🧰 29 Places to Find Free Stock Photography
A big list of websites plus a quick primer on copyright law.
Don’t make this mistake when creating online content…
You’ve got a great idea for a topic. You spend hours, maybe even days, creating content for that topic. It’s almost ready; you just need to add some images. You do a quick Google image search and find exactly what you’re looking for. You download it and drop it into your content.
Easy peasy, right?
Not so fast. How does an $8K fine sound?1
If you use an image that you don’t have the rights to, you could be financially liable for penalties, even if:
It was an accident.
You don’t make any money from your content.
You modified the image.
You link back to the image source.
You take it down after receiving a DMCA violation notice.
The reality is this happens every day.
And while purchasing rights to use images from stock photography sites like Getty Images is always an option, it’s not the only option!
You can legally use free images from the Internet. You just have to make sure the image’s copyright allows it. Fortunately, there are many websites that exist to help you find these images!
What You Need to Know About Copyright Law ⚖️
Note: I am not a lawyer. I am simply sharing what I’ve learned from extensive experience using both free and paid images online. When in doubt, always speak to a professional!
Copyright law protects creators' rights to their original works. It grants the creator exclusive rights to reproduce, distribute, perform, display, and create derivative works based on the originals.
Typically, you need to contact the owner and make an arrangement if you want to use copyrighted material. They may license their content to you for a fee, or, in rare instances, they may let you use it for free. Stock photography websites like Getty simplify this process by streamlining the licensing transaction. You can buy an image license directly on their website and get it instantly without contacting anyone.
But most businesses can’t afford to buy licenses for all the content they create. Fortunately, there are ways to legally use content for free.
Fair Use
Fair use is a legal doctrine that allows limited use of copyrighted material (including images) without requiring permission from the copyright holder. For example:
Using a copyrighted image for news reporting or commentary
Parodying a copyrighted work to make a satirical point
Preserving a copyrighted work in a digital archive
Including a copyrighted image in a textbook or educational website
It's important to note that fair use is a complex legal issue, and there's no definitive rule for determining whether a particular use is fair. If you’re not sure whether or not something is legitimate fair use, it’s best to talk to a lawyer.
Creative Commons
A Creative Commons (CC) license is a flexible copyright license that makes it easy for creators to grant the public permission to use their work under certain conditions. The type of Creative Commons license will determine what restrictions an image has, including:2
Whether or not attribution is required
If the image can be used commercially
If adaptations of the image are permitted
Public Domain (Creative Commons Zero)
Images in the public domain can be used freely without the usual Creative Commons restrictions. They can be used and modified, including commercially, without attribution. Images can enter the public domain in a number of ways, including the expiration of copyright. However, creators can also dedicate their work to the public domain using a CC0 license.3
Most of the free stock photography websites offer a Creative Commons license, with many offering a Creative Commons Zero license that dedicates work to the public domain.
29 Websites With Free Stock Photography 🏞️
I’ve divided this list into three categories: my top pics, specialty niche sites, and everything else. All of them offer free stock photography, but restrictions on how you can use the images vary from site to site. While I’ve tried to summarize the license agreements for each site, always check for yourself before using an image.
Top Free Stock Photography Sites
These sites are the first ones I check and will be broadly useful for most people. They generally have a lot of high-quality photos available across a range of categories.
1. Pixabay
Pixabay offers over 5 million free images, and the quality is generally quite good. In addition to its huge collection, Pixabay integrates directly with Canva, making editing and adding photos to designs seamless.
Perfect For: A great first stop in any photo search.
Restrictions: Images can’t be sold, redistributed, used in a misleading way (e.g., implying endorsement), or used as part of a trademark.
2. Unsplash
Unsplash has over 6 million stock photos and images, which are typically very high quality. Since the images come from many contributors, there are photos from all over the world.
Perfect For: Great starting point for high-quality photos.
Restrictions: Some images require a premium membership. Images cannot be sold without significant modification or used to create a similar stock photography website.
3. Burst
Burst has 20,000+ photos across a range of categories but they specialize in providing product photos that can be modified for use on ecommerce stores.
Perfect For: Ecommerce websites.
Restrictions: None.
4. Canva
Canva, a design tool, has a library of free stock photos available directly in the editor. The photos are mostly aggregated from other online sources but are easy to search and add to Canva designs.
Perfect For: Incorporating into Canva designs.
Restrictions: Some photos require a paid Canva subscription to use.
5. Freepik
Freepik is a database of everything you need to create compelling designs, including free images. It offers millions of assets, from photos to videos to icons to vectors and much more.
Video Source: Freepik
Perfect For: A great starting point for any image needs.
Restrictions: Attribution required. Images can’t be resold, used in a trademark, or used in a defamatory way.
6. Morgue File
Morgue File has over 400,000 free stock photos, most very high quality. The site is designed by creatives, for creatives, and many of the images are perfect for marketing campaigns.
Perfect For: Campaigns and advertisements.
Restrictions: Attribution is required unless images have been modified.
7. Pexels
Pexels offers a huge collection of high-quality photos, videos, and background images. Many categories are covered and images can be seamlessly open in Canva with one click.
Video Source: Pexels
Perfect For: A great place to start any search, but especially for videos.
Restrictions: Photos can’t be resold without modification, redistributed, used as part of a trademark or used to imply endorsement.
8. Image Finder
Image Finder is a search engine for free stock photography. It searches various stock photography websites that offer images with Creative Commons licenses.
Perfect For: Saving time and searching many sites at once.
Restrictions: Images will be free to use, but you should check for specific restrictions before using.
Niche Free Stock Photography Sites
These sites specialize in specific types of photos. While they won’t be useful for everyone, they may be the perfect starting point for people with specific use cases.
9. Foodiesfeed
Foodiesfeed features nothing but food photos, including captured photos and AI-generated photos. If you have a food business of any kind, you’ll definitely want to check out Foodiesfeed.
Perfect For: Food photography.
Restrictions: None.
10. Gratisography
Gratisography offers a range of stock photography with an emphasis on unique and whimsical images that you won’t find anywhere else.
Perfect For: Whimsical social media content that stands out.
Restrictions: You can’t claim or redistribute the photos as your own.
11. Vintage Stock Photos
Vintage Stock Photos offers thousands of old 35mm photos documenting life in the past.
Perfect For: Historical or nostalgic content.
Restrictions: Login is required to download. Images can’t be sold or redistributed.
12. From Old Books
From Old Books features over 4,100 high-resolution scans of pages from vintage books. The scans mainly feature images rather than text, and many are unique.
Perfect For: Book or research projects or anyone who needs something old and unique.
Restrictions: Small-sized images are available for free without a watermark. Larger sizes are watermarked or can be purchased without.
13. Pics4Learning
Pics4Learning curates images that teachers and students alike can use freely in educational settings. The collection is small, but many would be particularly useful for classroom projects.
Perfect For: Educational settings.
Restrictions: Free for educational settings only. Photos cannot be used commercially without permission.
Additional Free Stock Photography Sites
These sites aren’t typically my first choice, but they’re still great to know about. Everyone’s needs are different, and you might find the perfect image on one of these sites.
14. Flickr
Flickr is a photography platform where any photographer can host their photos and apply a license of their choice. The quality of photos is variable but there is a tremendous breadth.
Perfect For: Finding specific photos you haven’t been able to find anywhere else.
Restrictions: Varies by image. Make sure to check before using.
15. FOCA
FOCA is run by a single photographer, so the collection of photos is small but it’s worth a look. There are vibrant photos across many distinct categories that are not already overused online.
Perfect For: Finding photos no one else is using.
Restrictions: None.
16. FreeDigitalPhotos.net
FreeDigitalPhotos.net offers a small collection of photos and illustrations across many categories. Small versions of their images are available for free.
Perfect For: It may be worth checking as a last resort.
Restrictions: Free images are limited to smaller sizes and must include an attribution.
17. FreeImages
FreeImages has over 400,000 free stock photos, but that’s not all they have! They also offer free vectors, clipart, icons, and Photoshop templates. Many photos, like the one below, are AI-generated.
Perfect For: People who need access to design elements.
Restrictions: Photo subjects can’t be depicted negatively, and you can’t claim ownership of the photos or redistribute them. Some photos require attribution.
18. Freerange Stock
Freerange Stock offers a collection of free stock photography from a mix of sources: in-house photography, acquisitions, contributed images, and licensing agreements. Quality varies, and the collection isn’t huge, but it’s a good option to be aware of.
Perfect For: Checking when you can’t find what you need anywhere else.
Restrictions: Login is required to download. Images can’t be sold or redistributed.
19. Freestocks.org
The photos on Freestocks.org are mostly taken by three photographers, and the site is not open to contributors. This means the collection is small but also a bit different from what you’ll find anywhere else.
Perfect For: Worth checking when you need something you haven’t been able to find anywhere else.
Restrictions: Images can’t be sold or redistributed.
20. Getty Images
Getty Images is one of the leading stock photography websites with a huge collection of high-quality images for sale. If you need a photo, they probably have it. Most of their images can be used legally for free if you embed them on your website using the code they provide.
Perfect For: Website use where you can embed and need very high-quality images.
Restrictions: Images must be part of the “open embed” program and embedded properly.
21. Kaboompics
Kaboompics offers a range of free photos with an emphasis on lifestyle images. Many of their photos are captured as part of a holistic photoshoot and are part of entire collections that can be used together.
Perfect For: Content campaigns that require multiple related images.
Restrictions: These photos cannot be used to create another stock photography website like Kaboompics.
22. Life of pix
Life of pix compiles a mix of photos with an emphasis on landscape and street photography.
Perfect For: Finding unique scenes you haven’t seen anywhere else.
Restrictions: Images cannot be sold without significant modification or used to create a similar stock photography website.
23. Negative Space
Negative Space has a modest collection of photos from different contributors, many of which look like everyday photos you and I might take rather than highly refined images. They also offer the unique option of searching for photos by the dominant color.
Perfect For: Images that look natural or finding images with a specific color.
Restrictions: None.
24. Picjumbo
Picjumbo offers a collection of photos by one photographer, Viktor Hanacek. The collection, which includes AI-generated images, is surprisingly robust, and the quality is great. Many photos are also part of a collection of related photos.
Perfect For: High-quality, vibrant images.
Restrictions: Photos can’t be resold.
25. Picography
Picography offers a small collection of images with high-quality compositions. While they’re not always very high resolution, many are great to look at and high enough quality for the web.
Perfect For: Stylish photos that look great.
Restrictions: Images can’t be portrayed as your own.
26. rgbstock
rgbstock offers 120K+ free stock photos with an emphasis on textures and objects.
Perfect For: Background images and photographs of objects.
Restrictions: Login is required to download. Images can’t be sold, redistributed, used as part of a trademark, or to imply endorsement.
27. Skitterphoto
Skitterphoto is a collection of public domain photos. The quality varies, and the collection isn’t huge, but most of the photos haven’t been downloaded very many times, so you won’t have to be worried about choosing an overused image.
Perfect For: Checking when you haven’t found what you need anywhere else.
Restrictions: None.
28. StockSnap
StockSnap has a modest collection of stock photos with decent quality. Many individual photos appear to be from photoshoots with the same subjects in multiple shots.
Perfect For: Collections of photos with people that you can use for an entire content campaign.
Restrictions: Images cannot be used to imply endorsement based on the person depicted.
29. Stockvault
Stockvault has over 140K free photos submitted from photos around the world. Their collection is quite diverse, with dozens of categories to choose from, but the quality varies.
Perfect For: Finding collections of more unique subjects like abandoned buildings or locks and chains.
Restrictions: Photos are free to use but may have different restrictions based on their license. Check before using.
Remember to always check the rights before using an image! And my advice is: When in doubt, it’s not worth the risk.
To endless possibilities,
Casandra
P.S. Can’t find what you need on stock photo websites? You can always try generating an image with AI instead!
Super useful and oops I was already subscribed! From you Reddit post
Very useful - thank you!