It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. They are not only beautiful but also therapeutic in their own rights.
Beautiful images will bring people to your content and encourage them to share it on social media.
However, finding the perfect picture can be a real pain in the ass, especially if you have a tight budget.
You may search the web and find an image you would love to use, only to end up noticing that it is copyrighted.
61 best websites for #free #stock #photos #freeimages #freepics Click To TweetYou will then search for free stock photos only to end up with some blurry stuff, which you cannot use.
This post lists over 61 best websites for free stock photos (high resolution) for both personal and commercial purposes.
You can use most of them without even attributing the source.
What attribution and licenses mean.
By now, you must have noticed that all the images that Google turn up may not be free for you to use.
Ignoring this fact could land you in ugly lawsuits if the owners decide to come after you with everything they’ve got.
To be safe, you must be sure to use only those images that do not have copyright restrictions.
That is…
… if you are not planning to pay for the images you intend to use on your projects.
Common license terms:
- Creative Commons zero (CC0): – You can use the images in any way you like without requesting for permission from anyone.
- Creative Commons with attribution: – Use the image in any way you like provided you credit the creator.
How to attribute
Whenever you use a photo that requires attribution, add a simple text that cites the creator, e.g.
Photo: Mrvoke or Photo by Mrvoke.
Read more about Creative Commons licenses here.
The list of the best websites for free stock photos include:
1. Negative Space
Negative Space is very beautiful website where you can search for and find stunning images.
It has a beautiful and uncluttered interface where you can preview the images.
They add 20 high quality images every week under the Creative Commons CC0.
You can search the images using the search feature and sort the images by category, copy space and color.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Not a must
2. Pixabay
Pixabay is a large repository for vectors, free stock photos, videos, loops, and artistic illustrations that will make every web designer grin from ear to ear.
You will find over 4600 videos for free use in your next projects.
All these items are ordered under relative categories, which make them easy to search.
Most of them do not require attribution, as they are released under the Creative Commons CC0 license.
The site has a PayPal donation button.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Not a must
3. Superfamous
The Dutch interaction designer and artist, Folkert Gorter, has made some of his best images available for public use under the Creative Commons 3.0 license.
You can use these images for personal or commercial use so long as you give credit to the creator.
They are mostly high-resolution wide-angle images of nature suitable for web design and/or desktop background.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Required when you use the image
4. New Old Stock
New Old Stock is an archive of vintage photos most of which were taken by government agencies.
Some of these images have always been in the public domain but more have since been added due to their age.
The images contained here are free of known copyright restrictions.
If you are looking for those antique images to use on a post that evoke emotional reminiscence, this is the site to go to.
I was captivated scrolling through this site and I believe you too will find it very interesting if you have a penchant for vintage things.
Site searchable: No
Attribution: Not required
5. Foodies Feed
This is the ultimate site for food bloggers to get free high quality images for their projects. The site contains images of anything that is called food.
At least five high-resolution images are added to the site every week
If you have a food or recipe blog that you want to populate with crispy images of delicious food images, this is the resource you needs.
You have the freedom to use the images for personal or commercial purposes without restrictions.
The site has a PayPal donations button.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Not a must
6. StockSnap.io
A repository for high-resolution images and stock photos. It has a feature that lets you know the most popular photos.
Hundreds of images are added to the site daily making it a rich goldmine for those who are looking for fresh images.
Furthermore, the site is searchable, which reduces your effort of getting what you are looking for.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Not a must
7. Pexels
A collection of some of the best free stock photos selected from free sources. The site is searchable making it easy to find what you are looking for.
The biggest plus for Pexels could be that they do not only display images from their site. This makes it possible to access a wide variety of images.
All the images are released under the Creative Commons Zero license, which means that you can use the images personally or commercially with no attribution required.
Pexels also has high quality stock videos.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Not a must
8. Wikimedia
Wikimedia is a repository of over 34 million high-resolution images that you can use for your projects freely.
You will get a wide variety of themes from historical images to celebrities, to nature photos.
This is an absolute necessity for designers, artists, webmasters, bloggers and any other person who loves imagery.
Wikimedia organization is dedicated to provision of free education, information, images, etc.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Image dependent
9. Unsplash
Unsplash is a stunning website with stunning images. The images have exceptional lighting effects that make them amazing.
You can choose from a large array of nature and landscape photos such as rivers, mountains, plains, cliffs, etc.
Unsplash features 10 best submissions every 10 days to ensure that they add a fresh look to their library.
All the images are released under the Creative Commons public domain license.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Not required
10. Flickr
Flickr is one of the oldest and the best digital image repositories on the internet.
It has an elaborate library of high quality public domain images.
There are over three million of these images, making it an indispensable arsenal for bloggers, web designers, app developers, and lovers of beautiful images.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Image dependent
11. MorgueFile
Morguefile is a simple site to use with a simple architecture. It has streamlined its repository to make it easy to use.
Even though this site does not have a large selection, it has beautiful selections on a wide range of topics.
You will find images of landscapes, wildlife, stock photos, antique photos, etc.
Site searchable: No
Attribution: A must if you use the image as it is.
12. Gratisography
Gratisography is an incredible collection of high-resolution images. Ryan McGuire of Belle Design maintains this site and uploads high-resolution images every week.
The images cover a wide variety of topics and you will find a lot of fun using this resource.
You can use the images for personal and commercial purposes without any attribution whatsoever.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Some
13. Free Images
Free Images offers a wide variety of images that cut across many niches. You are almost always guaranteed to find the right photo or image you are looking for.
This resource holds thousands of images from almost all categories of whatever you would wish to have. Furthermore, the site is searchable making it user friendly.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Sometimes required
14. Little Visuals
With this site, you can download individual pics or register and have seven images delivered to your inbox every week.
They have high quality landscape images and a variety of images shot from an array of angles.
These images have a Creative Commons public domain license that makes them free to use without infringing on the copyrights of the owners.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Not a must
15. Life of Pix
A product of Montreal’s Leeroy advertising agency. It is a haven of high quality images you can use for free. The images have a Creative Commons public domain license.
They also have a video site for free stock videos, vines, and loops that they update every week. You can download their videos from their Vimeo account
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Image dependent
16. Freestocks.org
Here, you will find a large variety of free high quality stock photos that you can use for your next project.
Their images cut across a wide range of categories and they are released under the Creative Commons CC0 license.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Not required
17. Picography
Contains random submissions from a group of professional photographers including Dave Meier.
The imagery cuts across various themes and the Images are released under the Creative Commons CC0 license making them free for your use.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Not a must
18. Startup Stock Photos
Their mantra is, Take ’em, these things are free. Go. Make something.”
Their repository of holds thousands of free to use photos for your next project.
Do not be deceived by their name, they have photos that cut across the board and are applicable to other industries as well.
Your search ends here for brilliant pictures that communicate mission statements.
It is perfect for those individuals looking for images with a message behind it.
Site searchable: No
Attribution: Not a must
19. MMT Stock
This is a collection of high resolution photos submitted by Jeffrey Betts. You will get photos of nature, flowers, workstations and computers.
The site contains high-resolution images that are perfect for web developers.
The images are released under the Creative Commons CC0 license, which means you have the freedom to use them for personal and commercial purposes without being compelled to attribute.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Not a must
20. SkitterPhoto
This site has a wide variety of stock photos that are submitted by the site owners.
The images are of high quality and have Creative Commons CC0 license.
You can use the images without attribution.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Not a must.
21. ISO Republic
ISO’s Republic is a republic of lovers of high quality photos.
They provide thousands of free to use high-resolution images that will serve the best interest of web designers, bloggers, marketers, and other lovers of imagery.
All the images are free to use for personal or commercial purposes. In fact, ISO Republic subscribers have access to exclusive images that are sent right into their inbox.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Sometimes
22. Designerpics.com
Designerpics.com is a progressive project from a single individual.
It contains high-resolution images for use by web designers, bloggers, marketers, social media managers.
The library is regularly updated, so keep this site on tabs for new images you can use for your next project.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Sometimes
23. Death to Stock Photos
The name of the site might mislead you into thinking that they have anything to do with being against stock photos.
This site offers free to use high quality stock images that you can use for your next design project or web development.
You get 10 photos delivered to your inbox every month when you sign up on their website.
They have their own license that accompanies the use of these images.
Site searchable: No
Attribution: Image dependent
24. Picjumbo
Picjumbo is a collection of high-resolution images whose themes cut across many categories such as food, fashion, nature, technology, etc.
The library is updated daily, which makes it an evergreen resource for the latest free images.
The images are free to use for personal and commercial purposes without having to attribute.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Not a must for almost all images
25. Realisticshots.com
The only thing you must do to use images from this site for free is to make a creative piece in return.
They add 7 new images every week, which you can use for inspiration.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Image dependent
26. HubSpot
Hubspot is not only a resource for marketers in terms of content.
They also have hundreds of free to use high quality images that cut across different topics ranging from holiday themed photos to business-related photos.
You get access to this large repository once you sign up on their website.
Site searchable: The images are contained in a special folder that you will access after signing up.
Attribution: Not a must
27. FreePhotos.cc
FreePhotos.cc has integrated API’s that gather images from other providers of free images so that you can preview and download them from one place.
The site has a search feature that allows you to fine-tune what you want from the library.
The images are free to use for personal and commercial purposes without having to attribute the source.
However, you can just mention the photographer or image creator for goodwill.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Not a must
28. IM Free
IM Creator offers more than just crisp clear images for your personal and commercial use.
They also have a repository of buttons, templates, icons and an online website builder.
The site is easy to use since the resources are categorized according to different themes.
The images are sourced from different providers making it necessary to check whether an image needs attribution or not.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Required for some images
29. Splitshire.com
Splitshire.com is a relatively small site with more than 500 high-resolution free stock photos that are collected from across 20+ themes.
The owners of this site update it periodically with fresh images and provide the users the right to use the images for personal and commercial use under their terms and conditions.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Not a must
30. Magdeleine
Magdeleine is an easy to use site where you will find specially selected high quality images.
You can filter the images by subject, color, or category.
The images are classic and professional; including colored and black-and-white photos.
You can use the images for both personal and commercial purposes.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Sometimes
31. Picography
Picography offers a huge collection of images that cover diverse themes.
They accept image submissions from many artists and photographers around the world; even you can submit your own image to be included in the gallery.
Each of these images has a link back to the author if you need to find out more about them and their work.
Site searchable: No
Attribution: Not required
32. Fancy Crave
This site offers high quality images that are free of copyright restrictions.
You can use them for personal or commercial use provided you do not parade the images as your own.
In that case, you are encouraged to attribute ownership whenever you can.
They add two new images to the gallery every day to ensure that surfers get a fresh supply of images on a regular basis.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Encouraged
33. Getrefe
This site is a rich repository for architectural and landscape imagery provided by photographers who have had the opportunity to travel throughout Europe.
The images are not categorized and you cannot search the site. You will just have to scroll through the gallery to get what you want.
Interestingly, these images are taken using mobile devices. This means that the images may not be the best quality if you opt to print them.
Conversely, their quality is adequate for digital projects.
They are free for personal or commercial use without restrictions.
Site searchable: No
Attribution: Not required
34. Jay Mantri
A personal project of Jay Mantri that offers high quality images for personal or commercial use.
The site is updated with 7 new images every Thursday to ensure that users find fresh content whenever they visit the site.
All the images are released under the Creative Commons CC0 license, so, you can use them without hindrance.
Site searchable: No
Attribution: Not a must
35. Stokpic
Ed Gregory supplies 10 free high quality photos every fortnight to the site for web developers, designers, bloggers and visitors to his site to use for personal and commercial purposes.
The site has categories for the images on the site so that you can filter your search. Themes cut across nature, people, technology and anything in between.
You are not allowed to redistribute the images or use them to portray the creator in a bad light.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Not a must.
36. Raumrot
First, this website is beautifully designed, no arguments about that.
Secondly, it has a beautiful selection of images whose themes cut across a wide variety of subjects.
The images are free to use and each of them has a high-resolution version, which you can download, archive, distribute, or commercialize freely.
Make sure you watch out for each image’s Creative Commons license to see the extent of restrictions.
Categorization makes the site more user-friendly.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Not required.
37. LibreShot
This site is the brain child of Photographer and SEO Consultant Martin Vorel. It is a collection of high-resolution floral images.
You can use the images for personal or commercial purposes provided you abide by the owner’s terms and conditions.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Not a must
38. Tookapic Stock
Tookapic offers both free and paid stock photos. You can filter your search to display only the free images, which you can use for personal or commercial purposes.
If you have some money to spend for premium images, you can choose the commercial alternatives available on the site.
It will make you feel good that you actually paid for something.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Not a must
39. Kaboom Pics
Karolina’s collection of high quality images about nature, landscapes, food, and fashion.
The images have a perspective to relay different messages to the viewers.
They are free to use for personal or commercial projects.
Karolina does not make it obligatory to attribute the images but she asks that you credit and backlink the images back to her site to help her grow the site.
Beware: you cannot redistribute or sell the images
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: If you like
40. Freerange
You will find more than 20000 images with Creative Commons CC0 license, which you can use for personal or commercial projects without restrictions.
By registering with this site, you get access to a multitude of high quality images at no cost.
The site even has an Ad Sense program for contributors to help them earn from their images.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Sometimes.
41. Vintage Stock Photos
A project of the team behind Freerange.
They started this project to provide access to thousands of high quality vintage photos at no charge to their members.
Once you are a registered member, you get access to more than $25,000 worth of quality vintage photos free of charge.
The site owners source their images from both in-house photographers and external contributors for both of their sites.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Not required
42. Animalphotos.info
This site contains high quality images of diverse animals, some of which you might have never seen before.
If you are into animal blogging, this site could prove a powerful resource for your next project.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Required
43. Public Domain Archive
As the name suggests, this site contains a collection of un-copyrighted images that have been curated from different sources.
They add new images to the site every week making it a rich resource for designers, developers, and lovers of imagery.
The themes cut across the board and the gallery includes images from diverse categories.
You will find a range of images from vintage photos to current/modern ones.
The site has a place where you can also submit your photos for others to use free of charge.
Site searchable: No
Attribution: Not required
44. Freeimages.co.uk
This site contains more than 13,000 free to use stock photos curated from different sources.
The themes cut across more than 80 categories, which make it almost certain that you will get what you are looking for.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Required
45. Epicantus
Epicantus is a collection of Daria’s original photography work.
The high resolution imagery presented here is perfect for your projects as a designer, web developer, or social media marketer.
These photos are free to use without restrictions since they are released under the Creative Commons CC0 license, which removes the necessity to attribute the source.
Site searchable: No
Attribution: Not a must
46. Freenaturestock.com
This is the source of free high quality nature images. The site owners make them available for free use.
They update the site daily by adding one additional image every day.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Not required
47. Travelcoffeebook.com
Travelcoffeebook.com is a resource where travelers share their memories and the images are free for use.
You can guess from the name of the site that you will be seeing many coffee stock photos.
This is your best resource if you are a coffee blogger or if you are planning to open up a coffee shop.
Site searchable: No
Attribution: Not required
48. The Amazing Pattern Library
This site contains no stock photos but high quality patterns and textures that you can use to express your themed messages.
These patterns are perfect for your next design project. You can download and use the images without restrictions.
Site searchable: No
Attribution: Image dependent
49. Free-photo-frames.com
This too is not a stock photo site. It holds high quality digital frames that you can download and/or print your images.
You are only allowed to use the frames for personal consumption.
Site searchable: No
50. Dummyimage.com
Sometimes you may not want all the flare and eye candy of photos. You may just need a plain template with a caption image.
This site gives you the chance to create one amazing placeholder. You can edit the background color and the font to match the theme of your blog or website.
Site searchable: No
Attribution: Not required.
51. Canva.com
Canva is like Photoshop. However, you do not need to know how to use Photoshop to use Canva.
It is an image manipulation platform that you can use to manipulate the images you get from these other sites to meet your specific needs.
Canva has a host of its own free images and icons you can use for your projects. With Canva, you will be able to create many templates for your marketing needs.
Heck, you can even create professional infographics for your projects.
52. Snappa
Snappa is like Canva. You can use it to manipulate your images to make them themed to meet your specific needs.
53. 4freeshots.com
4freephotos.com has more than 4 free photos suggested in the domain name.
In fact, you will notice that the site has more than 7500 free stock photos that you can use for your next project.
The images are of high quality and will make a stunning outlook for your final project.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Sometimes
54. Bigphoto.com
Bigfoto.com has a collection of beautiful free photos from amateur photographers.
Do not be deceived by the fact that amateurs are the contributors of these images.
An amateur built the ark while the industry’s best professionals built Titanic yet it still sank.
Site searchable: No
Attribution: Link back to the source
55. Photos.bypeople.com
UPDATE: The photos section is no longer available on this website.
This site is a repository of photos submitted by different people from around the world.
It has a diverse collection of unique submissions.
You can create a bundle of the images you love most for a single download so that you do not have to download every individual image.
Such a useful time-saving strategy!
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Image dependent
56. Goodfreephotos.com
This site hosts thousands of public domain high quality images.
The images are themed on nature, landscape, animals, people, plants, technology, etc.
You have the freedom to use all these images for personal or commercial purposes without restrictions.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Not required
57. Adigitaldreamer.com
You will get a few thousand free stock photos for your personal or commercial use.
The owners of the site prohibit redistribution of the images.
Site searchable: No
Attribution: Not required
58. Bajstock.com
Another free stock photo depository with more than 9000 high-resolution free stock images you can use for personal and commercial purposes.
The site is in French but the Google translate works just fine with it.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Required
59. Albumarium
A beautifully designed site with an amazing gallery of fruit and food images.
You are free to share and use the images for personal or commercial purposes.
There are both free and commercial versions of the images contained on this site.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Sometimes
60. Everystockphoto.com
This is a search engine for free photos. You can access a gallery of more than 29 million photos.
The resources are license-specific. Make sure you read the accompanying license to know its usage restrictions.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Image dependent.
61. GoodStock.Photos
I must admit that this site has some of the coolest shots of nature, buildings, people, transportation, sporting activities, food, and more.
The images come in high resolution versions, so, you do not have to worry about the quality.
Additionally, the photos are created by the owner of the site, so, you will never find them elsewhere.
Steven created the site to help designers like himself find good quality photos for their projects.
It has since grown into one of the Internet’s best source of good stock photos (that name is absolutely right for the site).
He adds one new photo every single day to make sure that your supply never runs out.
You are free to use the photos for your personal and/or commercial projects. He, however, objects to you trying to parade the images as your own work, or selling them. He provides them for free use, keep them free.
Site searchable: Yes
Attribution: Not required
A bonus free image site:
Conclusion
I want to believe that this list is quite an exhaustive resource.
All your needs for free images to use for the net project are now sorted.
Please pay it forward by sharing this resource with your circles.
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