If you’re an icon designer looking to turn your skills into a steady stream of passive income, you’re in luck — the demand for quality icons has never been higher. To help you tap into this growing market, here are some of the best places for icon designers to sell work. With the right approach, you can start earning by showcasing your designs on popular online platforms. Many marketplaces make it easy for designers to sell their work and connect with customers worldwide.
In this blog, we’ll guide you through everything you need to know — from what types of icons sell best to where you should list them and how to start building a profitable side hustle from your design talent.
What types of Icon Designers’ Work can I sell?
Icon design is crucial to digital storytelling — it enhances user experience, instantly communicates ideas, and strengthens visual systems across brands and products. As an icon designer, there are endless opportunities to monetize your creativity, but it’s important to design with the market in mind. Take time to explore the examples and categories that are performing well — whether it’s app icons, web UI icons, icon packs for software, or themed collections like business, technology, or lifestyle. Look carefully for gaps, too—specific styles or niches that are trending but underrepresented. While not every icon set will be a top seller, researching and understanding buyer needs will help you create more strategic and appealing designs. You can showcase your work and get started selling by visiting platforms such as Graphic Designers, Illustrators, and Logo Designers.
‍Where can I sell Icon Designers’ work online?
If you’re ready to start selling your icon designs online, the first step is to find marketplaces that specialize in digital assets like icons and UI elements. Choosing platforms where buyers are specifically looking for icons will increase your chances of making consistent sales. Simply put, you want to put your work in front of the right audience — the people already searching for exactly what you create.
There are many websites where you can upload and sell your icon sets, whether as individual designs or bundled collections. To help you kick off your journey, we’ve rounded up some of the top marketplaces that are popular among icon designers. Since most of these platforms offer non-exclusive selling options, it’s a good idea to test out a few different sites and see where your icons gain the most traction.
1. UI8
UI8 is a digital marketplace that provides high-quality design resources like UI kits, web and mobile templates, design systems, icons, illustrations, mockups, and 3D assets. Tailored for UI/UX designers, developers, and creative teams, UI8 helps speed up the design process with ready-to-use assets that are professionally crafted and often come with commercial licenses. It supports popular tools like Figma, Sketch, and Adobe XD, and also offers bundles, freebies, and lifetime access on many products. Ideal for freelancers, startups, and agencies aiming to create modern, consistent digital experiences efficiently.
2. Noun Project
The Noun Project is an online platform that offers a vast collection of high-quality, royalty-free icons and images. It provides a simple and easy-to-use search function for users to access over millions of icons created by designers from around the world. The platform is popular among designers, marketers, and businesses for its wide range of icons that can be used in various projects such as websites, apps, presentations, and more.
Key features of Noun Project include:
Contributions: Anyone can upload and contribute their own icons to the platform, making it a community-driven resource. Contributors are compensated through revenue sharing when their icons are downloaded.
Extensive Library: It has millions of icons across multiple categories, including technology, business, healthcare, education, and more. The icons are created by designers from different backgrounds, making it a diverse resource.
Customization: Noun Project allows users to customize the icons to suit their needs, offering options to change colors, sizes, and even combine icons to create unique visuals.
Subscription Plans: Noun Project offers both free and paid subscription models. The free plan provides access to icons with attribution, while the premium subscription removes the need for attribution and offers additional features, such as the ability to download icons in various file formats.
Collaboration and Integration: The platform also integrates with design tools like Adobe Creative Cloud and Figma, enabling designers to use the icons directly in their projects.
3. Iconscout
IconScout is a comprehensive design asset platform that offers over 10.9 million resources, including vector icons, illustrations, 3D graphics, and Lottie animations. It serves designers, developers, and creative professionals who need high-quality, customizable assets for various creative projects.
Key Features
Unicons Icon Font Library: Offers access to over 7,000 icon fonts across multiple styles including monochrome, line, solid, and thin line.
Extensive Asset Library: Offers a vast collection of over 10.9 million design assets, with more than 10,000 new items added daily.
Customization Tools: Includes powerful tools such as the SVG Editor, Lottie Editor, and glTF 3D Editor to personalize assets and adjust colors or formats.
Seamless Integration: Provides plugins for popular design and productivity tools like Figma, Adobe XD, Canva, and Microsoft Office for smooth workflow integration.
AI-Powered Tools: Features AI tools such as the AI Vectorizer and AI 3D Generator to streamline asset creation and customization.
3. Iconfinder
Iconfinder is an online platform that provides a vast collection of high-quality icons for use in various digital and print projects. It serves as a resource for designers, developers, and businesses in need of icons, illustrations, and other graphic elements. Here’s an overview of its key features:
Quality Control: Icons are curated by professionals, ensuring high-quality designs that are compatible with modern design standards.
Icon Collection: Iconfinder offers millions of icons in various styles, including flat, outline, isometric, 3D, and more. Users can search for icons by keyword, category, or style.
Customization: Many icons on Iconfinder are customizable, allowing users to change the color, size, and format to suit their needs.
Licensing: Icons on Iconfinder are available under different licenses, including free and paid options. The platform offers detailed information about each icon’s licensing terms, helping users choose based on their usage requirements.
Premium Membership: Users can subscribe to a premium plan for access to exclusive icons, higher-quality assets, and additional features, such as download options in various formats (SVG, PNG, etc.).
Vector and Raster Formats: Iconfinder provides icons in both vector (SVG, AI) and raster (PNG, JPG) formats, making it versatile for web design, app development, and print.
API Access: Developers can integrate Iconfinder’s API into their applications or websites to access the icon library directly, streamlining the process of finding and using icons.
4. Freepik
Freepik is an online platform offering a vast collection of graphic resources like vectors, photos, PSD files, icons, and mockups for designers and content creators. It provides both free and premium content, with free users required to give attribution. Premium users gain access to millions of resources without attribution and additional features. Freepik is widely used for website design, social media, marketing, and branding, and integrates with popular design tools like Adobe and Canva.
5. Flaticon
Flaticon is a popular online platform that provides a vast collection of vector icons and illustrations. It is widely used by designers, developers, and content creators who need access to high-quality graphics for various projects. Here’s an overview of what Flaticon offers:
Collections and Search Functionality: Users can browse icons through categories, or they can search for specific icons using keywords. Flaticon also allows users to create and save custom collections of icons for easier access in future projects.
Icon Library: Flaticon hosts over 8 million vector icons, making it one of the largest repositories of icons. These icons cover a wide range of categories such as business, technology, healthcare, education, and more.
File Formats: The platform offers icons in multiple file formats, including PNG, SVG, EPS, and PSD, allowing users to choose the format that best suits their needs. SVG is especially popular for web and app design due to its scalability without loss of quality.
Customization: Flaticon allows users to customize icons before downloading. You can change the color, size, and style of the icons directly on the website. This feature makes it easier to tailor icons to match a project’s specific branding.
Subscription Plans: While Flaticon offers free access to a wide range of icons, users can also opt for a premium subscription. The premium plan unlocks additional features, such as access to exclusive icons, the ability to download icons with transparent backgrounds, and removing attribution requirements for using the icons.
Integration: Flaticon integrates with design tools like Adobe Illustrator, Figma, and Sketch, allowing users to directly import icons into their workflows. This integration streamlines the design process and ensures quick access to icons.
Attribution: Free icons on Flaticon require attribution to the creator, which means users need to give credit when using the icons. However, with a premium subscription, this attribution requirement is removed.
6. Design Cuts
Design Cuts is an online marketplace and creative platform that offers high-quality design resources, such as fonts, graphics, textures, brushes, templates, and other assets. It caters to designers, creatives, and small business owners by providing access to a vast collection of professional tools that can enhance design projects. The platform is known for curating exclusive design bundles and offering discounts on individual products, making it affordable for users to access premium resources. Additionally, Design Cuts often collaborates with top design creators to provide unique and exclusive items that are not available elsewhere.
The platform provides tutorials, creative inspiration, and a community space where designers can connect and share their work. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned pro, Design Cuts aims to help enhance the creative process with high-quality resources that save time and elevate the final product.
7. Design Bundles
Design Bundles is an online platform that offers a wide range of high-quality design resources for both personal and commercial use. It provides a marketplace for designers and creatives to buy and sell design assets, including fonts, graphics, templates, SVG files, mockups, cliparts, and more.
Here’s a quick overview of what Design Bundles offers:
- Variety of Design Assets: Users can access thousands of design resources, including fonts, graphics, icons, print templates, and digital crafting resources, catering to a variety of industries like print-on-demand, graphic design, and small business branding.
- Bundles: One of the key features of the platform is the concept of bundles, where related design assets are grouped together and offered at a discounted price compared to purchasing them individually.
- Freebies: Design Bundles also offers a collection of free design resources. These free products change regularly, allowing users to download high-quality design assets without spending a penny.
- Commercial Licensing: Many of the products come with a commercial license, which is particularly appealing for small business owners, freelancers, and entrepreneurs who need design assets for commercial projects.
- Customization and Templates: The platform includes customizable templates, which help users create professional designs quickly, whether for print, web, or social media content.
- Design Tools: In addition to the resources, Design Bundles offers various design tools and plugins that help streamline the creative process.
- Community: Design Bundles fosters a creative community where designers can share tips, offer support, and even sell their own designs.
Start selling on Design Bundles
Start selling your Icon Designers’ work online
Selling your icon designs online is a great way to build passive income as a digital creator, but it’s important to approach it with a clear strategy. Start by deciding what type of icons you want to specialize in — whether it’s app icons, web icons, themed icon sets, or custom UI elements — and focus on creating a polished, cohesive portfolio. Then, pick a few of the marketplaces we discussed that offer non-exclusive licensing and start uploading your work. It might take some time to gain traction, but with consistency and attention to what buyers are looking for, you’ll soon discover which platforms deliver the best results for your style. With high-quality designs and steady effort, you’ll be on your way to building a reliable stream of passive income from your icon work.
Sell more than just Icon Designers’ work
While selling icon designs is a great way to earn passive income, there are plenty of other digital products you can create to expand your earning potential. If you have a range of design skills, consider branching out into related areas like UI kits, web design assets, illustrations, fonts, or even app templates. Exploring different product types can help you reach a wider audience and increase your overall sales. Check out our categories page to find more ideas for digital products you can start designing and selling today.