Icons  make your site look aesthetically pleasing and can be even used to convey useful messages to your audience, which otherwise would require a long phrase or sentence.  We all sometimes have to really try hard getting the exact iconic representation of our messages. But thanks to some of the online tools or  search engines  that serve as an excellent Icon resource for web designers and developers.

Here we  are listing 10 free tools & resources that have thousands of icons in all kinds of styles and sizes. The listings are in no particular order.

Icon Finder

It is a simple resource that enables you to search and extract icon resources in separate files. It doesn’t require any installer since the only executable file makes use of a standard system API calls. A designer can easily download icons in two different formats, namely PNG and ICO, and can be used like a favicon icon.

Iconlet

It is a search engine that helps you find available images and icons. You just have to type in the image or icon name and choose the relevant one from the list. Once you click on the image or icon you like, you will get a more detailed and larger image of the icon along with information on the icon, such as; the size of the image, the graphic format, the file size, the author and the license.

Bestfreeicons

This website offers more than 20,000 high quality icons absolutely free. It provides a huge list of categories such as 3D Icons, business, sci-fi, media, technology etc. to get icons as per your choice and need. The icons can be downloaded for personal use and if you are an icon designer you can also submit your icons to this website.

Iconator

You can browse through and download over 700,000 high quality free icons, 360,000 avatars and 10,500 instantly. You can choose icons from multiple categories as per your requirement. You can also search the most downloaded, the top 10, or the icons, avatars and wallpapers of each day. The site has several chat forums and communities, such as: MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Skype, and Google Talk.

Iconpaper

Another Icon finding tool for Mac and iphone users. It offers a comprehensive database of attractive looking icons for your design project. It is  easy to search icons by application, category or color and it also lets you check the release, its categories, and author. It also allows you to rate the icon and post a comment or suggestion and you can submit your own icons as well.

Jumsoft

Another tool to get free cliparts/icons and free keynote templates for your design project. It also provides unique and high quality icons for designing purposes. These icons can be used for presentations, invitations, Web pages, posters, newsletters, and more.

Iconspedia

It is a unique resource as it provides icons submitted by the community. You can download icons across multiple categories and sub categories that lets you download icons  individually or altogether for Mac, Linux or Windows. You also have the option to download as an .ico file or in various sizes, PNG. You can easily download your own icons by just filling  a small form.  All icons have their licenses listed and are free to download.

Icons Etc

This is a free stock icon and clipart graphics resources website. It offers 115,963 free icons and clipart stock images for web design, application design, graphic design, and many other purposes. You can search and download popular, recent and premium icons. All icons and images are free for personal and commercial use.

Iconpot

This tool  offers a list of web development icons that be used for both free and personal commercial. It provides a variety of icons placed under variety of categories. Its simple and easy to use interface helps you in finding the icon of your choice instantly. The best things about this tool is that you can use the icons as the way you want and you will not have to provide backlinks to the author.

Iconza

This icon finder tool provides royalty free icons for any website or design. It offers a collection of free icons that can be colored and reduced in size as per your requirement. It also allows you to customize icons and once your icon is ready you can easily download any specific icon or the whole set of icons that matches the colors you want.

We hope these tools will help you find right kind of icons for your project and help in executing it sucessfully. Please share with us your feedback and suggestions as always.