27 sites to find free stock images in 2024
High-quality visuals can make your marketing content more engaging and help build traffic. Here are 27 of the most popular sites to find beautiful free stock images for your content.
While they often seem like an afterthought, images are actually an essential part of successful content marketing execution. Marketers claim to be recording more social engagements while attracting higher traffic from organic search in part thanks to unique and attractive images inside their posts.
While investing in original and licensed images can improve content performance, marketers can also make use of millions of free stock images available online. These images, especially those with the Creative Commons 0 (CC0) license, can be used and modified for commercial and non-commercial purposes.
Whether you're designing a website, creating social media content, or working on a presentation, finding high-quality images that are free to use can be a challenge. We’ve compiled 27 recommended sites to get you started on finding free stock images. The ones listed here offer images under the CC0 license.
Patrecia Meliana
Recommended sites for free stock images in 2022
Pexels
Image Category: Photos and videos in diverse categories, including landscapes, portraits, abstract, technology, business, nature, and more.
Key features: Free stock photos and videos, no attribution required, collections, HD/4K quality resources.
Pricing: Pexels is entirely free to use, with no premium or subscription plans. There is no option for a free trial as all content is free forever.
G2 rating and review: 4.6/5.0 (108 Reviews)
This site contains a visually diverse library, searchable in 28 languages, with more than 3 million high-resolution photos and videos. The site regularly hosts fun challenges that encourage photographers and videographers to submit high-quality content based on a given theme.
Pixabay
Image Category: Photos, videos, music, and vector graphics across multiple categories such as landscapes, animals, technology, business, and abstract.
Key features: Over 4.9 million assets, CC0 license, free for personal and commercial use.
Pricing: Pixabay is completely free to use, with no premium plans. There is no trial option since all content is free forever.
G2 rating and review: 4.4/5.0 (162 Reviews)
Pixabay offers a vast collection of free stock images and art illustrations. All photos are nicely tagged, making it easier to search and discover. This site claims to have more than 2.3 million images on offer, primarily in the landscape category.
It’s important to note that both Pexels and Pixabay are operating under the same parent company: Canva.
Unsplash
Image Category: High-resolution images covering various categories including nature, technology, business, street photography, and wallpapers.
Key features: Free for commercial use, no attribution required, API integration.
Pricing: Free with an optional paid Unsplash+ plan.
G2 rating and review: 4.7/5.0 (101 Reviews)
Unsplash offers more than 2 million free images from more than 210,000 contributors. If you don’t have something specific in mind, you can scroll through its ‘Collections’ – personally hand-picked groups of photos by real users. Its selection of Asia-related content is particularly strong and the site has more consistent image quality than pretty much all other free stock image sites.
Patrecia Meliana
Freepik
Image Category: Vectors, stock photos, PSD files, and icons. It is highly suitable for design projects, ranging from business to creative content.
Key features: Over 41 million assets, AI tools integration, premium access.
Pricing: Freepik offers a free plan with limited downloads and a premium plan starting at US$17 per month with unlimited access.
G2 rating and review: 4.7/5.0 (131 Reviews)
Named as one of Europe’s fastest-growing startups, Freepik is a well-curated collection of illustrations, photos, icons, mockups, and presentation templates – something you don’t usually find on other stock image sites. Freepik currently has a total of 4.5 million graphics from 12,000 contributors. Uniquely, users can download some of the images in PSD format.
Users should note that, despite the name, not all images on Freepik are free.
Gratisography
Image Category: Quirky, unique high-resolution images in categories including animals, business, fashion, food, nature, objects, people, urban, and whimsical images.
Key features: 100% free, no ads, regularly updated with new content.
Pricing: Gratisography is entirely free, with no hidden fees or premium tiers. All images are available for personal and commercial use without attribution.
G2 rating and review: 3.1/5.0 (4 Reviews)
Gratisography’s strength is not quantity, as it only provides around 900 free images. But if you’re looking for amusing, fun, and goofy images, then this quirky site might be just the thing you’re looking for.
NegativeSpace
Image Category: Diverse collection of high-resolution images in multiple categories including abstract, animals, architecture, business, fashion, nature, people, and space.
Key features: All images are CC0 licensed, no attribution required, easy to navigate.
Pricing: NegativeSpace is completely free, offering unlimited downloads without any paid options.
G2 rating and review: 4.3/5.0 (3 Reviews)
NegativeSpace provides more than 4,700 high-quality CC0 photos that are sorted by tags and color. Many of the images on the site are unique and can complement your photo stock.
Patrecia Meliana
Burst by Shopify
Image Category: High-resolution images focusing on business, nature, fashion, fitness, technology, and more. It is particularly focused on providing images suitable for e-commerce and entrepreneurial use.
Key features: Free to use, no attribution required, created by Shopify for entrepreneurs.
Pricing: Burst is entirely free to use. There are no paid plans or subscriptions.
G2 rating and review: 4.6/5.0 (42 Reviews)
Burst provides more than 29,000 royalty-free images with e-commerce in mind. Users can browse the photos via collections, staff picks, and most popular images. The site also categorizes the pictures based on specific e-commerce business ideas for users.
Everypixel
Image Category: Aggregates stock images from multiple sources, including photos, vectors, and patterns.
Key features: AI-powered search engine, aesthetic scoring feature, free and paid images available.
Pricing: Everypixel offers a free plan that allows access to basic features. For more advanced features and higher quality images, premium plans are available.
G2 rating and review:
This platform claims to aggregate 50 free and paid stock image sites, including Pixabay, Pexels, and Freepik. Users can browse using keywords or do a reverse image search. They can then specify the type of images they’re looking for (e.g. search by color, location of free areas, and author).
While the concept sounds great, the execution isn’t perfect. From our experience using the site, the user will occasionally stumble upon a few broken images. But that’s not necessarily a deal-breaker. Afterall, it’s free, right?
Picjumbo
Image Category: High-resolution stock photos in various categories like business, food, nature, abstract, technology, and more.
Key features: Free to use, premium plan available, regularly updated with new images.
Pricing: Free with premium options.
G2 rating and review: 4.1/5.0 (11 Reviews)
This is a good site to find food, nature, and people photography with more than 6,800 free images. The site also offers a premium membership, through which it claims to provide close to 10,000 exclusive stock photos.
Patrecia Meliana
Kaboompics
Image Category: High-resolution stock images with a focus on lifestyle, interior design, food, nature, and fashion. It provides a stylish and modern aesthetic, making it popular among bloggers, designers, and marketers.
Key features: Free to use for personal and commercial projects, color palette search tool.
Pricing: Kaboompics is entirely free to use, with no paid plans or premium options
G2 rating and review: 5.0/5.0 (3 Reviews)
Kaboompics has around 20,227 free images, each complemented with the color palette information present in the photo. The site’s photoshoot category is also unique, as users can find an entire gallery of photos taken from different angles and positions.
StockSnap.io
Image Category: High-quality, royalty-free images covering various categories like nature, business, technology, and lifestyle. The platform provides free images suitable for both digital and print applications.
Key features: Free to use, CC0 licensed, easy navigation, updated regularly.
Pricing: StockSnap.io is entirely free to use, with no premium options or subscriptions.
G2 rating and review:
StockSnap.io is a sister site of Snappa, which is an online tool for creating graphics for blogs, websites, social media, and online advertising. Users can directly edit and customize each photo before downloading any one of the thousands available. StockSnap’s main collection consists of nature and landscape photography.
CannyPic
Image Category: Free vector graphics, illustrations, and images in various categories including business, technology, nature, and more.
Key features: High-quality vector images, free to use for personal and commercial purposes.
Pricing: CannyPic is free to use, offering all images at no cost, suitable for both personal and commercial use.
G2 rating and review:
Cannypic sorts its content into three types: photos, icons, and vectors. Its forte is in its 90,000+ free vectors provided, divided up into different categories and keywords. This wide diversity of vector resources is available for free. However, users need to register first before downloading any images.
Patrecia Meliana
Vecteezy
Image Category: Vector graphics, stock photos, and videos across categories like business and nature.
Key features: Free and Pro plans available, CC0 licensed images, signed model and property releases for free photos.
Pricing: Free with premium options starting at US$14/month.
G2 rating and review: 4.7/5.0 (4,978 Reviews)
Vecteezy claims to have more than a million free stock images and videos, but not all content is free. The site locks down some content and only makes it available to paid members. It's a great site with strong selections of food and drink photos, background vectors, and animal videos.
Free Vectors
Image Category: Free vector graphics, including illustrations, icons, logos, and various design elements. The categories range from business and technology to nature, lifestyle, and abstract art.
Key features: High quality vector formats (EPS, AI, PDF, SVG), thousands of free vector graphics, regular updates.
Pricing: Free, with premium options.
G2 rating and review:
Free Vectors has 92,500 high-quality free vectors that are ready to be downloaded for free. However, a small portion of available images are under the CC0 license, so they can’t be used for commercial purposes. With an updated design, you can now quickly search for a particular file or browse in categories like clipart, logos, and cartoons.
Jessica Tan
Nappy
Image Category: High-resolution images focused on Black and Brown people in various life aspects including lifestyle, work, food, and culture.
Key features: Free to use, no attribution required, diverse representation.
Pricing: Nappy is completely free for users. It does not have paid options or subscription models
G2 rating and review:
Nappy exclusively provides photos of black and brown people. The site aims to increase representation of these ethnic communities in companies’ marketing materials. Launched in 2017, the site claims to have generated more than 1 million downloads and now also offers a paid photography service called Nappy Studio.
Patrecia Meliana
Life of Pix
Image Category: High-resolution images, especially outdoor scenes,of landscapes and cities. Other categories include nature, cityscapes, and people.
Key features: Free to use, no copyright restrictions, regularly updated.
Pricing: Life of Pix is entirely free to use, with no paid tiers or premium options
G2 rating and review:
Life of Pix offers a wide collection of nature and architecture images. More than 4,500 stock images under 14 collections on this site are free of charge. On top of that, we appreciate the Life of Pix team, as it always gives a shout-out to its community by electing a ‘photographer of the week.’
ISO Republic
Image Category: High-resolution photos and videos in categories like people, nature, technology, food, and flat-lay designs. It is popular for its diverse content that caters to designers, developers, marketers, and social media teams.
Key features: CC0 license, free for personal and commercial use, no attribution required.
Pricing: ISO Republic is entirely free, with no premium or paid plans.
G2 rating and review:
This site has a small catalog of 6,000+ photos and videos, but it regularly uploads new content each day so you don’t have to worry about running out of inspiration. The two collections with the most photos are food and people.
LibreShot
Image Category: High-quality photos in categories like nature, business, architecture, and more.
Key features: CC0 licensed, all images created by the site owner, unique content.
Pricing: LibreShot is entirely free to use, with no paid plans or premium features
G2 rating and review:
Come to LibreShot if you’re looking for street photography, cityscapes, and landscape images. There are more than 10,000 stock images at LibreShot, and each one is shot by just one man, Martin Vorel, who is also the LibreShot founder.
Enricko Lukman
StockVault
Image Category: Photos, textures, and illustrations in categories like nature, people, animals, business, abstract, and backgrounds. It is particularly known for its extensive texture collection, which is a valuable resource for designers and digital artists.
Key features: Free to use for personal, educational, and non-commercial purposes, contributor donations available.
Pricing: StockVault is entirely free to use, though the licensing terms vary by image. Contributors can choose from non-commercial, commercial, or CC0 licenses, depending on the image.
G2 rating and review:
This site is home to 138,000 free images. The site’s strength is in its texture and landscape photos. Interestingly, StockVault allows its contributors to earn money via online tipping and Google ads revenue.
Wikimedia Commons
Image Category: Over 100 million freely usable media files, including images, videos, and audio across all topics. These cover a wide range of topics, including nature, historical events, art, science, and public figures.
Key features: Free to use under Creative Commons or public domain licenses, collaborative platform.
Pricing: Wikimedia Commons is completely free to use, with no premium options. All content is available under public domain or free licensing agreements.
G2 rating and review:
This site has more than 70 million multimedia files under the CC0 license, which includes images, videos, and sounds. However, browsing the content might be a bit tricky, as not all files are high res. To update its content, Wikimedia Commons regularly holds a monthly photo contest.
Morguefile
Image Category: Offers a wide range of high-resolution stock photos across various categories like nature, business, and landscapes.
Key features: Completely free to use for personal and commercial projects, with no attribution required. Users can modify and use content contributed by a community of photographers.
Pricing: Free
G2 rating and review: 4.5/5.0 (2 Reviews)
Launched way back in 2006 by developer Michael Connors, Morguefile claims to have 400,000 free stock photos for commercial use. You can find photos submitted by amateur photographers in a more casual setting here (like photos of their children).
Uniquely, the site offers a classroom feature, a collection of articles to help beginner photographers level up their game.
Pikwizard
Image Category: Provides over 1 million high-quality stock images and videos in categories like abstract, nature, and business.
Key features: Free images and videos, customizable templates, integrated photo editor, no attribution required for personal and commercial use. Includes premium content linked to Adobe Stock.
Pricing: Free
G2 rating and review:
This site claims to provide more than 1 million free stock images and videos. It seems like people come here to download 4K background images, as it is the site’s most popular category. Uniquely, Pikwizard offers a free and simple photo editing tool (think mini Photoshop) to help users edit downloaded images.
Reshot
Image Category: Reshot provides a curated selection of non-generic, handpicked stock photos that cater to startups, freelancers, and creators. Categories include nature, lifestyle, business, and technology.
Key features: Completely free for commercial and editorial use, with no attribution required. The focus is on offering unique, authentic images that avoid the "stocky" look.
Pricing: Free
G2 rating and review:
This is an interesting place to find unique image assets. Reshot offers 25,000+ photos, 1,500+ illustrations, and 40,000+ icons for designers, all free of charge. While those numbers are considered small in the stock images landscape, the assets here look great and are high-quality.
Rawpixel
Image Category: Offers a diverse range of stock photos, PNGs, templates, mockups, vectors, and public domain images, with a focus on nature, business, and people to more creative and art-forward visuals.
Key features: Provides both free and premium resources, a Creative Studio for designing templates and mockups, and a strong focus on diversity. Public domain collections are also available for free.
Pricing: Rawpixel offers a free plan, which allows users to download 5 assets per day. Premium plans start at US$59.99 per year for personal use and US$119.99 per year for business use, offering unlimited downloads and additional features like cloud storage
G2 rating and review:
Rawpixel offers a diverse collection of high-quality stock images, focusing on creativity and inclusivity. The platform emphasizes providing visuals that represent a wide range of cultures, lifestyles, and experiences. In addition to its free image library, Rawpixel offers a premium membership for access to exclusive content and has collaborated with the Public Domain Archive to expand its collection of public domain images.
Picography
Image Category: High-resolution stock photos in categories like business, nature, food, technology, landscapes, and more.
Key features: Free images with a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license, making them free for both personal and commercial use without attribution.
Pricing: Picography is completely free to use with no paid plans or subscriptions
G2 rating and review:
Picography offers a curated collection of high-quality free stock photos. The site aims to provide visually striking images suitable for personal and commercial use. Picography features contributions from talented photographers worldwide, ensuring a diverse selection. The site also offers a premium service called Picography Pro, which provides access to exclusive images for a fee.
Tips to effectively search for free stock images
While free stock image platforms have become a go-to resource for creators, it's important to navigate them wisely. With so many options available, understanding the licensing and attribution rules of each site is key to avoiding potential legal pitfalls.
Sites like Unsplash, Pexels, and Pixabay offer royalty-free images for commercial and non-commercial use, but others may require attribution or have specific usage restrictions. It is very important to always review the terms before downloading, especially if you plan to use the images for marketing or advertising purposes.
To make your image search more efficient, fine-tune your approach with targeted keywords and filters. Many stock photo sites offer advanced search options, allowing you to filter images by color, orientation, or even specific licensing terms. This can save time and help you find visuals that better align with your content.
Additionally, optimizing images for the web is crucial to ensure fast load times and improve SEO performance. Tools like TinyPNG, Pixlr and ImageOptim can compress images without compromising quality, while platforms like Canva and Crello provide easy-to-use templates for customizing visuals to suit your brand.
Here are a few additional tips to enhance your image usage:
- Reverse image search: Use tools like Google Images or TinEye to verify the source of a photo and confirm proper usage rights, preventing unintentional copyright infringement.
- Leverage niche stock sites: Explore platforms like Nappy, which offers diverse imagery, or Reshot, which focuses on more unique and creative visuals that stand out from mainstream stock photos.
- Optimize for SEO: Batch compress your images before uploading to your site to improve page load times. This not only enhances user experience but also helps your site rank higher on search engines.
- Stay updated on licensing changes: Stock image platforms can change their licensing terms, so it's wise to revisit them regularly to ensure continued compliance.
By implementing these strategies, you can make the most of free stock image platforms, improving your content’s visual appeal without sacrificing performance or legality.
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Enricko Lukman