Why is FontAwesome downloading loads of different versions of woff2 files?

Question

I have just started using Font Awesome on a website I am developing locally. I have this in my head:

<script src="https://kit.fontawesome.com/my_unique_id.js" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>

And am using the following HTML (I am only using these 3 icons:

<span class="fab fa-flickr"></span>
<span class="fab fa-instagram"></span>
<span class="fab fa-500px"></span>

I just checked my network tab and was surprised to see that 23 woff2 files are being downloaded:

• https://kit-free.fontawesome.com/algo/2/webfonts/fa-brands-400-free-5.0.0.woff2
• https://kit-free.fontawesome.com/algo/2/webfonts/fa-brands-400-free-5.0.1.woff2
• https://kit-free.fontawesome.com/algo/2/webfonts/fa-brands-400-free-5.0.1.woff2
• ...
• https://kit-free.fontawesome.com/algo/2/webfonts/fa-brands-400-free-5.11.2.woff2

But I have found that only the 1st is being used. Blocking it causes the icons not to be found, but I can block all the others without affecting anything.

What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

After contacting FontAwesome, I have been told that this is a limitation of the Free tier. It seems the Free tier is only intended for prototyping sites.