Last week I showed you how to create a favicon through many different methods to help increase your web traffic and overall website branding. Below I have listed over 20 free favicon sets that you can use for inspiration in creating your own favicon or if you just don’t want to create one, these will come in handy! Some are not 16×16 but will scale down very nicely.
Are there any drawbacks to using free favicons?
There could be if somebody else is using the same icon, but just like with free web templates or even paid templates that are not unique, there are millions of websites out there that could be using the same one. The odds of running across them are very small. BlueJar.com is currently using a free icon that the color has been changed to blue and sized to 16×16. If you do plan to use any of the free icons, I would suggest changing colors or make other edits to make it unique. If using favicons for your personal sites, I would just use them out of the box as you are not trying to create a brand with your favicon.
1. 1,000 Silk Icons
2. 140 Mini Icons
3. 75 Twotone Icons (4 colors)
4. 25 Mini B&W Icons
5. 121 Bitcon Icons
6. Over 1,200 Icon Buffet Icons
7. 208 Tango Icons
8. Over 50 mIcons Sets
9. 14 GraphicPUSH Iconpack 1
10. 17 GraphicPUSH Iconpack 2
11. 143 Drunkey Love
12. 21 Milk and Green
13. 182 Sweetie BasePack Icons
14. 37 Sweetie WebCommunication Icons
15. 99 Miscellaneous Favicon Icons
16. 320 Mini Pixel Icons
17. 11 My Web Control Icons
18. 31 ExplodingBoy Pixel Icons (4 colors)
19. Over 45 Free PSD Icons II
20. 40 E-lusion Greyscale Icons
You can also use larger icons to create favicons, although you cannot guarantee that they will look good at 16×16 size. The free icons above are already smaller in size so you will not have to worry about loss of picture quality. You now have a lot of inspiration to help you create or find your new favicon!
Comprehensive Guide to Favicons Series
If you liked this post, subscribe to my full RSS feed. Learn more about rss feeds with my quick guide. You can subscribe through e-mail too.
That’s a lot of icons
I like the 1,000 silk icons from famfamfam.com, I’ve been using his work for a little while. He’s very talented.
FamFamFam (Mark) made those icons 2 years ago and they are still going strong! They are by far the most popular and widely used mini icons I’ve seen.
Do you or someone you know make and install favicons? What do the fees run for something like that?
Oh My God! this is my first visit to this blog
and I have absolutely fallen in love with it
Lets see here are the things I just did
1. Subscribed to your feed
2. Read this amazing article
3. Fell in love with your blog design
4. Made my first comment hehe
Way To Go Sarah
Thanks to Christian for mentioning you on his blog
@Adam: I can install favicons, but I can say I’m not the best designer there is out there! If I mess with a 16×16 space long enough I will end up with something reasonable. As for cost, I don’t think it would cost much from a freelancer and installation is really quick, less than 10 minutes so it shouldn’t cost you very much. Infact I’m sure you could get it all done for free if you offer a linkback. Are you looking for a new favicon for your current website/blog?
@Dj Flush: Thank you very much! I’m glad you enjoy my blog, trying to keep it very simple. I am actually subscribed to your blog too! I was checking out your iblogstats — my blog is pretty new so it was fun to check them all out at once.
wow nice collections of favicon! thanks..
I LOVE Favicons
I sell ad space on my personal blog at $2 to promote blogs. They actually recieve a higher click through rate than the adsense ads.
I’d never use somebody elses, too much fun designing my own!
I notice you have the “favatar” plugin like me too
That’s a lot of favicons! Chase of Queer Chef created one for me a few months ago. It’s actually my picture. I thought that was pretty cool. He had it on his website for a few months. I won a contest over there. Clicking on it would take you directly to my website. A very sweet thing for him to do and I really appreciated it.
Whoops! I’m wrong he still has it up now that is very sweet.
@donalyza: I love icons, so I’m glad to share this list.
@Rhys: I totally wanted to do what you are doing with those ads like that! There is a plugin????? Well guess I’m not crazy, especially if others are already doing it. It is the perfect idea. Yups, favatar is must have plugin for me.
@Opal: Can you use your little favicon on your own website? If you can you should!
Very nice compilation! I can always find something great here. Definitely one of my favorite blogs.
@Sarah: Yes there is. The URL is http://www.rebitran.com/adicons-for-wordpress
@Brown Baron: Hopefully not many icons :c) Thought it might take to long to load, hahaha. Glad you like my blog, I like yours too! Your favicon convinces me that you know what your talking about, love that movie.
@Rhys: Thanks much. I think I will think about adding this in the future. I think its so cute and as a favicon/icon lover I think I will not be able to resist.
These are sweet, but I wonder if it is worth using something that isn’t original. Any thoughts?
DevDad
@DevDad: Certainly if you can create your own you should, but I don’t feel there is anything wrong with using free ones either. Specially if you modify them a little. If it will take a you a long time to come up with your own vs. finding one for free you love, than go for the free one!
Hey Sarah,
Just like Dj, I’ve fallen in love with your blog. I did all the 4 things that Dj did!
You have a very good blog. Great content; Stunning, Simple design.
Love your articles.
Keep ‘em coming
This collection is just brilliant and I’ve bookmarked this page.
http://del.icio.us/shankarganesh
Thanks Shankar for stopping by and commenting. I really appreciate your kind words about my blog. I will have to get together another list of icon resources soon, I just love icons and this one was a great hit!
Great collection of icons. Bookmarked.
[...] 20 Free Favicon Icon Sets [...]
[...] you can follow my guide on creating your own favicon. You can also find a free favicon from the 20 free favicon resources I have collected. I’ve used both unique and free favicons, I just try to use a favicon [...]
Great small icons, Can you add my free icons site to your list
http://www.freeiconsdownload.com
Free Icon Download Offers Over 230 High Quality Royalty Free icons Set.
Regards
Well I think these icons are super. Its hard to make good ones and I have seen sites sell icons that did not look half as good as these do.
Speaking of favicons… How did you get it so it displays them from your blog commentors websites? Clever that!
That’s a great collection dear. THanks for share.
[...] Bluejar.com is offering 20 free themed [...]
Is there also a free icon for apple products like ipod or iphone?
thanks!
Thanks for so big and beautiful collection or Favicons.
Manoj Kumar
WOW! Really UNIQUE finds.
[...] 20 kostenlose Favicon Sets zum downloaden [...]
I’m not sure… As a web designer myself I always design and create my own icons, don’t really need already created ones. Unfortunately, they’re last in the queue i.e. the site design is first, the icon is to follow… But trust me, it’s not that difficult, especially in Photoshop.
In general, I think having a unique web icon is a must. At the moment, about a half of all site have one, so having one – bright and unique – allow you to stand from the crowd.
thank you very much
[...] 20 Free Favicon Sets [...]
Wow, that’s an insane list of favicons! I hadn’t seen most of those, thanks a ton and kudos on a VERY informative blog.
great pack thanks
very good, thank’s..
Great icon’s, thank you.
Nice icons thanks. I prefer to make my own.
nice and well driven thanks for that
[...] Blue Jar Not only compiled a list of free favicons, but has a great how-to and why they’re important. [...]
I will use icon set #1 on my personal blog! Vey nice and professional looking icons. Thanks!
very nice , but i think the favicon need`s to be unique for every website
Great icon resources list…!!!
Thanks a lot! ^^
Speaking of favicons… How did you get it so it displays them from your blog commentors websites? Clever that!
im a bit confused with it all
thanks a lot for a nice post
Great list of icons. thank very much.
Great icons – you can design your own using Photoshop but it’s quite fiddly
Hey, thank you for this list of favicons. They will be a great resource for me while I am creating my own or I am in need of one. I hope someone will also use this for themselves and have it as a good resource.