---
title: "Pikaicons vs Phosphor: Styles, License and Price Compared"
description: "Phosphor and Pikaicons both draw each icon in several styles. How their weights and styles differ, what the licenses allow, what each costs, and the React code for both."
url: https://pikaicons.com/blog/pikaicons-vs-phosphor
---
[Blog](https://pikaicons.com/blog) Comparisons
# Pikaicons vs Phosphor: two icon libraries with several styles
Ash 30 October 2026 3 min read
Phosphor and Pikaicons are close relatives: both draw every icon in several matched styles, so a selected state can fill in or a feature can go two-tone without bringing in a second set. The difference is that Phosphor is free and Pikaicons is paid. Pikaicons is the library I draw, so read this with that in mind.
Here's the short answer:
* **Pick Phosphor** if you want several weights for free, an MIT license, or the thin and light weights for large, airy layouts.
* **Pick Pikaicons** if you prefer its drawing, need the duo solid and contrast styles, want icons added later at no cost, or want to request icons your product needs.
| Library | Icons | Styles | License or price |
| ------------------------------------------ | ---------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [Phosphor](https://phosphoricons.com) | 9,072 across 6 weights | Thin, light, regular, bold, fill, duotone | [MIT](https://github.com/phosphor-icons/core/blob/main/LICENSE) |
| [Pikaicons](https://pikaicons.com/pricing) | 5,000+ across 5 styles | Stroke, solid, duo stroke, duo solid, contrast | [$99 once (Solo)](https://pikaicons.com/pricing) |
As each library states it, checked on 21 October 2026\. Counts aren’t like for like: some count every style of an icon, others count designs.
## How the styles differ
Both libraries count every style of an icon, so their totals aren't counts of designs. Phosphor's 9,072 across 6 weights are about 1,500 designs, each in six weights: thin, light, regular and bold change the stroke, and fill and duotone change the shape. Pikaicons' 5,000+ icons across five styles are a little over 1,200 designs, each drawn in up to five styles on a 24px grid with a 2px stroke.
The weights split differently. Phosphor goes wide on stroke weight, from a hairline to bold, with one duotone. Pikaicons keeps one stroke weight and goes wide on two-tone instead: duo stroke pairs two line layers, one of them soft; duo solid makes the soft layer a filled shape; and contrast puts a full-strength outline over a soft fill of the same shape, which is closest to Phosphor's duotone.
Stroke
Solid
Duo Stroke
Duo Solid
Contrast
Six free Pikaicons in all five styles: one stroke weight, three kinds of two-tone.
[Duotone icons](https://pikaicons.com/blog/duotone-icons) covers when two-tone styles help an interface and how to colour them.
## Where Phosphor is the better choice
On price, it's not close: Phosphor is free, [MIT licensed](https://github.com/phosphor-icons/core/blob/main/LICENSE), and has more designs than Pikaicons. You can use it commercially, change it and ship it in open-source code or a template, keeping the license notice with it. It has an official Figma plugin, and packages for React, Vue, Flutter, Swift and more.
Its thin and light weights have no Pikaicons equivalent, and they suit large icons in editorial or marketing layouts. If those are what you need, or if a free license is a requirement, Phosphor is the better pick.
## Where Pikaicons is the better choice
Phosphor's latest release was on 22 May 2025, so the icons you have are likely the icons you'll get. Pikaicons is one payment from $99, every icon added later is included, and paid plans can request custom icons for their product, drawn to the same rules as the rest.
You also get a Figma file holding the whole library in every style, [an app](https://icon.pikaicons.com) that copies any icon as SVG, React, Vue, Svelte, React Native or Solid with the size and stroke set first, and the [pikaicons CLI](https://pikaicons.com/agents) for adding icons from the terminal. And if you simply like how Pikaicons are drawn, with 60% corner smoothing on every corner, that's a fair reason too: you'll see your home icon on every screen.
## The code, side by side
Phosphor exports one component per icon and picks the style with a `weight` prop:
```tsx
import { House } from "@phosphor-icons/react";
```
The free Pikaicons on npm export one icon per style, passed to one `PikaIcon` component:
```tsx
import { PikaIcon } from "@pikaicons/react";
import { HomeIcon, HomeDuoStrokeIcon } from "@pikaicons/core-free";
```
Both draw in `currentColor`, take a `size` and pass other props such as `className` through to the `