React FontAwesome: A Complete Guide to Using Font Awesome Icons in React Apps

This blog guides you through everything, from the basics of setting up React and FontAwesome to customizing icons, adding brand icons, and optimizing your React project. The steps below will help you create clean, consistent designs powered by FontAwesome.

What’s the first thing you notice when opening a modern app or website? Most people don’t realize it, but icons silently guide their every interaction. From the check square that confirms a task is done to a social media icon linking to a brand page, icons communicate faster than words.

For developers building with React, handling icons effectively can save time and improve the overall design. Instead of manually adding SVG tags or relying only on FontAwesome CSS, the React FontAwesome library offers a structured way to integrate scalable icons directly into your components.

Getting Started with React FontAwesome

To start using React FontAwesome, you need to install specific packages from the Fontawesome ecosystem. These packages allow you to use Font Awesome icons as React components, rather than adding them via Font Awesome CSS.

This approach provides you with more control, a smaller bundle size, and seamless integration with React DOM rendering.

Installation and Setup

The first step is running the following command in your React project:

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1npm install --save @fortawesome/fontawesome-svg-core \
2  @fortawesome/free-solid-svg-icons \
3  @fortawesome/react-fontawesome
4

This command adds three important packages:

• @fortawesome/fontawesome-svg-core – The core package required for managing icons.
• @fortawesome/free-solid-svg-icons – The free solid SVG icons collection.
• @fortawesome/react-fontawesome – The wrapper library that turns icons into React components.

You can also add Fortawesome free brands SVG and Fortawesome pro solid SVG if you need brand icons or pro icons.

Importing Icons in Your React Project

After installation, the next step is importing icons. You do this inside your src folder and link them to your React components.

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1import React from "react";
2import ReactDOM from "react-dom";
3import { library } from "@fortawesome/fontawesome-svg-core";
4import { faCoffee, faCheckSquare } from "@fortawesome/free-solid-svg-icons";
5import { FontAwesomeIcon } from "@fortawesome/react-fontawesome";
6
7library.add(faCoffee, faCheckSquare);
8
9function App() {
10  return (
11    <div>
12      <h1>Using Font Awesome in React</h1>
13      <FontAwesomeIcon icon="coffee" />
14      <FontAwesomeIcon icon="check-square" />
15    </div>
16  );
17}
18
19export default App;
20ReactDOM.render(<App />, document.getElementById("root"));
21

Here, you can see:

• The import statement for required icons.
• Using the FontAwesomeIcon from the FontAwesome React package.
• Adding icons to the FontAwesome library using library.add().
• Rendering icons with the <FontAwesomeIcon icon="coffee" /> syntax.

This makes the icons work seamlessly in your React app.

Understanding FontAwesomeIcon Component

The FontAwesomeIcon component is the main building block for integrating icons.

It accepts several props, with icon prop being the most important. You can pass a string, such as "coffee", or pass the imported icon object directly.

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1<FontAwesomeIcon icon="coffee" />
2<FontAwesomeIcon icon={faCheckSquare} />
3

Using same icon in different styles is possible if you import FontAwesome icon from multiple libraries like FortAwesome free solid SVG, FortAwesome free brands SVG, or FortAwesome pro solid SVG.

Working with Different Icon Styles

Font Awesome offers a variety of styles:

• Solid style (default)
• Regular icons
• Brand icons
• Duotone icons (available in Pro)
• Light style (Pro only)
• Fal duotone style (Pro only)

By importing icons from the correct package, you can create variations of the same icon with different styles.

Example:

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1import { faCoffee as fasCoffee } from "@fortawesome/free-solid-svg-icons";
2import { faCoffee as farCoffee } from "@fortawesome/free-regular-svg-icons";
3
4<FontAwesomeIcon icon={fasCoffee} />
5<FontAwesomeIcon icon={farCoffee} />
6

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Adding Social Media and Brand Icons

Social media icons like Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn come from FortAwesome free brands SVG.

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1import { faTwitter, faLinkedin } from "@fortawesome/free-brands-svg-icons";
2
3<FontAwesomeIcon icon={faTwitter} />
4<FontAwesomeIcon icon={faLinkedin} />
5

These free brand SVG icons help integrate awesome icons that align with your branding.

Customizing Icons in React

Beyond importing, you can modify icons with styling.

Resizing Icons

To increase size:

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1<FontAwesomeIcon icon="coffee" size="2x" />
2

This uses built-in FontAwesome CSS classes.

Rotating, Flipping, and Animating

You can apply inverse transform, spin, or rotation props:

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1<FontAwesomeIcon icon="coffee" spin />
2<FontAwesomeIcon icon="coffee" rotation={90} />
3

Organizing Icons in a React Project

When building a React app, keeping icons well-organized is important. Use a separate JS file to manage all import library operations.

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1// icons.js
2import { library } from "@fortawesome/fontawesome-svg-core";
3import { faCoffee, faCheckSquare } from "@fortawesome/free-solid-svg-icons";
4
5library.add(faCoffee, faCheckSquare);
6

Then, import this JS file into your main app function. This avoids repetitive imports and keeps child components cleaner.

Free Icons vs Pro Icons

You can use free icons from fortawesome free solid svg and free brands svg icons, but upgrading to pro icons gives access to pro solid svg icons, light style, and duotone icons.

Pro versions also reduce initial replacement issues when upgrading icons.

Common Use Cases with FontAwesome in React

Adding Icons to Buttons

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1<button>
2  <FontAwesomeIcon icon="coffee" /> Order Coffee
3</button>
4

Using fa-layers fa-fw

You can layer awesome icons:

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1<span className="fa-layers fa-fw">
2  <FontAwesomeIcon icon="circle" />
3  <FontAwesomeIcon icon="check" transform="shrink-6" inverse />
4</span>
5

This creates stacked icons with inverse transform styling.

Alternatives to Font Awesome in React

While React FontAwesome is widely used, alternatives include:

• React Icons (supports multiple icon libraries)
• Heroicons (Tailwind-based)
• Material UI Icons

These are useful if you want different awesome icons collections.

“Explore some of the best alternatives to Font Awesome, evaluating their strengths and use cases.” → Check out the full post here

Reference and Best Practices

• Always recommend importing only the svg icons import You need to keep the bundle size low.
• Follow the official documentation for updates.
• Organize icons into a single file with export default for reusability.
• Test second icon placement in child components before production.

Final Thoughts: Building Better React Apps with React FontAwesome

Icons make an interface more interactive and user-friendly. By using React FontAwesome, you can add Font Awesome icons quickly, customize them with props, and optimize your React project by importing only what you need.

Whether you’re using free solid SVG icons, social media icons, or upgrading to pro icons, the FortAwesome/react FontAwesome ecosystem offers everything for scalable development.

If you want your React app to look polished while keeping your code clean, start using React FontAwesome today.