ZeroFee Tools
Favicon checker confirming a website's browser tab icon was found

A missing favicon shows visitors a blank tab and makes a site look unfinished. Enter any domain and this free favicon checker probes /favicon.ico and /apple-touch-icon.png to see whether the icons actually load. It is upfront about its limits: browsers cannot read other sites' HTML, so no client-side tool can inspect link tags or manifests - this checks the two conventional locations where the vast majority of icons live.

Check a domain's favicon

Enter any domain. The tool probes the two conventional icon locations and reports what actually loads.

Honest limitation: browsers block client-side pages from reading another site's HTML, so no purely browser-based tool can check <link rel="icon"> tags or web-app manifests on arbitrary domains. This checker tests the two standard locations (/favicon.ico and /apple-touch-icon.png), which is where the vast majority of sites keep their icons. A "not found" here means the conventional files are missing, not that no icon exists anywhere.

Frequently asked questions

Is the favicon checker free?

Yes. Unlimited domain checks, no signup, no caps. Probing happens from your browser.

Why can't it check link rel=icon tags?

The browser's same-origin policy blocks web pages from fetching and reading HTML from other domains. Only the site owner (or a server-side tool) can inspect that site's link tags and manifest.

My icon exists but shows not found. Why?

Common causes: it lives at a non-standard path declared only in a link tag, the server blocks hotlinking, or you are seeing a cached miss. Deploy to /favicon.ico and hard-refresh to rule out caching.

What size should favicon.ico be?

A multi-size ICO containing 16x16, 32x32 and 48x48 covers tabs, bookmarks and shortcuts. Pair it with a 180x180 apple-touch-icon.png for iOS.

Does this work for subdomains?

Yes. Enter the full host like shop.example.com and it probes that host's conventional locations.

How do I check if a website has a favicon?

Short answer: Type the domain into the checker above. It loads https://domain/favicon.ico and https://domain/apple-touch-icon.png exactly like a browser would and reports found or not found for each, with dimensions when an icon loads. These two paths cover the overwhelming majority of sites, since browsers request /favicon.ico automatically.

Remember the honest caveat: a site can declare icons at custom paths via link tags, which no client-side checker on another domain can see.

Why is my favicon not showing in the browser tab?

Short answer: The usual suspects are aggressive caching (browsers cache favicons hard; try a hard refresh or a new private window), a wrong file path, an unsupported format, or the file not being deployed at all. Run your domain through the checker above: if /favicon.ico loads there, your file is fine and caching is the culprit.

Also confirm the file is a real ICO or PNG; a renamed JPG with an .ico extension fails silently in some browsers.

Where should I put my favicon files?

Short answer: Put favicon.ico in the site root: browsers request /favicon.ico by default even without any HTML tag. Add apple-touch-icon.png (180x180) in the root for iOS home-screen icons, and optionally declare PNG or SVG variants with link tags for modern browsers. Then verify both files with the checker above to confirm they actually serve.

Root placement is the most robust setup because it works with zero HTML and is exactly what this checker verifies.

You may also need

Open Graph PreviewPreview social share cards. Social Image Size CheckerSize images for platforms. Logo MakerDesign the icon itself.