Tool profile
The Noun Project: cost, fit and limits
The Noun Project is an icon marketplace run by Noun Project Inc. that offers nearly 10 million vector icons and photos, with a free account, paid Noun Pro plans, an icon API and Noun Studio, a credit-based service for editing and generating derivative icons.
What to know first
Noun Pro starts at $3.33 per month paid yearly, which buys unlimited PNG and SVG downloads and royalty-free commercial licenses without attribution. Plus adds stock photos at $9.99, a team plan starts at $6.67 per month for two, and the Icon API shows $1.67 per month with a 30-day trial. Noun Studio credits are sold separately. The homepage also names AI-enhanced search and plugins for Figma, PowerPoint and Adobe apps.
The Noun Project at a glance
| Maker | Noun Project Inc., Not stated on the vendor pages |
|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes |
| Entry price | Free account; Noun Pro from $3.33 per month, paid yearly |
| API access | Yes |
| Category | Best AI Icon Libraries in 2026, rank 2 of 11 |
| Website | thenounproject.com |
Who The Noun Project is best for
Presentation and document makers
Plugins for PowerPoint, Figma, Adobe apps and Mac drop icons straight into the file, so people who build decks do not leave their editor to download SVGs.
Designers who adapt existing icons
Noun Studio edits an existing icon or generates derivative ones, which fits a designer who finds a near match and needs it recolored or changed, not drawn from scratch.
Products that need icons by API
The Icon API for software developers carries a separate plan and a 30-day trial, so an app can fetch icons from a very large collection without bundling a set.
The Noun Project plans and pricing
| Plan | Price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Free Account | Free | Free icon downloads, without the attribution-free licensing, Noun Studio credits or unlimited plugin use that paid plans carry. |
| Noun Pro Unlimited | $3.33 per month, paid yearly | Unlimited PNG and SVG downloads, royalty-free commercial licenses, color editing, clipboard copy, plugins for Figma, PowerPoint and Adobe apps, and no attribution. |
| Noun Pro Plus Unlimited | $9.99 per month, paid yearly | Unlimited icon and icon set downloads and unlimited stock photo downloads, on top of the Noun Pro benefits. |
| Noun Team | $6.67 per month, paid yearly, starter team of 2 | Noun Pro benefits for groups of two or more, shared icons across the team, consolidated billing, priority support and discounts from ten people. |
| Icon API for Software Developers | $1.67 per month, paid yearly | Access to the Icon API for developers, with a $0 30-day free trial shown on the pricing page. |
Checked November 2026.
What The Noun Project does
- Noun Studio
- Noun Studio edits existing icons and generates derivative icons, which the Terms of Use describe as machine learning output, and paid plans meter it with service credits that are not stored value.
- AI-enhanced search
- The homepage describes search that is AI-enhanced and covers thousands of icon styles, which helps when you know the concept you need but not the name used by the contributor.
- Design and Office plugins
- Figma, PowerPoint, Adobe and Mac plugins place an icon directly into the document you are editing, with unlimited use tied to the paid Noun Pro plans.
- REST API
- The homepage describes a REST API for the whole icon collection, and the separate Icon API plan for software developers gives it a price and a trial.
- Royalty-free commercial licenses
- Noun Pro lists royalty-free commercial licenses with no attribution required, which removes the credit line that a free account download needs. The Free Account row on the pricing page does not carry that license.
How The Noun Project handles your data
The privacy policy says Noun Project services are hosted and operated in the United States, and that account information is retained while the account is open or as needed. The Terms of Use forbid scraping content for AI training without prior approval and say the service limits retention. Stripe, Inc. and PayPal, Inc. are named as payment processors on the legal pages. The pages we read do not say whether files uploaded to Noun Studio train models, and no certification is listed, so the vendor's policy was not checked for those points.
Where The Noun Project falls short in practice
- Credits sit outside subscriptions. Noun Studio runs on service credits that the Terms call not stored value, so a Noun Pro subscription does not cover generation and editing work by itself, and unused credits are not a balance.
- Yearly billing for monthly prices. Prices read as per month but are billed yearly, so the $3.33 and $9.99 figures mean paying twelve months at once, which matters for a team that wants to test one project.
- Arbitration and U.S. hosting. The Terms set disputes to arbitration in Los Angeles County, California, and the privacy policy places hosting in the United States, which may matter to buyers with data location rules.
Works with
Alternatives to The Noun Project
The Noun Project: common questions
What does Noun Studio do?
Noun Studio edits existing icons and generates derivative icons. The Terms of Use classify the generated results as machine learning output, and paid plans carry service credits for it. The pages we read do not say how many credits a single edit uses, so test it on one icon and read the usage counter before you commit to a plan.
Is The Noun Project free to use?
A free account lets you download free icons, but the pricing page lists attribution-free downloads, Noun Studio credits and unlimited plugin use as paid features. Noun Pro starts at $3.33 per month paid yearly. If you publish work commercially without crediting the artist, plan on the paid license rather than the free account.
How much does the Icon API cost?
The pricing page shows the Icon API for software developers at $1.67 per month paid yearly, with a $0 30-day free trial. The homepage describes a REST API covering the entire collection. The pages we read do not list request limits, so ask the vendor about rate limits before building a product on it.
Can a team share one Noun Project subscription?
Noun Team starts at $6.67 per month paid yearly for a starter team of two. It carries the Noun Pro benefits, shared icons, consolidated billing and priority support, with discounts for teams of ten or more. Individuals who want the same downloads without a team can choose Noun Pro Unlimited instead.
Where does The Noun Project host my data?
The privacy policy says the services are hosted and operated in the United States. Account data is kept while the account is open or as needed, and payments go through Stripe, Inc. and PayPal, Inc. The Terms also forbid scraping content for AI training without prior approval. No certification appears on the pages we read.