IcoFX vs Nucleo

IcoFX is a professional icon and cursor editor for Windows that lets designers create, extract, and edit icons and cursors for apps, websites, and operating systems, including favicons and macOS-style icon formats. It supports resolutions up to 1024x1024 with PNG compression, layer-based composition with over 40 built-in effects, and batch processing for converting or resizing large icon sets, alongside a resource editor for replacing icons directly inside executable files.

Nucleo is an icon library and companion app offering more than 40,000 premium SVG icons across multiple visual styles, including outline, filled, sharp, pixel, and isometric. Native Mac and Windows desktop apps, alongside a web app, let users browse, tag, recolor, resize, and bulk-export icons rather than editing each SVG file by hand, and a React package lets developers import icons directly as components in a codebase. Built independently and bootstrapped since 2014 by two Italy-based developers, Nucleo also offers AI coding integrations for inserting icons within AI-assisted development workflows and a Team plan with shared icon projects and role management. Pricing is split between one-time purchases of individual style packs (Core, UI, Sharp, Pixel, Micro Bold) and an annually billed All Icons Bundle covering the full library.

• Long-established, focused tool with deep icon-specific editing features
• One-time purchase rather than a subscription
• Handles both icon creation and extraction/conversion in one app
• Batch processing saves time when preparing icon sets for an app or site

• Very large, consistently styled icon library covering multiple visual styles from one source.
• One-time purchase options for individual style packs avoid an ongoing subscription.
• Desktop app makes searching and exporting icons faster than browsing a website each time.
• React package integration saves developers from manually converting SVGs into components.

• Windows-only, with no native Mac or Linux version
• Interface and feature set have not changed dramatically in recent years
• Batch processing requires the pricier Business license

• Full 40k+ icon coverage requires buying multiple style packs or the pricier All Icons Bundle.
• Icon style options can be overwhelming for users who just want one consistent set quickly.
• Primarily a static icon library, not a vector illustration or custom icon design tool.