35 Amazing Sites with Free Stock Photos (Ultimate Guide 2023)

35 Amazing Sites with Free Stock Photos (Ultimate Guide 2023)

Want to jump straight to the best site with free stock photos? Check out Visme.com.

When you think of stock photos, tacky images of smiling business people in suits may come to mind.

Or better yet, try Googling “awkward stock photos” to see some amazing, cringeworthy content.

All that aside, there are a ton of great sites providing amazing free stock photos for you to use.

If you want to learn how to start your blog or build a new website, you need attractive photos to pique your audience’s interest.

And free stock photos combined with photo editing software and photo management tools can make for excellent visual design.

In this guide, I cover the 36 best stock photo sites to start using today.

Let’s get started.

Disclosure: I may receive affiliate compensation for some of the links below at no cost to you if you decide to purchase a paid plan. You can read our affiliate disclosure in our privacy policy.

What Are the Best Free Stock Photo Sites?

After using tons of free stock photo sites for my blog, here are 36 incredible sites with free stock photos to choose from:

1. Visme.co.

Over 1,000,000 stock photos in high resolution

visme

Visme is a free infographic and presentation tool that features a massive library of high-resolution stock photos to choose from.

With millions of photos in a searchable library, you can find nearly any topic.

Whether you are creating infographics, professional presentations, or need stellar photos for your next social campaign, Visme has you covered.

Best For:

Visme features both portrait and landscape photos for anything from social media content to blog post headers.

License:

Royalty-free photos.

Licensed for commercial and non-commercial use.

Pros:

  • Portrait and landscape photos
  • Cutout photos
  • Searchable library
  • 1,000,000+ photos all in high-resolution
  • Photo-editor included tweaks photos to your goals and needs

Cons:

  • Filtering options could be better
  • Need to create an account to access

Get started with Visme.

2. Unsplash.

The internet’s source of freely usable images. Powered by creators everywhere

Sites With Free Stock Photos: Unsplash

Unsplash is one of the most popular stock websites on the internet and is dedicated to sharing photographs by various photographers across the world.

The best part is that anyone can join this website and become a contributor for free. It has more than 100,000 contributors and collates over 1 million curated photos. On top of that, over a billion Unsplash images have been downloaded worldwide.

Best For:

Images on Unsplash are great for blog post’s cover photos, ideation, and for academic projects.

License:

You can use the images for both commercial and non-commercial purposes for free. It grants worldwide, non-exclusive copyright license to everyone under Creative Commons License CC0.

Pros:

  • The images are entirely free of cost
  • Large repository (continuously growing)
  • Unsplash grants a non-exclusive, global copyright for the photos
  • High-resolution images
  • Partnered with BuzzFeed, Trello, and Squarespace

Cons:

  • Broad use of keywords is missing
  • Filtering option could be better

3. Depositphotos.

The stock platform with AI-powered search, curated collections of images, music, and video, as well as a library of 70,000 free files. 

Depositphotos. Royalty-free stock photos, vector images, videos and music

Depositphotos is one of the world’s leading platforms for stock photos, graphics, vectors, music tracks, and videos. Their library contains 222+ million files, including a curated selection of 70,000+ free files. New trending free photos are added weekly, often following seasonal marketing and visual trends.

Free images are available in high resolution and can be searched by keywords. You can create folders of favorite files to use as references, without having to download them. An AI-powered search engine helps you to save time while looking for content. You can use free images for commercial, editorial, personal creative projects, and derivative works. 

Best for:

A handy option for solo designers, small businesses with social media accounts or blogs, as well as educational and art projects. 

License:

Free images are royalty-free (Free License with Attribution). Licensed for commercial and non-commercial use without rights for reselling or further free distribution. This means that depending on the license involved, there might be attribution required when using these images.

Pros:

  • Curated trends-based libraries
  • Search in 20 languages
  • High-resolution images
  • User-friendly navigation and AI-powered search
  • “Add to Favorites” feature
  • Frequent free photo updates 

Cons:

  • Advanced search filters are available for paid users
  • Image search may take time due to a large number of files

4. Pixabay.

Over 1 million+ high-quality stock images and videos shared by a talented community

Sites With Free Stock Photos: Pixabay

Used by a billion people worldwide, Pixabay is an international stock photography website. With over a million photos in their directory, they offer images that are free from any copyright hassles and can be used anywhere for any purpose. Currently, it has more than 40,000 photographers in its database.

Best For:

Pixabay offers excellent images for academic and corporate presentations. You can also use the images for your blog posts, Ecommerce website, and more.

License:

Free and entirely open for access for commercial and non-commercial purposes. However, some activities like redistribution or selling someone else’s photos are not permitted.

Pros:

  • Offers vectors and videos along with images
  • Pixabay has more than a million photos stocked up
  • Comes with an in-built safe search feature that helps you avoid explicit and adult content

Cons:

  • The quality can be inferior sometimes
  • Pixabay’s image URLs don’t work on external websites

5. Flickr.

Unlimited Inspiration. Unlimited Passion

flickr

Founded in 2004, Flickr is an online stock photography website with more than 10 billion photographs and over 2 million groups. It aims to make photos available to anyone who needs them and to enable new ways of organizing photos and videos.

Best For:

Suitable for individuals and organizations that use social media posts to engage their customers. Moreover, it provides a great way to organize, edit, and share photos.

License:

Although many users choose to offer their work under the creative commons license, the terms vary for different images and photographers.

Pros:

  • Access to the free online storage medium of 1000 GB
  • Software is optimized for gesture control
  • Powerful editing functions available
  • Comprehensive photo management
  • Basic, free feature account available

Cons:

  • Doesn’t allow you to work offline
  • To use all the attributes of Flickr, you must take a ‘Pro’ subscription for $4.99 per month (if billed annually)

6. Pexels.

Free Stock Images & Videos Shared by Talented Creators

pexels

Pexels provides images completely free under the Creative Commons Zero license. With a directory of more than 100,000 photographs, you are sure to find what you are looking for with a simple search. The photos are categorized under different sections, including Black and White, Entrepreneur Life, Stripes, and more.

Apart from photographers who submit their photographs, the site also curates relevant images from free websites and pools them on to a common platform.

Best For:

Pexels has images for both commercial and personal uses and is perfect for presentations, online portals, social media posts, etc. The website is aimed at students who are looking for the best photographs for various presentations in academia.

License:

All photos are entirely free and you can use them for both commercial and personal purposes. Also, while attribution is appreciated, it is not mandatory.

Pros:

  • Offers more than 2000 free photographs
  • High-quality photos
  • Browse through and choose images by color

Cons:

  • Doesn’t offer a community

7. Scatter Jar.

Delicious free food photographs for creatives

Sites With Free Stock Photos: Scatter Jar

Scatter Jar is one of the few dedicated stock photography websites for food and culinary delectable on the internet. Photographs of delicious cuisines are uploaded every week. From soups to caviar, and from chocolates to cakes, this website presents you with everything that you may need.

Best For:

Excellent for food bloggers and individuals working in the food and beverage industry.

License:

All photographs are available free of charge, for both commercial and non-commercial uses. However, you aren’t permitted to redistribute the images.

Pros:

  • Ready to use graphic assets (templates, mockups, icons, graphics)
  • High-resolution photography
  • Easy to use the filter option on the website. You can either apply the filter based on old to new images or based on drinks, spices/herbs, street food, kitchenware, and more
  • Integrated with Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram

Cons:

  • Dedicated only to food and culinary items, which is not exactly a con but can be a downside for you if you are looking for different images.

8. Picjumbo.

Download royalty-free images, backgrounds and free high-resolution images for personal and commercial use

picjumbo

Established in 2013, today, Picjumbo is one of the largest stock photography websites in the world. The images are entirely free of cost and are used by millions all over the globe every day.

The best part is that images are appropriately categorized so that you can access the type of images you are looking for easily. Categories include animals, fashion, food & drink, sunlight, technology, and more.

Best For:

Individuals and businesses with diverse needs and hassle-free access to photos. Also great for students.

License:

You have full access to thousands of stock images for free of cost. However, some things aren’t permitted, like selling, reselling, or sharing photos.

Pros:

  • Comes with a unique “Test Drive” feature that lets users see in real-time how the images look in different capacities
  • Images can be tagged
  • High-quality resolution
  • Provides than 3000 free images
  • A diverse range of photography (food, business, travel, etc.)

Cons:

  • Doesn’t offer vector images
  • Specific images are not available for free (offered only on paid membership)

9. Getrefe.

Royalty-free, high-quality, natural-looking photos

Getrefe Homepage

Getrefe is one of the best websites for royalty-free, high-quality, and natural-looking photographs. Its motto is to help organizations bring ideas to life in a memorable manner. With Getrefe, you get a wide range of photo categories, including home, travel, lifestyle, nature, and much more.

Best For:

They provide high-quality images of human interaction with technology and thus are best for businesses that involve front-end client interaction.

License:

Photos sold on Getrefe can be used for commercial and non-commercial purposes after payment. You can also access some free images on the platform. However, they cannot be resold or redistributed.

Pros:

  • Offers high-quality images
  • Lots of options to choose from (the choice is not limited to technology, and includes categories like food, travel, and others)
  • You can become a seller on the platform (minimum payout is $50, you get 50% from each photograph that you sell)

Cons:

  • The free service offers limited options

10. Gratisography.

Creative, Trending Always-Free Photos

gratisography

If you are looking for creative and quirky free stock photos, then Gratisography has you covered. All the images are free for download, and there is no copyright issue.

What makes Gratisography stand out from other stock image sites on the internet is its emphasis on quality over quantity. Each photograph that you find on this free stock photo site tries to weave a unique story.

Best For:

Best used for community building activities using artworks. It is also perfect for use in academic and professional collaborative projects.

License:

It can vary from picture to picture. Some may be subject to intellectual property rights like copyright and trademarks, and prior permission is required before use.

Pros:

  • They offer promo codes
  • High-quality resolution
  • Highly creative photos for the tech-savvy user (cater to a specific audience)

Cons:

  • There’s no downside but just to let you know they don’t offer an affiliate program

11. Grallim.com.

Grallim Stock Photo Website

Grallim is another impressive, free online stock photography website. They offer a lot of variety with over 14 categories to choose from. The user interface is straightforward to use, facilitating an easy search of the photos that you need. The categories include animals, drinks, fitness, garden, and more.

Best For:

Best used for presentations and making demonstrations in professional or academic circles.

License:

All the images are free of cost. There’s no other information regarding the license on the official website.

Pros:

  • You can add text to the images
  • Crop and re-edit option
  • Can easily add the images to Powerpoint presentations

Cons:

  • Images are saved at 72 dpi to lower file size (high-resolution photos need to be purchased)

12. IM Free.

A large collection of free web design resources, all for commercial use

IM Free Stock Photos

IM Free is one of the best websites offering stock photography in the market for free at present. It offers a great variety of options, and the user interface is easy to navigate.

Best For:

It is best for individuals and businesses that have very diverse requirements.

License:

The images are open for commercial and non-commercial use, as long as they are not trademarked. If they are, you need prior permission. Reselling and redistribution of photos are not allowed.

Pros:

  • Fully integrated with social media sites (Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter)
  • Runs a good affiliate program
  • Offers high-resolution, quality pictures
  • Offers website templates as well

Cons:

  • Clicking on a lot of images leads you to the Flickr website

13. SplitShire.

Royalty-Free Stock Photos For Commercial Use

splitshire

With 1065 photos on the website, SplitShite allows you to download high-quality, free photographs without any registration.

It boasts of a unique collection of pictures that are not readily available elsewhere. SplitShire’s primary focus is on boosting creativity. Apart from the photographs, you get free videos, as well.

Best For:

SplitShire is perfect for businesses and individuals who emphasize more on the quality of the over the bulk quantity and require stock photos for commercial use.

License:

Photos are free to be used commercially. However, reselling or redistribution aren’t permitted.

Pros:

  • Offers quality over quantity
  • Also provides free video stock content
  • Covers more than ten categories, including wildlife, travel, lifestyle, technology, and more

Cons:

  • The choice is minimal (a little over 1000 photos)
  • Not for individuals with extensive and diverse requirements

14. Life of Pix.

Free high-resolution photography

lifeofpix

Life of Pix is one of the most popular photos websites on this list.

It engages its endorsers with awards like ‘Photographer of the Year,’ which encourages them to post excellent stock images and videos.

If you’re a regular user looking for images, you can create your own profile, personalize your photos, and follow your favorite photographers.

Best For:

Best for artists, designers, and illustrators. The images can be used in professional and academic settings. It’s also an excellent platform for budding photographers who are seeking recognition in the industry.

License:

Photos can be used for commercial and non-commercial use, but they do not allow reselling and mass distribution.

Pros:

  • Involves weekly additions of photographs
  • You can edit and modify the pictures
  • They hold weekly contests to award photographers, which serves as an incentive to share the best photographs
  • Offers free videos as well

Cons:

  • Relatively small repository of images (compared to other stock image sites)

15. StockSnap.io.

Beautiful free stock photos from photographer Ryan McGuire

stocksnap

StockSnap.io aims to make photos readily available to individuals and businesses, as per their specific needs. Finding the right photo can be challenging, and it tries to solve this very basic problem by providing popular categories like business images, beach images, and more. There are more than 10,000 images for every individual and need.

Best For:

Individuals and businesses with diverse and expansive needs, and those with social media business requirements.

License:

All the images are free from any copyright restrictions and can be used for both commercial and non-commercial purposes. That said, reselling and redistribution is not allowed.

Pros:

  • High-quality photos
  • Great for advertising on social media and blogging purposes
  • Entirely based on individual photograph submissions (vast range of variety of choice)

Cons:

  • Sometimes there may be trademark and intellectual property right infringement issues

16. MorgueFile.

High-quality images to enhance your next project

morguefile

MorgueFile is one of the best websites for stock photography and houses over 380,000 free photographs that are accessible by anyone. Apart from the photos, it also offers vectors, templates, and videos for free.

Best For:

MorgueFile is particularly useful for professional illustrators, comic book artists, and web designers. MorgueFile can also be used for educational purposes by teachers.

License:

It is a community based free photography site, and all the photos are free for both commercial and non-commercial uses. However, you cannot claim ownership of the images, or sell or redistribute them.

Pros:

  • Comes with user-friendly sorting options such as popular images, recent images, most downloads, and much more
  • Provides vectors, templates, and videos (apart from images)
  • Allows you to modify and customize images
  • High-resolution photographs

Cons:

  • Doesn’t offer categories to browse the images

17. RGBSTOCK.

100% free stock photos – more than 100,000 stock photos available

RGBSTOCK Photos

RGBSTOCK is one of the most popular websites for free stock photography and provides access to more than 100,000 photographs. It was founded by a group of photography and graphics enthusiasts and has managed to hold on to its heritage of providing the best in the business.

Best For:

Best suited for graphic and web designers, cartoonists, and comic designers.

License:

The images are free of cost. However, you cannot resell or redistribute the photographs.

Pros:

  • High-quality photographs
  • Over 100,000 photos in stock
  • Ability to search precisely the category of the photo you want (provides categories such as background, texture, food, and many others)
  • You can modify and edit the photographs as per your requirement

Cons:

  • You have to sign up with them before downloading any image
  • They have no control over the contributors to the website

18. Little Visuals.

Free, high-resolution images – Use them any way you want.

Little Visuals

Run by the family of a photographer who died in 2013, Little Visuals website is one of the best sites in the market when it comes to free stock photography.

It provides high-resolution photographs online for free of cost and has over 3.4 million users worldwide, with over 130,000 subscriptions.

Best For:

You can use it for various purposes like web design, graphic design, academic, and corporate presentations. It is endorsed by thousands of people from all walks of life and different professions.

License:

The images on the website are free for both commercial and non-commercial purposes.

Pros:

  • High-quality resolution pictures
  • Covers a wide range of topics (lifestyle, travel, food, beverages, and more)

Cons:

  • The photos are not updated

19. PikWizard.

High Quality, Free Stock Photos

pikwizard

PikWizard provides you access to over 1 million photos and videos. Some of the best photographers contribute to this website regularly – making it replete with the choicest video and photo collections.

Best For:

PikWizard is perfect for web designers, graphic designers, and cartoon artists. You can also use it for academic purposes.

License:

Most images are free for use. However, some of the pictures have copyright issues.

Pros:

  • With PikWizard, you get an online photo editor
  • Offers high-quality, high-resolution pictures
  • Over 1 million photos with categories like birthday images, nature images, diverse backgrounds, and much more

Cons:

  • Some photos have intellectual property rights, and you need to take permission before using them

20. Rawpixel.

rawpixel

Rawpixel is a popular stock photo website on the internet.

While they have a well-stocked free image collection, they also provide premium, paid membership plans. Apart from regular photos, you get vectors, logos, illustrations, and more.

On top of that, the images are categorized to make your search easier. Some categories include floral, technology, real people, monochrome, and more.

Best For:

Great for individuals who conduct business on social media and are involved in web and graphics designing.

License:

You can use the images for both commercial and non-commercial purposes. However, reselling and redistribution is not allowed.

Pros:

  • Offers high-quality pictures
  • You have the option to edit the images
  • User-friendly search and images are divided into numerous categories
  • Thousands of free images, PSD mockups, and vectors to choose from
  • Comes with a world-wide royalty-free license

Cons:

  • The free option allows only five photo downloads per day

21. Death to Stock Photos.

Get the most authentic stock photos, and videos; with unlimited downloads and new work added every month.

Death to Stock Photos

Death to Stock” is a unique, artist-owned corporation that provides authentic stock photos and videos.

They fund upcoming, talented artists to provide you with the most stunning and unique photos that you can find on the internet. With this free stock photo website, you get unlimited downloads. The best part is that they upload fresh content every month.

With the free plan, you get about 35 images each month. To download more images and have access to a more diverse library of images, you would need to upgrade to a paid membership. The paid plans start from $12 per month and go up to $399 (billed annually).

Best For:

Artists, entrepreneurs, and dreamers who want to add value to the world, whichever way they want.

License:

You have access to all their free material for commercial and non-commercial use, as long as you do not resell or redistribute.

Pros:

  • Very user-friendly user interface (for easy search)
  • Full access to more than 4500 photos
  • High-quality pictures
  • Integrated with Instagram, Facebook, and the Vimeo
  • 14-day full refund in case you don’t like the images offered (in case of paid subscriptions)

Cons:

  • Some of the best photos are accessible only through a paid subscription

22. Kaboompics.

FREE STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY + COLOR PALETTES

kaboomprics

Kaboompics is another impressive stock photography repository available in the market right now. With an easy user interface and intuitive search engine, you can get straight to what you want. The website offers thousands of stock photos – all for free.

Best For:

Great for use by web design and graphic design professionals. Primarily aimed at professionals who conduct business on social media.

License:

You can use the images for free for both commercial and non-commercial purposes, as long as there is no reselling and redistribution.

Pros:

  • Offers high-quality pictures (more than thousands of them)
  • Great filtering and coloring options (horizontal and vertical)
  • There are no advertisements, which enhances the user experience
  • You can edit the pictures

Cons:

  • If you are looking for massive variety, then you are likely to be disappointed

23. StockVault.

Free stock photos – new photos, textures & illustrations added every day!

StockVault

StockVault is an excellent stock photography website on the internet. With an inclination towards horror themes (cemetery, pumpkin, dark moon, and more), it also provides vectors along with photos.

The best part is that it contains an in-built photoshop tutorial for interested users. It is also one of the few stock websites with a wide variety of categories, including nature, people, industrial, and more.

Best For:

Perfect for artists and designers who require images for any creative purpose.

License:

The images are free of cost but subjected to image licensing. StockVault offers a license for commercial, non-commercial, and public domain use.

Pros:

  • Offers thousands of high-quality stock photos
  • If you are a photographer, you can upload an unlimited number of files
  • Provides free membership
  • Has a unique Photographer appreciation program for photographers who have uploaded more than 25 active files

Cons:

  • Users can get confused between 3 different types of licenses

24. New Old Stock.

Vintage photos from the public archives.

New Old Stock

New Old Stock is a unique stock image website that offers vintage stock photography online. The images are totally free of cost and provide you an opportunity to catch a slice of history.

Created on ‘Tumblr,’ New Old Stock provides photography of the bygone days, collected through crowdsourcing.

Best For:

It is perfect for artists and designers who are involved with subjects like history and political science. Excellent for demonstration in academics as well.

License:

Photos are available for personal as well as non-commercial use. Only some limited photos are available for commercial use.

Pros:

  • Very high-quality pictures
  • Nearly 2000 files available
  • Offers images that are difficult to find otherwise
  • You can optimize, crop, and edit the pictures
  • Minimum 1000 px width (maximum 1280 px)

Cons:

  • Images sometimes have intellectual property rights issues

25. LibreShot.

Free images, even for commercial use. – No watermark, no attribution!

libreshot

LibreShot is an online stock photography website that offers free images for commercial as well as personal use. It doesn’t have any watermark or necessitates any watermark, which makes it one of the best options on this list.

On top of that, it categorizes all the images based on a wide range of topics, including nature, architecture, people, technology, and more.

Best For:

Great for use by artists and web designers, along with academic purposes.

License:

Free for commercial and non-commercial use (unless protected by copyrights and trademarks, in which case permission is needed). You can’t resell or download the images in bulk.

Pros:

  • Very high-quality images
  • Great for social media use
  • You can edit and modify the images

Cons:

  • Not all photos are available for commercial use
  • You can’t hotlink images from libreshot.com (must upload it to the server)

26. ISO Republic.

Thousands of Free High-Resolution CC0 Photos and Videos

ISO Republic

An excellent website for free stock photography, ISO Republic provides users access to thousands of high-resolution photos and videos. It provides an easy sign-up method whereby the images of your choice are directly delivered to your inbox.

Best For:

Best used by professional artists and designers. The images are especially useful for corporate and academic presentations.

License:

The images and videos are free to be used for commercial and non-commercial purposes. However, no reselling or redistribution is allowed.

Pros:

  • High-quality pictures
  • Offers a wide variety of image categories, including nature, travel, food, and more
  • Aside from stock images, ISO Republic also offers videos
  • You can edit and modify the images

Cons:

  • Some photos may contain copyright and trademark issues, which may get a bit confusing initially

27. Freerange.

Great photos. Totally free.

Freerange Free Stock Photos

Freerange is another excellent website for online stock photography. Essentially run by crowdsourcing, it also produces images in-house. It comes with a very easy search option for the types of images you want.

Best For:

It has a vast collection of images that can be useful for professional artists and designers, as well as used in the academic circles.

License:

The images and videos can be used for both commercial and non-commercial purposes, without any reselling or redistribution.

Pros:

  • High-quality images (2400 X 1600 pixels)
  • You can edit and customize the photos
  • Focuses on photographic documentation

Cons:

  • According to online reviews, some of the photos are ‘not that great’

28. Styled Stock.

Feminine Stock Photography – Beautiful FREE styles images for your projects

styledstock

If you are looking for feminine stock photos on the internet, then Styled Stock has you covered. Aside from providing a wide range of options, it comes with a good search engine option to locate the type of image you want.

Best For:

Designers and artists who are looking for feminine photos or images related to women’s fashion industry. It is also useful for organizations championing women’s rights on social media.

License:

You are allowed to use the images for commercial and non-commercial purposes, but you cannot resell or redistribute them without the permission of the concerned photographer.

Pros:

  • Good quality photos
  • Can be edited and modified
  • Provides an excellent color filtering option

Cons:

  • The variety of images is limited
  • Most of the images are paid

29. Skitterphoto.

A place to find, show, and share public domain photos

Skitterphoto

Skitterphoto is an online stock photography website where you can find as well as share public domain photographs. Most of the images are crowdsourced from budding photographers.

Best For:

Great for artists and designers looking for access to a wide variety of images. It’s suitable for academic purposes as well.

License:

Images can be used for commercial and personal purposes, but cannot be resold or redistributed.

Pros:

  • High-quality images
  • You can edit, crop, and modify the pictures
  • Provides different categories of images, which makes it easier to browse

Cons:

  • There may be some copyright issues with some images, which is very rare though

30. NegativeSpace.

NegativeSpace

NegativeSpace provides beautiful, CC0 licensed stock photography for personal and commercial use. A lot of the images are curated through crowdsourcing.

Best For:

Perfect for artists and web designers who want access to high-quality images delivered directly to their email addresses without anything going to the spam folder.

License:

All photographs and raw image files are licensed under the CC0 license. You can use them for any commercial and personal purposes, but reselling or redistribution isn’t allowed.

Pros:

  • High-quality photos
  • Provides a search option, which makes it easier to browse the images
  • Comes with an in-built color filter
  • You can edit, crop, and modify all the images

Cons:

  • Can run into copyright trouble with image owners

31. Good Stock Photos.

Free to use anywhere for personal or commercial projects

goodstockphotos

Good Stock Photos is one of the lesser-known stock photography websites on the internet. It offers a wide range of categories for photographs.

Significant categories include nature, people, architecture, activities, and more. These categories have further sub-categories, which makes it even easier for you to browse the type of images you are looking for.

Best For:

The images on Good Stock Photos are best suited for use on social media, academic projects, blogs, and artistic illustrations. The photos are particularly useful for small and medium-sized business agencies.

License:

You can use the photos for commercial and non-commercial purposes. But you cannot sell, redistribute, or claim them as your own original work.

Pros:

  • Very high-quality images
  • You can edit, crop, modify the photos and sell them to make some money
  • No copyright issue

Cons:

  • Plenty of advertisements on the website, which hampers user-experience

32. Startup Stock Photos.

Startup Stock Photos

Startup Stock Photos is an online stock photography website that is dedicated to providing photos for start-ups, small businesses, and entrepreneurs. What’s more, most of these are accessible for free. However, quite a few of them require a paid subscription.

Best For:

As the name suggests, Startup Stock Photos is excellent for budding entrepreneurs and new businesses trying to make an impact in the business world. It offers a wide variety of images to grab attention on social media platforms and blog posts.

License:

Images can be used for commercial and non-commercial purposes, but cannot be resold or redistributed.

Pros:

  • High-quality images
  • The site is dedicated to entrepreneurial and start-up initiatives

Cons:

  • The user interface is not very friendly since there’s no search option present

33. FreePhotos.cc.

Freephotos.cc

FreePhotos.cc is one of the best online stock photography websites currently available in the market. It uses the API from some of the best stock photography websites and pools the images to provide you with the best.

What I liked best about FreePhotos.cc is that it offers a wide range of image categories to make your search a lot easier.

Best For:

Great for bloggers, artists, illustrators, and individuals with an artistic inclination. The images can also be used for academic presentations.

License:

All the images are free to use for commercial and personal purposes. However, you cannot claim someone else’s work as your own or resell and redistribute them.

Pros:

  • In-built photo editor
  • High-quality images
  • Has a search option and a wide range of categories
  • Links to some of the best websites for the most exceptional content

Cons:

  • The website mostly curates images from other websites; exclusive content is limited

34. Dreamstime.

115 million stock images, the world’s largest stock community, 27 million users.

Dreamstime

With more than 27 million users and over 115 million stock images, Dreamstime is one of the largest online stock photography websites.

It crowdsources and buys pictures, and allows the best photographer to earn a significant revenue (up to 60%) upon the sale of their content.

Best For:

Dreamstime’s high-quality images make things easier for bloggers, designers, and illustrators. It’s also great for budding photographers to sell their content and earn revenue.

License:

You can access the free images, or buy any image you want. They can be used for many purposes, but cannot be resold or redistributed.

Pros:

  • High-quality images
  • Aside from images, it offers vectors, illustrations, audio, video, and editorials
  • Provides a search option

Cons:

  • You have to pay to use some of the images on the site

35. BigFoto.

bigfoto

BigFoto operates via crowdsourcing and constantly gets updated. Amateur photographers contribute most of the images.

Best For:

Best used for bloggers, artists, authors, and designers who can make do with amateur photographs. It can be useful in academics and also for promotion on social media.

License:

All the images are free for both commercial as well as non-commercial use.

Pros:

  • You can start using images without any registration
  • Images are highly organized with proper categories
  • All photo galleries accompany traveling tips
  • Trademark rules are not stringent

Cons:

  • Photo quality may not always be excellent (most photos are submitted by amateur photographers)
  • Images are not regularly updated

Note: other tools not yet on this list include Shutterstock (paid) and Shopify Burst.

What Are Free Stock Photos?

Free stock photos are readily available photos on the internet for use by anyone free of cost. Different images have different copyright requirements, but by and large, they are stored in various repositories that can easily be accessed online.

So which site should you choose for the best photos? The choice can be tough.

Free Stock Photos – FAQ

Which popular photos are available for free?

There are a number of popular photos that are available for free. These include images of nature, people, and architecture.

Some of these can be found in wallpapers, clip art, and royalty-free libraries.

What is the quality of these free photos?

The quality of free stock photos can vary, as they are often taken by amateur photographers. However, there are some high-quality images available, and many of these can be found in royalty-free libraries. Some of the most popular images are even reshot to be better.

This means that the quality of the photo can be quite good, depending on what you are looking for and the site it’s on.

Sites With Free Stock Photos — That’s a Wrap.

With so many options available online, making the right choice for stock photos can be tough. A good way to choose your favorite stock photo site is by testing them out and searching multiple different ones for the images you need.

To avoid copyright issues or any other legal trouble, make sure that you read the licensing policy carefully before downloading the images.

Whether you’re starting a business, creating a presentation, or just need some design inspiration, make sure to check out these free stock photo sites.

Did I forget to mention any site with free stock photos? Let me know in the comment section below.

Disclosure: I may receive affiliate compensation for some of the links below at no cost to you if you decide to purchase a paid plan. You can read our affiliate disclosure in our privacy policy. This site is not intending to provide financial advice. This is for entertainment only.