An image is worth a thousand words. It grabs attention, tells a story and makes content more shareable. If you want to attract attention, use images.
Looking for beautiful and free images through the web is a difficult and exhausting task. Most stock photos are not free but with have done some of the work for you.
In this article, we provide you with a list of the best free stock photos websites. You will find breathtaking photos you can use for your personal or commercial works.
Just a reminder: Most of the sites listed below are free from copyright restrictions or licensed under Creative Commons Zero. This means you can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. However, it may be possible that certain photos require attribution. In this case you can use the photo in any way you want, as long as you mention the creator of the photo.
Now, let’s dive right in.
Unsplash
Made by Crew, Unsplash is a collection of free high-resolution photos. Every 10 days, 10 new images are updated and all photos published on the website are licensed under Creative Commons Zero.
Pixabay
Pixabay is a repository for stunning public domain pictures. The website is available in 20 languages, so people all over the world will benefit from pictures. You can use all photos on Pixabay without attribution in digital and printed form, even for commercial applications.
Splitshire
As a Web Designer who knows how hard it could be to find quality photos, Daniel Nanescu made Splitshire, a collection of delicious free stock photos that everyone can use for personal and commercial work.
Little Visuals
Sign up with Little Visuals and get 7 hi-res images zipped up in your inbox every 7 days. Photos are released under the Creative Commons license public domain dedication, so you can use them as you want.
Picjumbo
Created by Victor Hanacek, Picjumbo is a collection of totally free photos for commercial and personal use. Photos are organized by a wide variety of categories such as abstract, people, nature, technology and much more.
Jay Mantri
Jay Mantri is a source of very nice photos on various themes. Every Thursday, the stock is updated with 7 new photos and all is under the Creative Commons Zero license.
New Old Stock
New Old Stock offers you a return to the past with a collection of vintage photos. All photos are from the public archives and free of known copyright restrictions.
Gratisography
Discover on Gratisography, free high-resolution pictures you can use on your personal and commercial projects. New awesome pictures are added weekly and are free of copyright restrictions. The website is made by Ryan McGuire of Bells Design.
Start-up Stock Photos
Created by Sculpt, the website is a recent and very useful free stock images that displays photos of people working in freelance or startup.
Life of Pix
Created by LEEROY Advertising Agency, Life of Pix is a source of free high-resolution photos with no copyright restrictions. New pictures are added weekly and all are donated to the public domain.
Death to Stock Photos
As a subscriber, you get 10 photos monthly in your inbox, you can use for your mockups, blog posts or social media. The main objective of the website is to help you create rich digital experiences that elevated your visual aesthetic.
Death to stock photos has their own license which is available on their webpage.
Picography
Made by Hidden Depth, Picography is a gallery of images taken by professional photographers. All photos are provided free of charge and under the Creative Commons Zero license, so you can use them however you like.
Kaboompics
KaboomPics is a collection of good quality photos offered to bloggers, website owners, social media ninjas and anyone. The website gives you an opportunity to browse through thousands of full resolution images, mostly 3888px or 5472px, which would satisfy any possible requirement. All photos are free for commercial and personal usage.
Foodiesfeed
Built by Jakub Kapusnak, an enthusiast food photographer, Foodiesfeed is the perfect stock photo for people who need incredible high resolution food photos for their personal or commercial use. You can download all photos without limitations and use them however you want. The website isn’t under the Creative Commons Zero license and the only condition is not to sell or resell pictures.
Snapographic
Captured by Thomas Mühl, all pictures on Snapographic are high-resolution and free of copyright restrictions (CC0 1.0 Universal). Photos are organized by category and you can use them on your personal and commercial projects for free.
As you can see, you don’t always need 123RF, Shutterstock or other paid stock photo service to find beautiful images. All the websites featured above are free and they provide you impressive and breathtaking images without charge. Attribution isn’t necessary for them, just appreciated! Browse through all the free stock photos websites in this list, download all images you want and insert them into your projects to create eye-catching design.
If you use any awesome free stock photo websites which have missed in this list, please add it in the comments.