Icons8 vs The Noun Project Comparison 2026
Icons8 bundles icons, illustrations, photos, music and AI generators into one credit-based subscription, from $6.50 a month for the AI tools alone or $24 a month for 100 icons plus a credit allowance. The Noun Project sells icons and photos on a royalty-free licence the page says never expires, from $3.33 a month paid yearly for unlimited icon downloads, or a single icon bought outright for $4.99 with no subscription at all. One is a wide, generated-content bundle billed on credits; the other is a narrower, licence-first library billed low and simple.
Icons, photos and AI generators on one plan
Icons on a licence that never expires
At a glance
- The Noun Project starts cheaper, at $3.33.
- Only The Noun Project has a free tier.
Side by side
Icons8 | The Noun Project | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $6.50 | From $3.33 |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Paid subscription | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier (they differ) | No | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Not stated |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Yes |
Icons8
Icons, photos and AI generators on one plan
Icons8 sells one subscription across icons, illustrations, photos, music and a set of AI generators, which is a wider spread than an icon library usually covers. The cheapest plan is the AI tools on their own and buys credits rather than downloads. Hand-drawn graphics begin on the tier above that. There is an API, a desktop app and a design tool called Lunacy in the same account.
Our note
Read the credit costs before the plan prices, because a generated icon is 200 credits and that arithmetic decides which tier you actually need. Envato Elements is the better buy if you want video and audio in the same subscription.
The Noun Project
Icons on a licence that never expires
The Noun Project sells icons and photos on a royalty-free worldwide licence that the page says never expires, which is the part that matters for work shipped once and left alone for years. Contributors are paid from subscriptions, and the library is moderated rather than open, so quality is more even than an open marketplace. Plugins for Figma, Adobe and Office plus a Mac application mean an icon can be dropped in without a download step. A single icon can be bought outright for those who need one thing and not a subscription.
Why people weigh these two
- The Noun Project instead of Icons8
- The Noun Project sells icons on a licence that never expires from $3.33 a month, cheaper than Icons8 and with a free tier, but it does not cover the photos, music and AI generators bundled into Icons8's plan.
- Icons8 instead of The Noun Project
- Icons8 bundles icons, photos and AI generators on one plan at $6, wider than icons alone.
Which one should you pick
Pick Icons8 when AI generation and a spread of asset types are the point: hand-drawn icons alongside generated illustrations, photos, background removal and even music, all metered in credits from $6.50 a month. It is the pricier and more complicated of the two, but it replaces several separate subscriptions with one.
Pick The Noun Project when the job is icons and photos on a licence that will still be valid in five years, or when only a handful of assets are needed and a subscription makes no sense. Noun Pro is $3.33 a month, though that rate needs a year paid upfront, and a single icon can be bought for $4.99 with no plan at all. It generates nothing; everything in the library was drawn and reviewed by a person.
Common questions
- Which is cheaper to start?
- The Noun Project, if paying yearly: Noun Pro works out to $3.33 a month for unlimited icon downloads. Icons8's cheapest tier is $6.50 a month for AI generation only, billed monthly with no annual commitment required, and it does not include the hand-drawn icon library at that price.
- Does The Noun Project offer AI-generated icons?
- No, its library is entirely human-drawn and moderated before publishing. Icons8 is the one with AI generators, covering illustrations, images and people alongside its hand-drawn set, metered by credits starting at $6.50 a month.
- Can I buy a single icon without subscribing to either?
- Yes, on The Noun Project: one icon costs $4.99 and one photo $10.99, both on the same royalty-free commercial licence as the subscription. Icons8 does not sell single assets outright. Everything runs through its credit-based monthly plans.
- Which one includes photos and illustrations, not just icons?
- Both do, but at different points. Icons8's subscription spans icons, illustrations, photos and music from its lower tiers. The Noun Project keeps Noun Pro to icons alone at $3.33 a month and only adds photos on Noun Pro Plus, at $9.99 a month.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.