SVG Icon Stress Test: Which Technique Handles 1,000 Icons Best?

Ever wondered what happens when you throw way too many SVG icons at a page? Tyler Sticka decided to find out, and built a live test page to measure the real performance cost. Rendering 250 rows of data with four icons apiece may push past what you’d call a typical layout, but it’s a solid way to see how far each approach can go.

He tested Inline , inline draws, and nine distinct strategies, each serving its own purpose:

  • Inline <svg>
  • Same-document sprite <symbol>s
  • External-document sprite <symbol>s
  • <img> with an external source
  • <img> with a data URL
  • <img> with a filter
  • <div> with a background-image of an external source
  • <div> with a background-image of a data URL
  • <div> with a mask

The winner? Inline <svg>—unless a given icon is rather complex, in which case the <img> approach edges it out. Sticka’s post walks through the nuances of each technique and gives you the data to decide what fits your own icon-heavy workload.