Do images speak louder than words? Sure, they do!
High-quality free images on the internet are rare to find. Whether you are managing a blog, creating social media posts or referencing pictures in your assignments, you need high-quality images to download and use them for references. Most of the sites on the internet have a huge database of pictures but they charge a decent amount to attribute or download them.
Shutterstock, the largest stock image distribution site, let alone maintains a library of around 200 million royalty-free stock photos, vector graphics, and illustrations, with around 10 million video clips and music tracks available for licensing. But what are the options if you do not want to spend money to get high-quality images?
We have created a listicle to help you hunt down some sites that offer royalty-free images for you to use them.
1: Pexels
Pexels is first on the list of websites that provide high quality, downloadable and totally free stock photos. All pictures are licensed under Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license which means the author has given a right to share all of them in your blog, social media posts, or anywhere else for free.
2: Burst
Burst is an image library resource from Spotify. Most of the images at Burst are licensed under CC0 but Spotify also keeps some under its own license. The platform was established to help designers, developers and entrepreneurs with excellent stock photography which wasn’t available on the internet otherwise. The images on the platform are mostly shot by Spotify’s global community of photographers.
3: Freestocks
Freestock is the site run by three passionate photographers who share beautiful stock images on their site when they are not hustling at their day jobs. The site collection is divided into several categories, such as people, nature, fashion, foods & drinks and more. The site has royalty-free stock images for both Commercial and Personal Projects under the CC0 license.
4: Pixabay
Pixabay calls itself a place for “stunning free images”. The site has a vibrant community of designers who share their copyright free amazing work on it. Pixabay site is very well-organized with a clean and intuitive search bar to navigate through 780k+ free photos, vectors, and illustrations.
5: Styled Stock
Styled Stock is an eye-candy site for any female Instagrammer, blogger or entrepreneur. It offers free feminine stock photography in a minimalist style. The pictures are bright, neat and just as perfect as you always wanted yours to be. Styled Stock’s collection is totally free for commercial & personal works.
6: SkitterPhoto
Skitterphoto is another site on the list which started as a hobby in 2014, by two amateur photographers, Groningen, and Drenthe from the Netherlands. Later, Skitterphoto also started accepting contributions from photographers and now have thousands of pictures on the site. All pictures are totally free to distribute and use.
7: Google Image Search
I know most of you must be wondering how Google Image is free, right? You can get commercial use images from Google search as well. While on the search page, look for the menu under the search bar. Click on tools and then click on Usage rights. You will see 5 types to choose from.
- Not filtered by license
- Labeled for reuse with modification
- Labeled for reuse
- Labeled for non-commercial reuse with modification
- Labeled for non-commercial reuse
Choose “Labeled for reuse with modification”. You are allowed to use and edit these images freely and use it on both commercial and personal sites.
8: Stocksnap
Stocksnap.io is another addition to our free royalty-free stock images platform. The site has hundreds of high-resolution images with a specific section of trending images. You can also browse through different categories to find the one that suits your needs.
9: Gratisography
Founded by Ryan McGuire, Gratisography is not just an ordinary stock site. Here, you will find the quirkiest collection of high-resolution free stock images, comprised of the world’s best, most creative pictures designed by crazy designers. The collection on the site is totally crazy and yet totally free!
10: Unsplash
Unsplash is a hidden treasure. This site has a huge collection of photos for almost all categories. The collection is so beautiful that you will keep on browsing through the artistic angles and creative abstracts of the designers. Not to mention, every photo is licensed under CC0 as well.
11: Reshot
Reshot has attribution free and CC0 licensed pictures available for startups, freelancers and content creators. Reshot unifies creators via a free exchange of the world’s best visual content. While browsing, you would find some of the most creative shots on the site on hundreds of categories.
12: Picography
Picography doesn’t have a huge database of images but even with limited categories, the collection is filled with beautiful high-resolution shots. The site is only 3 years old and accepts the contributions from photographers and artists as well. All of their images are free to use under CC0 license.
13: Negative Space
As the name suggests, Negative space is a technique used in photography to take the clear-focused pictures while everything around them is blurred. Negative space has stunning minimalist design images with multiple categories on the site. The site also offers all images free to use.
14: FreeImages
FreeImages has over 300,000 free stock photos and royalty free images. The site has a wide category section with thousands of pictures in each category. All the pictures are high-resolution and free to use for commercial and personal use but in some cases, You need to get permission from the artist who uploaded it. Check the licenses on their site to have a better idea.
15: Startup Stock Photos
Take ’em, these things are free. Go. Make something.”
With a Twitter bio like this, Startup Stock offers and encourages startups, content creators and professionals to use the stunning collection of their images. While the site name sounds startups-specific, you will still find a huge collection of photos for all other industries as well.
Bonus List:
The above 15 sites are just enough for you to browse through thousands of royalty-free images but… here are some more if you haven’t had enough of it :)
16: Split Shire
17: Picjumbo
18: Stok pic
19: Life of Pix
20: Fancy Crave
21: FoodiesFeed
22: KaboomPics
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