Do you need free images for your next website design or blog post?
You have landed in the right place. Today, we are going to tell you about some fantastic websites where you can find tons of perfect free photos for your needs.
Whether you’re a blogger, a designer, a marketer, or a business owner, you need images now and then. High-resolution imagery, when used aptly, makes a world of difference in how your blog or brand is perceived. But not everyone is a great photographer; neither can they afford to hire a photographer.
So what to do? Stock photography is the answer!
Stock photography has become an exceptional ally for bloggers, designers, and marketing staff. The number of websites offering free stock images is increasing at a fast pace. Presently, there are a huge number of free photo websites, but not all of them provide the much-needed quality and creativity.
For your ease, we have narrowed it down to the top 5 sites for free stock images in 2021.
Let’s dive right in.
1. Unsplash
Unsplash is ranked among the best sources for stock images for its extensive collection of free high-resolution pictures. The resource features cool and artsy clicks of pro and semi-pro photographers.
The best thing about Unsplash is the uniqueness of its photos. The curators vet all submissions and feature only the very best pictures on the website’s homepage. With a wide variety of images available to choose from, you won’t run into “cheesy” shots.
All images are published for free under their own custom license, which allows free use with no permissions or attribution required. However, it does not allow image compiling.
Reasons to Use Unsplash
- Consistently high quality
- No attribution required
- Handy search tool
- Mobile app available
2. Gratisography
Owned and run by web and graphic designer Ryan McGuire, Gratisography offers free high-resolution photos for personal and commercial projects. The pictures featured on the site are highly unique; far from the typical retail stock, you will find every here and there on the internet.
The Gratisography library has a remarkable collection of unique, high-quality photos, including around 500 photos taken by McGuire himself. The stock is updated every week.
These fun and surreal photos would fit perfectly in your social media posts, especially Instagram posts. You can also use these pictures for visual communications with young audiences.
All photos are released with a custom license under a custom license, similar to Creative Commons Zero (CC0).
Reasons to Use Gratisography
- Consistently high quality photos
- Fun, unusual images
- Free usage for commercial purposes
- No copyright restrictions
The only downside of Gratisography is its very small collection.
3. Pexels
Pexels is a free public domain offering hundreds of thousands of royalty-free stock photos from around the world. The high-resolution images available on the website are either submitted by photographers or are added from other free photo sites.
The best thing about Pexels is that it allows you to search for specific images as well as browse by themes. All the pictures are creative and original and are nicely tagged. There are a few cheesy and quirky photos as well, but that’s rare.
The site is particularly helpful for web or app designers. It has a fantastic collection of device images that can be used to display interface mockups. The resource also has a category dedicated to space photography.
All photos are free to download and use, licensed under Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.
Reasons to Use Pexels
- Rich collection
- Photos arranged by theme
- Easily searchable
- A Photoshop plugin
- Offers UI mockups for designers
4. Pixabay
Pixabay offers probably the largest collection of free stock photos and illustrations online. The website has a vast and highly diverse library of over one million royalty-free images, including vector graphics and illustrations.
The entire photo stock available at Pixabay is free to download. The high definition images are particularly suitable for professional use. The site also has a handful of videos.
The quality of photos is not as consistently high as you will find on Unsplash. But the huge library comes in handy when you can’t find a free stock photo anywhere else on the internet.
All the photos are published under Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.
Reasons to Use Pixabay
- Huge collection of images
- Offers illustrations and vector graphics
- No attribution required
- Handy search tool
The only minus about Pixabay is that it lacks consistency in quality.
5. Picjumbo
Picjumbo is the perfect place to find high definition free stock images for your commercial and personal works. The site hosts a selection of more than 2000 royalty-free photos to fit various topics for bloggers, designers, and social media users.
New pictures are added to the library almost daily, covering multiple popular themes, including fashion, technology, nature, abstract, and a lot more. People in the images are artistically portrayed without recognizable features.
All photos are free to download and use, published under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license. Stock images posted on Picjumbo can be browsed by either category or tag.
Reasons to Use Picjumbo
- Huge collection of images
- High quality
- No awkward, cheesy poses
- Frequently updated
- Useful for mockups
Final Words!
Before using images from one of these sites, make sure you go through their licensing information and terms and conditions. Also, try to avoid using images where people’s faces are visible as these images are usually not protected by the license on free photo sites.
With these five best places for free stock photos in 2021 available, you do not need to rely on cheesy stock photos anymore! These sites not only have high-quality photos but are also quite easy to navigate.. Good Luck!
