Whether it is a business, a website or an educational report, a picture is crucial for proper presentation. Using a copyrighted image is illegal and can even get you sued, and hiring professional models or visiting faraway places for photography is quite expensive. Fortunately, there are stock photos available that you can easily get for free or very cheap. However, finding high-quality free stock photos isn’t really an easy task. There are many free stock photos websites, but many of them offer low-resolution photos. There are still some stock photo websites that offer quality photos for free, you just need to dig a bit deeper to find them. Good for you that we have done the digging part for you and created this list of 20 best free stock photos websites.
1. Flickr
While there are a lot of websites like Flickr, it is still is one of the biggest photo sharing websites. Most photos are copyrighted and cannot be used for commercial use or without providing the original source. However, there are still many contributors who upload images on Creative Common license enabling them to be used in any way. All you need to do is access Creative Common license photos on Flickr and use them as you please. Although, you will see some other similar licensed based photos there, including Attributes License, but make sure you only go for CC0 (Creative Commons Zero) license photos.
2. Pexels
Pexels is relatively new free stock photos website, which is why you might not be able to find a huge collection of photos. However, they offer quality in every aspect. All photos available here are high quality and based on Creative Commons license which means you can use them freely for personal or commercial purposes, and you don’t have to provide any attribution.
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StockSnap.io is another popular website for downloading free stock photos with high resolution. All photos uploaded here are under CC0 license, which means you can use each and every image here in any way you like for both personal and commercial use. The website is also quite attractive with a search bar at the top and newly added photos shown below it.
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Pixabay has a huge database of over 2.6 Million royalty free photos and videos, and new being added everyday. All images are uploaded under CC0 license, and you will even find stock videos here. You can search the website with any query and you should be able to find lots of free stock photos on it.
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Free Images offers both paid and free images and they have a huge collection of photos. They have over 380,000 photos and these are just free ones. You can get more than 2.4 million premium photos. It is quite simple to navigate the website, you can either use the search bar or browse the categories.
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SplitShare is a simple free stock photos website with to-the-point interface. It is not a huge website, but it has some very creative photos with high resolution. You will find a simple search bar where you can search for the photo you need, or just use the categories mentioned below it, to find the photo of your type.
7. Openverse (Previously: Creative Commons)
Openverse, previously known as the Creative Commons Search, is not actually a website that offers free stock photos, instead, it works as a search engine. It is created to search for images, videos and music that is royalty free using the most famous websites in this field.
8. Getty Images
Getty Images is one of the biggest hub for free images with over 35 million stock photos available for free. However, they charge for the commercial use of their photos. You can use photos from Getty Images for personal use, editorial use or even on blogs, etc. for illustration purposes. But you can’t use them for advertising of a company or products, and other similar commercial use.
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When it comes to quality stock images, nothing can beat Unsplash as far as free stock photo websites are concerned. I mean just click on the link below and look at the photos. You will be blown away by the images that are hosted on this platform. Add that to the fact that Unsplash hosts more than 200,000 images, you have got a platform which can provide you with photos for most of your needs.
10. Burst
Burst is a free stock photo platform made by the creators of Shopify. If you have never heard of Shopify before, it’s basically a platform which allows you to create your own website for e-commerce without having to learn any coding. Burst is a free service given by Shopify to its users so that they can use high-quality images on their website. The good thing about Burst is that you don’t need to be a Shopify customer to utilize the photos.
Google Images is also a great source for finding free stock photos. If you add some filters, Google Images can search for photos that are free to use and only show these photos to you. Although, the quality of the images cannot be guaranteed as Google will search the whole web to get royalty free images, including low resolution images.
The process is simple, go to “Google Images” and click on “Search Tools” in the above menu. A tiny menu will open below it, here, click on “Usage rights” and select your option to filter the search. Here, choose “Creative Commons licenses” to get images with the CC license.
Boasting a huge library of free stock images, Reshot has long been one of the best sites. The website is designed for freelancers, startups, and creators who want to have professionally captured images for free. From active lifestyle pack to everyday technology pack, to flat lay pack, the site has got you fully covered. Additionally, Reshot is going to add an option to let anyone create an account soon so that users can have a personalized experience. If you wish to be in the loop about its upcoming version, you can register to get the monthly updates via email.
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For those looking for a site to explore thousands of nice-looking food photos for free, FoodiesFeed appears to be the right answer. Backed by an ever-growing community, the site has a solid library that features a variety of food images. From yummy picks of cake to delicious shots of pizza, it’s got the quality to be a great platform for food bloggers. The site has a simple design and also offers some handy tools to filter images. And if you like specific images, you can share them via email and even social sites like Facebook, and Twitter.
As someone who has a liking for high-resolution images, I have found Gratisography up to the mark. Claiming to be the world’s best platform for creative images, the site has got both a big library and variety to be a great platform. As they are available for free and that too without copyright restrictions. So, you can use those professional-looking images for various purposes without any limitations. Some of my favorite categories include fashion, animal, whimsical, and nature as they look pleasing to the eyes.
Popular Categories: Business, fashion, animal, food, nature, people, and urban
When it comes to offering top-notch free stock images, Freestocks is second to none. Probably the best part about this site is a wide variety of images. So, it doesn’t matter what you are looking for, the site can let you pick photos that can fit into your taste. To let you easily dive into respective categories and find out specific images, it offers various filters. Furthermore, you also have the option to share images via several mediums including email, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and more.
Popular Categories: Animals, technology, people, food and drinks, and fashion
16. Foca
While Foca may not be as popular as some of its well-known rivals mentioned in this roundup, it’s got most of the essential aspects covered to be a notable platform. First and foremost, the site has got a fairly good collection of high-resolution free stock images, videos, and templates. Second, they have been compiled in many categories namely workspace & business, city, technology, spring, architecture, people and more. And third, they are all available at your disposal for free so that you can use them without having to spend any bucks.
Popular Categories: City, technology, city, people, landscapes, food and drinks
Simply put, there are very few free stock image websites which pics look as fascinating as those of Picjumbo. Being available in several categories including vintage, traveling, abstract, business, food, nature and more, they can cater to both personal and professional demands. Beyond variety, the site has got a modern-looking design and makes it pretty straightforward to explore images and dive into respective categories with ease. Not just that, it also comes with a dark mode so that you can browse the collection at night without straining the eyes.
Popular Categories: Business, backgrounds, abstract, people, traveling, and more
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When there is a hunt for top-notch free stock images, missing out on a reliable platform like Kaboom Pics wouldn’t be wise. The biggest highlights of this site is a library of thousands of royalty-free stock images which you can use without paying any bucks even for your commercial use. Among the wide variety of categories, photoshoots, vintage, and COVID-19 have called for my attention as they appear standout. Oh yes, the carnation backgrounds also look quite beautiful!
Popular Categories: Carnation backgrounds, COVID-19, vintage, photoshoots, coffee, and great masterwort
Whether you are a freelancer, graphic designer or a full-time blogger, Picography can be immensely helpful. What makes this site one of the better free stock photo platforms is the enviable collection of images. Available in several categories such as technology, food, fashion, music, sport, nature, festive, landscapes, and more, they can fit into various needs. Furthermore, they are professionally designed and boast high-resolution. So, I expect them to cater to your different needs without any complaints.
Popular Categories: Food, fashion, city, technology, business, scenery
Stock photos are great, but what if you’re looking for stock photos of things like smartphones, laptops, and more? Especially, if you want a stock photo with a screenshot that you’ve taken, just in order to customise the photo for your own use-case? Well, smartmockups is a website that will let you do just that. It does have a bunch of premium photos, but there’s more than enough variety available for free as well. Simply search for the kind of image you want, whether it’s a smartphone, a tablet, or anything else. Then, upload your image to be applied into the photo and download a free version of the image.
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