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Font Awesome vs Opal

Based on 575 and 1 real audits

View Font Awesome details | View Opal details
MetricFont AwesomeOpalWinner
Performance4426Font Awesome
Accessibility8782Font Awesome
Best Practices8796Opal
SEO9192Opal
Security6572Opal
TTFB453ms436msOpal
Composite7373Tie
Performance
Font Awesome
44
Opal
26
Accessibility
Font Awesome
87
Opal
82
Security
Font Awesome
65
Opal
72
SEO
Font Awesome
91
Opal
92
Composite
Font Awesome
73
Opal
73

Opal outperforms Font Awesome in 4 of 7 categories, with a stronger composite score (73 vs 73). Font Awesome leads in performance, accessibility.

When to choose Font Awesome

Choose Font Awesome when your primary concern is performance and accessibility. Its audit data shows consistent strength in these areas across the sampled sites.

When to choose Opal

Choose Opal when your primary concern is server response time and best practices. Its audit data shows consistent strength in these areas across the sampled sites.

How this comparison was built

Scores are medians across 575 audited Font Awesome sites and 1 audited Opal sites in the BeaverCheck database. Every audit runs the same 100+ checks — Lighthouse performance, security headers, accessibility, SEO, server response time — against a real URL. No vendor input, no sponsorship, no affiliate links. Read the full methodology →

Small sample: one or both technologies have fewer than 10 audited sites. Treat these numbers as directional — medians stabilize around 20–30 audits per side.

FAQ

Which is faster, Font Awesome or Opal?
Based on real BeaverCheck audits, Font Awesome sites score higher on Lighthouse performance (44 vs 26 on average).
Which has better security, Font Awesome or Opal?
Opal sites score higher on security analysis (72 vs 65 on average).
Which has better accessibility, Font Awesome or Opal?
Accessibility scores measured by Lighthouse WCAG 2.1 checks favor Font Awesome (87 vs 82). Both technologies can be made fully accessible with care — the difference reflects common patterns in the sampled sites, not inherent platform limits.
Which is better for SEO, Font Awesome or Opal?
Opal sites score higher on Lighthouse SEO signals (92 vs 91 on average), which cover meta tags, crawlability, mobile friendliness, and structured data. Content strategy and backlinks still matter more than platform choice for ranking.
Which has faster server response (TTFB), Font Awesome or Opal?
Opal sites show lower Time to First Byte (436 ms vs 453 ms on average). TTFB depends heavily on hosting and CDN setup rather than the technology itself, but the sampled sites suggest a meaningful difference in common deployment patterns.
Should I choose Font Awesome or Opal for my website?
Both platforms have trade-offs. Font Awesome scores higher on overall composite score while Font Awesome may excel in metrics you care about most. Run a free BeaverCheck audit on a real site using each to compare the metrics relevant to your use case.
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