity.
Question: Can I alter what I download?
Answer: Once again, this depends on how the particular license is written. There is a possibility that you can alter the icons if you have the correct software to do. Different photographers have different opinions on what should happen if someone alters a piece of work. You might be required to give credit to the original creator. Naturally, there are other creators who do not permit any alterations to their work at all.
Question: How do I contact the creators?
Answer: The majority of the resources that allow you to download sets will have the contact information for the creators. If it is unlisted, a quick search in a search engine for that developer’s name will usually bring up their contact information. Nevertheless, most archives will allow you to message the creators without any difficulties.
Question: Can I distribute other people’s work myself?
Answer: Under most circumstances, you are not allowed to distribute other people’s icons on your own. However, there are some licenses that do allow this. Check the individual library licenses for permission before doing anything like distribution.
About Author: Chris
I've been a full-time webmaster since 2007 and currently write for various blogs, in my writing I regularly use stock photos and that is how I became involved in the industry.