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There are thousands of the best free stock photo sites that you can use on your websites and other projects. However, many of them don’t give credit to the photographer. We’ve put together a list of the best free stock photo sites to help you find the pictures you need. Photography has always played a big role in design.
We’ve gotten used to seeing stock photos of people in suits shaking hands. A lot of these stock photos are not only tacky but also very expensive. Thank goodness, more and more websites are popping up all over the web with beautiful stock photos. The best part is that they’re free! We’ve put together a list of great sites with free stock photos in this post.
Best Free Stock Photo Sites Comparison Table
| Image/Graphic Resource | Features | Price | Official Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vecteezy | Vector graphics, illustrations, icons, editor | Free / Paid Plans | Visit Website |
| Freepik | Vector graphics, illustrations, icons, templates, editor | Free / Paid Plans | Visit Website |
| Unsplash | High-resolution photos, editor | Free | Visit Website |
| Pixabay | High-resolution photos, vector graphics, illustrations, videos, editor | Free | Visit Website |
| StockSnap | High-resolution photos | Free | Visit Website |
| Burst | High-resolution photos | Free | Visit Website |
| Gratisography | High-resolution photos | Free | Visit Website |
| Canva | Templates, design tools, stock photos and videos, animations, social media posts, editor | Free / Paid Plans | Visit Website |
Vecteezy
| Features | Description |
|---|---|
| Vast collection | Vecteezy has a vast collection of high-quality vector graphics and illustrations |
| Easy to use | The website is user-friendly and easy to navigate, making it easy to find the perfect image |
| Customizable files | Vecteezy’s files are customizable, allowing users to edit and adapt the graphics to their needs |
There are a lot of nice free stock photos on Vecteezy. There are a few things that make this stock photo site stand out from the rest. First, the site has a more powerful search engine that lets you sort photos by color, orientation, style, number of people, age of models, and more.
Second, Vecteezy makes sure that all free photos have signed model and property releases when they are needed. This keeps users and their designs out of any legal trouble, which is a detail that other free stock photo sites often miss.
The Good
- A large collection of vector images and illustrations
- Website that is easy to use and navigate
- Files can be changed, giving them flexibility.
The Bad
- Some of the best features can only be used with a paid subscription.
- There are fewer photos than on other stock image websites.
Freepik
| Features | Description |
|---|---|
| Free and premium | Freepik offers both free and premium vector graphics, illustrations, and photographs |
| High-quality images | The website’s content is of high quality and includes a wide range of styles and categories |
| Easy to search | Freepik has a powerful search engine that makes it easy to find the right image or graphic |
Freepik is a powerful search engine that helps people find free high-quality stock photos and other graphic resources like vector images, illustrations, and PSD files. There are millions of graphic resources that you can download and use in any design project, whether it’s for personal or business use.
The search engine on Freepik also has powerful filters that make it easy to find any kind of resource, no matter its orientation, color, style, etc. Users of Freepik can get graphic resources in formats that work with Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop.
The Good
- Offers a wide range of high-quality graphics and images for free.
- The search engine works well and is simple to use.
- Offers a variety of images and graphics in different styles and categories
The Bad
- Some features can only be used if you have a paid account.
- There are rules about how to credit the free graphics and images.
Unsplash
| Features | Description |
|---|---|
| Vast collection | Unsplash has a vast collection of high-quality stock photos |
| Free to use | All of Unsplash’s photos are free to use without attribution requirements |
| Community-driven | Unsplash has a community-driven platform where photographers can showcase their work and gain exposure |
Unsplash is a well-organized collection of beautiful photos that skilled photographers have given to the site. These photos have been used to make some amazing things. There aren’t as many pictures as on Pixabay, but the quality is better across the board.
The fastest way to find a picture on Unsplash is to use the search tool. However, if you have a little extra time, you can look through Collections, which are groups of photos organized by other users into themes like Light and Shadow, Street Life, and Into the Wild.
The Good
- Offers a wide range of free, high-quality stock photos.
- No need to give credit when using the photos.
- Platform run by the community that helps photographers
The Bad
- Only a few vector graphics and illustrations are available.
- Some of the photos may have been used before, making them less unique.
Pixabay
| Features | Description |
|---|---|
| Free to use | Pixabay offers high-quality photos, illustrations, and vector graphics for free |
| Easy to search | The website has a user-friendly search engine that makes it easy to find the right image or graphic |
| Vast collection | Pixabay has a vast collection of over 1.8 million images, including photos, illustrations and more |
Pixabay has more than a million images in the public domain, including photos, illustrations, vector graphics, and even a few videos. It has a great selection of landscape photos, and if you don’t have anything specific in mind, you should check out the Choice.
Once you’ve found a good free stock photo, choose the right resolution (print projects need a much higher resolution than online projects) and fill out a Captcha to download the file. If you sign up for a free account, you can skip the Captcha.
The Good
- Free photos, illustrations, and vector graphics are available in a large number.
- A search engine that makes it easy to find the right picture or graphic
- New content is added on a regular basis.
The Bad
- Some premium features require payment
- Some of the content may have been used before and be less new.
StockSnap
| Features | Description |
|---|---|
| Free to use | StockSnap offers high-quality stock photos that are free to use without attribution |
| Large collection | The website has a large collection of high-resolution images that are well-categorized |
| Easy to navigate | StockSnap has a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to find the perfect image |
StockSnap.io has a wide range of high-quality, free stock photos and images. The site also has a very useful search function that makes it easy to look through all of the thousands of images. This is one of the best Free Stock Photo Sites that you can use it right now.
The site also keeps track of how many times photos are viewed and downloaded, so you can find the most popular ones. StockSnap adds hundreds of new images every day, and all of them are in the public domain and can be used without giving credit.
The Good
- Many high-quality pictures to choose from
- Free for both personal and business use
- Easy to find the images you want
The Bad
- Few niche or specialized images to choose from
- There aren’t many ways to change things on the website.
Burst
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Free stock photos | High-quality, royalty-free images available for download |
| Searchable database | Ability to search for specific images using keywords |
| Collections | Curated collections of images based on themes and categories |
| User submissions | Anyone can submit their own photos for others to use |
Burst is a tool from Shopify that gives entrepreneurs free stock photos. Some photos are licensed under the Creative Commons CC0 license, while others are licensed by Shopify. Burst was made to help entrepreneurs make better products, websites, and marketing campaigns.
Most of the photos are originals that were taken in-house. They are based on popular business niches, like DIY beard oil and LED sneakers from AliExpress. You can also find photos that are less specific.
The Good
- Many high-quality pictures to choose from
- Free for both personal and business use
- Easy to find the images you want
- Curated collections make it easy to find certain themes or styles
The Bad
- Few niche or specialized images to choose from
- There aren’t many ways to change things on the website.
Gratisography
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Free stock photos | High-quality, royalty-free images available for download |
| Unique images | Quirky and creative images that stand out from traditional stock photos |
| Searchable database | Ability to search for specific images using keywords |
You can’t look through thousands of pictures on Gratisography. It does have some of the strangest pictures on the web, like a kid spray painting and an alarm clock that looks like it’s on the moon, which you won’t find anywhere else.
The site is pretty simple, and its bright neon colors and cartoony user interface elements are at best distracting. Photos are put into only nine categories: Animals, Business, Fashion, Food, Nature, Objects, People, Urban, and Whimsical.
The Good
- Images that are unique and creative and stand out
- Free for both personal and business use
- Easy to find the images you want
The Bad
- Compared to larger stock photo websites, this one has a smaller selection of images.
- There aren’t many ways to change things on the website.
Canva
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Graphic design tool | Create graphics and designs for social media, marketing, and more |
| Templates | Pre-made templates for various design projects |
| Stock photos | Access to a large library of stock photos to use in designs |
| Editing tools | A variety of editing tools to customize designs |
Canva is a web-based tool for making graphics that makes it easy to change images. Canva is a one-stop shop for all your needs if you need stock photos for a graphic design project, like making a banner for social media or a flyer.
Even with a free account, you can use any of the more than 1.6 million free images in the platform’s library. Canva will help you speed up the process if you want to improve the images you find with simple text overlays or change the transparency or brightness of photos often.
The Good
- Easy to use, even for people who have never designed anything before.
- There are many different templates for different design projects.
- Access to a large stock photo library
- Strong editing tools for making changes
The Bad
- Some features require a paid subscription
- Limited ability to create completely original designs without some design experience
FAQs
Are free stock photos really free?
Are images that are free really free? You don’t have to pay for free images, but they might not be free from copyright. When stock photos are put out into the world, they come with a Creative Commons license that says how and where they can be used and shared.
Which stock photo site pays the most?
Alamy. Alamy is the biggest stock photo website, with more than 60 million images. They also pay well. Photographers get 50% of each sale, and they don’t have to sell only through Alamy.
Can I use Shutterstock images for free?
Is Shutterstock a site with free photos? No. Shutterstock is an online stock photo agency that sells licenses to download and use stock photos without having to pay royalties. It doesn’t offer free photos; you have to pay for them.
Is there a free Shutterstock?
You can get free image packs and stock photos with high-resolution images. There’s no need to sign up, and we won’t get any information about you. You can use these images however you want, as long as you follow the rules of our Standard License. And please feel free to share them with friends and coworkers.