Introduction
With dozens of popular sites that provide free royalty-free photos and even more niche sites, it’s hard to choose which to use. Not all sites have the same variety or features. Many free sites require attribution for using their free assets, which may not be ideal for all projects. If you would like to know which top three sites we recommend, please read on to find the right one for you. The great thing about our suggestions is that you can use all the images for both personal and commercial purposes without attribution.
What can make it difficult to find the best websites?
There are hundreds of different sites that you can use to find free images. Platforms like Canva and Shopify provide images that are free to use for personal projects. Sites like freepik and pixabay also offer a wide variety of high resolution images suitable for graphic design. There are even more companies appearing with the mass adoption of AI-generated images, meaning even more sites to sift through. Each of these sites will have different licenses which you must consider prior to using anything from their collections.
What to look out for when picking sources of free photos
When choosing a free stock photo site, it’s essential to consider the type of free images you need and how you intend to use them. The best free stock photo resources allow you to find images easily that fit your project without the worry of copyright issues. Different sites might need to be used if you need stock photos for your website, versus projects that require printing them on physical products. Always ensure that every photo you select has clear usage rights; this will help you avoid legal complications. Exploring photos from the public domain can also yield stunning new photos that are perfect for your needs. You may want to look for sites that offer new old stock or vintage photos from the public archives, as these can add a unique touch to your work. Remember to check if the free stock images are under Creative Commons licenses, which dictate how you can use images.
Many sites that advertise themselves as free, aren’t completely free. It’s common to require payment to avoid having to provide attribution on the images. There are far fewer restrictions over using images for personal use, however, if you want images that can be used commercially, you will need to pay closer attention to licence terms. This is even the case for royalty-free images.
One of the biggest factors is the size of collection available on each site. Each site can have a drastically different size of stock photo library. It can also be difficult to understand what proportion of the collection is available for free.
With such a wide variety of free image sites, another factor that can influence which to use is how easily you can use their sites to find photos. Premium sites like iStock will have more tools to help you find what you need, other sites have very basic search features.
Pixabay.com
The most popular site on our list for free stock photos is PixaBay, attracting nearly 34 million visitors per month. While it may have the highest total number of visitors each month, it doesn’t take the top spot in the US or UK. Pixabay is set apart from the others on our list, as they offer the greatest variety of asset types. This means they are a good one stop shop for all the content you need, whether it is photos, vectors, videos or sound effects. With nearly 4.5 million assets contributed by a global community of photographers and artists, Pixabay caters to a wide range of creative needs, including commercially.
Pexels.com
At 32 million users per month, Pexels is the second most popular source of images for free from our list, but still isn’t the most popular in the US or the UK. It is, however, the most popular in India. Pexels is a standout among the best free royalty stock photo sites, offering an extensive and diverse collection of high-quality images that cater to a wide range of themes and topics. Boasting a user-friendly interface, Pexels makes it easy for bloggers, designers, and content creators to find visually appealing and professionally shot photographs for their commercial and personal projects.
Unsplash.com
Unsplash shows that making comparisons based solely on statistics has its limitations. With around 29 million monthly users, it might appear the least popular on our list. It also has the smallest image library. However, when considering popularity in specific countries like the US and UK, Unsplash outperforms the other two options. This suggests that Unsplash is doing something right.
