10 Of The Best Free Stock Photo Websites
You just created your awesome blog post but we all know that’s not enough. Adding beautiful images to your posts can help you highlight your written content. We all enjoy being visually stimulated and many scientific studies over the years have proven that people process images far quicker than they process written text.
So, if you want to pass a message or communicate an idea to your audience in an instant high-quality imagery is the best way to do it. Visual marketing should be a part of your marketing strategy.
But finding the right image can be pretty time-consuming. Downloading random images from Google, of course, is not an option because you will get you into trouble very fast. Also, there are many stock sites offering nothing more than old, unrealistic, below average images. Going through all of them trying to find a beautiful image for your website/blog is not only a waste of your time but also very unproductive. Not only that but they will usually charge you for them.
But thankfully there are also many quality stock photo websites you can use. And they are free.
Note: The photographs in these sites are licensed under creative commons public domain dedication and free from copywrite restrictions. That means you can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. But it’s in your best interests to read the Terms & Policy of the website to determine yourself how to use the images. Some images may require attribution.
So here are 10 amazing websites full with great free stock photos for you.
StockSnap.io
StockSnap has a great selection of free high-resolution images and photos. They have categorized their images in a very effective way and you can easily browse through them. They add hundreds of new photos every day.
Pexels
One of the most important things you should know about Pexels is that they also offer high-quality videos too. Their content is categorized and finding the image you are looking for won’t take you long.
Unsplash
One of the most popular stock photo websites. They offer a wide variety of stock images. You will definitely find what you are looking for here.
PixaBay
Their collection of images and illustrations covers many areas. All of their images and photos are released under Creative Commons CC0.
Gratisography
Their photos are perfect for blogs who want to add a more personal touch. They add new pictures every week and they can all be used for commercial and personal projects. All the photographs are taken by Ryan McGuire.
Life of Pix
New pictures are added every week and they also offer free royalty-free videos.
Freestocks.org
Although they don’t have a wide variety of categories here you can find high-quality photos.
SkitterPhoto
They truly offer a very wide collection of photos. All of their photos are under public domain.
IM Free
Here except photos, you can also find templates. Their collection is pretty impressive. You can discover thousands of beautiful photos. Their stock photos are curated from many different sources and some photos may require attribution.
Negative Space
All their photos are free to use with no restrictions. There is something for everybody and there are many categories for you to check out.
Bonus: Canva
Canva is not just another free stock photo site. It is actually a very popular online design tool that everyone can use to create their own designs. And they also have an extensive collection of high-quality stock photos you could use. Not all of their photos are free but you can definitely find plenty of wonderful images for your website at Canva.
Conclusion
Using high-quality photos on your website can help your brand stand out from the rest of the competition. The websites mentioned above are some of the most popular amongst bloggers, marketers, and designers. You can be sure now you will find the images you were always looking for.
If you are interested to learn more about how to build a successful online business and take your blog/website to the next level you can just let me show you how to do it. Only an email is required in order to join and the first 10 lessons are for free.
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Awesome compilation of the top free stock image sites – kudos!
I’m personally using pixabay because there are no underwater stones or anything shady. Some of your suggestions look interesting enough for me to take a look.
Do you know if most of these sites offer 100% free images, without the need to mention the author or something similar?
Hello Simon,
Yes, all of these sites offer their images under CCO. But you should read the Licence Terms before you download them because some pictures in some of these websites may require attribution.
Thank you for the informative post.
I have just started my own blog and I was kind of nervous in the beginning because I had no idea where I will get the photos to myself.
Thank God I found your post so I do not have to worry.
All of the websites you mentioned are awesome.
I read some of your other articles.
Great job
Keep up the good work and have a nice day
I have been looking for more stock photos. Thank you so much for this.
Hello Latoyia,
I am glad i could help.
This is a great list. I usually go to unsplash.com because I nearly always find what I’m looking for. I’ll start using Pexels now too, I didn’t know they have videos as well!
Do you know of websites that offer free vector images. I stumbled upon some and while best had a price attached (of course) others were pretty decent too 🙂
Hello Farwa,
Freepik, Vector Stock, 1001freedownloads are some good websites you could check for free vector images. But always check before using them commercially. Every site has its own rules and attribution is often a must.
Thanks for this! I use Upsplash all the time and absolutely love it but it’s always nice to find different sites for a variety.
Thank you so much for putting this list together. As a food blogger, I normally do my own pics but in the past week have run into an issue where I wanted a non-food pic and had to start to explore the stock photo world. This is a great resource that I am pinning for later use!
I’m going to bookmark this list for later! I use Pexels A LOT for my graphics but sometimes I can’t find a particular photo that fits with what I’m wanting to portray! Thanks for this.
Heather | http://www.heatherleguilloux.ca
This is a great list. I use Pixabay if I’m not using my own photos for my blog posts and my site. Thanks for sharing!
Love this list. You gave me some new places to check out. I love Unsplash but i’m been using them too much so I need to expand. Not totally a fan of Pexels, their photos are not that great of quality/style, I feel.
I love love love the first three. Before I started taking my own pictures and from time to time now, I have and continue to use them. I love Unsplash and Stocksnap as I think they have a wide variety of photos. I will check out the rest as well. Thanks!
Great post! I’m going to pin this so I can refer back to it. I mostly use pexels.
Super helpful! I have been using unsplash mainly, but am looking for more variety in some of my pics. I will be checking out some of these!
Glad I helped. Thank you for your comment.