In a perfect world, we would take all our own photos for our website or blog. Yet, not everyone has the budget do this initially. Listed below are eight of the best free stock photo sites for you to use in 2019.
In the review, I have outlined whether you need to credit the owner of the image (attribution) and if it’s easy to search images on the website.
When browsing these sites you will see the terms “Creative Commons Zero” (CC0) and also “attribution“. Not sure what this means? Here’s the definition by the Creative Commons organisation.
“The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of his or her rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighbouring rights, to the extent allowed by law. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.”
This means the pictures are completely free to use for any legal purpose.
Attribution means giving credit to the owner.
In any case, be sure to check each website’s license page for specific details.
Eight of the best free stock photo sites
1. Pixabay
2. Pexels
Pexels was co-founded in 2014. Currently, they have hundreds of thousands of images.
They source their photos from their community of photographers as well as from sources like Pixabay, Gratisography, and many more.
Searchable? Yes, you can browse images by category or photographer. You can also see which photographer has had the most downloads.
Attribution? Not required.
3. Unsplash
This was definitely one of my favourite free stock photography sites before I started taking my own images. They have an amazing collection of landscape and travel shots as well as architectural delights.
Searchable? You can search the photos by category or collection.
Attribution? No, all photos published on Unsplash are licensed under Creative Commons Zero.
4. StockSnap
StockSnap offers beautiful, high-quality stock photos for free. If you enter your email, you’ll get the most popular images sent to your inbox.
Searchable? Yes. You can search for photos by date, what’s trending, most views, downloads, and favourites.
Attribution? Not required. All their images fall under a single, simple CC0 license that lets you do what you want with all their photos.
5. Picjumbo
Pic jumbo is a free stock photography site created by designer & photographer Viktor Hanacek in 2013. To date, there have been over 3 million downloads of the images from his site.
Searchable? Yes. You can search by categories and tags.
Attribution? Credit is not required but appreciated. Photo redistribution is not allowed unless you pay for membership on Viktor’s site.
6. Burst (by Shopify)
Burst is a free stock photo platform that is powered by Shopify. Their image library includes thousands of high-resolution, royalty free images. The stock photos are free to use on any online store platform or e-commerce marketplace.
Searchable? Yes. You can search by categories.
Attribution? All their photos are free for commercial use with no attribution required; you can read more about this on their license page.
7. Stokpic
Stokpic has high-quality stock photography. The categories include food and drinks, animals, backgrounds, architecture, and more.
Searchable? Yes. You can search by category and keyword.
Attribution? Not required (but appreciated)
8. Kaboompics
Kaboompics is run by Karolina – a photographer, graphic designer and website creator. There are over 12,000 images on her site. All photos on Kaboompics can be used for free for commercial and non-commercial use.
Searchable? Yes. You can search by category and keyword. You can also choose what orientation you prefer – landscape or portrait.
Attribution? Not required (but appreciated)
So there you have eight amazingly free stock photo sites for you to use for your business or brand.
What are your favourite sites for sourcing free stock photos? Let me know in the comments section below.
To read “Five Ways to Use Stock Photography”, click here.
If you have specific product/stock photography needs, let’s chat.
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Thanks ever so much for including Unsplash in your list, you’ve made our day!
You’re welcome! Keep up the great work!
I found a couple new ones here- thank you!
You’re welcome, Robin!
Very helpful list. Thanks for publishing it!
You’re welcome! Hopefully, you’ll find some great images on these sites!
These are great resources. I do like Pixaby a lot. I haven’t heard of all of these others. Great job on the roundup. Keep up the great work lovely lady!
I’m happy to hear you found some new sources to explore! Thanks for the lovely feedback, Rhonda.
Thank you for sharing! I will most def check these out!
You’re welcome! I hope you find some great images from these sources.
This is brilliant thanks. The one I was using recently closed down so now I have some fresh sites to check out. Cheers
Well my post is well-timed then! I hope you find one you like from this list. Thanks!
Thanks! I’ll keep this list for my use and share with my blog and newsletter readers as well.
I’m so glad you found it useful! Hopefully your newsletter readers will find it a great resource too.
Fantastic, I had no idea such a variety existed! I shared your post in my Digital Marketing group and a friend suggested another great site
http://finda.photo/
Thanks for the suggestion – I will take a look! I’m glad you found the post insightful.
Thanks for the information. I was having a hard time looking for images to support my beginner path on blogging.
I am so happy to hear that this post has been useful to you. Good luck with your blog!
Thanks for this list Blazenka, you made me discover Stockpic! For my WordPress themes demo sites, I often use Unsplash and Death to Stock photos.
You’re welcome. It’s always great to discover new stock photography sites!
Hi, very informative article.
Please also check out https://www.goodfreephotos.com for thousands of unique public domain photos, all high-resolution and free to use for any purpose.We specialize in photos by location as we document cities, national parks, state parks, national landmarks, and more. We update with 20+ photos each week. Appreciate it if you could add us to your list of sites.
Thanks for letting me know – I will take a look at your site. Many thanks!