Icons8 is a comprehensive online design resource for graphic designers and developers. Its homepage touts “Original stock graphics by our team, plus design apps and AI tools – the ultimate design kit for creatives and developers”. Founded in 2012, it’s mission is to provide high-quality graphics, tools, and AI features for designers. All assets are created in-house (the company notes it has “the largest library of consistent icons in the world”), ensuring visual consistency across projects.
Icon Library and Graphics
At its core, Icons8 offers an enormous icon collection. The site provides approximately 1.4 million free icons in about 47 matching style families. These styles range from simple line art to colorful 3D and include official-themed sets (e.g. iOS, Material, Fluent). All icons in a family share design rules (stroke weight, corner radius, etc.), so a “settings” icon in one style will visually match a “camera” icon in the same style.
It also offers thousands of animated icons (over 4,500) in GIF or Lottie format. Beyond icons, the platform includes large illustration and photo collections. For instance, it has drag-and-drop illustration packs, 3D model assets, and a Moose stock photo library. As one review highlights, it offers other useful resources like illustrations, stock photos, and a suite of AI tools”. (A small royalty-free music library is also available.)
Design Tools and Integrations
To use its assets, it provides various tools. It offers native desktop apps (called Pichon) for Mac and Windows; these apps let you drag-and-drop Icons8.com graphics directly into any design or code project. It also creates its own design software. For example, Lunacy is a free vector editor for Windows, macOS, and Linux with the library built-in. Another tool, Mega Creator, helps generate custom illustrations from its’s graphics (by mixing icons, photos, etc.).
Integration plugins are available for popular platforms as well. It has extensions for Figma, Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop, Sketch, and even Google Docs/Slides. For example, the Figma plugin lets you search it’s entire library from within Figma and place icons or images without leaving the workspace. This kind of integration helps designers stay focused on their work rather than switching between windows.
AI-Powered Features
It has also added AI-driven tools. On the site you’ll find a Background Remover (which automatically erases photo backgrounds) and a Smart Upscaler (which uses AI to enlarge images and improve detail). These simplify common design tasks. The platform also offers generative AI services: a Face Generator for creating realistic faces, a Human Generator for full-body models, and an Illustration Generator for auto-producing coherent illustration series. These features can accelerate the workflow by producing custom assets (like placeholder images or profile pics) on demand.
How Icons8 Works (Using the Platform)
It’s website is designed for quick access. After logging in, you usually search or browse for the asset you need. The search bar supports keywords (type “mail” to get email icons, for instance) and handles synonyms. It can even return results for abstract terms: a search for “growth” yields arrows, charts, plants, etc.. You can further filter results by style family, color, or whether the icon is animated.
Once you select a graphic, the interface lets you customize it instantly. You can adjust colors, sizes, stroke weights, and padding in the browser without external tools. After customizing (or leaving it as-is), click Download. It will then ask you to pick a format (PNG at various resolutions, SVG, PDF, etc.) and provide the file. You can also copy embed code or add the graphic to a personal collection for later use.
In short, a typical workflow is:
Search/Browse: Enter keywords or navigate categories to find an asset.
Filter & Select: Use style or color filters to narrow down results.
Customize: (Optional) Change the icon’s color, size, stroke, etc., in the built-in editor.
Download: Export the asset in your desired format. Free users must include a credit link; paid users can download without attribution.
Insert via Tools: (Optional) Use Pichon or a plugin to place the downloaded asset directly into your design or code environment.
Pricing and Plans
It offers both free and paid options. The Free plan lets you download a wide range of icons and graphics at no cost, but with limitations: files are smaller and you must link back to icons8.com in your project. This free tier is handy for testing or non-commercial use, but its attribution requirement means professionals usually upgrade.
Paid Solo plans remove those restrictions. For example, the standalone “Icons” plan costs $15 per month and allows 100 icon downloads (additional icons beyond the limit are $0.20 each). Similarly, there are separate plans for illustrations, photos, music, and 3D models (each with its own limit and price). Teams and enterprises get custom pricing and user management. Education discounts are also available. In practice, most design teams find the subscription cost reasonable compared to the time saved. As one study notes, even a $15/month icon plan “compares favorably to hiring freelance icon designers”.
Key Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Massive Asset Library: Over 1.4 million icons and extensive illustration sets, all in coherent style families. This makes it easy to maintain a unified visual style in UI design.
- Flexible Exports & Editing: Download assets as SVG, PNG, PDF or icon fonts. The online editor lets you recolor, resize, or refine icons before exporting.
- Integrations with Design Tools: Plugins for Figma, Adobe CC, etc., plus the Pichon desktop app and the Lunacy editor, allow seamless insertion of Icons8 assets into your workflow.
- Free Plan Available: Many graphics are accessible at no cost (with credit), which is great for light or personal projects.
- Smart Search & Organization: Robust search (including by image and concept) and customizable collections help you find and manage assets quickly.
Cons:
- Credit Requirement on Free Tier: To use free downloads, you must display an Icons8 credit/link. This is impractical for polished client deliverables.
- Cost for Full Access: Removing limits requires subscription. Paying for multiple asset types (icons, photos, music) can add up, and some users note the jump from free to paid is significant.
- Limited Niche Content: Highly specialized icons or large music/illustration catalogs are not as deep as those from dedicated stock providers.
- Search Quirks: Search is good but not perfect — very abstract or uncommon terms may require browsing categories.
- Learning Curve: The sheer number of styles and options can overwhelm newcomers. It can take time to learn the interface and filters.
Conclusion
It is a powerful, designer-friendly platform for obtaining consistent icons and graphics. Its greatest strength is the sheer size and quality of its in-house library. Since all icons follow uniform design guidelines, the result is a polished, cohesive appearance in applications and websites. In practice, designers report that finding and customizing an icon on Icons8 is fast and easy thanks to the intuitive interface.
The trade-off is that the free plan’s attribution rule limits professional use, and full access requires a paid subscription. However, for teams and freelancers who frequently need design assets, many find that a subscription pays for itself in saved time and effort. Overall, it offers an excellent balance of quality and convenience, making it well worth considering for UI/UX professionals and developers looking for a central graphics toolkit.
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