While designing, have you ever been frustrated that you don't have all the material before or even during you start?
You think that if I just had the exact images you have to put, your life would be so much more easier.
Now, you may have heard of 'stealing' photos from the internet but you fear you might be objected to copyright and you don't want to or just can't afford paying for high-quality premium stock photos.
This post will help you get the stock photos you desire and without costing you anything.
Here are the 10 best free sites to get stock photos for your blog and website:
- Unsplash
- Pexels
- Pixabay
- Burst
- Stocksnap.io
- Kaboom Pics
- Free Images
- Flickr
- Gratisography
- Life of Pix
Important notice regarding stock photos
There are some things to keep in mind when using stock photos so you don't get in trouble after using the image on your blog or website.
Thankfully, all the websites that I'm going to link to below have photographs free from copyright and/or licensed under creative commons public domain. These images are all free to use for commercial use which means you can download and put them on your website, or modify them and make your own graphics with them without having to take any permissions or anti-stress pills thinking you'll be greeted with a lawsuit later.
However, there are some images in which you may be required to attribute the creator of the photo. This is the same thing as giving credit but it's a more professional and secure way to do so as people know exactly how to find the creator if they themselves want to find some of his/her work.
You get the photo for free and the artist gets the publicity for free, win-win.
Top 10 Sites to get Free Stock Images:
1. Unsplash (Best)
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| Unsplash - Photos for everyone |
Unsplash is on top of my list for being one of the best providers of free stock photos with high resolution and quality. It even ranks number one on google as the most searched for website in regards to stock images.
They have their own license which lists:
- All photos can be downloaded and used for free
- Commercial and non-commercial purposes
- No permission needed (though attribution is appreciated!)
What is Not Permitted
- Photos cannot be sold without significant modification
- Compiling photos from Unsplash to replicate a similar or competing service
It includes a wide library of high-quality photos with necessary filters so you can sort the pictures according to your preferred orientation (landscape or portrait) and color.
2. Pexels
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| Pexels |
If I don't see an image I want on Unsplash my next go is always Pexels. The interface is very similar to Unsplash but it's images are very different meaning you have more choices to choose from.
You can filter your results by orientation, color and size. The size one is especially helpful for web designers as large images can really have a negative impact on site speed and quality so may need to opt for smaller images.
Pexels also has it's own license stating:
- All photos and videos on Pexels are free.
- Attribution is not required. Giving credit to the photographer or Pexels is not necessary but always appreciated.
- You can modify the photos and videos from Pexels. Be creative and edit them as you like.
Huge image library like Unsplash and great relevancy of images
3. Pixabay
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| Pixabay |
Pixabay has over 1.9 million + stock images, videos and music which is huge. It also has a tons of options regarding the types of media it offers, which I love.
You can specify your search to vectors, illustrations, photos, videos and music. This is especially helpful for graphic designers who are more towards creating web graphics as the vectors and illustrations are extremely high-res.
Here is what Pixabay has to say for it's License:
Under the Pixabay License you are granted an irrevocable, worldwide, non-exclusive and royalty free right to use, download, copy, modify or adapt the Content for commercial or non-commercial purposes.
The Pixabay License does not allow:
- Sale or distribution of Content as digital Content or as digital wallpapers (such as on stock media websites);
- Sale or distribution of Content e.g. as a posters, digital prints, music files or physical products, without adding any additional elements or otherwise adding value
- Depiction of identifiable persons in an offensive, pornographic, obscene, immoral, defamatory or libelous way;
- Any suggestion that there is an endorsement of products and services by depicted persons, brands, vocalists and organisations, unless permission was granted.
4. Burst (By Shopify)
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| Burst - by Shopify |
Burst is made by Shopify and has a very nice, unique and simple interface to use. With filters similar to it's competitors it's unique feature is it's nifty business ideas section where you can find yourself some cool and original ideas suggested by Shopify themselves.
It also is very up-to-date regarding their selection of photos. If it's mother's day you'll see photos related to that, if it's valentine's day you'll see photos relevant to that. This makes it's photo gallery updated with all the latest trends.
Photo license for Burst:
This Photo (“Licensed Photo”) is made available for use under a nonexclusive license (“License”) to download, copy, modify, distribute, perform, display and use in accordance with this License and the Burst Terms of Service.
You are free to adapt and use this Licensed Photo for free for commercial and noncommercial purposes , provided that you are not permitted to sell any License Photos as digital photo files or in any other form.
You do not need to provide attribution to the photographer, Shopify or Burst, although Shopify and Burst encourages you to attribute the photographer whenever possible. You may not:
- Compile Licensed Photos to replicate a service similar to or competing with Burst;
- Inaccurately attribute ownership or authorship of the Licensed Photos to yourself or any third party;
- Offer the Licensed Photos for sale in any way.
5. Stocksnap.io
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| Stocksnap.io - Free Stock Photos |
Stocksnap.io is a free stock photo site that is regularly updated with new photos.
It uses the Creative Commons CC0 license which states:
- Download the image file.
- Publish, revise, copy, alter, and share that image.
- Use the image (as-is or as you've altered it), in both personal and commercial contexts.
6. Kaboompics
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| Kaboompics - Search photos by color |
Kaboompics is a very sophisticated, modern free stock image website with an advanced color search that can help you find images with complementary color palettes. It has a great number of photos however, I find myself losing relevancy after the first few pages.
Kaboompics also uses the creative commons CC0 license which states:
- All photos on Kaboompics can be used for free for commercial and noncommercial use.
- Attribution is not required. Giving credit to the the Kaboompics is not necessary but always appreciated.
- You can modify the photos. Be creative and edit the photos as you like.
What is not allowed?
- Identifiable people may not appear in a bad light or in a way that is offensive.
- Don't sell unaltered copies of a photo, e.g. don't sell it as a stock photo, poster, print or on a physical product without adding any value.
- Don't redistribute or sell the photos on other stock photo.
- Works of art or authorship that appear in Photos
- Trademarks, logos, or brands that appear in Photos
7. Free Images
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| Free Images - Free stock photos for commercial use |
Free images is a good stock photos site for it's advanced search options. You get a number of options to filter your search such as, orientation, upload date, camera make, camera model etc. Also when you are typing in your keyword the auto suggest already shows you the number of images in that specific search.
Content License Agreement for Freeimages
- In digital format on websites, blog posts, social media, advertisements, film and television productions, web and mobile applications
- In printed materials such as magazines, newspapers, books, brochures, flyers, product packaging
- For decorative use in your home, office or any public place
The rights granted to you by freeimages are:
- Perpetual, meaning there is no expiration or end date on your rights to use the content.
- Non-exclusive, meaning that you do not have exclusive rights to use the content. FreeImages.com can license the same content to other customers.
- Unlimited, meaning you can use the content in an unlimited number of projects and in any media.
For purposes of this agreement, “use” means to copy, reproduce, modify, edit, synchronize, perform, display, broadcast, publish, or otherwise make use of.
8. Flickr
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| Flickr - Find your inspiration |
Flickr is great for high quality, high resolution free photos and it has a great feature you can search photos according to some style types these include, minimalism, shallow depth of field, black & white and patterns.
However, the major downside I've seen with Flickr is that you have to be careful while downloading images from this site as they have a complicated license which means you might get in trouble for some photos you didn't know you couldn't use.
9. Gratisography
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| Gratisography - Always free |
I see gratisography as a source of 'trendy' photography with colors being splashed around everyone. However, the downside of gratisography is that it only has a limited amount of photos so if you're looking for many options this probably isn't the best site on the list.
I've seen that many of the options have a hint of 'funny' in them so you can also opt for it if that's something you're looking for. I personally don't use gratisography.
10. Life of Pix
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| Life of Pix- Free high resolution photos |
Being last on the list you could probably tell there might not be much positives about life of pix. Life of pix provides a number of high resolution free stock photos and is also trusted partners with Adobe's Stock, meaning if you're looking for a paid plan you can get that as well.
However, Life of Pix doesn't have any kind of filters for it's images, which means you have to go through the trouble of wiping through the photos to see which one matches your query. Also, this might be because of my 10 year old, barely working laptop but, the website and the images load super slow and take a lot of time to come up.
Conclusion
This list was a top 10 list meaning I listed, which I thought were, the best sites on the top and the not so good sites on the bottom. Personally, my go to sites for free stock photos for this blog and my graphic design projects are Unsplash, Pexels and Pixabay. These are enough for me as due to their large library and various imagery if I can't find one image on one site I usually find it on another.
