The Noun Project vs Whimsical Comparison 2026
Both cover design & graphics. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
At a glance
- The Noun Project starts cheaper, at $3.33.
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
The Noun Project | Whimsical | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $3.33 | From $10 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Not stated | Not stated |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Yes | Not stated |
| Data export |
Shaded rows are where the two answers disagree and both listings have answered. A row where one side has not stated a fact is left plain, because silence is not a difference.
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.
Our note
This is the one to pick when the licence outlives the project, since the page commits to worldwide rights that never expire and most competitors sell a subscription you have to keep paying. Flaticon is the better volume deal if you are downloading constantly and the attribution rules are the only thing you care about.
Only on this side
- Covers stock footage & assets
Whimsical
Diagrams where viewers cost nothing
Whimsical draws flowcharts, wireframes, mind maps and sticky-note boards in one file type rather than four applications, and it opts for speed over precision: shapes snap, connectors route themselves, and a diagram is finished before a general drawing tool has been configured. Only editors are billed, and viewers are free on every tier including the free one. Guests, team count and file size are what separate the plans. Anybody wanting pixel-exact control over a diagram will find the automatic routing gets in the way.
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.