Digital marketing

162 websites for free stock photos & images

A photographer taking an up close photo for a stock image library

Finding the perfect free stock photos for any creative project can be a nightmare. You can spend hours searching for websites providing images that only just meet your visual criteria. Then you have to check attribution details, copyright licenses and if you can even download images in the size you need.

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Fortunately, you can now quickly find the perfect source of free images for your project using our detailed list of the 162 best free stock photos websites in existence, enjoy! As the list is gigantic you can also find detailed notes on how to search and use it efficiently to find what you’re looking for at the bottom of this post. Before going through the list, you can also check out Creative Fabrica for awesome stockphotos.

1. Pixabay

Rating: 49/50
Image quality: 10, Library size: 10, Licensing: 10, Freshness: 10, Ease of use: 9

Pixabay is the perfect website for designers and marketers, with well over 1,000,000 free stock images, vectors and illustrations. It is easy to use, is extremely well categorised and even has mobile applications if you’re on the move. They also have a forum for requests and a regularly updated blog covering design, marketing and stock.

Categories: Travel, Vacation, Religion, Beauty, Fashion, Music, Animals, Business, Finance, Food/Drink, Nature, Landscapes, Science, Technology, Transportation, Traffic, Places, Monuments, Industry, Craft, Education, Backgrounds, Textures, Sports, People, Health, Medical, Computer, Communication, Architecture, Buildings
Library size: Very large (1,010,000+ images)
Media types: Photos, Illustrations, Vector Graphics, Videos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image size: 1920px
License: Creative Commons Zero (Free for personal or commercial use)
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

2. StockSnap.IO

Rating: 46/50
Image quality: 8, Library size: 8, Licensing: 10, Freshness: 10, Ease of use: 10

StockSnap has an extensive range of free high-resolution images and publishes hundreds more each week. Their site is easy to use, and they also have a ranking system that uses views and downloads to allow you to find the most popular / best free images quickly. The only downside is that most of the images are quite large (1mb+). If you need these for a website or digital project you’ll need to compress them first!

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Categories: General, Nature, Business, People
Library size: Medium/large (50,000+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2000px
License: Creative Commons Zero (Free for personal or commercial use)
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

3. Pexels

Rating: 45/50
Image quality: 9, Library size: 7, Licensing: 10, Freshness: 9, Ease of use: 8

Pexels is one of the best quality free stock photo libraries we’ve come across. It’s incredibly easy to search, recommendations are excellent, and it’s well tagged, meaning it’s quite straightforward to find the image you’re looking for. It’s also updated with 3,000 new images each week.

Categories: Nature, Wallpapers, Beach, Flower, Back and White, Dogs, City, NYC, Desert, Cars, Christmas, People, Business, Technology, Landscape, Winter, Sunset, Public Domain, Desktop Wallpapers, Ice Cream, Crowd, Notebook, Fruit, Desk, Smile, Study, Cooking, Social Media, Family, Table, Desk, Laptop, Paint, Clothes, Shoes, Grass, Rain, birthday, Clock, Medical, Blur, Tools, Abstract, Architecture, Tablet, Vintage, Vacation
Library size: Large (50,000+ images)
Media types: Photos, Videos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 4000px (Also any custom size you want depending on original image aperture)
License: Creative Commons Zero (Free for personal or commercial use)
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

4. Unsplash

Rating: 44/50
Image quality: 10, Library size: 8, Licensing: 8, Freshness: 10, Ease of use: 8

Unsplash is an aggregation of high-quality stock photos from independent photographers across the world. Unsplash has a simple search feature and it’s a good place to find photographs by group. Everything is completely free and regularly updated. If you sign up for the newsletter, you can also get ten free photos every ten days delivered to your inbox.

Categories: General
Library size: Large (30,000+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3000px
License: Completely free to use seemingly with restrictions (Detailed license here)
Attribution: Not required but it’s appreciated (the site specifically asks to cite the photographer whenever you can)
Source type: Image website

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5. AVOPIX

Rating: 43/50
Image quality: 9, Library size: 10, Licensing: 9, Freshness: 6, Ease of use: 9

AVOPIX provides a significant collection of 155,000+ photos, illustrations, and vectors that are completely free to use. The site also has just about the right number of categories, so it’s quick to find the best images.

Categories: Animals, Abstract, Architecture, Buildings, Backgrounds, textures, Beauty, Fashion, Business, Finance, Computer, Communication, Education, Emotion, Food & Drink, Industry and Craft, Life, Music, Nature and Landscapes, People, Places, Monuments, Sports, Science, Technology, Things, Travel, Vacation
Library size: Large (155,000+ images)
Media types: Photos, Illustrations, Videos, Vectors
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG, AI, EPS, SVG, PNG
Average image width: 2000px
License: Creative Commons Zero (Free for personal or commercial use)
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

6. Foter

Rating: 41/50
Image quality: 5, Library size: 10, Licensing: 6, Freshness: 10, Ease of use:10

Foter has a database of 300 million plus Public Domain photos. Quality does vary from high to low, but with the huge selection, you should be able to find what you need. Most of these images are from Flickr so they’re mostly free to use and are Public Domain but make sure to check images for different licenses.

Categories: Vintage, Sports, Technology, Outdoor, People, Religion, Holidays, Interiors, Nature, Education, Food, Fashion, Buildings, Celebrities, Business, Art, Animals, Abstract
Library size: Very large (300 million+ images)
Media types: Photos, Graphics
Resolution: Low to high
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3000px
License: Public Domain
Attribution: Varies, check individual image for details
Source type: Image website

7. BURST

Rating: 41/50
Image quality: 10, Library size: 4, Licensing: 10, Freshness: 7, Ease of use: 10

BURST contains a small but very high-quality collection of images and photos. The site was built and is run by Shopify. It’s aimed at supplying images for e-commerce businesses and entrepreneurs in general. Most of the photographs images are actually from Shopify, shot in-house, making them somewhat unique as stock imagery goes! There’s also a section on business ideas/guides covering starting an e-commerce business or online store.

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Categories: Coffee, Fitness, Woman, Fashion, Man, Yoga, Flowers, Business, Music, Urban, Nature, Summer, Baby, Food, Hands, Product, iPhone, Laptop, Couple, Wine, Jewellery, Architecture, City, Office, Dog, Computer, Animal, Travel, Cat, Breakfast, Love, Sky, Adventure, Sunset, Ocean, Beach, Easter
Library size: Small (1000+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 4000px
License: Free for personal and commercial use (No royalties, no payment for images– Shopify seems to be on a goodwill marketing streak!)
Attribution: None required
Source type: Image website

8. FREERANGE

Rating: 40/50
Image quality: 7, Library size: 10, Licensing: 8, Freshness: 7, Ease of use: 8

As FREERANGE says about their site: “Great photos. Totally free.” It’s also very well presented, easy to search and the images are well tagged. They also seem to have some real credibility as they have been featured on many major online publications, e.g. TNW, INC., Huff Post… If you’re a publisher like us, there’s also a news and editorial category which is perfect for blog images!

Categories: Editorial and News, Animals and Insects, Architectural Details, Art & Music, Backgrounds, Textures, Business, Office, Cities, Modern Life, Interiors, Flowers, Plants, France, Food, Drink, Health and Fitness, Holidays, Occasions, Industry, Agriculture, Landscapes, Nature, Letters and Numbers, Objects, Military, People, Signs, Symbols, Sky’s, Clouds, Space, Sports, Recreation, Technology, Travel, Vacation, Transportation, Vintage, Wallpapers
Library size: Medium (110,000+ images)
Media types: Photos, Illustrations, Vectors, Graphics
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1000px
License: Most images you can use for any commercial or personal purpose
Attribution: Usually not required, check each image
Source type: Image website

9. Stockvault

Rating: 40/50
Image quality: 7, Library size: 8, Licensing: 10, Freshness: 8, Ease of use: 7

Stockvault is a free image, objects, and renders community where photographers upload and share their artwork. They also have an unusually broad range of textures useful to use as website backgrounds. The site is very easy to navigate and everything’s under Creative Commons, so there are lots of royalty free images to download!

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Categories: Constructions, Animals, Industrial, Nature, Objects, People, Seasonal, Transportation
Library size: Medium/large (60,000+ images)
Media types: Photos, Graphics, Illustrations, 3D renders
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
License: Creative Commons Zero (Free for personal or commercial use)
Average image width: 1920px
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

10. Visualhunt

Rating: 37/50
Image quality: 5, Library size: 10, Licensing: 8, Freshness: 6, Ease of use: 8

Visualhunt has an extensive database of 116,892 Creative Commons images. The majority of the images are extremely high quality. The site also provides access through their search portal to a further 350 million photos in the Public Domain, which can be embedded or followed directly to the source for download.

Categories: Apple, Beach, Books, Business, Car, Cat, Christmas, City, Coffee, Computer, Dog, Fashion, Flower, Food, Happy, Love, Music, Nature, Office, Party, People, Romance, Sea, Sky, Snow, Technology, Travel, Tree, Women, Work
Library size: Very large (116,000+ images)
Media types: Photos, Illustrations, Graphics
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG, SVG, EPS, AI, PSD
Average image width: 3200px
License: Public Domain/Creative Commons
Attribution: Check the individual image you want to use or download for details
Source type: Image website

11. Freeimages.red

Rating: 40/50
Image quality: 9, Library size: 5, Licensing: 10, Freshness: 8, Ease of use: 8

 

Freeimages is a Swiss website launched in 2015. It has a great collection of photos, vectors and images for many types of creative projects. It’s easy to search and the images are visually categorised very well.

Categories: Abstract & Texture, Urban, Transport, Things, Sports, Animals, Backgrounds, Business/Finance, Religion, Peoples, Nature, Music, Love, Landscape, Interiors, Industry, Historical, Food, Fashion, City & Architecture
Library size: Small (4,426+ images)
Media types: Photos, Vectors, Graphics, Audio, Video
Resolution: Ultra high (4K available on most)
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3000px
License: Creative Commons Zero (Free for personal or commercial use)
Attribution: Varies depending image, check each
Source type: Image websited

12. FREEIMAGES

Rating: 39/50
Image quality: 6, Library size: 10, Licensing: 7, Freshness: 7, Ease of use: 9

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FREEIMAGES has a vast collection of photos, graphics and illustrations coupled with a perfect search function. It’s also extremely well categorised, saving you a lot of time when looking for media and images.

Categories: Textures, Patterns, Signs & Symbols, Religion, Outdoor activities, Landscapes, Nature, Home designs, Transportation, Sports, Fitness, Science, Technology, People, Families, Health, Medical, Games, Cartoon, Fashion, Beauty, Celebrities, Automotive, Army, Weapons, Animals, Wildlife, Movies, Music, Industrial, Holiday & Festivals, Gourmet Food, Drinks, Flowers, Trees, Education, Business, Finance, Arts & Design, Architecture
Library size: Large (390,004+ images)
Media types: Photos, Illustrations, Graphics
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG, PNG, GIF
Average image width: 3000px
License: Typically, Creative Commons but check individual images
Attribution: Usually not required, check the individual image for details
Source type: Image website

13. 55MM

Rating: 39/50
Image quality: 10, Library size: 1, Licensing: 10, Freshness: 8, Ease of use: 10

55MM is a site made up of great photographs from professional photographers. The gallery contains some fantastic macro and close-up shots of objects alongside cityscapes. It’s small but it has beyond typical free image stock quality and curation.

Categories: Camera, Object, New York, Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty
Library size: Very Small (45+ photos)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 5000px
License: Creative Commons Zero
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

14. Negative Space

Rating: 38/50
Image quality: 9, Library size: 6, Licensing: 10, Freshness: 7, Ease of use: 6

 

Releasing 20 new high definition photos each week, Negative Space already offers an 8,000+ image library with an easy to use search function. Most of the photos are exceptionally shot but they’re pretty eclectic, so expect a real mix of themes.

Categories: Technology, Office, Landscapes, People, Space, Objects, Food
Library size: Small (8,000 + images)
Media types: Photos, Videos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 4000px
License: Creative Commons Zero (Free for personal or commercial use)
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

15. THE MET

Rating: 38/50
Image quality: 6, Library size: 10, Licensing: 4, Freshness: 9, Ease of use: 8

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The Museum of Metropolitan Art has an extensive online gallery, comprised of high definition photos of their collections and objects. Much of the gallery is in the Public Domain and you can filter by location, era, type, object type and culture.

Categories: Object Type, Artist, Culture, Geographic, Department, Era
Library size: Very large (446,763+ images)
Media types: Photos, Illustrations
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3000px
License: Public Domain
Attribution: Not required but appreciated
Source type: Museum website (USA)

16. Flickr

Rating: 38/50
Image quality: 5, Library size: 10, Licensing: 4, Freshness: 10, Ease of use: 9

Flickr is arguably an image sharing platform, but it also happens to be the biggest free image site on the planet with a database containing nearly 400 million photos licensed under various types of Creative Commons. The only problem with Flickr is it’s too big, you could spend years searching for the right image even with its extremely advanced search engine.

Many sites on this list spend time sourcing the best images from Flickr, so it’s probably best to let them find images for you unless you have serious time on your hands or actually can’t find a picture elsewhere!

Categories: General
Library size: Supermassive (390 million+ images)
Media types: Photos, Illustrations, Graphics
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG, PNG…
Average image width: Too many images to average
License: Attribution License, Attribution-NoDerivs License, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, Attribution-NonCommercial License, Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License, Attribution-ShareAlike License, Public Domain Dedication (CC0), Public Domain Mark
Attribution: Depends on the license used
Source type: Community website

17. Foodshot.co

Rating: 38/50
Image quality: 10, Library size: 2, Licensing: 10, Freshness: 10, Ease of use: 6

FSh is a regularly updated food community photo site dedicated to providing professional grade food photography. Every image is screened, making sure only the best quality food images appear on the site.

Categories: Food, Peas, Cucumber, Coffee Beans, Jam, Chutney, Bear, Raspberry’s, Eggs, Pineapple, Muffin, Gnocchi
Library size: Very small (300+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: Ultra-high
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 5000px
License: Creative Commons Zero (Free for personal or commercial use)
Attribution: None required
Source type: Community website

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18. FREEEPY

Rating: 37/50
Image quality: 10, Library size: 4, Licensing: 8, Freshness: 8, Ease of use: 7

FREEEPY is a community site with a limited selection of images from photographers who license under Creative Commons. The site is regularly updated, but sadly, you’re required to share an image on Facebook before downloading (not that we advise it, but if you click share, click off the Facebook box that opens, you can still download the image without sharing).

Categories: Landscapes, Animals, City, Babies, Bicycles, Camera, Wolves, Joy, Presents, Tiger
Library size: Small (2,040+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3000px
License: Creative Commons Zero
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Community site

19. SNAPWIRE SNAPS

Rating: 37/50
Image quality: 9, Library size: 3, Licensing: 9, Freshness: 10, Ease of use: 6

A community-driven photo Tumblr from Snapwire. Most of the images are Creative Commons and it’s regularly updated with seven new high-grade Public Domain photos each week.

Categories: Ice Cream, Boats, Gratitude, Fall, Silhouettes, Cooking, Urban, Camping, Wedding, Treats, Couples, Farm Life, Spring, Business, Smile!, Winter, Technology, The Cool, Lifestyle, Coffee, Open Space Nature, Fitness, Kids, Fashion, Travel, Food, Friends, Patriotic, Family, Beauty, Portraits, Education, Medical, Summer, Swimming, Fireworks, Winter Holidays, Wildlife, Eyes, Dramatic Skys, Tattoos, Shapes, Millenials, Color
Library size: Small (952+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3800px
License: Mostly Creative Commons Zero
Attribution: Generally not required but check each photo
Source type: Tumblr blog

20. Freestock

Rating: 37/50
Image quality: 8, Library size: 5, Licensing: 8, Freshness: 7, Ease of use: 9

Freestock provides a growing collection of curated photos, vectors, videos and much more for free. It’s also very well designed and the image quality is outstanding across the board.

Categories: Outdoor Activities, Black & White, Room for Text, Places, Food, Animals, Health & Wellness, Technology, Education, Business
Library size: Small (5,000+ images)
Media types: Photos, Vectors, Icons, Videos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 4000px
License: Free forever (More details here)
Attribution: You must cite Freestock.com
Source type: Image website
Link/credit for image: Freestock.com

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21. Wikimedia

Rating: 37/50
Image quality: 5, Library size: 10, Licensing: 7, Freshness: 10, Ease of use: 5

Wikimedia contains one of the largest free photo galleries on the web, covering every topic you can imagine. Be prepared to spend a lot of time finding an image on Wikimedia! To speed things up, you can search for and filter images by name, category, aspect ratio, century, continent, country, dimension, file format, language, location, medium, region, resolution, source, technical criteria and usage.

Categories: Culture, Economics, History, Materials, Nature, Objects, Philosophy, Society, Science, Engineering
Library size: Very large (10,000,000+ images)
Media types: Photos, Videos, Graphics, Illustrations
Resolution: Low to high
File formats: PNG, RAW, SVG, TIFF, WebP, XCF, PDF, JPEG, GIF, DjVu
Average image width: 3000px
License: Creative Commons
Attribution: Varies, check the individual image for details
Source type: Community website

22. New York Public Library

Rating: 37/50
Image quality: 7, Library size: 10, Licensing: 7, Freshness: 7, Ease of use: 7

The New York Public Library is famous across the world. Thanks to their digitisation process, nearly 1 million images of items from their collection are now freely available to download (180,000 are Public Domain). In particular, they have some fantastic illustrations from the last few centuries. It’s easy to search but not as well categorised as it could, you’ll spend some time looking for what you need (it’s regularly updated, and there are many more photos to follow!).

Categories: Public Figures, History, Military Uniforms, Streets, Clothing & Dress, Exhibitions, Women, Real Property, Birds, Cities, Towns, Fire Insurance, Parks, Men, Flowers, Hats, Botany, Theatre, Antiquities, Buildings, Structures, African Americans, Jewish, Apartment Houses, Art, Hotel, Books Jackets, Decoration, Ornament, Documentary Photography, Doors…
Library size: Large (1,000,000+ images)
Media types: Photos, Illustrations, Manuscripts, Videos, Prints
Resolution: Low to high
File formats: JPEG, TIFF
Average image width: 4000px
License: Check each image for license details
Attribution: Check each image for attribution details
Source type: Library website (USA)

23. Skuawk

Rating: 36/50
Image quality: 10, Library size: 3, Licensing: 10, Freshness: 6, Ease of use: 7

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Skuawk is a micro library of Public Domain photos and it’s regularly updated. They also have a colour extractor onsite to find out what colours are being used in images. Unfortunately, there is no keyword search making it more difficult than usual to find photos.

Categories: Sport, Space, Food, Business, Back to School, Shapes & Architecture, Music & Sound, Nostalgia, Landscapes, Urban, Technology, People, Objects, Wildlife
Library size: Small (680+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2400px
License: Public Domain (Free to use)
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

24. kaboompics

Rating: 36/50
Image quality: 9, Library size: 5, Licensing: 7, Freshness: 8, Ease of use: 5

kaboompics has a marvellous but fairly small collection of stock photos. It also has easy navigation by categories and a search engine that allows you to search by colour.

Categories: Lifestyle, Food, Drinks, People, Interiors, Animals, Beauty & Fashion, Travel, Nature, Technology, Urban, Things, Business, Home Decor
Library size: Small (4,710+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 4000px
License: Different on each photo, mostly free for personal & commercial use
Attribution: Required
Source type: Image website

25. rgbstock

Rating: 36/50
Image quality: 4, Library size: 10, Licensing: 8, Freshness: 7, Ease of use: 7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

rgb has one of the biggest free stock image banks online with over 100,000 images. There’s one catch: to download high definition images you need to create a free account, but it’s not that painful of a process. They also have a vast range of vectors and graphics for any design/marketing needs.

Categories: Abstract, Business, Architecture, Computers, Concepts, Food, Nature, Objects, People, Places, Seasonal and Events, Street, City, Transportation, World
Library size: Medium/large (100,000+ images)
Media types: Photos, Vectors, Graphics
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG, SVG, EPS
Average image width: 3000px
License: Creative Commons (Specific CC license varies photo to photo)
Attribution: Varies image to image, check
Source type: Image website

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26. jay mantri

Rating: 35/50
Image quality: 10, Library size: 1, Licensing: 10, Freshness: 5, Ease of use: 9

jay mantri is a seemingly brilliant photographer posting breath-taking original pictures every few months (he was previously much more active 2 years ago). Regarding image themes and topics, he typically covers nature.

Categories: Pillows, Water, Ocean, Elephant, City, Tunnel, Boat, Beach
Library size: Tiny (60+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 4000px
License: Creative Commons Zero
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Travel blog/Photoblog

27. FREE STOCK PHOTOS

Rating: 35/50
Image quality: 9, Library size: 3, Licensing: 9, Freshness: 4, Ease of use: 10

FREESTOCKPHOTOS.ORG is the creation of HubSpot, an inbound marketing company. The site provides free and high-quality stock photos for marketing purposes. It’s small but there are particularly good photos covering employees and office scenes.

Categories: Accessories, Office, City, Hanukkah, Mobile, Laptop, People, Textures, Animal, Employees, Nature, Sports, Thanksgiving, New Years, Technology, Transportation, Christmas, Halloween, Office Supplies, Miscellaneous
Library size: Small (500+ images)
Media types: Images, Videos, Music, Icons
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3000px
License: Free to use, all image copyright is waived by Hubspot (No royalties! No limited rights!)
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

28. Foodiesfeed

Rating: 35/50
Image quality: 9, Library size: 4, Licensing: 7, Freshness: 8, Ease of use: 7

Foodiesfeed provides fantastic close-up photos of food, dinner, lunch and breakfast. The collection although small is good enough to have been downloaded nearly 1 million times.

Categories: Food, Burgers, Fruit, Salmon, Coffee, Toast, Bananas, Meat, Healthy, Close-up, Hands
Library size: Small (700+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 5000px
License: Creative Commons Zero (Free for personal or commercial use)
Attribution: Unknown (Not mentioned, assumed not required)
Source type: Food Image website

29. RAUMROT

Rating: 34/50
Image quality: 10, Library size: 3, Licensing: 7, Freshness: 6, Ease of use: 8

Providing a range of free lifestyle imagery, RAUMROT is divided into photo sets and categories tailored for creatives. The site is regularly updated and images have been taken by a professional photographer.

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Categories: Food & Drink, Mountain, Nature, Seasonal, Sport, Technic, Transport, Urban
Library size: Small (1015+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: Medium
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3200px
License: Creative Commons/Public Domain (Free for commercial and personal use)
Attribution: Unknown (Not mentioned, assumed not required)
Source type: Photoblog

30. Free Nature Stock

Rating: 34/50
Image quality: 10, Library size: 1, Licensing: 10, Freshness: 8, Ease of use: 5

Free Nature Stock as you might guess contains a collection of nature photography including photographs of clouds, sunsets, trees and much more and it’s also updated daily.

Categories: Stars, Sunset, Mountains
Library size: Small (466+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 5000px
License: Creative Commons Zero (Free for personal or commercial use)
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

31. ONELEFT MEDIA

Rating: 34/50
Image quality: 10, Library size: 3, Licensing: 10, Freshness: 6, Ease of use: 5

ONELEFT MEDIA is an online repository of photos created by Lior Mazliah. Images are curated specifically for web designers, bloggers and content creators. Everything is free to use and of a relatively good quality.

Categories: Nature, Water, Oceans, Plants, Fruit, Rock, Garden, Growth, Space, Splash, Industrial, Art, Colours, Random, Raw Food, Desktop, Low Tech, Pear, Writers, Magic, Mycology, Desert
Library size: Small (890+ images)
Media types: Photos, Graphics
Resolution: High
Average image width: 2600px
File formats: JPEG
License: No copyright restrictions, free for commercial and personal use
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

32. Get Refe

Rating: 34/50
Image quality: 9, Library size: 2, Licensing: 10, Freshness: 7, Ease of use: 6

Get Refe contains a small collection of photos covering cityscapes and landscapes. The site is a Tumblr and hasn’t been updated in a while but is worth a browse.

Categories: Office, Freeway, Piers, Tree, Canal
Library size: Tiny (700+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2000px
License: Creative Commons Zero
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Tumblr blog

33. SHOT STASH

Rating: 33/50
Image quality: 10, Library size: 3, Licensing: 9, Freshness: 2, Ease of use: 8

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Primarily built for web projects, SHOT STASH provides a bank of free photos covering mainly technology. The photos are stylised and make good use of foreground/background. If you’re a startup, there’s some outstanding stock here.

Categories: Technology, Abstract, Landscape, Nature, Architecture, Business, People, Food
Library size: Small (800+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 5000px
License: Free for commercial and non-commercial use (The site/owner retains overall copyright)
Attribution: Not required, although a link back to SHOTSTASH.com is appreciated
Source type: Image website

34. Epicantus

Rating: 33/50
Image quality: 8, Library size: 2, Licensing: 7, Freshness: 8, Ease of use: 8

Epicantus is a small photo blog covering everyday life. The photography is high in detail and from the perspective of its Dutch founder Daria N, a UX designer. If you’re looking for nice close-up work or beautiful shots of Holland/Netherlands, Epicantus is an excellent source.

Categories: Amsterdam, Towels, Food, Bicycle
Library size: Tiny (300+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1600px
License: Free to for personal or commercial use
Attribution: Unknown (Not mentioned, assumed not required)
Source type: Photoblog

35. MMT Stock

Rating: 33/50
Image quality: 7, Library size: 3, Licensing: 10, Freshness: 6, Ease of use: 7

Providing a specialist collection, MMT is meant as an image source to be used for templates, printing materials, websites, themes and social posts. The site has been regularly updated since 2014 by Jeffrey Betts (MMT owner). It’s an excellent collection of commercially orientated stock with a decent search function, tagging and category system for finding images quickly.

Categories: Summer, Macro, Workspace & Technology, City, People, Flowers, Spring, Landscapes, Sunset, Fall, Food & Drinks, Sky, Weather, Winter, Textures, Transportation, Sights & Sounds, Pen & Paper, Sunset, The Seasons
Library size: Small (600+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 4000px
License: Creative Commons Zero
Attribution: Not required but appreciated
Source type: Image website

36. ISO Republic

Rating: 33/50
Image quality: 9, Library size: 3, Licensing: 5, Freshness: 9, Ease of use: 7

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ISO Republic is a regularly updated grouping of over 1,500 photos created for designers, developers, bloggers and creative marketers. The site was founded by English photographer and designer Tom Eversley in 2014.

Categories: Textures, People, Nature, Urban, Technology, Food/Drink, Miscellaneous
Library size: Small (1,500+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: Medium to high
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3000px
License: Free for personal and commercial use (full terms here)
Attribution: Not required but appreciated
Source type: Photoblog

37. DEATH TO STOCK

Rating: 33/50
Image quality: 10, Library size: 1, Licensing: 8, Freshness: 10, Ease of use: 4

Each month DEATH TO STOCK releases a pack of 10 beautiful photos, you’ll need to sign up as a free member to receive them. Unfortunately, you don’t have access to download the library past the last 40 photos released. The site is small, but the photos are original in nature. They will, however, need compression as they’re rather large.

Categories: General, Sports, Nature, Tactile, Equinox, Wild imagination
Library size: Tiny (40 Photos)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High resolution
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2800px
License: Free to use (Limitations do apply, read more here)
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Newsletter/image website

38. Gratisography

Rating: 33/50
Image quality: 10, Library size: 2, Licensing: 7, Freshness: 5, Ease of use: 9

Gratisography has an incredible selection of photos meant for digital marketing material. The site was built and Photoblog by a creative studio out in New York (Photographer: Ryan McGuire).

Categories: Animals, Nature, Urban, People, Objects, Whimsical
Library size: Small (250+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPG
Average image width: 4000px
License: Free to use for commercial or personal projects (Some restrictions apply, see here)
Attribution: Not required (But appreciated as per the author’s wishes)
Source type: Image website

39. FancyCrave

Rating: 33/50
Image quality: 8, Library size: 1, Licensing: 9, Freshness: 7, Ease of use: 6

FancyCave doesn’t like cheesy stock photos, that’s why all their “photographs are emotionally driven and tell a story.” Every image is handpicked and screened for the site meaning the quality is outstanding and the library is easy to search. There are also plenty of photo packs/categories to browse and two new free stock photos from photographers are released every day.

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Categories: Abstract, Entertainment, Animals, Architecture, Colours, Food & Drink, Industrial, Quotes, Technology, Transportation
Library size: Very small (300+ images)
Media types: Photos, Graphics, Quotes
Resolution: Ultra-high
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 5000px
License: Creative Commons Zero (Free for personal or commercial use)
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

40. NASA

Rating: 33/50
Image quality: 10, Library size: 8, Licensing: 1, Freshness: 8, Ease of use: 6

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has put together what can only be described as a breathtaking image library, with over 60 collections spanning their work on space, planets, rockets and much more from 1920’s to the current day. It’s incredibly well organised and searchable. If you’re looking for space related images, this is the place. Check out the most popular and newest options on the page linked above for some amazing images.

Categories: Spacecraft, Planets, Stars, Rockets, Aeroplanes, Moon, Stealth, Solar Planes, Missiles, Jupiter, Mars, Astronauts, World, Craters, Venus, Russian, Launch Site, Buildings
Library size: Large (65,000+ images)
Media types: Photos, Graphics, Video, Audio
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1920px
License: Free for personal use with certain conditions. Commercial use is more complex but possible, check here for full details and what applies to you
Attribution: Required
Source type: Government website

41. OLD BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS

Rating: 33/50
Image quality: 7, Library size: 4, Licensing: 7, Freshness: 6, Ease of use: 9

 

OBI provides high-quality illustrations and professionally scanned images from vintage and rare books. You can search the site by titles, artists or categories.

Categories: Animals, Buildings, Monuments, Humour, Landscapes, Places, Narratives, Ornaments, Patterns, People, Plants, Science, Technology
Library size: 2,900+ illustrations
Media types: Illustrations
Resolution: Medium to high
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1200px
License: Images are in the Public Domain. Text and translations are Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
Attribution: Required
Source type: Image website

42. NOAA

Rating: 33/50
Image quality: 6, Library size: 7, Licensing: 9, Freshness: 9, Ease of use: 4

The National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA) has created, consolidated and continues to update its vast library of photos from engineers, officers, scientists and administrative team. It’s a collection of impressive images of the natural world from the last few centuries.

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Categories: Ocean, Swamp, Landscapes, Animals, Fish, Coral, Sailing, Space, Restoration, Weather
Library size: Medium (35,000+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1200px
License: Most are Public Domain, any photo with a different license is marked so check each image for details
Attribution: Credit must be given to The National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration and the photographer if listed
Source type: Government website (USA)
Image credit: Personnel of NOAA Ship FAIRWEATHER 1986

43. 4FreePhotos

Rating: 33/50
Image quality: 7, Library size: 6, Licensing: 5, Freshness: 8, Ease of use: 7

4FreePhotos is a European photography platform with a high-quality but small collection.

Categories: Rust, Connected World, Travel in Europe, Astronomy, Portugal, Paint, Medical, Blooming, Christmas, Ducks, Business
Library size: Small (7,119+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: Medium
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1000px
License: Creative Commons (Free for commercial and personal use)
Attribution: Required for online use
Source type: Image website

44. PICKUP IMAGE

Rating: 33/50
Image quality: 5, Library size: 7, Licensing: 6, Freshness: 8, Ease of use: 7

PICKUP IMAGE is a platform providing photos and clipart from lots of different contributors. You need to sign up to download, but it’s free and religiously updated. The search is also advanced, meaning you can filter by tags, most popular, newest and favourites.

Categories: Landscapes, Office, Cities, Castles, People, Sport, Team Building, Exercise
Library size: Medium (19,984 images)
Media types: Photos, Clipart
Resolution: Low to high
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1000px
License: Free for personal and commercial use
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Community website

45. JESHOOTS

Rating: 33/50
Image quality: 9, Library size: 3, Licensing: 7, Freshness: 6, Ease of use: 6

JESHOOTS was founded by a Czech photographer in 2014 and it offers a small but professional range of photos. You’ll find some great pictures of Prague and the Czech Republic here, perfect for travel or tourism projects.

Categories: Prague, Czech Republic, Animals, Technology, People, Nature, Mockups, Food, City, Background
Library size: Small (1,200+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1920px
License: Free to use for personal or commercial use
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Photo blog

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46. BARN IMAGES

Rating: 32/50
Image quality: 7, Library size: 4, Licensing: 8, Freshness: 6, Ease of use: 7

Founded in 2015, BARN IMAGES provides curated images mainly for using in visual marketing, e.g. websites, t-shirts, postcards… It’s still regularly updated with stock photos from the founders (Igor Trepeschchenok and Roman Drits).

Categories: Cityscape, Abstract, Animals, Architecture, Arts, Entertainment, Black and White, Concepts, Ideas, Food, Drink, Industry, Landscape, Lifestyle, Nature, Objects, People, Sports, Travel Locations
Library size: Small (2,900+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2800px
License: Free for commercial or non-commercial use (However the copyright remains with the image owner)
Attribution: Not required but appreciated
Source type: Photoblog

47. BOSSFIGHT

Rating: 32/50
Image quality: 8, Library size: 7, Licensing: 6, Freshness: 6, Ease of use: 2

BOSSFIGHT describes their site well enough, so we mostly don’t have to: “High-resolution stock photography, daily.” It’s a small collection but very high quality and seems to be consistently updated. You can sign up via email to download the entire library and get a downloadable file of new photos each week (downloading is a fiddly process on this site).

Categories: Animals, City, Wedding, Camera, Woman, Computer, Nature, Tech, Buildings
Library size: Medium (11,200+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
Average image width: 2000px
File formats: JPEG
License: Free to use
Attribution: Unknown (Not mentioned, assumed not required)
Source type: Image website

48. LIBRESHOT

Rating: 32/50
Image quality: 5, Library size: 6, Licensing: 10, Freshness: 4, Ease of use: 7

The work of a single photographer, LIBRESHOT provides an impressive range of stock photos covering buildings, animals and much more. Photos mostly seem to be useful for websites, blogs, web design projects and printed materials.

Categories: Vehicles, People, Technology, Nature, Macro Photography, Landscape, Flowers, Children, Architecture, Animals, Books, Buildings, Business
Library size: Small
Media types: Photos (6,850+ images)
Resolution: Low to High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3000px
License: Creative Commons Zero (Free for personal or commercial use)
Attribution: None required
Source type: Photoblog

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49. Bucklistly

Rating: 32/50
Image quality: 8, Library size: 5, Licensing: 10, Freshness: 6, Ease of use: 5

Bucketlistly is a community travel site with a database of free stock images covering more countries and cities than you can imagine. It’s also fairly regularly updated and image quality is good.

Categories: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Iran, Mongolia, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Germany, France, Switzerland, Spain, Karabakh, Armenia, Georgia, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Vietnam, New Zealand, Indonesia, Japan, Zambia, South Africam Australia, China, Nepal, India
Library size: Small (5,000+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3200px
License: Creative Commons Zero (Free for personal or commercial use)
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Community website/Travel blog

50. freestocks.org

Rating: 31/50
Image quality: 8, Library size: 3, Licensing: 10, Freshness: 2, Ease of use: 6

 

freestocks.org is a useful database of high-resolution photos covering a full range of topics from technology to cities.

Categories: People, Objects, Technology, Nature, Food, Drinks, City, Architecture, Animals
Library size: Small (900+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3400px
License: Creative Commons Zero (Free for personal or commercial use)
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

51. VintageStockPhotos (VSP)

Rating: 31/50
Image quality: 6, Library size: 6, Licensing: 7, Freshness: 6, Ease of use: 6

VSP offers a broad range of retro and mid-century photos. If you’re looking for some old photos in high definition this is a great site to browse. You’ll need to sign up for free account and login to download.

Categories: Roadtrip, Landmarks,
Library size: Small (9,000+ photos)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: Low to high res
File formats: JPEG, PIXLR, PNG
Average image width: 2000px
License: Free to use for any purpose, just don’t redistribute! (Full license here)
Attribution: Not required but greatly appreciate a credit to vintagestockphotos.com
Source type: Image website

52. GOODFREEPHOTOS

Rating: 31/50
Image quality: 5, Library size: 7, Licensing: 8, Freshness: 6, Ease of use: 5

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GOODFREEPHOTOS is a large repository of Public Domain images that are regularly updated. You can filter by country of origin or standard categories such as technology or people.

Categories: Plants, Food, Animals, Weapons, Rocks, Crystals, Sky, Fossils, Relics, Art, Textures, Automobiles, Business, Technology, People, Abstract, Weather, Astrophotography, Sports, Holidays
Library size: Medium (20,350+ images)
Media types: Vectors, Photos, Illustrations, 3D Models
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3000px
License: Creative Commons Zero (Free for personal or commercial use) (Public Domain)
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

53. Fish & Wildlife Service

Rating: 31/50
Image quality: 4, Library size: 6, Licensing: 9, Freshness: 6, Ease of use: 6

The Fish and Wildlife Service is responsible for the conservation, protection and enhancement of wildlife, fish and plants in the United States. They have a beautiful library covering the natural world and all the plants and animals in it. The image quality does vary, but there are many shots here you will never be able to find anywhere else!

Categories: Fish, Plants, United States, Insects, Animals, Wildlife, Birds, Endangered, Species, Freshwater, Mussels, Invertebrates, Fish Hatcheries, Scenic
Library size: Medium (13,500+ images)
Media types: Images, Videos, Documents, Audio, Maps
Resolution: Low to high
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1000px
License: Most are Public Domain
Attribution: Not usually required but check each image
Source type: Government website (USA)

54. StreetWill.co

Rating: 30/50
Image quality: 10, Library size: 3, Licensing: 9, Freshness: 1, Ease of use: 7

 

StreetWill has procured a fantastic vast range of photos from across the world (mainly the UK and USA). The site includes shots of cities, food, lakes, motorbikes and much more. The site is a little hard to navigate without easy access to categories or search. The site was last updated in 2014.

Categories: City, Animals, Train Stations, Cameras, Objects, Landscapes
Library size: Small (1,000+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3000px
License: Creative Commons Zero (Free for personal or commercial use)
Attribution: None required
Source type: Travel blog

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55. Startup Stock Photos

Rating: 30/50
Image quality: 7, Library size: 3, Licensing: 10, Freshness: 5, Ease of use: 5

Startup Stock Photos provides a general but excellent collection of images for anyone looking for high-quality technology or business focused imagery. It’s the perfect stock for developers, bloggers, publishers and creators. It’s likely you’ll find something if you need stock for a company website, app, software or marketing assets.

Categories: Office, Startups, Technology, Apps, Mobiles, Coffee, Whiteboards
Library size: Small (1,000+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3000px
License: Creative Commons Zero (Free for personal or commercial use)
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

56. U.S. Geological Survey

Rating: 30/50
Image quality: 5, Library size: 6, Licensing: 6, Freshness: 7, Ease of use: 6

Bar saving the planet from natural disasters, the U.S. Geological Survey also provides a multimedia gallery containing photography, illustrations and imagery. The gallery dates back to their initial work dating back to the 1800’s when they were surveying the United States by horse and walking. You can also quickly search by topic, location, year and date uploaded.

Categories: Water, Planetary Science, Oceans, Natural Hazards, Minerals, Remote Sensing, Geospatial, Mapping, Biology and Ecosystems, Land Use Change & Climate, Coast, Data, Tools, Technology, Energy, Environmental Health, Geology
Library size: Medium (10,820+ images)
Media types: Photos, Illustrations
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2000px
License: Public Domain (Some are marked as copyrighted so make sure to check individual images)
Attribution: Unknown
Source type: Government website (USA)
Image credit: Brian Uher-Koch

57. IVORY MIX

Rating: 30/50
Image quality: 7, Library size: 2, Licensing: 9, Freshness: 8, Ease of use: 4

IVORY MIX offers access to some pretty high-quality free photos. You do need to sign up to be able to download the entire image library. On the bright side, you also get curated and new images throughout the month.

Categories: Fitness, Lifestyle, Parents, Food, Healthy
Library size: Tiny
Media types: Photos (300+ photos)
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3000px
License: Free for personal or commercial use (royalty free)
Attribution: Not Required
Source type: Newsletter/Image website

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58. Freely PHOTOS

Rating: 29/50
Image quality: 10, Library size: 2, Licensing: 10, Freshness: 3, Ease of use: 4

A Christian themed picture blog, Freely PHOTOS is regularly updated with new stock every few weeks. Most of the imagery is of outstanding quality and the majority, if not all, are of a religious nature.

Categories: Bible Study, Christmas, Church Life, Creation, Easter, Prayer, Worship
Library size: Small (850+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2600px
License: Creative Commons Zero (Free for personal or commercial use)
Attribution: Not Required
Source type: Photoblog

59. U.S. Department of Defense

Rating: 29/50
Image quality: 5, Library size: 4, Licensing: 2, Freshness: 9, Ease of use: 9

The DOD has an amazing gallery of military manoeuvres, vehicles and personnel in action, which is regularly updated. Make sure to check out the week in photos section and search the photo gallery on the right. You can also search by keyword, tag, type and upload date. They also have a range of notable Flikr accounts: Defense Department, Defense Secretary, Deputy Defense Secretary, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Categories: Humvee, Guns, Colt, Warships, Airplanes, F-22 Raptor, Horses, Shipbuilding, Helicopter, Osprey, Aircraft, International relations, Ocean, Firefighters, Machine Gun, Flying Formation, Camouflage, Martial Arts, Military Service, Underwater, Dogs, Clouds, Scuba, Paratroopers, Tank, Barbed Wire, Aircraft Carrier, Ammunition, American Flag, Airdrop
Library size: Small (2,000 images)
Media types: Photos, Illustrations, Documents
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG, PDF
Average image width: 2000px
License: Many are Public Domain
Attribution: Unknown
Source type: Government website (USA)

60. PhotoEverywhere.co.uk

Rating: 29/50
Image quality: 4, Library size: 4, Licensing: 9, Freshness: 5, Ease of use: 7

PhotoEverywhere is a cool travel blog with a database of over 3,600 free to use travel photos, all licensed under CCO. There’s also a visual world map on the site so you can search for images by location.

Categories: Canada, USA, San Francisco, California, Hawaii, Mexico, Caribbean, Iceland, Britain, Berlin, Paris, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, Melbourne, Tasmania, Sydney, New Zealand, Fiji
Library size: Small (3,600+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2000px
License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.5
Attribution: Required
Source type: Image website

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61. travel coffee book

Rating: 29/50
Image quality: 8, Library size: 3, Licensing: 9, Freshness: 5, Ease of use: 5

The travel coffee book provides travel photography from one man’s travels across the world. It’s routinely updated.

Categories: Croatia, Waterfall, Benches, Desert, Las Vegas, Clouds, Paris, Asia
Library size: Small (1,200+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1800px
License: Creative Commons Zero
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website
Type: Tumblr blog/Travel blog

62. National Science Foundation

Rating: 29/50
Image quality: 4, Library size: 6, Licensing: 4, Freshness: 9, Ease of use: 6

The National Science Foundation has a media centre providing photos, videos and illustrations of their scientific work in the natural world (within America).

Categories: Spiders, Research Lab, Clouds, Ocean
Library size: Small (6,441+ images)
Media types: Image, Video, Audio, Graphics
Resolution: Low to high
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1000px
License: Unknown
Attribution: Unknown (Not mentioned, assumed not required)
Source type: Government website (USA)

63. Realistic Shots

Rating: 29/50
Image quality: 7, Library size: 4, Licensing: 9, Freshness: 5, Ease of use: 4

Realistic Shots is a project founded by Commit 2 Design. They have a high-quality photo library from amateur and professional photographers, with a further seven curated photos added each week (we’re reviewing if this is still the case).

Categories: Architecture, Nature, People, Travel, Technology
Library size: Small (3,400+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1400px
License: Creative Commons Zero (Free for personal or commercial use)
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Tumblr blog

64. FreeFoto.com

Rating: 29/50
Image quality: 2, Library size: 10, Licensing: 3, Freshness: 8, Ease of use: 6

With 183 categories and over 130,000 images, FreeFoto.com has an extensive free image database. It’s easy to search and most of the stock is of agriculture and business pictures. You can find their most popular images here, and if you’re on mobile, go elsewhere as the site is not responsive!

Categories: Banking, Buildings, Credit Crunch, Cameras, CCTV, Computers, Construction, Euro, High street brands, High Tech Business, Home Delivery, Market Stalls, Mobile Phones, Newspapers, Money, Public Housing, People, Agriculture, Industry, Renewable Energy, USA, Europe, Asia and much more…
Library size: Large (130,000+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High (300 DPI)
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3000px
License: Free to use for personal or commercial purposes (If you want higher resolution files for commercial use and don’t want to attribute, you can pay for images)
Attribution: Requires attribution and a link back to FreeFoto.com
Source type: Image website

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65. LIFE OF PIX

Rating: 28/50
Image quality: 8, Library size: 3, Licensing: 6, Freshness: 5, Ease of use: 6

LIFE OF PIX provides a collection of images and videos uploaded by photographers from across the world. It’s a small library but with some fantastic quality images of landscapes and animals. You’re also shown the primary colours used for each image so it’s great for any web designers needing to blend graphics. They also select a photographer of the week each week and highlight ten photos.

Categories: Architecture, Urban, Sea, People, Textures, Object, Food, Animals, Beach, City, Black & White, Nature, Desk
Library size: Small (750+ images)
Media types: Photos, Videos
Resolution: High
File formats: Photos
Average image width: 2400px
License: Free to use (Full terms if any not shown)
Attribution: Unknown (Not mentioned, assumed not required)
Source type: Image website

66. Slon

Rating: 28/50
Image quality: 8, Library size: 2, Licensing: 9, Freshness: 5, Ease of use: 4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slon is in BETA, but it’s still a highly curated and good quality stock site. It also has some great shots of medieval knights and re-enactments. There is a shopping cart system used for getting images, but it all still appears to be free.

Categories: Flora, Fauna, Transport, Technology, Sports, Nature, Concepts, Humans, Characters, Mascots
Library size: Small (1,000+ images)
Media types: Photos, 3D, Graphics, Illustrations. Textures, Backgrounds
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2200px
License: Creative Commons Zero
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

67. Magdeleine

Rating: 28/50
Image quality: 8, Library size: 1, Licensing: 7, Freshness: 7, Ease of use: 5

Magdeleine contains handpicked inspiration themed photos sourced from around the world and sent to you every day. You can also download the library on the site. The site’s advanced search allows to search by keyword, colour, license or category. Maybe worth a bookmark.

Categories: Bridges, Woman, Flowers, Moon, People, Men, Rocks, Flowers
Library size: Tiny (280+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2600px
License: Various Creative Commons licenses
Attribution: Required
Source type: Image website

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68. Splitshire

Rating: 28/50
Image quality: 9, Library size: 2, Licensing: 6, Freshness: 5, Ease of use: 6

For a small blog, Splitshare has a good collection of royalty free photos from Daniel Nanescu, the photographer who started the site in 2017.

Categories: Bokeh, Abstract, Animals, Cinemograph, Automotive, Fashion, Food, Street, Tech, Nature, Wedding, Things, People, Backgrounds, Blur, Landscapes, Interiors, Still life, Mock up
Library size: Small (910+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPG
Average image width: 3000px
License: Free to use for personal or commercial purposes (Some limitations apply.)
Attribution: Not specifically listed as required
Source type: Photo blog

69. All Free Download

Rating: 28/50
Image quality: 6, Library size: 10, Licensing: 2, Freshness: 7, Ease of use: 3

All Free Download has a considerable quantity of free vectors, photos, fonts, icons and templates. New design assets and imagery are uploaded daily.

Categories: General
Library size: Large (108,032+ images)
Media types: Photos, Illustrations, Graphics
Resolution: Low to high res
File formats: JPEG, TIFF, SVG, PDF, PSD, PNG
Average image width: 1000px
License: Free (Check each image as they don’t take responsibilities for the copyright of images other authors upload to their site)
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

70. SUNIPIX

Rating: 28/50
Image quality: 3, Library size: 7, Licensing: 6, Freshness: 6, Ease of use: 6

SUNIPIX started in 2007 and has over 20,000 photos covering a broad range of areas. It was founded by the Abraham Thomas Foundation to provide photos for the education sector but according to the site you’re fine to use them for other purposes.

Categories: Education, Schools
Library size: Medium (20,000+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High (100 DPI)
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2000px
License: Free for personal or commercial use
Attribution: Linking to the site is required
Source type: Educational website

71. THE PIC PAC

Rating: 28/50
Image quality: 8, Library size: 3, Licensing: 8, Freshness: 2, Ease of use: 7

THE PIC PAC is a photo gallery organised city by city and shot by shot. The images are completely free, you must enter $0 when it asks for how much you’re willing to pay, proceed to checkout and fill in details to download.

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Categories: Mountain, Montana, Seatle, Misfits Concert, Planes, Spooky Night, San Francisco, Sacramento, Night at The Fair
Library size: Tiny (1,400 photos)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3000px
License: CC0 1.0 Universal (Creative Commons)
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

72. bigfoto.com

Rating: 28/50
Image quality: 2, Library size: 7, Licensing: 6, Freshness: 7, Ease of use: 6

Started in 2000, bigfoto has grown to offer an extensive database of images from amateur photographers, it’s a mix of great photos and not so great photos. It will take you a while to search the site for hidden gems but you can filter by location, category and the date the photo was taken.

Categories: America, Asia, Europe, Africa, Pacific, Human, Nature, Background, Miscellaneous, Aviation, Closeups, Foundations, Sculpture, Fireworks, Amusement Park, Christmas, Architecture, Food, Railway, Ships, Hands, Sport, Carnival, Animals, Flowers, Landscapes, Underwater, Forest, Geology, New York City, California, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Florida, Canada, Eskimos, Rio de Janerio, Japan, Vietnam, Laos, Bangkok, Singapore, Bali, Bejing, Malaysia, Israel, Hong Kong, Seoul, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Jordan, German, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Croatia, London, Paris, Netherlands, Lanzarote, Prague, Copenhagen, Lisbon, South Africa, Egypt, Mauritius, Ghana, Tunisia, Australia, New Zealand
Library size: Medium/large (70,000+)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: Low to high
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1000px
License: Free to use for personal or commercial purposes
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

73. scatter jar

Rating: 27/50
Image quality: 7, Library size: 4, Licensing: 6, Freshness: 5, Ease of use: 6

A brand new stock site for 2017, scatter jar is another small yet excellent photo blog covering food.

Categories: Food, Strawberries,
Library size: Tiny (90+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 5000px
License: Free of charge for both personal and commercial use
Attribution: Not required (A link back is asked for if possible)
Source type: Image website

74. StockArch.

Rating: 27/50
Image quality: 7, Library size: 4, Licensing: 6, Freshness: 6, Ease of use: 4

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StockArch is a Creative Commons image archive. It’s a portal that allows photographers to license their stock for free. You can also edit photos online before downloading using their tool Pixlr.

Categories: Places, Nature, Transport, Objects, Technology, Business And Industry, Recreation, Sports, Buildings, Events
Library size: Small (2,000+ images)
Media types: Photos, Illustrations, Abstract
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3200px
License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (As required by the license you must disclose any changes made to the original image. For us for example, this means saying the image has been resized to 800px x 400px and the brightness dropped by -50)
Attribution: Required via link
Source type: Image website
Image credit: Stockarch.com/cc

75. Airliners.net

Rating: 28/50
Image quality: 5, Library size: 7, Licensing: 1, Freshness: 8, Ease of use: 7

Airlines.net has probably the largest database of aircraft photos on the web. You can search and filter aircraft by region, model and area to find the exact one you’re looking for. Launched in 1995, image quality varies from world leading photographers to amateur photographers. (Be warned, it will take some time to find photos without copyright!)

Categories: Non-Military, Military, Creative, Helicopters, Blimps, Airships, Single Engine Props, Gliders, Passenger, Business, Warbird, Private, Government, Cargo, Non-Flying, Seaplane, Last Built, Color, Manufacturer, Flight Deck, Cabin, Tail, Wings, Winglets, Dusk, Dawn, Airport, Airliner, Incidents, Crashes
Library size: Medium (21,000+ images)
Media types: Photos, Graphics, Illustrations
Resolution: Low to high
Average image width: 1800px (Make sure to click ‘large’ at the bottom before saving download)
File formats: JPEG
License: Varies from image to image, check individual images for license details (Many are copyrighted, you’ll have to hunt!)
Attribution: Check each image
Source type: Community/Image website

76. STOCKPHOLIO

Rating: 27/50
Image quality: 4, Library size: 7, Licensing: 9, Freshness:4, Ease of use: 3

STOCKPHOLIO has amassed plenty of Public Domain photos, mostly sourced from Flickr. The site has a few PHP errors but is still easily navigable via search/categories, and you can still download images.

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Categories: Landmarks, Buildings, Fashion, Beauty, Textures, Backgrounds, Art, Abstract, Animals, Business, Finance, Editorial, Education, Food & Drinks, Healthcare, Medical, Holidays, Industrial, Interiors, Model, Nature, Objects, Parks, Outdoor, People, Religion, Science, Signs, Sports, Recreation, Technology, Vintage
Library size: Medium (13,000+ images)
Media types: Photos, Illustrations
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1600px
License: Check each image, the majority are Creative Commons Zero (Free for personal or commercial use)
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

77. Iwaria

Rating: 27/50
Image quality: 7, Library size: 4, Licensing: 5, Freshness: 5, Ease of use: 6

Iwaria is a free photo and community site started in 2016. It’s dedicated to providing photography of purely African themes and despite being not that old has amassed an impressive collection.

Categories: Africa, African, Work, People, Landscape, Food, Animals
Library size: Small (2,000+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3600px
License: Unknown (Site terms of use here)
Attribution: Unknown (Not mentioned, assumed not required)
Source type: Image website

78. CUPCAKE

Rating: 27/50
Image quality: 8, Library size: 1, Licensing: 9, Freshness: 2, Ease of use: 7

CUPCAKE is a small collection of high definition/ blurred background photos of mainly landscapes. They’re perfect for hero/header images on websites that require text.

Categories: Landscapes, Buildings, Sea, Trees, Hotels, Brick
Library size: Tiny (100+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3600px
License: Creative Commons Zero (Free to use for personal or commercial)
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

79. Public domain archive

Rating: 27/50
Image quality: 8, Library size: 2, Licensing: 7, Freshness: 4, Ease of use: 6

The Public domain archive holds royalty free images ideal for creative projects. New images are also uploaded each week.

Categories: Buildings, Germany, People, Waterfall, Drone, Winter, Clouds, Bowling, Architecture, Museum
Library size: Small (600+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2000px
License: Public Domain (Free to use)
Attribution: Unknown (Not mentioned, assumed not required)
Source type: Image website

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80. Yeah!Stock Photos

Rating: 27/50
Image quality: 9, Library size: 0, Licensing: 10, Freshness: 3, Ease of use: 5

Yeah!Stock Photos provides authentic and free stock photos. It’s a small site, but there are some good photographs on it in high resolution.

Categories: Nature, Objects, Motorway, Sky, Stars, Space, Camera, Bag Pipes, Gates, House, Office, Bed, Bedroom
Library size: Tiny (40+ photos)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 4500px
License: Free to use (Royalty free)
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Photo blog

81. LOOKING GLASS

Rating: 27/50
Image quality: 7, Library size: 1, Licensing: 10, Freshness: 4, Ease of use: 5

At LOOKING GLASS new and authentic stock photos are uploaded every month. The site is built by a group of Australian photographers and creatives. It mostly has object and landscape photos and you can search by photograph location.

Categories: At Home, In The Garden, Culinary Culture, Places & Spaces, Scenery & Nature, Bygone Eras, Country Life, By The Sea, Objects & Abstracts, Reviving Childhood, Books & Art, People & Passions, Things That Move, City Living, Seasons & Celebrations, Fantasy & Fairytales, Bits Of Buildings, Sacred Spaces
Library size: Small (200+ images, another 20 added each month)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2000px
License: As they say, “Anything goes”, free for any commercial or personal use
Attribution: No attribution needed
Source type: Tumblr blog

82. carpictures creative commons (CCC)

Rating: 27/50
Image quality: 3, Library size: 5, Licensing: 5, Freshness: 5, Ease of use: 9

As the name suggests, CCC provides a database of free car stock photos and images. Quality does vary, but if you’re looking to search for a particular car model, brand or type, this is the place to do it!

Categories: Acura, Alfa Romeo, AMC, Aston Martin, Audi, Austin, Bentley, BMW, Bristol, Bugatti, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Citroen, Dacia, Daewoo, DAF, Daihatsu, Datsun, De Tomaso, DeSoto, DKW, Dodge, Eagle, Edsel, Ferrari, Fiat, Ford, GM, GMC, Hillman, Holden, Honda, HSV, Hummer, Hyundai, Infiniti, Isuzu, Jaguar, Jeep, Jensen, Kia, Lada, Lamborghini, Lancia, Land Rover, Lexus, Lincoln, Lotus, Maserati, Maybach, Mazda, Mercedes, Mercury, Merkur, MG, Mini, Mitsubishi, Morgan, Morris, Nissan, Oldsmobile, Opel, Packard, Panhard, Panther, Peugeot, Plymouth, Pontiac, Porsche, Proton, Qvale, Reliant, Renault, Rolls-Royce, Rover, Saab, Salem, Saturn, Scania, Scion, SEAT, Shelby, Simca, smart, Spyker, Studebaker, Subaru, Suzuki, Tata, Tatra, Toyota, Triumph, TVR, Vauxhall, Volkswagen, Volvo, Wolseley, Skoda
Library size: Small (5,000+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: Low to medium
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 800px+
License: CC-BY or CC-BY-SA (Creative Commons, free to use)
Attribution: Depends, check the image license details
Source type: Image website

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83. viintage

Rating: 26/50
Image quality: 4, Library size: 10, Licensing: 6, Freshness: 3, Ease of use: 3

viintage is a site containing a vast quantity of vintage graphics that have been scanned and uploaded. The only issue really is that the site is not very well categorised, meaning you’ll spend a while searching, but it will be worth it.

Categories: Magazines, Animals
Library size: Large (100,000+ images)
Media types: Graphics, Illustrations
Resolution: Medium to high
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1800px
License: Public Domain
Attribution: Not Required
Source type: Image website

84. STOCKPIC

Rating: 26/50
Image quality: 7, Library size: 4, Licensing: 6, Freshness: 3, Ease of use: 6

STOKPIC is the creation of professional photographer Ed Gregory. It hasn’t been updated recently, but the existing image library offers a broad range of themes and pictures.

Categories: Transport, Abstract, Architecture, B&W, Technology, Sports & Fitness, People, Objects, Nature, Events, Lifestyle, Landscapes, Food & Drink, Fashion
Library size: Small (2,000+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: Low to high
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1800px
License: Stokpic License (Which apparently means you can do anything apart from redistribution)
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Photo blog

85. Photocollections.io

Rating: 26/50
Image quality: 7, Library size: 2, Licensing: 8, Freshness: 3, Ease of use: 6

PhotoCollections offers a range of breath-taking photographs covering landscapes, nature and cities. The site is very visual and very small, so it’s easy to scroll and find something you like.

Categories: Animals, Industrial, Landscapes, Nature, People, Transportation
Library size: Tiny (370+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2000px
License: All photos are licensed under Public Domain
Attribution: Not required but appreciated
Source type: Image website

86. REALGRAPHY

Rating: 26/50
Image quality: 6, Library size: 3, Licensing: 10, Freshness: 2, Ease of use: 5

REALGRAPHY is a small collection of not-so-stock photos (originals taken by the blog owner). The photographer has some talent, most photos are of a high quality and there’s a big enough collection to explore.

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Categories: Travel, Holiday, Technology, Things, Stuff, Outdoor, Sports, People, Nature, Flowers, Animals, Arts, Music, Business. City, Architecture, Culture, Religion, Food, Drinks, Health, Beauty, Landscapes
Library size: Very Small (839 images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2800px
License: Creative Commons Zero
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Photo blog

87. freepixels

Rating: 26/50
Image quality: 5, Library size: 6, Licensing: 4, Freshness: 6, Ease of use: 5

 

Freepixels is an excellent stock image website, it’s been running since 2005.

Categories: Signs, Symbols, Architecture, Nature, Objects, Food & Drinks, Travel, People, Work
Library size: Small (6,660+ images)
Media types: Photos, Graphics
Resolution: High Definition
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3000px
License: Free to use but with conditions, complex agreement, check here
Attribution: Unknown (Not mentioned, assumed not required)
Source type: Image website

88. Photober

Rating: 26/50
Image quality: 6, Library size: 4, Licensing: 7, Freshness: 2, Ease of use: 7

Photober is a community site, most images are uploaded via individual users under Creative Commons. Keep in mind that whatever you do, the site will ask you to pay until you reach the final page where you can download for free.

Categories: Nature, Objects, Animal, People, Technology, Food, Travel
Library size: Small (3,000+ photos)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3000px
License: Usually Creative Commons Zero
Attribution: Check each image
Source type: Community website

89. dipixo

Rating: 26/50
Image quality: 9, Library size: 2, Licensing: 4, Freshness: 5, Ease of use: 6

dipixo is a site specialising in providing isolated images of objects on transparent and white backgrounds. If you’re looking for images of isolated objects, this is a good place to look. It’s particularly useful for creating graphics, flyers, banners, business cards, presentations and websites. It doesn’t seem to have been updated in a while though.

Categories: Guns, Bullets, Batteries, Insects, Leaf, Cable, Blueberry, Fish, Spider
Library size: Tiny (236+ images)
Media types: Photos, Graphics, Illustrations
Resolution: High
File formats: PSD, PNG
Average image width: 800px
License: Free to use for personal or commercial use
Attribution: Unknown (Not mentioned, assumed not required)
Source type: Image website

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90. Re:splashed

Rating: 26/50
Image quality: 9, Library size: 3, Licensing: 4, Freshness: 2, Ease of use: 8

Re:splashed has a mixed range of high-quality stock, it’s perfect for general web and design projects.

Categories: Car, Rust, Old, Bridge, City, Tree, Plant, Flowers, Nature, Ocean, Surf, Sky, Night, Stars, Waves, Hillside People, Architecture
Library size: Small (1,162 images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: Ultra-high
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 4000px
License: Unknown
Attribution: Unknown (Not mentioned, assumed not required)
Source type: Image website

91. Lost & Taken

Rating: 26/50
Image quality: 10, Library size: 3, Licensing: 4, Freshness: 2, Ease of use: 7

Lost & Taken is made up of photos turned into beautiful textures across a range of categories including watercolour, concrete and paint. The images are free, very high-quality and the site is regularly updated. They will however keep trying to get you to donate until you reach the downloading stage. You will need to fill in details to complete the download.

Categories: Grunge, Paper, Vintage Paper, Paint, Watercolor, Concrete, Stained Paper, Film, Scratched, Wallpaper, Book Covers, Cardboard, Nature, Bark, Fabric, Bokeh, Print, Metal, Wood, Bubbles
Library size: Small (1,100+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3000px
License: Unknown
Attribution: Unknown (Not mentioned, assumed not required)
Source type: Image website

92. DesignerPics.com

Rating: 26/50
Image quality: 8, Library size: 2, Licensing: 7, Freshness: 3, Ease of use: 6

DesignerPics.com hasn’t been updated in a few years but still contains a broad and good quality range of royalty free images, perfect for websites.

Categories: Technology, Sports, Landscapes, Architecture, Concepts, Things, People, Business, Food & Drinks, Wildlife
Library size: Very small (400+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3500px
License: Free for personal or commercial use (Royalty free)
Attribution: Unknown (Not mentioned, assumed not required)
Source type: Image website

93. Rich & Wild

Rating: 25/50
Image quality: 6, Library size: 2, Licensing: 6, Freshness: 6, Ease of use: 5

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Rich & Wild is a blog encompassing a combination of photographers that travel and work around the world. If you sign up for free, you’ll also be sent more pictures every two weeks.

Categories: Nature, City, Travel, Beach, Swimming, People, Trees
Library size: Tiny
Media types: Photos (Unknown, you can only download a sample of photos on the site)
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 4200px
License: Free for reasonable use in commercial and personal projects
Attribution: Not required but appreciated
Source type: Travel blog

94. Albumarium

Rating: 25/50
Image quality: 7, Library size: 4, Licensing: 3, Freshness: 6, Ease of use: 5

Albumarium is sorted into albums, offering more specificity than when searching categories. Your are also able to search for images based on mood, scene or situation. Furthermore, you can create and upload a new album for review, if you’d like to contribute! (Downloading images is currently not working well on this site, many images are downloading as unrecognisable files).

Categories: Africa, Electronic devices, Railways, Cities, People, Waterfalls, Hearts, Retro, Sleeping, Kids, Cats, City Life, Birds, Fruits, Babies, Redheads, Animals, Black & White, Love, Dogs, Metro, Architecture, Woods, Nature
Library size: Small (2,100+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1400px
License: A range of different licenses (Some are non-commercial, some require attribution, others don’t. Most are royalty free)
Attribution: Required
Source type: Image website

95. Mazwai

Rating: 25/50
Image quality: 8, Library size: 3, Licensing: 5, Freshness: 6, Ease of use: 5

 

Mazwai is a collection of free to use photos and footage from photographers who are based across the globe. They have some truly fantastic images particularly of animals, landscapes and cities. On the negative side, the site isn’t easy to navigate and can be a bit sluggish when it comes to searching and browsing.

Categories: Aviation, Landscapes, Cities, Waterfalls, Bears, Plants
Library size: Small (1,000+ images)
Media types: Photos, Videos
Resolution: Extremely high
File formats: JPEG, MP4
Average image width: 2600px
License: Varies depending on the author and work, check each collection in the download area for license details
Attribution: Depends on the image or video
Source type: Community/Image website
Image credit: Jonathan Mitchell – Discovery part 2

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96. skitterphoto

Rating: 25/50
Image quality: 7, Library size: 2, Licensing: 8, Freshness: 2, Ease of use: 6

skitterphoto started in 2014 and was built by several Dutch photographers who regularly upload high quality and Public Domain images.

Categories: Business/Finance, Culture and Art, Animals, Architecture, Decoration, Seasonal, Food and Drinks, Industry, Miscellaneous, Music, Nature, Landscape, People, Sports, Technology, Textures, Wallpapers, Transportation, Travel
Library size: Small (300+ images)
Media types: Photos, Illustrations
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 5000px
License: Creative Commons Zero (Free for personal or commercial use) (Public Domain)
Attribution: None required but appreciated
Source type: Photo blog

97. 1 MILLION FREE PICTURES

Rating: 25/50
Image quality: 5, Library size: 3, Licensing: 6, Freshness: 5, Ease of use: 6

Ironically 1 MILLION FREE PICTURES only contains a few thousand images taken by amateur photographers. Occasionally there are some good shots, but you’ll have to look.

Categories: Animals, Autos, Art, Bicycles, Buildings, Clothing, Stores, Finance, Business, Food, Flowers, Leaves, Letters and Words, Musical Instruments, People, Places, Plants, Numbers, Objects, Tourism, Quotes, Snow, Water, Close-up, Macro
Library size: Very small (2,000+ images)
Media types: Photos, Illustrations
Resolution: Low to medium
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1000px
License: Public Domain
Attribution: Not required but appreciated
Source type: Image website

98. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Rating: 25/50
Image quality: 5, Library size: 7, Licensing: 2, Freshness: 8, Ease of use: 3

The US Congress provides a extensive range of publicly available photos, drawings and images from over the last few centuries. If you’re looking for historic American images, this is the best place to look. It’s especially helpful if you’re looking for pictures and documents related to Washington and the formation of the United States. Once you’ve clicked an image or collection, make sure to click “view all” to see the pictures, it’s next to text marked “All JPEGS/TIFFS display outside of the library of congress”.

Categories: Baseball Cards, Cartoons, Historic, Buildings, Art, Constitution,
Library size: Medium (14,261+ images)
Media types: Photos, Illustrations
Resolution: Varies (Scans of historical documents and photos)
File formats: JPEG, TIFF
Average image width: 800px
License: Mostly no restriction on use, check on each photo
Attribution: Unknown (Not mentioned, assumed not required)
Source type: Government website (USA)

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99. MIKA RIKA

Rating: 25/50
Image quality: 8, Library size: 5, Licensing: 6, Freshness: 5, Ease of use: 1

Providing free pictures of a Japanese girl named Mika Rika, the site covers her in many different scenes, environments and actions, i.e. in a car, holding a drink… Potentially very useful if you’re looking for images for product marketing. Check the license thoroughly though!

Categories: Girl, Japanese, Kimono, Orange Juice, Smiling
Library size: Small
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2200px
License: Free to use (Further license details in Japanese)
Attribution: Unknown (Further details in Japanese on site)
Source type: Image website

100. FREE iMAGE BANK

Rating: 25/50
Image quality: 7, Library size: 2, Licensing: 8, Freshness: 2, Ease of use: 6

The FREE iMAGE BANK contains general stock photos and illustrations. Everything is free to download, but oddly, you still must add images to a shopping basket and go to checkout.

Categories: Travel, Sports, Science, People, Illustration, Food, City, Business, Around the House, Objects, Nature, Landscapes, Architecture, Animals
Library size: Small (440+ images)
Media types: Photos, Illustrations
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 4000px
License: Free for personal or commercial use
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

101. THE LIGHT PAINTERS LOFT (TLPL)

Rating: 25/50
Image quality: 6, Library size: 2, Licensing: 9, Freshness: 3, Ease of use: 5

TLPL is a stock photography website which provides images mainly for creatives. It’s perfect for sourcing images for website templates, blogs, apps and other graphic design projects.

Categories: People, Objects, Nature, Landscape, Food, Beverages, Events, City, Architecture, Black & White, Arts, Abstract, Animals
Library size: Small (210+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3000px
License: Creative Commons Zero (Free for personal or commercial use)
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

102. MyStockPhotos

Rating: 25/50
Image quality: 9, Library size: 2, Licensing: 7, Freshness: 2, Ease of use: 5

A curated list of American stock photos, MyStockPhotos was created by a small team of web developers based in New York. Images are of a good quality and everything is free to use.

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Categories: Cars, Buildings, America
Library size: Tiny (430+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: Low to high
File formats: WEBP
Average image width: 1000px
License: Creative Commons Zero
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

103. FotoDiSpalle

Rating: 25/50
Image quality: 5, Library size: 4, Licensing: 6, Freshness: 6, Ease of use: 4

 

FotoDiSpalle is a photo travel blog from Giorgi Galeotta, mostly covering his travels around Western Europe. Images are in high definition, free to download and there’s even a range of underwater photos.

Categories: Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Egypt, France, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Mexico, Norway, Russia, Spain, United Kingdom, United States
Library size: Small (1,700+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2000px
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Attribution: Required
Source type: Photo blog
Image credit: Photo by Giorgio Galeotti

104. HiResStock

Rating: 24/50
Image quality: 6, Library size: 5, Licensing: 6, Freshness: 2, Ease of use: 5

HiResStock is the portfolio of a Creative Director and his photographer friend. It hasn’t been updated since 2015 but contains a large quantity of high resolution stock in a range of categories, in particular Asian cuisine.

Categories: Activity, Abstract, Aerial, Architecture, Art, Bathroom Supply, City View, Decoration, Drink, Fashion, Furniture, Interior, Jewellery, Kitchenware, Landscape, Music, Nature, New, Photography, Stationary, Technology, Things, Tools, Transportation, Wedding
Library size: Small (2,600+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2000px
License: Free for commercial and personal use, more license details here
Attribution: Not required but greatly appreciated
Source type: Image website

105. Animal Photos

Rating: 24/50
Image quality: 4, Library size: 7, Licensing: 7, Freshness: 0, Ease of use: 6

 

Animal Photos has every animal photograph you can imagine, sorted into major animal groups and individual animals in a simple text link format. It doesn’t seem to have been updated in 7 years but still has a well sized library of high-resolution animal photos.

Categories: Birds, Mammals, Primates, Rodents
Library size: Small (11,000+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: Low to high
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1000px
License: CC-BY or CC-BY-SA for all images (Mostly images sourced from Flickr)
Attribution: Varies, check each image for attribution details
Source type: Image website

106. FREEIMAGES.co.uk

Rating: 24/50
Image quality: 4, Library size: 7, Licensing: 4, Freshness: 2, Ease of use: 7

For more than 15 years FREEIMAGES has been providing a bank of royalty free backgrounds and high resolution stock photos. With over 89 categories to search from, there’s a lot to see. You can also access bonus images and media assets by becoming a free member and logging in.

Categories: Technology & Transport, Backgrounds, Abstract, Objects, Light, Nature, Festive, Events, Celebration, Sports, Health, Leisure, House, Home, Building, Travel, Space, Plants, Stars, Workplace, Industries, Food, Cooking
Library size: Medium (16,000+ images)
Media types: Photos, Illustrations
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3000px
License: Free to use with attribution
Attribution: Credit FREEIMAGE as the source
Source type: Image website

107. Unrestricted Stock

Rating: 24/50
Image quality: 6, Library size: 1, Licensing: 8, Freshness: 3, Ease of use: 6

A little but mighty image site, Unrestricted Stock has high-quality free vectors and photos broken up into collections and projects (it’s regularly updated).

Categories: Game Consoles, Patterns, Laptops, People, Cities, Italy, Mexico, Milan, Handrawn, Photography
Library size: Tiny (250+ images)
Media types: Photos, Vectors, Hand Drawn
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG, PNG, EPS, AI, PSD, SVG
Average image width: 2000px
License: Free and ready for unrestricted use (Royalty free, further details here)
Attribution: Not mentioned, assumed not required
Source type: Image website

108. Little Visuals

Rating: 24/50
Image quality: 6, Library size: 2, Licensing: 9, Freshness: 1, Ease of use: 6

Little Visuals contains a valuable range of high-resolution photos you can use for free. Unfortunately, there will be no more updates to Little Visuals (sadly the owner of the site died in 2013). There’s no category system but you can search by keyword or browse by different tags.

Categories: Landscapes, Trees, Buildings, Beer, Camera
Library size: Very small (300+ photos)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2000px
License: Creative Commons Zero (Free for personal or commercial use)
Attribution: Not Required
Source type: Photo blog

109. From Old Books.org

Rating: 24/50
Image quality: 6, Library size: 4, Licensing: 4, Freshness: 2, Ease of use: 8

FOBO has an expansive range of over 3,700 images scanned from rare vintage and antique books. The site was put together by Liam Quin, a rare book dealer. Unfortunately, there are no categories, so you’ll be scrolling for a while to find what you’re looking for.

Categories: History, Books, Historical, Symbols, Antique
Library size: Small (3,700+ images)
Media types: Photos, Scans
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1200px (Condition is that for an image of 1200px or less you can get the image for free, over 1200px you must pay)
License: Free to use for personal use, commercial use requires e-mailing the site owner (Liam Quin)
Attribution: Generally requested but usually not required, check each image for any credit details
Source type: Image website
Link to image: Dress of the Commonality

110. Photogen

Rating: 24/50
Image quality: 5, Library size: 4, Licensing: 6, Freshness: 4, Ease of use: 5

Going since 2006 the Photogen image library contains a pretty extensive collection of photos. It’s nothing special but it’s easy to search and is well categorised.

Categories: Transport, Animals, Arts, Architecture, Backgrounds, Celebrations, Business, Concepts, Construction, Farming and Agriculture, Food and Drink, House and Home, Industrial, Leisure, Nature, Objects, Places, Plants, Technology
Library size: Small (2,400+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2800px
License: Free to use for personal and commercial use (Not for resale or redistribution)
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

111. titania foto

Rating: 24/50
Image quality: 6, Library size: 2, Licensing: 7, Freshness: 4, Ease of use: 5

titania foto is a German photographer’s blog covering animals, objects and landscapes among other topics. It’s a small collection but the image quality is good.

Categories: City, Fireworks, Dogs, Eating, Drinking, Textures, Clocks, Objects, Landscapes, Plants
Library size: Small (500+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 5000px
License: Use for commercial or personal use freely (Bar resale or adding to an image database)
Attribution: Not required but appreciated
Source type: Photo blog

112. openphoto

Rating: 24/50
Image quality: 2, Library size: 7, Licensing: 6, Freshness: 6, Ease of use: 3

openphoto contains a range of general images and photos ready for web, print and advertising projects. It was founded in 1998 by Michael Jastremski.

Categories: Animals, Architecture, Arts, Colors, Concepts, Events, Feelings, Flowers, Food, Holidays, Mosaics, Landscapes, Life, Light, Living Spaces, Nature, Places, Portraits, Professions, Recreation, Seasons, Shapes, Skies, Still Life, Study, Technology, Texture, Weather
Library size: Medium (20,000+ images)
Media types: Photos, Illustrations, Graphics, dotage, Music, Fonts, Maps
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1600px
License: Creative Commons Variant
Attribution: Required
Source type: Image website
Image credit: Sarah Klockars-Clauser
Link to image: Openphoto.net

113. Fontplay

Rating: 23/50
Image quality: 5, Library size: 6, Licensing: 8, Freshness: 0, Ease of use: 4

Fontplay provides free photos for artistic projects and creatives. It hasn’t been updated in 7-8 years but it does have some fascinating photos of sculptures and graffiti.

Categories: Architecture, Amusement, Christmas, Beach, Automobile, Desert, Dolls, Cactus, Flowers, Frames, Graffiti, Greeting Cards, Illustrations, Human, Jewellery, Kites, Flags, Balloons, Landscape, Light, Music, Shells, Mannequins, Transport, Sky, Sunset, Wildlife, Words
Library size: Medium (10,000 photos)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2200px
License: Free to use for any purpose
Attribution: Not asked for by the site/owners
Source type: Image website

114. New Old Stock

Rating: 23/50
Image quality: 5, Library size: 2, Licensing: 3, Freshness: 10, Ease of use: 3

New Old Stock sources vintage photos from the public archives. It mainly has photographs of landscapes, churches and farming. If you’re looking for free retro or vintage photographs this is a good place to go to.

Categories: Housing, Nature, Farming, Religion
Library size: Very small (200+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: Low to high
File formats: JPEG, PNG, GIF
Average image width: 1000px
License: Free for personal and non-commercial use (Potentially free for commercial, site owner is unsure)
Attribution: Most require linking back to original Flickr link provided
Source type: Tumblr blog

115. NOMAD.PICTURES

Rating: 22/50
Image quality: 4, Library size: 3, Licensing: 9, Freshness: 2, Ease of use: 4

Nomad.Pictures is a collection of stock photos from two digital nomads, who work around the world and love to drink wine.

Categories: Animal, City, Nature, Object, Sunset, Tech
Library size: Small (1,000+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: Low to high
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2000px
License: Creative Commons Zero (Free for personal or commercial use)
Attribution: No Attribution Required
Source type: Photo blog

116. Kozzi Travel

Rating: 22/50
Image quality: 8, Library size: 2, Licensing: 3, Freshness: 5, Ease of use: 4

Kozzi routinely refresh their travel blog with new images from a professional travel photographer. They cover the world including Cuba, Australia and the United States. The blog is small but contains some fantastic imagery.

Categories: Travel
Library size: Very small (200+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2000px
License: Unknown
Attribution: Unknown (Not mentioned, assumed not required)
Source type: Travel blog

117. Free Photos Bank

Rating: 22/50
Image quality: 1, Library size: 5, Licensing: 5, Freshness: 6, Ease of use: 5

Started in 2014, Free Photos Bank is a community site where photographers upload a range of different images under Creative Commons. It appears to be last updated in 2016, it’s unclear if it’s still being updated.

Categories: Life, Transportation, Miscellaneous, Objects, Nature, Fruits, Food, Computers, Technology, Architecture
Library size: Small (5,600+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: Low to high
File formats: JPEG (Or download in a ZIP)
Average image width: 1024px
License: Free to use
Attribution: Required
Source type: Community website
Image credit: Stephen H, Hong Kong
Link to image: Coffee Time

118. Bajstock.com

Rating: 22/50
Image quality: 5, Library size: 5, Licensing: 5, Freshness: 4, Ease of use: 3

Bajstock is a French blog covering an amateur photographer’s travels. Image quality varies and it hasn’t been updated for a few years. However, if you want authentic images of French castles, this is a good image source.

Categories: Travel, Transport, Industry, Leisure, Music, Home, Plants, Animals, Urban, People, France
Library size: Medium (6,000+ images)
Media types: Photos, Illustrations
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2500px
License: Free to use for commercial or non-commercial use
Attribution: Reference back to the site and photographer is required for commercial use (Jean-Baptiste Maradeix)
Source type: Photo blog

119. ccO.photo

Rating: 22/50
Image quality: 3, Library size: 1, Licensing: 8, Freshness: 5, Ease of use: 5

ccO.photo is a Public Domain photo blog from two German photographers (one now sadly deceased). It mainly covers landscapes, nature and animals. It’s also still regularly updated with new photos.

Categories: Vehicles, Still Life, Portrait, Landscape, Nature, Architecture, Animals, Abstract
Library size: Small (450+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG (relatively large files will need compressing)
Average image width: 2400px
License: Creative Commons Zero
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Photo blog

120. Stockified

Rating: 22/50
Image quality: 9, Library size: 1, Licensing: 9, Freshness: 1, Ease of use: 2

A small creative blog from the east, Stockified is a kernel of photos covering India, Indian themes and Indian people. Scroll through for some great photos of aircraft in action.

Categories: Nature, Motorcycles, India
Library size: Very small (150+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1200px
License: Creative Commons Zero (Free for personal or commercial use)
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Photo blog

121. Shutteroo

Rating: 21/50
Image quality: 8, Library size: 0, Licensing: 8, Freshness: 1, Ease of use: 4

Shutteroo is a curated Free Stock site put together to provide imagery for web and e-commerce projects. It was created and is run by Klaye Morrison, an Australian web designer.

Categories: Romance, Creative, Nature
Library size: Tiny (54 images)
Media types: Photos, Illustrations, Graphics
Resolution: Medium to high
File formats: JPEG, PNG
Average image width: 1000px
License: Free to use for personal and commercial but you can’t redistribute or resell
Attribution: Not required but a link to Shutteroo is requested
Source type: Image website

122. Paul Bates Photography

Rating: 21/50
Image quality: 8, Library size: 1, Licensing: 6, Freshness: 0, Ease of use: 6

Pauls Bates Photography is a free image portfolio site from an American amateur photographer. There are some restrictions on use though, check the license (we’re also unsure if you can download an image without the large white accreditation on it).

Categories: Tennessee, Sunset, Sunrise, Sanibel Island, Reptile, Quebec, Florida, Niagara Falls, New Hampshire, New Brunswick, Moon, Mexico, Maine, Lightning, Georgia, Flower, Florida, Fighter Jet, Dolphin, Daytona Beach, Costa Rica, Celebration, Cayman Islands, Captiva Island, Beach, Animal
Library size: Tiny (100 photos)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: Medium
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 800px
License: Free for personal use (For commercial use, please contact Paul for permission)
Attribution: Link back to the site
Source type: Photo blog

123. Stockphotos4free

Rating: 21/50
Image quality: 6, Library size: 3, Licensing: 3, Freshness: 1, Ease of use: 8

Stockphotos4free provides a range of free photos for blog posts, media posts and advertisements. Make sure though to click the link button to view and download pictures. You will also need to create an account to download for free.

Categories: International Locations, US Cities, Effects, Backgrounds, Nature, Animals, Time Lapse, Light, Energy, Talent
Library size: Small (1,500+ images)
Media types: Photos, Vectors, Infographics
Resolution: Low to high
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2200px
License: Assumed free to use (Unclear on license details)
Attribution: Unknown (Not mentioned, assumed not required)
Source type: Image website

124. Trunklog

Rating: 21/50
Image quality: 8, Library size: 0, Licensing: 10, Freshness: 0, Ease of use: 3

Trunklog is the product of an American photographer who’s giving away his excess photos to the world. It hasn’t been updated for a while but contains some great action shots, particularity of snowboarding.

Categories: Travel, California, Nature, Landscapes, Benches, Snowboarding, Clouds, Building, Statue, Ocean, Bridge
Library size: Tiny (50+ photos)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: Very high
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3000px
License: Free for commercial or personal use (No other details stipulated)
Attribution: No need to credit
Source type: Photo blog

125. GLYPHSCO

Rating: 21/50
Image quality: 6, Library size: 2, Licensing: 9, Freshness: 1, Ease of use: 3

Although it’s a micro-sized photo site, GLYPHSCO has a high quality range of images covering many topics, all licensed under Creative Commons.

Categories: Travel, Science, Society, Business, Sports, Hobbies, Interests, Automotive, Style, Fashion, Real Estate, Pets, Food, Drink
Library size: Small (400+ images)
Media types: Photos, Icons
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2000px
License: Creative Commons Zero
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

126. Photo De Voyage

Rating: 21/50
Image quality: 9, Library size: 1, Licensing: 3, Freshness: 1, Ease of use: 7

Photo De Voyage is a portfolio from a French photographer who travels the world. You can browse by filtering by country and by city for easy navigation. The countries and places photographed are listed in the categories below.

Categories: Argentina, Colombia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Morocco, Mexico, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Turkey
Library size: Tiny (300+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: Medium to High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1800px
License: Free to use personally or commercially on the condition that any image cannot be used for commercial use for direct or indirect profit
Attribution: Required
Source type: Travel blog

127. Morguefile

Rating: 21/50
Image quality: 2, Library size: 3, Licensing: 5, Freshness: 10, Ease of use: 1

Each month the team at Morguefile will send you a new pack of photos if you subscribe to their newsletter. Sadly, the image quality on the site doesn’t seem high.

Categories: General
Library size: Small (1,670+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: Low
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1000px
License: You can use for commercial or personal use (You do not own the copyright)
Attribution: If the image is unaltered you must credit the author using the photographer’s name and Morguefile.com
Source type: Image website

128. Free Stock Image Point

Rating: 20/50
Image quality: 5, Library size: 0, Licensing: 9, Freshness: 2, Ease of use: 4

The website offers complimentary images, typically covering nature and cities. All photographs are original and taken by the site owner. Free Stock Image Point is also updated with 20 news photos each week, but it hasn’t been updated in a while.

Categories: Landscape, Flower, City, Animals, Architecture
Library size: Tiny (100+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: Low to high
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1400px
License: Creative Commons Zero (CCO)
Attribution: Not required but appreciated
Source type: Image website

129. Pics4Learning

Rating: 20/50
Image quality: 4, Library size: 7, Licensing: 1, Freshness: 3, Ease of use: 5

Pics4Learning is a curated image database with photos and illustrations created for educational purposes. The license, unfortunately, seems to only allow for images to be used by educators (teachers and students).

Categories: Countries, Animals, Food, Education, Space, Geography, Fractals, Natural Disaster, Science, Technology, Tools, Machinery, Culture, Biomes, Literature, Dinosaurs, Missions, National Parks, Toys
Library size: Medium (25,000+ images)
Media types: Illustrations, Photos
Resolution: Low to high
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1800px
License: Free for teachers and students (Owner retains copyright)
Attribution: Unknown (Not mentioned, assumed not required)
Source type: Image website

130. The photographs of Ricardo Martin-Herrero

Rating: 20/50
Image quality: 7, Library size: 3, Licensing: 1, Freshness: 5, Ease of use: 4

The Spanish travel blog runs since 2002 and covers historic buildings and cities across Europe. The site has a decently sized collection of royalty free images to browse.

Categories: Travel, Antwerp, Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Bruges, Cadiz, France, Leon, London, Madrid, Luxembourg, Paris, Rome Portugal, Vatican City, Seville, Tenerife
Library size: Small (1,300+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2000px
License: Can be used without limitation, except for commercial use
Attribution: Unknown (Not mentioned, assumed not required)
Source type: Photo blog

131. pdpics.com

Rating: 19/50
Image quality: 5, Library size: 1, Licensing: 5, Freshness: 3, Ease of use: 5

pdpics.com is a Public Domain photo repository. The image quality goes from low to high. It covers 18 categories and is easy to search but it’s a tertiary source.

Categories: Animals, Emoticons, Architecture, Art, Nature, Fish, Holidays, Sports, Food, Money, Technology, Flowers, Jewellery, Objects, Landscape, Education, Vehicles, Birds
Library size: Small (500 images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: Medium to high
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1800px
License: Public Domain (Mostly CCO)
Attribution: Credit via link if you use an image
Source type: Image website

132. CopyrightFreePhotos.com

Rating: 19/50
Image quality: 6, Library size: 1, Licensing: 10, Freshness: 1, Ease of use: 2

CopyrightFreePhotos.com is a small stock photo site, the quality varies and it’s not exceptionally large. If you need some pretty rare stock pictures of Concorde, horse polo or miniature railways though, this is the place!

Categories: Sports & Fitness, Transport, Business, Flowers, Signs, Symbols, Technology, Food & Drink, Miscellaneous, Places, Nature, Buildings, Animals
Library size: Small (200+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: Medium to high
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1800px
License: Free to download and use for anything (Royalty free) – Everything is Public Domain, and the site owner has waived all copyrights
Attribution: Not required but appreciated if you do (copyrightfreephotos.com)
Source type: Image website

133. FREEUSE.IO

Rating: 18/50
Image quality: 7, Library size: 0, Licensing: 9, Freshness: 0, Ease of use: 2

FREEUSE.IO is an image directory designed to assist you in quickly finding photos. Regretfully, most of the photos appear to be from Gratisography, which we’ve listed already. It also seems to have not been updated since 2015.

Categories: General
Library size: Tiny (80+ images)
Media types: Images, Photos, Wallpapers (and apparently more!)
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 5400px
License: Creative Commons Zero
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

134. Picography

Rating: 18/50
Image quality: 6, Library size: 1, Licensing: 6, Freshness: 3, Ease of use: 2

The site is a miniature selection of stock photos from an Irish digital studio. Picography covers everyday moments at the beach, city and more in Ireland.

Categories: Aeroplanes, Beach, Italy, People, Monuments, Cocktails
Library size: Tiny (150+ photos)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPG
Average image width: 3000px
License: Unknown
Attribution: Unknown (Not mentioned, assumed not required)
Source type: Image website

135. Superfamous

Rating: 18/50
Image quality: 5, Library size: 1, Licensing: 4, Freshness: 6, Ease of use: 2

Containing a small set of images and gradients, Superfamous is the perfect place to find web backgrounds and images.

Categories: Landscapes, Desert, Mountains, Clouds, Bridge, Pipe
Library size: Tiny (100+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2500px
License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Attribution: Required (You need to give credit to Folkert Gorter)
Source type: Image website
Image credit: Folkert Gorter

136. Moveast

Rating: 18/50
Image quality: 5, Library size: 1, Licensing: 8, Freshness: 0, Ease of use: 4

Moveast provides coverage of the journey of a Portuguese amateur photographer travelling the world. All the key places/image topics covered are listed below. Regrettably, the blog hasn’t been updated in 7 months, but it contains an excellent set of photos covering mostly the Far East.

Categories: Greece, Landscape, Nature, Travel, Europe, Portugal, Waterfall, South Korea, Korea, Bridge, Business Man
Library size: Tiny (200+ photos)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: Medium to high
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1000px
License: Creative Commons Zero (Free for personal or commercial use)
Attribution: Not Required
Source type: Travel blog

137. Moni’s Photos

Rating: 18/50
Image quality: 8, Library size: 0, Licensing: 5, Freshness: 0, Ease of use: 5

A personal photo blog covering general topics, Moni’s Photos has unusually high quality images for such a small site. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been updated for a while.

Categories: Abstract, Animals, Business, City, Food/Drink. Holidays, Love, Nature, People, Things, Technology, Transportation
Library size: Tiny (40+ photos)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: Medium to high
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3600px
License: Free to use (With no selling or redistribution)
Attribution: Not Required
Source type: Photo blog

138. photostockeditor

Rating: 17/50
Image quality: 6, Library size: 0, Licensing: 9, Freshness: 1, Ease of use: 1

photostockeditor is a free high-resolution stock bank. It’s also unfortunately small and doesn’t seem to be updated anymore. It does have a good range of puppet, baby and fashion photos though!

Categories: Babies, Fashion, Puppets
Library size: Tiny (110+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1800px
License: Free for personal or commercial work
Attribution: Greatly appreciated but not necessary
Source type: Image website

139. GOODSTOCKPHOTOS

Rating: 17/50
Image quality: 3, Library size: 0, Licensing: 6, Freshness: 3, Ease of use: 5

GOODSTOCKPHOTOS holds a range of acceptable quality photos from an amateur blogger and marketer. Unfortunately, the site doesn’t seem to have been updated in a while.

Categories: Scapes, Things, Transport, Architecture, Activities, People, Nature
Library size: Tiny (100 images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: Medium
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2000px
License: Free for personal or commercial use
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

140. Noblweb

Rating: 16/50
Image quality: 3, Library size: 1, Licensing: 7, Freshness: 0, Ease of use: 5

Noblweb is a photography blog from a web design company based in Ottowa. It seems not to be updated anymore but it’s good if you’re looking for some relevant stock of Costa Rica, Sicily, Spain or families.

Categories: Beach, City, Ruins, Ocean, Band, Children, Trees
Library size: Tiny (340+ images)
Media types: Photos, Textures
Resolution: High
File formats: PNG
Average image width: 1920px
License: Free for commercial or personal use
Attribution: Unknown (Not mentioned, assumed not required)
Source type: Travel blog

141. CEOPLINA

Rating: 16/50
Image quality: 2, Library size: 1, Licensing: 7, Freshness: 0, Ease of use: 6

CEPOLINA is a nature and travel stock photography database. The site is broken up into geographic regions and sub-topics, so it’s easy to navigate (main sub-topics include mountains, beaches, and animals). Make sure to scroll down and select the right image size for you at the bottom.

Categories: Africa, America, Asia, Oceania, Europe, Art, Food, Object, People, Transport, Technology, Luxury Vehicles, Water, Nature, Cars, Metropolis
Library size: Small (460+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: Low to High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2000px
License: Free to use for any personal or commercial purpose
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

142. STARR ENVIRONMENTAL

Rating: 15/50
Image quality: 3, Library size: 0, Licensing: 5, Freshness: 0, Ease of use: 7

A full photo blog from two biologists and environmental consultants who live and work in Hawaii. STARR ENVIRONMENTAL covers mainly plants, insects, and birds native to the Hawaiian islands.

Categories: Plants, Slugs, Butterflies, Hylaeus
Library size: Tiny (150+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: Medium to high
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1000px
License: Creative Commons Attribution
Attribution: You must credit “Forest & Kim Starr”
Source type: Photo blog
Image credit: Forest & Kim Starr

143. ChristmasStockImages.com

Rating: 15/50
Image quality: 2, Library size: 1, Licensing: 3, Freshness: 3, Ease of use: 5

Christmas Stock Images contains a combination of Christmas stock images including classics such as snowmen and Christmas lights.

Categories: Decorations, Xmas Lights, Gold, New Year, Food, Drink
Library size: Small (300+ images)
Media types: Photos, Graphics, Backgrounds
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3000px
License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
Attribution: You need to link back to the website
Source type: Image website

144. Easter Stock Photos

Rating: 13/50
Image quality: 2, Library size: 0, Licensing: 4, Freshness: 2, Ease of use: 5

If you’re looking for pictures of Easter, go no further than Easter Stock Photos. Make sure though to click the download button in the right top corner of the screen to get the full-size image.

Categories: Spring Flowers, Easter Backgrounds, Church and Religion, Easter Eggs, Easter Food, Easter Symbols
Library size: Tiny (100 photos)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2500px
License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
Attribution: You must link back to the site
Source type: Image website

145. CreepyHalloweenimages.com

Rating: 12/50
Image quality: 3, Library size: 1, Licensing: 3, Freshness: 0, Ease of use: 5

Creepy Halloween Images is a bit hit and miss regarding quality, but if you need Halloween stock photography, this is probably one of the first places you should look.

Categories: Bat Photos, Spooky Cemetery, Halloween Clipart, Gargoyles, Ghosts, Food, Lanterns, Skulls, Skeletons, Spooky Places, Voodoo
Library size: Tiny (150+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: Medium
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2000px
License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License (Free to use for personal or commercial use)
Attribution: Weblink back to http://creepyhalloweenimages.com/ is required
Source type: Image website

146. FreeStockPhotos.com

Rating: 11/50
Image quality: 0, Library size: 1, Licensing: 5, Freshness: 2, Ease of use: 3

FreeStockPhotos bills itself as the original free stock photo site. Unfortunately, it provides access to a rather disappointingly small and low-quality database of images. The website covers landscapes, nature, and Christian topics.

Categories: Athens, Christian, Egypt, Israel, Near East, Rome Scenery, Sky, Weather, Wildflowers, Plants, Wild life, Animals
Library size: Tiny (200+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: Low
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 800px
License: Free to use for personal or commercial (Royalty free)
Attribution: Unknown (Not mentioned, assumed not required)
Source type: Image website

 

More free images & photos below from commercial stock websites.

 

147. Dreamstime

Dreamstime offers a mid-sized collection of royalty-free images, illustrations, and vectors. You do need to sign up as a member and enter a captcha online before any download, but it’s a reliable place to find free images (you will also need to update your profile information before downloading).

Categories: People, Objects, Illustrations, Industries, Technology, Travel, IT, Computers, Business, Arts & Architecture, Animals, Abstract, Nature, Holiday
Library size: Medium (20,000+ images)
Media types: Photos, Illustrations, Videos, Graphics
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 5000px
License: Creative Commons Zero (Free for personal or commercial use, only on the free collection linked to above)
Attribution: Not required but asked for
Source type: Image website

148. 500px

An upload and discovery platform for beautiful photos, 500px has images from professional and semi-professional photographers across the world. You can find photos by location or photographer. To search for free images under creative commons you can use the link above.

Categories: Marco, Nature, Night, Nude, People, Performing Arts, Sport, Landscapes, Journalism, Food, Fine Art, Film, Fashion, Family, Concert, Commercial, City, Architecture, Celebrities, Black and White, Animals, Aerial, Abstract, Wedding, Urban, Exploration, Underwater, Travel, Transportation, Street, Still life
Library size: Very large (80,000,000+ photos)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3000px
License: Many different licenses, check the individual image details
Attribution: Usually required, check the individual image
Source type: Community website

149. picjumbo

picjumbo has grown to be a large source free stock photos since it was created by Viktor Hanáček, a designer and photographer, in 2013. The only downside is that many of the pictures are paid, you’ll need to hunt for the free images.

Categories: Business, Food, People, Abstract, Woman, Cars, Desk, Mountains, Fashion, Workspace, Snow & Winter, Sunlight, Transportation
Library size: Large (200,000+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 4000px
License: Free images are free for personal or commercial use (Unclear if there are specific details/ license requirements beyond this)
Attribution: Required
Source type: Image website

150. 123RF

123RF has an extensive range of photos and graphics with an easy to search library, over 80 million in total. The only downside is that most images are not free:  only the low resolution ones are available for free, anything else is paid for with credits you purchase as a member. You’ll also need to be a free member to download free images (sometimes they also release free images or image packs on their blog, which you can find here).

Categories: Food, Healthcare, Landscape, Wedding, Vintage, Travel, Transportation, Texture, Technology, romance, People, Lifestyle, Abstract, Animals, Babies, Beauty, Business, Celebration, Communication, Concept, Education, Family, Fashion, Fitness
Library size: Medium (42,050+ images)
Media types: Photos, Vectors, Footage, Audio, Illustrations
Resolution: Low (72 DPI standard), higher resolution available if you pay
File formats: JPEG, EPS
Average image width: 480 (3000px paid stock)
License: Creative Commons Zero for marked free images in smaller 480px size (Free for personal or commercial)
Attribution: Required
Source type: Image website

151. rawshorts

rawshorts is a platform for creating explainer videos. They’ve also created a curated library of high-quality stock images sourced from a range of other platforms.

Categories: Travel, Music, Nature, Landscapes, Lifestyle, Music, City, Electronics, Architecture, Abstract, Business
Library size: Small (200+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: Medium
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1800px
License: Varies, check the image
Attribution: Varies, check the image
Source type: Image website

152. depositphotos

depositphotos has a significant amount of stock graphics, photos and videos from individual contributors. Unfortunately, most aren’t free but we’ve linked to the free page above. You can also find more by searching. You must sign up as a free member to download, but it only costs an email!

Categories: General
Library size: Very Small (50+ images at any one time)
Media types: Videos, Photos & Vectors
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 2200px
License: Check each image for license details
Attribution: Check each image for attribution details
Source type: Community website

153. Function

Function is a design studio that offers a small quantity of free stock, mainly covering nature and landscapes.

Categories: Nature, Landscape, Rocks
Library size: Very Small (50+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1800px
License: Images marked as free images are free to use for any purpose
Attribution: Not asked for
Source type: Image Website

154. Lightstock

A paid community site providing stock photos, vectors and footage. They do however give away pictures, photos and design assets each week in every category. All their images are Christian-focused and heavily curated. You can find here: Free photo of the week, Free video of the week, Free vector of the week. You’ll need to be a member to be able to download free images.

Categories: Christian, Religion, Religious, Church, Bible, Jesus, Missions, Small Groups, The Cross, Prayer, Bible Study, Adoration, Faith, Ministry, Minister
Library size: Small (Unknown)
Media types: Photos, Vector, Video
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3000px
License: Free for images marked as free, look at individual item for more information on the license (some restrictions may apply)
Attribution: Unknown (Not mentioned, assumed not required)
Source type: Community website

155. blend images

blend is a paid platform but if you sign up for a free account they send over a free monthly photo shoot on varied topics. You can also find and download the last free photo shoot using the link above.

Categories: Military, People, Buildings
Library size: Tiny (25+ photos per month)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3000px
License: Free photo shoot images are free to use for commercial or personal use
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

156. Pakutaso

 

 

 

Pakutaso is a Japanese stock photo site with a good selection of free images.

Categories: Cats, Flowers, Pattern, Sky, Landscapes, Fireworks, Cities, Food, Railway, Fabric, Tree, Space, Code
Library size: Large (100,000+ images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3200px
License: Free (Further details in Japanese)
Attribution: Unknown (Not mentioned, assumed not required)
Source type: Image website

157. PicJew

PicJew is one of the largest Jewish photo and illustration marketplace sites on the web. If you’re looking for Jewish-themed imagery, this is the first place to visit. You do have to register as a free user to download images and you can only download one free photo a week (you can find it on the bottom left of the homepage.)

Categories: Jewish, Jew, Torah, Yochai, Antique, Ancient, Baruch, Yaary, Beit, Midrash, Book, Boy, Candle, Cemetery, Chanukah, Chassid, Chavruta, Firewood, Gemara, Righteous, Graveyard, Hanukkah, Hasidic, Hebrew, Jerusalem, Judaism, Judaica, B’Omer, Learning, Meron, Orthodox, Passover, Prayer, Rabbi, Sukkot, Synagogue, Talmud, Yeshiva, Student, Israel
Library size: Medium (22,457 images)
Media types: Photos, Illustrations
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3000px
License: Free weekly photo is free to use (some restrictions apply)
Attribution: Unknown
Source type: Marketplace site

158. UPICM

UPICM has a small range of free images and photos meant for websites, blogs and social pages. Apart from the shop, they are completely free for commercial or personal use. The image quality unfortunately is mixed, you’ll need to hunt for quality images! On the bright side, they do have a really excellent range of header photos for social pages already cut to the right sizes for Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Google+ and Pinterest.

Categories: Random, People, Buildings, Architecture, Nature, Wildlife, Transport, Urban, Backgrounds, Abstracts, Textures, Transparent Backgrounds, Logos, Buttons, Black & White, Objects, Food, Memes, Interiors, Facebook Covers, Beach, Fashion, Spooky
Library size: Small (2,000+ images)
Media types: Photos, Video, Icons, Graphics, Music
Resolution: Medium to high
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1600px
License: Exclusive rights are given to you as downloader (Much more than Creative Commons, completely free of image copyright and royalties)
Attribution: Not required
Source type: Image website

159. ANCESTRY IMAGES

ANCESTRY IMAGES is a fantastic image resource for historical photos and illustrations. It’s primarily meant for historians and researchers but seemingly open for everyone to use. If you’re looking for a historical print, photo, plan or map then look here (there’s a particular focus on English history).

Categories: Antique maps, Prints, Plans, Topographical Maps, Antique Prints, Decorative, Costume, Natural History, Counties, England
Library size: Medium (35,000+ images)
Media types: Photos, Illustrations
Resolution: Low to medium
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1600px
License: Free to use
Attribution: Unknown (Not mentioned, assumed not required)
Source type: Image website

160. Free Historical Photos

Free Historical Photos contains an enormous amount of historical photos. It covers 30+ topics including portraits of famous 19/20th-century figures, posters from World War 2 and maps from the American Revolution. Most of the images are sourced from books and they are available in low resolutions for free.

Categories: Weather, Wars, Travel, Transportation, Sports, Sphinx, Sepia, Royalty, Riveters, Religion, Presidents, Plants, Planes, Petra, People, New York, National Parks, Music, Museums, Mining, Military, Martin Luther King, John F . Kennedy, Industrial, Humour, Holidays, Historic, Henry Ford, Entertainers, Dogs, Cats, Cities, Boxers, Blimps, Black & White, Animals, Architecture
Library size: Small (4,500+ images)
Media types: Photos, Illustrations
Resolution: Low
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 600px
License: Creative Commons Zero (Free for personal or commercial use)
Attribution: Not Required
Source type: Image website

161. Holiday Photos

Holiday Photos is a holiday themed stock photo platform from Hubspot. They offer 250 handy stock photos on the holidays from an old promotion including Christmas, New Year and Easter. It’s still active but you’ll need to give your email to get to the photo download page.

Categories: Christmas, Holidays, New Year
Library size: Tiny (250 images)
Media types: Photos
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 3000px
License: Complete free to use according to the owner, Hubspot
Attribution: Unknown (Not mentioned, assumed not required)
Source type: Image website

162. Paul Jarvis

A small stock image pack from Paul Jarvis, a self-titled blogger and commerce guy. The image pack is free to download and it’s made up of high-quality nature shots.

Categories: Landscape, Nature, Desert
Library size: Tiny (20 photos)
Media types: Photo
Resolution: Very High
File formats: JPEG, ZIP
Average image width: 3000px
License: Free to use
Attribution: Unknown
Source type: Blog

 

Can’t find the right image? Scroll down for our top 13 image search engines and aggregators

 

Photopin

Photopin is a keyword search engine built for creatives and bloggers to find images quickly. Photopin is one of the best portals to search for exclusively Creative Commons images. The search function is super-fast, the image catalogue is large and it’s continuously updated.

Categories: Every category you can imagine
Library size: Gigantic
Media types: Photos, Vectors, Illustrations, Graphics
Resolution: Low to high
File formats: JPEG, PNG, EPS, PSD, AI…
Average image width: Depends on the source (Search engine)
License: Creative Commons (Always check each image though as this is a search engine, they don’t host the images or take responsibility for misuse)
Attribution: Varies image to image
Source type: Image search engine

Compflight

Compflight is one of the best image search engines out there. Compflight at its core is made up of tags and filters. Its aim is to enable you to find the perfect image as quickly as possible. It’s ideal for finding blogging and marketing images.

Categories: General
Library size: N/A
Media types: Photos, Illustrations, Vectors
Resolution: Low to high
File formats: JPEG, PNG, SVG, EPS, PSD…
Average image width: 2000px
License: Creative Commons & Public Domain
Attribution: As per image details for attribution
Source type: Image search engine

Creative Commons BETA

You can use the Creative Commons search engine directly to search through all the major Public Domain and CC websites for images. Be aware though, it is more limited than say Wikimedia or Flickr. It’s in the early stages but we expect it to develop into an excellent image search.

Categories: N/A
Library size: N/A
Media types: Photos, Illustrations
Resolution: Low to high
File formats: JPEG, PNG
Average image width: N/A
License: Creative Commons various licenses
Attribution: Depends on the image
Source type: Image search engine

STOCK UP

STOCK UP is a small image search engine from Steve, the owner of sitebuildereport.com. His search engine allows you to search stock from over 31 websites, all of which we’ve covered on this blog but if you’d prefer to do cross site search, it might be worth a bookmark. For reference, the sites included are Life of PIX, Jay Mantri, Splitshire, MMT, Refe, Picjumbo, Kaboom Pics, Good Stock, Skitter Photo, New Old Stock, Picography, Cupcake, Snapwire Snaps, Free Nature Stock, Free Image Bank, Barn Images, Libreshot, Bucketlistly, Good Free Photos, Tookapic, MyStock Photos, Brain & Storm, Looking Glass, Negative Space, Enhlln, Knockout Prezo, Shotstash, Monis and 55mm.

Categories: General
Library size: Small (17,493+ photos)
Media types: Photos, Vectors, Graphics
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG, PNG
Average image width: 2000px
License: Most are Creative Commons Zero or Public Domain
Attribution: Depends on the image, check individual images at source
Source type: Image search engine

ImageFinder.

ImageFinder searches an aggregation of unnamed stock sites. Based on the current imagery displayed, we’re pretty sure we’ve covered all of them in this post but it’s a nicely designed search.

Categories: N/A
Library size: Medium (36,204+ images)
Media types: Photos, Illustrations
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG, PNG
Average image width: N/A
License: Creative Commons various licenses
Attribution: Changes image to image
Source type: Image search engine

everystockphoto

everystockphoto is an image search engine running since 2006. It aggregates information from many free stock sites, 99% of which we’ve covered already but it’s still worth a mention.

Categories: General
Library size: N/A
Media types: Photos, Illustrations
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG, PNG
Average image width: N/A
License: Creative Commons and Public Domain
Attribution: Look on each image for attribution details
Source type: Image search engine

finda.photos

Finda is a search engine for images that searches through these sites: Barn Images, Free Nature Stock, Jay Mantri, Life Of Pix, MMT, Picography, Realistic Shots, Skitter Photo, Startup Stock Photos and Unsplash. We’ve covered all these sites already but if you want to search these specific sites together at once, Finda is a good solution!

Categories: Action, Aerial, Bokeh, Curves, Glare, Landmarks, Wild Animals, Urban, Technology, Screens, Reflections, Person, Long-Exposure,
Library size: N/A
Media types: Photos, Illustrations
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG, PNG, PSD
Average image width: N/A
License: Creative Commons or free to use (Changes from image to image)
Attribution: Check each image for details on if attribution is needed
Source type: Image search engine

AllTheFreeStock

AllTheFreeStock is one of the best sites for searching Creative Commons and Public Domain images. Unfortunately, we’ve listed all the sites they search already on this post.

Categories: General
Library size: N/A
Media types: Photos, Illustrations
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG, PNG
Average image width: N/A
License: Creative Commons and Public Domain
Attribution: Check image to image
Source type: Image search engine

picsearch

Picsearch claims to have indexed and allow you to search 3 billion images. It’s a good search engine but limited on options and filters.

Categories: N/A
Library size: N/A
Media types: Photos, Illustrations
Resolution: Low to high
File formats: Everything
Average image width: N/A
License: Check each image
Attribution: Check each image
Source type: Image search engine

PASSEL

Passel brings together over 5,000 of the best photos from 31 free stock photo sites. We’ve covered all of them already but you can still use it to search if you’d like, the curation is excellent.

Categories: General
Library size: 5,000+ images
Media types: Photos, Illustrations, Vectors
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG, PNG, SVG, AI, EPS, PSD
Average image width: 3000px
License: Creative Commons or Free to use generally
Attribution: Depends on the image
Source type: Image search engine

freetouse

freetouse is a simple but extensive image search engine, claiming to index and search through 15 million images. Like picsearch it’s limited on filters and categories.

Categories: N/A
Library size: N/A
Media types: Photos, Illustrations
Resolution: Low to high
File formats: Everything
Average image width: N/A
License: Various Public Domain
Attribution: Depends on the image, check each one
Source type: Image search engine

StockPhotos.IO

StockPhotos.IO doesn’t host its stock images but is rather a collection of Creative Commons and Public Domain photos from across the web. it’s more like a search engine that’s broken into categories. The site was built and is owned by David Choi, a New York based web designer.

Categories: Places, Nature, Lifestyle, Tech Concepts, Design
Library size: Medium (27,000+ images)
Media types: Photos, Illustrations
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG, PNG
Average image width: 2500px
License: Mostly Creative Commons or Public Domain, all are free for commercial use
Attribution: Required
Source type: Image website/search engine

FreeQration

FreeQration is an image search engine that goes through over 2.5 million free images. Take a look at editor’s choice for some fresh image ideas. Unfortunately, the search does use 99% of the sites we’ve already listed.

Categories: N/A
Library size: N/A
Media types: Photos, Illustrations, Vectors
Resolution: Low to high
File formats: JPEG, PNG, EPS, SVG
Average image width: N/A
License: Various free and Creative Commons
Attribution: Check each image for details
Source type: Image search engine

 

Still can’t find the right image? See our favourite Flickr accounts below for more Public Domain and Creative Commons images

 

Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian holds over 13 million images in their collection. This Flickr account represents a small proportion of that. Nevertheless, it’s still huge and regularly added to. It contains over 11,000 tags filled with images to search through.

Categories: History, Historical, Operation Windmill, Sharks, Expeditions, Exploration, Pacific Ocean, Fish, Women In Science, Observatory, Portraits, Artists, Indian, Festival, American, America, USA
Library size: Gigantic (100,000+ images)
Media types: Photos, Illustrations
Resolution: High
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 7000px
License: Free to use for non-commercial, educational or personal purposes (Fair use applied, more details here)
Attribution: You must cite the source and author
Source type: Flickr account (Museum, USA)

Internet Archive Book Images (IABI)

Started in 2014, the IABI Flickr account is an amazing repository of millions of images digitised from a huge array of books from all across the world.

Categories: Insects, Cities, Landscape, Pine Trees, Beaches, Scuba Diving
Library size: Gigantic (5,249,952+ images)
Media types: Illustrations, Photos
Resolution: Medium to high
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1000px
License: Most images have no known copyright (Public Domain)
Attribution: Assume required, check image to image
Source type: Flickr account

The British Library

Since 2007, The British Library has uploaded over 1 million images including photographs, illustrations and much more to this account. Still, there is much to come from their enormous collection covering the last few thousand years of history.

Categories: Royalty, Politics, Cartoons, Band, Egypt, Musicians, Bricks
Library size: Very large (1,023,705+ images)
Media types: Photos, Illustrations,
Resolution: Medium to high
File formats: JPEG
Average image width: 1600px
License: Unfortunately most images have copyright, all rights reserved  (You’ll need permission to use for any purpose)
Attribution: Usually required if you can get special permission to use
Source type: Flickr account (Library/UK)

How to browse and find the best websites

The list is ranked in order of score, with the highest scored sites at the top. However, with 162 entries many sites providing great images don’t make the top or aren’t higher up the list due to the sheer number of entries or because they have similar scores, are too niche or too small, among many other reasons. It’s well worth scrolling down and making a shortlist to find hidden gems and niche photo sites that may meet your criteria better than entries at the top of the list. For example:

How to search by image category or location

If you’re looking for images of a particular topic or location in mind, you are in luck! We’ve included the titles of all the main themes, categories and locations each website covers, meaning you can search the list quickly using keywords to find and shortlist the sites that will provide the exact type of imagery you’re after. For example:

For the technically savvy, marketers or designers among you, you can also keyword search the list by resolution, file format, attribution requirements, license details, library size and more. For example:

How do I find/use the search the function on my computer/browser?

For Windows, generally you need to hit CTRL + F to search and for Mac, it’s Command + F. In Chrome and most other browsers you can also search the page by looking for “FIND” or “SEARCH” under options, usually located on the top right-hand side on the page. If you’re on mobile, it’s usually the “Find in page” option.

Understanding how websites are ranked

We’ve ranked each site by scoring across five key metrics. Each metric is scored on a scale of 10 (very positive/high) to 1 (less positive/low). The individual scores are then combined to give a total score out of 50, giving the site a rank in the list. What each metric is and the factors we take into account when scoring are detailed below.

Where are the paid stock sites that also offer free images?

If a website is primarily a paid stock image site, we haven’t included it in the main free stock list. These start at entry 147 because although they do offer free images, the majority of their image collection is not free. Some though are very good, and we’ve ranked them in general order of best quality to less quality without ratings (it’s worth taking a look in particular at Dreamstime and 500px). All of the one-off or free stock pages or sites that typically include image bundles that will never be updated start at entry 161.

What about sites with the same score, how are they ranked?

Sites with the same score have still been put in order with the best at the top using the rank, e.g. 151, 152, 153.

Information/details provided on each website

Each site has been thoroughly detailed and entries formatted to enable you to read, compare and browse quickly. Below are the details we supply.

Notes on copyright, licenses & attribution

When downloading a free image, it’s often the case that someone owns the copyright of that image, meaning that as the owner they control exclusive rights to use, distribute or resell that image. The exact definition can slightly change from country to country, but for our purposes, we’ll be using this as a general copyright definition). This means that you, as the downloader/user of an image, must have the image owner’s consent to change, tweak or use their image for commercial or personal use. This permission/condition of use is often given with free images in the form of a public copyright license.

How do you find if an image has a copyright license/conditions of use?

Fortunately, we’ve spent a lot of time reading and detailing the license/s details given on each site and writing in plain English how you can use an image and if there are any restrictions or conditions. Where we could, we’ve noted also any limitations of use. Most of the sites listed here use a Creative Commons Zero license or something similar, meaning you can use the image as you wish for personal or commercial purposes with little or no limitation.

What is image attribution and why is it important?

Attribution is when you give credit to the owner, distributor (website) or both when using one of their images. For most of the sites listed it’s not required but is always appreciated where possible by the author! If you do need to provide attribution we’ve noted down in most cases how you need to reference/attribute when using an image. It typically involves adding a link back to the picture, site, or just a mention or credit to the author.

What are the different types of image licences I’ll find on this list?

Fortunately, the majority of websites listed use a Creative Commons image license across all images/media, meaning they’re generally free to use without any or many conditions. There are, however, many different Creative Commons and media licenses used, and sites can have a mix of licenses. If you’re unsure about a license take a look at our detailed section at the bottom of the article explaining all the licenses mentioned on this list. The list starts below, enjoy!

Unsure or confused by an image or media license?

Below we’ve detailed all the different types of licenses that appear in this list, their requirements/conditions and what they mean in practice.

Creative Commons image licenses

Creative Commons is a set of public copyright licenses that enable free distribution of copyrighted works under none or some conditions.

Public Domain Dedication (CCO)

More commonly known as Creative Commons Zero (CCO). This license allows you to share, use or modify an image/media without restriction and for any reason. No one person or entity controls or owns material/media under CCO.

Attribution License (CC-BY)

Under CC-BY you can remix, change, share, copy or distribute/transmit the work/media for any purpose. You must give attribution to the author in the way that they choose (typically a credit line, link to the site/image or all of these).

Attribution-NoDerivs License (CC-ND)

CC-ND means you can take any work under this license and use/redistribute as you see fit it but not change it.  You must also credit the original author in the manner they stipulate (typically with the title of the original work and their logo). It protects the creators from anyone defaming their original work.

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License (CC BY-NC-ND)

CC BY-NC-ND is arguably the most restricted of any Creative Commons licenses, it only allows you to download and share images, and you must credit the author. You also can’t use any work under this license commercially or alter it in anyway.

Attribution-NonCommercial License (CC BY-NC)

CC BY-NC allows you to change or develop upon an image for non-commercial purposes. New works made using images must acknowledge the original author and be of a non-commercial nature. However, any derivative works do not have to be licensed under the same terms.

Attribution NonCommercial-ShareAlike License (CC BY-NC-SA)

CC BY-NC-SA allows you to change or develop an image for non-commercial use. You must credit the original author and license your work under the original license.

Attribution-ShareAlike License (CC BY-SA)

CC BY-SA allows you to change or develop upon an image even for commercial use. You must credit the original author and license new creations under the same terms (includes derivatives and business applications).

Public Domain Mark (PDM)

PDM is a mark that signals if a work/image/media is free from all and any known copyright restrictions. You can mainly use the image as you see fit! It’s typically used to mark older works that are known to be free from copyright.

Variations of creative commons licenses

CC licenses can also have variations. We’ve linked to descriptions of the variations that appear on this list if you need further clarification.

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported

Creative Commons Attribution 2.5

Other standard/non-standard image licenses

Apart from Creative Commons, there is a range of other image licenses you will come across on this list, they are detailed below.

Public Domain

Any image or media in the Public Domain is considered free to use without restriction or attribution requirements.

Site-specific license (i.e. Free for any purpose, Free for use with conditions)

When a site has an individual license for media/images, we’ve linked to the terms and cited what the license means, i.e. Free for personal use only, Free for educational use, Free for personal and commercial use…

Images free from Copyright-free images    

When a site provides Copyright-free images, we’ve marked this in the license section. This means there are no copyright restrictions or terms of use, allowing you to use the image as you see fit.

What if it says ‘unknown’ under license or attribution?

This means we’ve been unable to find details of license/attribution requirements or that they are unclear. If unclear, we’ve linked to the license terms so you can review further.

Image license, attribution or ownership details can be incorrect or can have changed since this post was written. We have done our best to make sure everything is as accurate as possible but we take no responsibility if any of the details on this list are incorrect or missing.

Disclaimer

We also take no responsibility for any of the current or future content on any of these websites/links and any damages or liability arising from your interaction with them or from using information on this post.

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