Whether you’re creating a website, a presentation, a social media post, or an educational report, visuals are always vital. You can easily find these stock images online, but most of them are either paid or copyrighted. How can you find them without attribution or for free?
Thankfully, many websites offer free stock images that are easy to download and use without attribution.
I know that creating images with AI tools is easy today, but if you are looking for stock photos, these sites are also useful.
We’ve curated a list of the best stock photo sites in the post.
So, without much ado, let’s take a look.
Pixabay
Pixabay is a popular website that offers free stock images for download, with a collection of more than 1.7 million images. You can find all your images here.
One of the fantastic features of Pixabay is that all images are licensed under Creative Commons Zero (CC0), which allows you to use them personally and professionally without violating copyright.
Along with images, you can also find royalty-free vector graphics, illustrations and videos here. You will be glad to know that the website does not disappoint with its quality.
Most images on the site are high quality. You can download them in different resolutions as needed.
It is considered one of the best options for sourcing stock images for your site with no hassle! Can it get any better than this? Literally no!
Freerange stock
Freerange Stock has a community of more than 800,000 registered users who receive high-quality free stock pictures. Since 2007, their image collection has been consistently featured and promoted on websites that compile lists of the best places to find free images. In addition, to support the success of their members, they offer dynamic graphic tools that are all licensed for widespread commercial use without credit.
Additionally, they have an API. If you require free, high-quality images for your application, please contact us and tell us more about your project. They will give you an API key and integration instructions if you are accepted.
Pexels
Pexels is considered a top free-stock photo website in today’s time. It is highly recommended for bloggers and designers seeking high-quality images under a Creative Commons License. In other words, you can utilize them free of cost for personal and commercial purposes without spending a single penny!
The good news is that all the photos you view on the site are correctly tagged, making them searchable and easy to discover on the discovery page. In addition, you can browse images by themes, including locations, emotions, and pastimes, and search for a specific image.
Pexels is popular among web and app designers because it offers a vast collection of high-quality images for displaying interface mockups. And the vast majority of images are original and creative.
It is one of the few websites offering free space images that look amazing. Some of the photos are from NASA, so there’s no doubt of quality.
SplitShire
SplitShire is an excellent free stock photo site that prioritizes quality. The photos on the website were taken and uploaded by the owner. You can now use his images at no cost.
The good news is that, since a photographer has taken these photos for over a decade, you will find exclusive images not available on other stock photo sites.
These photos include technology, nature, abstracts, weddings, things, landscapes, etc. However, the best of the lot is in the places and building categories. You will always find original photos unavailable on any other stock photo site.
A premium version is available that allows you to download photos in bulk. However, if you prefer to manually download one image at a time, you do not have to pay a single dollar. Check this site if you are looking for an exclusive set of unavailable photographs not available on other stock photo websites.
Photosonic
Photosonic is an AI-powered tool that lets you create stunning images from your imagination. It combines multiple inputs, coherently blends them, and generates an original image in seconds.
Photosonic is web-based and has a user-friendly interface. All you need to do is simply add a few words describing what you want to generate. It creates stunning images you can download or share with just a click.
If you are a content creator, marketer, or someone who needs a unique photo, try Photosonic! It can simply:
Spice up your blog posts, social media posts, newsletters, and landing pages with eye-catching visuals that match your message.
Generate unique artwork for your personal or professional projects, such as book covers, posters, logos, wallpapers, and more.
Enhance your creativity, express yourself with endless possibilities for styles, themes, colors, and effects, and learn and teach on a range of topics.
Creating unique images has never been so easy, right? And the best part is that Photosonic continues to add new features.
123RF
123RF is another of the world's largest stock photo sites. It offers millions of high-quality stock images and is used by creators and business owners daily.
It is an old stock photo website, so you can find collections from over a decade. This collection of imagery, sound, and motion is contributed by talents worldwide. You can easily search for photos using desired keywords. Users can also curate their favorite stock images into personalized collections.
You can freely download stock images from more than 500,000 high-quality collections spanning categories such as technology, nature, abstracts, weddings, objects, landscapes, and more.
In addition to the free plan, they offer premium plans for high-quality images, vectors, and 3D animation. The exciting fact is that they are adding metaverse-ready content in the coming days.
Freepik
Freepik is a free-to-use stock image website that is expanding rapidly and is one of the fastest-growing startups in Europe.
This service provides high-quality photos and design assets for the broader creative community, targeting graphic designers, marketers, and students, who, in turn, become part of Freepik’s thriving online community.
As a user, you will benefit from the millions of hand-picked images and other creative assets, such as vectors, illustrations, mockups, and an assortment of templates, meticulously categorized for a user-friendly experience. Finding resources has never been so easy with Freepik!
Moose
Moose is a stock photo resource created by Icons8 that offers both free and premium images. Free photos always appear first in search results and are marked with a yellow box to make them easy to find. The premium images can also be downloaded for free, but they require attribution to be used in your projects - whether they’re personal or commercial.
Envato Elements
Envato Elements offers over 4M of premium, royalty-free stock photos. The library is focused on capturing an image that appears to be "at the moment." You can rest assured that using Envato Elements' photos will ensure your project doesn't look "stocky" and will have the perfect "real life" touch.
Envato Elements is a one-stop shop for all things creative. You can also find thousands of other digital assets to complement your marketing materials, including graphic templates, stock videos, fonts, presentations, and more. If you're ready to let your creativity fly, this is the place to get everything you need. You can subscribe for $16.50 a month or try it free for seven days.
Pixexid
Pixexid is one of the best stock photo sites, offering high-resolution images for personal and commercial use.
Find the perfect photo quickly by browsing our image collection. Then, visually crop it before downloading to ensure everything aligns perfectly with your project requirements!
We know how important it is to find the perfect image quickly. We provide Adobe Lightroom presets to help you edit your photos quickly and easily!
Also, Pixexid has a vast collection of 360-degree panoramas
Depositphotos
Depositphotos is a commercial website that connects creators of high-quality, legally licensed stock photos, graphics, vectors, and videos with grateful consumers. They create the ideal setting for fusing business with creativity thanks to the work of great individuals worldwide and their top-notch technology solutions.
It offers royalty-free images, videos, vectors, illustrations, and music, easily filtered by camera angle, portraiture, gender, age, and more.
With more than 234 million files, customers in 192 nations, ongoing support in 20 languages, and strong teams in New York, Milan, Kyiv, Limassol, and Warsaw, they have come a long way.
Additionally, DepositPhotos offers a live chat option.
Vecteezy
Vecteezy offers a massive selection of high-quality free photos. One advantage of sourcing photos from Vecteezy is that they manually review all submissions, and only photos that meet their quality standards are accepted. You won’t have to browse through many low-quality images to find what you’re looking for.
In addition to photos, Vecteezy also offers free vectors and stock videos for personal and commercial purposes. Their site also indicates whether a signed model or property release is on file, ensuring you can use the content legally and with full permission. In addition, they are one of the few free photo sites that require model or property releases from contributors.
Searching Vecteezy is simple; it allows various filters to narrow the results and find what you want. In addition, you can create collections and save favorites by organizing the resources you like with a free account.
Picography
Picography offers beautiful, high-resolution, free images for any project. No credit is necessary. Save your favorite ones now!
Looking for captivating images to use as a virtual background for meetings? Then you should visit Picography, as there is a virtual background for everyone, including white-washed wood textures, fuzzy cityscapes, and free stock photographs of the moon's surface.
ImageFree
If you’re looking for high-quality, authentic images at no cost, check the good collection at ImageFree.com.
They offer a wide range of stock images for startups, bloggers, publishers, freelancers, designers, developers, and producers, especially if you’re focused on getting images from Iceland and Nordic countries.
You can use the keyword-based categorization system to quickly identify images that best match your mood, sentiment, sensory needs, or content requirements.
Gratisography
If you need something surreal, fun, and original, Gratisography is like fresh air.
This collection was created by talented graphic designer Ryan McGuire, who likes everything quirky.
His photos have a surreal edge, and they are perfect if you’re sick and tired of stock photo clichés.
Compared to other websites mentioned here, Gratisography has fewer varieties of free stock images, but new pictures appear every week, and you’re sure to stand out from the crowd.
If you subscribe to his newsletter, you will receive weekly email alerts with his latest images.
The photos are available in 9 categories: animals, business, fashion, food, nature, objects, people, urban and whimsical.
All pictures are free to use; you do not need to credit Ryan McGuire, but he would appreciate it.
Life of Pix
Life of Pix is a photo-sharing website where photographers can share their photos for free. The best part is that it lets you capture high-quality photos and access a dedicated page for photographers, enabling you to search for images by your favorite photographers.
You won't find this feature on other stock photo sites, which is one of the primary reasons to love Life of Pix. Although the photo selection is limited, you can see all high-quality photos. Some of the widely popular categories include nature, cities, and animals.
Stockvault
Stockvault is a website where photographers, designers, and students freely exchange images, graphics, and vector files.
Since 2004, Stockvault.net has provided free stock photographs, "ready-to-use" site layouts, and logos to its visitors, assisting individuals who lack the resources to turn to royalty-free agencies.
StockSnap
StockSnap is another website hosting royalty-free images with a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license. The website includes photos provided by a community of photographers.
Surf its library through categories or by what’s trending, most downloaded, most viewed, and most favorite.
The good news is that all the images are high-resolution. This site is a must for anyone interested in technology, as it features ideas and reviews on gadgets, especially MacBooks.
Unsplash
Unsplash believes in "Pictures for all," The world's generous community of photographers has provided over 3 million free high-resolution pictures.
They struggled to find high-quality, valuable images, which led to the creation of Unsplash. As a result, over 4 billion Unsplash photos are downloaded today by millions of artists worldwide for use in presentations, artwork, mockups, and other projects.
The process for searching, downloading, or submitting the photo is hassle-free.
the ISO Republic
The ISO Republic portfolio comprises approximately 3,000 stock photos. Although it is not as large as the other sites on this list, it hosts a good collection of images. All stock photos on the site are free to use without attribution.
The good news is that the images are vibrant and have excellent dynamic range. Unfortunately, the website does not have many photos, but the quality of the images available makes up for it.
You can find images connected with architecture, technology, nature, city/urban, and people on the site. It is recommended to check this site periodically, as you can find some hidden gems here.
Foca
Although Foca cannot match the quantity, it is much better for various images.
This site has it all, whether you want high-resolution images, engaging videos, or professional-looking templates for commercial use.
The great news is that it allows you to edit your preferred image and select its desired size. As a result, you can create stunning posts for sharing on social media sites like Facebook or blogs like Tumblr.
It includes a comprehensive set of essential tools for creating social media graphics. And, you can find lots of beautifully designed wallpapers, so if you are looking for cool wallpapers, this site is mainly for you!
Freeimages
Freeimages is a cheaper alternative to pricey stock photographs, it was introduced in February 2001. They aimed to build a website where artists could trade images for ideas or projects. With over 2,500,000 registered users and over 400,000 uploaded photographs, the website has grown into the enormous community you see today.
They have a wide range of collections from art and design to business and fitness. If you follow the guidelines of the licensing Image Agreement, the photographs are free.
Additionally, there are situations where using photos may require permission from the artists, and other times when acknowledgment is required. These limitations are displayed next to the Download button, behind the image previews.
Reshot
Reshot has a variety of images. The best part is that it features a curated collection of trending images. This item makes it easier to search for photos to create better social media posts or blogs.
Irrespective of whether you are a tech blogger, a graphic designer, or a social media manager.
The good news is that Reshot integrates with Facebook and Twitter, so you can share your favorite images with your followers effortlessly.
This makes it one of the best free stock image sites in quantity and variety.
Shot Stash
Shot Stash has three notable features that make it a unique free stock site. First, it offers a large selection of stock images across categories such as business, technology, fashion, and more. This makes this site the best option to meet your image needs.
Second, it regularly updates new images to suit your latest requirements. Lastly, it includes a vast collection of trending photos and attractive wallpapers to help you design your smartphone's home/lock screens. Can it get any better than this?
- Foodiesfeed
Jakub and Hana created Foodiesfeed out of their passion for traveling and eating excellent food worldwide.
It is the best source of 2,000+ free, high-resolution, visually appealing food images.
Startup stock photos
The website was created in 2014 by developer Eric Bailey and marketer Josh Krakauer using pictures of their friends and familiar locations.
They aim to provide startups, bloggers, publishers, freelancers, designers, developers, producers, and others with free, high-quality photographs.
All images are CC0, allowing you to use them in your projects without attribution.
Vistacreate
Vistacreate is an online graphic design platform where no design experience is required; anyone can quickly create visuals for personal and business needs. They also provide royalty-free stock photos and images for commercial use.
Stocksnap
This is the place to come if you need captivating, eye-catching, attention-grabbing web work that thrives on sharp, stunning visuals.
To find the pictures that best suit your needs in terms of mood, sentiment, sensation, or content, you can use StockSnap's tag-based categorization system.
For instance, select the "People" category if you want to use images of people as subjects. You'll find more than 5,000 images of individuals, arranged in descending order of importance.
Or, let's say you're aware that you need to generate a specific feeling, like "love." Then, visit our "love" category tag to view more than 300 inspirational images of love between people.
Conclusion
From the list provided in this write-up, you can understand that there are many fantastic resources for stock photography. These top stock sites have become a boon for marketers, bloggers, and designers.
