The 9 best free stock photo sites

These databases are a saviour whether you are starting your own business or need a single image to spice up a document. Even if it’s a simple subject, stock image websites save you a ton of time. Fancycrave is a collection of stock images that claim to be unique, artistic, and full of emotion, making them perfect for creatives wanting to stand out from the crowd. StockSnap.io has thousands of high-quality stock photos for all your website needs, all organized into convenient categories for easy access. In addition to stock photos, Shutterstock provides access to vector images, editorial pieces, music, video footage, and more.

You can download all the premium photos for free, but they will be in low-resolution JPG. Or, you can get a paid subscription for either $13 or $119 per month and have access to thousands of high-resolution photos with no need to attribute. While there are some occasional cheesy stock photos, many are stunning and uniquely found on Raw Pixel. You can use the free photos in your blog content and many other situations, according to the license.

How to use stock images for your eCommerce business?

It offers a range of licensing options for its assets, which can be used for various creative and editorial purposes. But while the quality is typically high, the prices for both subscriptions and credit packs are too. Another popular site for creators looking for high-quality photos and stock videos is Pixabay. Pixabay has over 2.6 million high-quality images and videos free for personal and commercial purposes. The site is easy to use and has quality filters to help you find what you’re looking for.

Most recently, Pixabay moved into the sound space and now offers hundreds of free sound effects and music. Best premium resource for unique photo assets, worry-free licensing, and affordability. Sign up for their newsletter and they’ll deliver free stock to your inbox weekly.

If you need a professional-looking illustration—i.e., a hand-drawn image or a computer-generated graphic—you should begin your search here. Royalty-free illustrations can be tricky to find on many free image sites, but Pixabay has loads of them. Just click Images, select Illustrations, enter in your search terms, and that’s that. You can also use Pixabay to search for vector graphics, videos, music, and even sound effects. The great thing about this site is it even offers you the ability to download photos in SVG, PNG, or vector formats for free as well.

How to choose the best stock photo site?

Investing in stock photo memberships is one of the smartest ways to elevate your new blog and make it look professional. The images can be used for your blog for commercial and non-commercial purposes under the Unsplash license. Get started with Pixi Stock with unlimited downloads at $47/month (a steal!). From the colours, to the layouts and the angles, there’s a multitude of options.

In our research, we found that there are 2.3 billion stock photos available online. Around 210 million of those are editorial photos, and 20 million are free stock photos. Getty Images success peaked around 2006 and has been steadily declining since then, as has iStock since Getty Images acquired it in 2006. These Getty-owned stock sites have seen a drop in popularity while innovative stock photo sites have been gaining momentum.

This agency offers a competitive royalty of 33% on photos and 35% on video footage. Westend61 focuses on images which are highly relevant to corporate, advertising and editorial customers and it maintains a high-quality photo collection. It also depends on how many times the photo has been downloaded, or in other words, if the image ranks as popular. It’s considered by many contributors to be one of the best places for photographers to sell their work. Vintage photos from the public archives free of known copyright restrictions.

Stock Unlimited

Their database is vast, with over 2.4 million images to choose from. Its search bar autofills suggestions as you type the same way Google does. They https://trading-market.org/best-stock-photography-sites/ also suggest collections of images related to the search terms you use. Jumpstory boasts an 80% better performance than other stock photo websites.

Hundreds of new options are uploaded daily, so there’s always fresh material. Pexels is particularly popular for bloggers, marketers, content creators, and anyone looking for some great wallpapers. As another photo-centric site, it regularly promotes interviews with photographers and offers photo challenges with prizes. With more generous prices than the big competitors, Death to Stock Photo is a great paid alternative for those who need original, creative, high-resolution photos and videos.

500px is an online marketplace that helps you create a portfolio of your images and earn money. Once you become a site contributor, you begin earning money every time someone purchases and downloads your content. As a contributor you can make anywhere from 20% to 30% of whatever your image sells for, which Shutterstock pays out monthly. The only reason many people don’t list their images on multiple sites is that uploading and listing them can be a time consuming process.

And then you have bigger plans for 40, 350, and 750 photos per month, that you can hire monthly or annually for between $79,99 and $249,99. Like this, you can get great images taken by talented photographers for as low as $0,26 the unit! Microstock is one of the best buying models for stock photos – check out this explanatory article on why microstock is so convenient. The Royalty-Free license is by far the most convenient for both commercial and creative works – get a detailed review of Royalty-Free License here. We recommend you also check our Best Free Stock Photo Sites Guide and our guide to the best Stock Illustration Websites.

Envato Elements’ annual discount is 57% ($16.50/mo from $39.00/mo), while Canva’s is 23% ($9.95/mo from $12.95/mo). Both platforms also offer student discounts—Envato Elements’ price drops to $10.50/mo for eligible students, while Canva is entirely free for students and teachers, and educators. The thing I appreciate about Flickr is that it places artists front and center. When you navigate to Flickr’s homepage, you’ll immediately see a gallery of suggested people to follow.

Creating the account was easy, but I did find that uploading images was a little more time consuming that with Dreamstime. So if you’re torn between the two, I’d personally choose Dreamstime if you want an easy(er) submission process. However, only upload your best photos to ensure they’ll be approved. There’s a limit on the number of photos you can upload and it’s based on your approval rating. Alamy is a good option for professional photographers who are willing to comply with strict quality standards. Student photographers should definitely sign up for their 100% commission program.

With new photos added daily, there is a wide selection of high-quality images to fit a variety of different topics. But choosing the wrong ones can get you or your business into trouble, so it’s worth a quick look at the different licenses and what they mean. If you’re on the hunt for photos with impeccable color palettes, composition, and impressive use of negative space, you’ll find more than a few on Kaboompics. This site was founded by talented photographer Karoline Grabowska and has over 17,000 exquisite photos, many of which are in the interior design and lifestyle category. For food bloggers and content creators in the restaurant space, Foodiesfeed is a must-have.

• They also provide royalty-free videos, music, templates, and special effects.
• With over 2 million stock images available, Unsplash is one of the biggest and best stock photo sites online.
• After you add it to your site, the Fotomoto manages all the photo selling processes for you.
• But, I am not surprised by this claim as they provide high-quality images.

In fact, we’ve managed to round up 38 (thirty eight!) of the best free stock photo websites to share with you. So if you’re looking for photos for commercial use that don’t cost a penny but will make your social feeds look like a million bucks, read on. As one of the most prominent stock photography websites, Shutterstock hosts more than one billion images contributed by over one million artists worldwide. Before you start selling your images on a stock photography website, it’s essential to understand the terms and conditions of each site. This way, you’ll know the advantages and disadvantages of working with each one and can make an informed decision. Other subscription-based stock photo sites offer similar discounts, though not as substantial as Shutterstock.

This is when you can see the same image from different angles and pick the best shot for your project. Ecommerce entrepreneurs can also use Gratisography to find free stock images for commercial use. You’ll also find free stock images for commercial use on StockSnap.