Photos are very important in any business because we humans are designed to react better when we see visuals rather than words.
When you’re reading a newspaper, would you be tempted to look at the picture first, or read the plain old article first?
Definitely the picture, right?
You can probably say that for any articles or blog posts, images are going to be your first line of attraction which is why many photographers make a lot of money selling their photos to bloggers.
In fact, many of them won’t even be afraid to sue you if you simply take their photos without permission and I’ve known many bloggers who have experienced this. Roni even wrote about her experiences in BlogHer.
However, not everyone has the money to pay for photos especially those who are just starting out so how do you get high quality stock photos for free?
There are many photographers who take photos out of passion and contribute to certain websites for anyone to use them for free and those are…
Website #1 – Unsplash
Niche: Nature, office, business, landscape.
Attribution needed: Yes.
Unsplash is my favourite, they update 10 new photos every 10 days and the pictures are immensely breathtaking!
They cover mostly on pictures if nature, office, and eventually people as well and it’s well worth attributing them as those images are taken from great angles.
It’s almost hard to believe that these people upload such high resolution photos for anyone to use it for free!
Website #2 – Pexels
Niche: Everything.
Attribution needed: No.
Pexels is another one of my favourites that I personally use on all my blogs as they have pictures for a variety of niches whether its business, technology or abstract and of course, high quality guaranteed!
The pictures are also taken for bloggers so you will definitely be tempted to dig in for more and more!
Website #3 – Pic Jumbo
Niche: Travel and Food.
Attribution needed: No.
If you’re running a food blog or a startup restaurant, then Pic Jumbo is worth checking out.
They also allow you to donate some money to the contributors if you’re feeling generous and I find it a good strategy to keep those photographers motivated as it lets them know that their efforts are being recognized by some of us.
Although the site may be a bit distracting with all that ads, it’s easy to navigate and of course, free 😉 .
Website #4 – Pixabay
Niche: Everything.
Attribution needed: No.
Pixabay is another one of those websites which covers almost all niches you can think of – Art, nature, travel, city, and more!
I love it for its ease of navigation and even better, you can also find some of the best photos recommended from other websites which provides free images as well, such as Unsplash.
Website #5 – IM Free
Niche: Everything.
Attribution needed: Yes.
IM Free also has a collection of photos on almost any niche you can think of and they’re also targeted for bloggers.
The pictures are of really high quality, even better than most paid websites and it’s worth checking it out.
Website #6 – StockSnap.io
Niche: Everything
Attribution needed: No.
I really love the StockSnap.io particularly because of their interface which I find pretty cool and interactive, especially with the number of views and downloads.
The pictures are uploaded by various contributors and since it’s a public domain, all of them can be used for free without attribution which makes it all the more sweeter.
Website #7 – Gratisography
Niche: Random and extraordinary.
Attribution needed: No.
If your blog is about random stuff or entertainment and you’re looking for pictures which are out of the blue, then Gratisography should be your number one photo place.
All the pictures are taken by Ryan McGuire of Bells Design and it is regularly updated every week!
Website #8 – Splitshire
Niche: Vintage, commercial and random.
Attribution needed: No.
Splitshire is made by web deisgner Daniel Nanescu and it started with his idea of helping people out by sharing all his photos which were gathering dust.
Because of that, he added all his photos for free and since then many people use it for both personal and commercial reasons and he’s okay with that!
Plus, this is one of the very few free photography image websites which were featured in CNN, Yahoo News and The Huffington Post so it must be something good!
Website #9 – Little Visuals
Niche: Landscape and nature.
Attribution needed: No.
There is a story behind Little Visuals.
Back then, it used to be one of the budding free photography sites out there but after a while, popularity dropped because pictures weren’t updated for a while and eventually, months passed by.
After a year, we found out that that Nic died of Sudden Adult Death Syndrome because his family decided to log into his website and update it with an announcement so that loyal followers of the site can know what happened.
The pictures may be a bit outdated but you can still use his old photos which are just as good and if you want to help out his family, there is an option to donate at Little Visuals.
Website #10 – Life of Pix
Niche: Landscape, travel, people, buildings, nature and office.
Attribution needed: No.
Life of Pix is one of the first free websites that I come across when I firsts started blogging and today, I still go there from time to time as the pictures are amazing.
The pictures are provided LEEROY creative agency and they are kind enough to let the public use it for free without you ever needing to attribute back which pretty cool.
Website #11 – Getrefe
Niche: Technology, landscape, city, business, people, nature.
Attribution needed: No.
Refe or Getrefe (Not sure which is the real name) is something out of the ordinary, they start off from Tumblr!
Now that they are confident enough with their growth over the years, they bought their own domain and started charging for customized photos.
Still, they haven’t forgotten the people who made them famous so their pictures will always be free for everyone.
Website #12 – New Old Stock
Niche: Old, grey and white, colored 90’s, and vintage.
Attribution needed: Yes.
Old photos are very hard to get nowadays and sometimes, having those kind of photos in your blog every now and can give your readers some good nostalgic feeling that will make them stay for more.
People know how hard it is to get those photos online as you have to clean them, scan and edit to sharpen the look so New Old Stock is like a living relic for us all.
The only catch, is that you may need to attribute some of them as most of these photos are obtained through Flickr.
Website #13 – Lock and Stock photos
Niche: Landscape, nature, art.
Attribution needed: No.
Created by AJ Montpetit, Lock and Stock is the new guy in the market as he just launched the website last year in 2014!
However due to AJ’s fame and reputation, he managed to quickly bring the website up almost on par with the big guns in just a year which is an incredible feat.
As usual, the photos are free to use with no attributions required.
Website #14 – Snapwire Snaps
Niche: Landscape, nature, silhouette, people.
Attribution needed: No.
I always get confused between Snapwire and Splitshire, don’t you?
Names aside, Snapwire actually has beautiful photos that you really want to take advantage of and they also regularly update it by 7 photos a week.
Website #15 – Jay Mantri
Niche: Beach, blogs, grey and white, abstract.
Attribution needed: No.
Jay Mantri really has an artistic eye for blogs as his photos are catered for those who want to use pictures as an attraction headline.
Similar to Snapwire, Jay adds 7 new photos a week too except that he does it every Thursday.
Website #16 – Morgue File
Niche: Nature, wildlife, antiquities.
Attribution needed: No.
Morgue File may not have super shard HD pictures taken from super expensive cameras, but their picture taking skills are just as good.
Plus, I particularly loved their website interface as it makes it really easy for you to navigate because they minimize the gallery images instead of putting in huge pictures which you would have to scroll down if you want to see more.
You can cover the ground faster if you’re needing to find multiple pictures for a project.
Website #17 – Picography
Niche: Nature, Landscape, people, building, random.
Attribute needed: No.
Picography is another one of my favorite and it’s created by Hidden Depth, a web design company from Ireland.
Like many of the photos above, the pictures are free and you don’t need to attribute them which is really nice of them to do that.
Website #18 – Public Domain Archive
Niche: Everything.
Attribution needed: No.
Public Domain Archive may sound cheap but I assure you, their photos are as beautiful as the darling buds of May.
They used to be all out free but after a while, they needed money to maintain so they offered a premium service for $10 a month which allows you to download in bulk and of course, your very own premium only photo.
You don’t need to become a premium though but it’s a way to donate if you love their free photos.
Website # 19 – Up-Free
Niche: Everything
Attribution needed: Yes.
Up-Free is also one of the few new kids on the block as they recently launched their website last year.
I find their photos pretty good and I do love the fact that there are a variety of photos ranging from architecture to vegetables and even mountains.
Their images are of very quality and they are great for bloggers but you may not like the excessive ads they have though.
[Update]: Up-Free went down and the website is no more.
Website #20 – Good Free Photos
Niche: Landscapes.
Attribution needed: No.
Good Free Photos is a public domain which means you can use their photos however way you like without needing to give back any attributions.
They focus more on landscape pictures like those taken from National geographic which just begs for you to set them as your desktop wallpaper.
Website #21 – Free Image Bank
Niche: Everything
Attribution needed: No.
I came across Free Mage Bank (Or Free Image Bank) through a friend because due to their domain name spelled as Freemagebank.com instead of Freeimagebank.com, there was a wee confusion in terms of SEO.
However I still loved the fact that the pictures are actually of high resolution and that the interface is also easy to navigate since it’s in gallery mode.
There wasn’t any notifications on whether or not the pictures need to be attributed but I’m dropping them an email to reconfirm and will let you know soon!
[Update] Got my reply and they said that they do not mind us not attributing at all, but they would be ecstatic if you do do 😉
Website #22 – Barn Images
Niche: Everything.
Attribution needed: No.
Barn Images is one of those free images with nice and user-friendly interface which allows you to scroll through photos with ease.
I particularly like the way they organize their site as there is only one ad instead of simply spamming it everywhere as how many websites do.
Website #23 – DubStock
Niche: Random pictures around Dublin and Europe.
Attribution needed: No.
Sometimes all we want are pictures from certain regions and at DubStock, their images come from all around Dublin and Europe.
The pictures here can bring you back to memory lane if you used to stay or study anywhere around the region, especially in Dublin.
Website #24 – Instastock
Niche: Random photos edited from a mobile phone.
Attribution needed: no.
Instastock is actually pretty cool, I find it really unique the fact that all the pictures there are edited using iPhone 6 before being uploaded!
It is definitely something you don’t find in any other photography websites and having these free photos in your blog can really mean a lot to your blog because since they look like they come from Instagram, your site is definitely going to look more personal.
[Update]: Instastock also went down and the website is now no more.
Website #25 – Travel Coffee Book
Niche: Travel and landscape.
Attribution needed: No.
I really love the photos at Travel Coffee Book, the pictures are all very sharp and it’ll give you the impression that you are there with them!
It is almost hard to believe that these photos are free and you don’t even need to give attribution too!
Now if they would only start their own Twitter account…
Website #26 – Designer Pics
Niche: Pictures for blogs
Attribution needed: No.
Designer Pics are made by bloggers and well…designers so they have some pretty cool ideas on how to make their photos so tempting.
If you’re looking for pictures for your blog or simply for a commercial, this is one website you wouldn’t want to miss!
I do wish however, that they would start their own Twitter account.
Website #27 – Negative Space
Niche: Everything.
Attribution needed: No.
Negative Space is one of those websites with great user interface as you can easily scroll through the gallery to cover more ground rather than scrolling down through huge images.
They upload 20 images every Monday and the images are all In their raw format so you can edit them fresh from the camera!
Website #28 – Fancy Crave
Niche: South-East Asia
Attribution: Yes.
Looking for free high quality pictures around South East Asia?
Well look no further! Fancy Crave covers just that and why I love them so much is because that’s where I’m from too! (I’m from Malaysia to be exact 😀 )
The website is still kind of new as it was made March 2015 but it’s growing up pretty fast and I’m foreseeing some exploding growth somewhere in the near future because who doesn’t love tropical islands?
Plus the niche itself is something unique as there aren’t many free photo websites around which are based on that specific region as well.
Website #29 – Stockvault
Niche: Everything.
Attribution needed: No.
Stockvault is a free photo sharing website which has a wide variety of photos created various by web designers, photographers and students.
You can use their photos for anything at all and if you’re wanting to have a go at your photography skills, feel free to submit your images there as well and find out just how many people react to your work.
Be warned though, it is a non-commercial only site which means that you can’t use their photos if you plan to earn money from your site.
Website #30 – Pickup Image
Niche: Landscape, nature, travel.
Contribution needed: No.
Pickup Image isn’t as popular as the other free photography websites but their photos are just as good and I find them breathtaking still.
The photos cover mainly on travelling and nature and since the resolution is very high, you could almost drown in self-discovery just by looking at them so it’s worth giving it a try if your niche is related.
Website #31 – Fotoscopy
Niche: Nature and Artistic.
Attribution needed: no.
Not the most popular stock photo websites but I do love their photos and its perfect for bloggers – They can be used for commercial use and we don’t need to attribute them.
Photo sites such as this are the ones who are really helping the little guys like us grow and save some cost and they do deserve a little more recognition than they already have, more people should know about it.
Website #32 – The New York Public Library
Niche: Past photos scanned and digitalized, still in beautiful shape.
Attribution needed: Yes.
Started in 1991, The New York Public library has been around since I was but a wee lad.
Even so, they haven’t made everything public until 5th January 2016 (That’s this year!), where they made an announcement to encourage people to use their wide resource to help the public.
They have a wide resource of over 180, 000 images from the past that they have scanned to make it available online for everyone’s use.
Website #33 – Freerange
Niche: Blog-post pictures
Attribution needed: No.
Freerange is another free stock photo site that I absolutely love.
Their photos are all meticulously edited and filtered by their own in-house photographers as well as their photographer community.
The photographers get paid when people like you and me click on their those little ads you see on their page, that’s how they manage to keep those pictures free.
They wanted to be different by allowing the public use their photos for free regardless of commercial or non-commercial and if you don’t want to attribute it, its fine but they would greatly appreciate it if you do.
Website #34 – My Photo Pack
Niche: Breath-taking views and blog post pictures.
Attribution: No.
Started in 2015, My Photo Pack is a wonderful photography website and they’re very active in social media too! I had the honour of chatting with them on Twitter and they reply really fast 😉
Their photos are set for download and are updated every month which I find pretty cool as those photos are very authentic taken by their own photographers.
If you don’t feel like it, you don’t need to attribute them but they would really appreciate it if you do.
Website #35 – RealGraphy
Niche: Blog post pictures, various.
Attribution: No.
Realgraphy is another public domain free-to-use photos you can use for your blog.
They are constantly growing and they are also using their own pool of photographers to increase their photograph collection.
Their images are nice and if you like, you can give the photographer a tip for their hard work.
One thing you need to know though, the email opt-in pop up is quite frequent prompting you to subscribe every minute so if you’re the type of person who doesn’t fancy disturbances while you’re looking at peaceful pictures, then this site is not for you.
If the website owner is reading this though, you might want to reduce the email opt-in freqeunce so as to not appear non-stop.
Website #36 – FreeStocks.org
Niche: Blog post pictures, various.
Attribution: No.
I came across Free Stocks on Twitter and decided to check out their page as I find them quite active on social media (They have good response time too!)
FreeStocks.org is another free-to-use stock photography website containing thousands of beautiful photos contributed by various walks of people from all around.
I personally use their photos for both work and for my blog.
Like the most of the websites listed here, they do not need any attributions whatsoever if you don’t feel like doing so but they would be more than happy if you could let people know of their existence.
They just reached one year!
They just reached their first year so why don’t you guys give them a chance and check out their page yeah? You won’t be disappointed especially if you’re a blogger!
Are Blogs Considered Commercial Use, or Non-commercial?
Some stock photos are non-commercial, while others allow commercial use. Which one is better?
This is one topic which often confuses people, and it’s one of the most common questions that I often get.
So what is a commercial use or non-commercial use of images?
To clear the air, commercial use means that you are using the photos for the intention of making money which makes it fairly obvious that the non-commercial use means that you can use the photo so long as you’re not planning to earn money from it.
Sounds simple, doesn’t it? I beg to differ.
Even if you want to use the photo for educational purposes to teach to your students, there are many loopholes to this – The photo owner can always sue you by stating that the photo you used earns money for the university.
Doesn’t make sense right? But people can be very devious when they are desperate for money so it’s best not to take the risk unless you’re confident of what you’re doing.
Sometimes when I do presentation slides to teach orphans for charity, I don’t publish them on the internet even though I’m not making any money out of it because I have a noble reason to help them and I do not want to get into trouble of people suing me for that.
Even if you’re using the non-commercial images for your presentation in a conference, it is still a risk because it is a fact that conferences make money either through ticketing, from sponsors, or both.
No matter what the case, if you’re not confident that there is any money involved at all, don’t go for non-commercial images unless you feel like contacting the owner.
So what is the case for blogs?
Simple, if your blog doesn’t make any money or you don’t intend to, you can use non-commercial use photos.
However if you do plan to earn money from your blog such as the case of e-commerce, Affiliate Marketing or ads, then you should definitely use photos which allow commercial use because that’s the very intention that you have to work on your site.
Jeepers, Attribution Sounds Hard!
Not at all, my friend.
As you go through the list of websites above, you’ll notice that some of those websites require you to attribute your photo and by that, they simply mean to say “Hey! Don’t forget to say my name, buddy!”
Some people allow you to use their photos without giving them credit but not everyone wants to be nameless heroes so in return for letting you use their photos, some people would like you to simply put their name there and link it back to their site.
There are 2 ways to go around doing this, the first is by putting a caption on a picture and linking it like this…
That’s one way of attributing someone.
I used to do this for a few months on all my photos but after a while, I began to realize that it doesn’t make my blog post look nice not to mention my readers getting distracting when they click on that link so early before even reading my content.
Which brings us to the second way of attributing which is by adding your link at the end of the post.
This is a much better way for you to attribute an image because by putting that link in the end, your visitors will be more than likely to focus on reading your content till the end as they do not have any distractions at the beginnings so in a way, it’s a win-win situation for you.
My Final Word
That’s it, my list of 30+ free high quality stock photos for everyone to enjoy with ease.
I plan to update this from time to time so if you’d like me to add in your very own photography website as well, do let me know below along with your contribution requirement as I’ll be more than happy to reply.
This is such a valuable post. On my blog I take pride in the fact that I spend time trying to source the most attractive and appropriate pictures to use on my featured posts. A lot of people, especially new to blogging, often don’t know where to go to source pictures at reasonable prices or free and they often end up taking pic from Google Images which is never ideal. You post is going to prove to be incredibly useful for anyone who has struggled to source images for their site. Great post.
I can totally relate to you on that one Jon,
I too used to take pictures from Google images. Ahh, those were days! Wanted to my my posts look legit but in the end I kinda messed it up myself and almost got caught lol. Glad you liked these pictures! Thanks for dropping by, Have a great Tuesday!
Wow this post is just crammed with so many great resources. I have just started to create my own website. I am now filling it with quality posts. I feel though that pictures are needed to fill my posts to make it more attractive to readers and to break up the text. There are so many choices you have listed here. I will have to check them out each in turn. Thank you very much for this post. I have bookmarked this post for future reference.
You’re definitely right on that one Owain, pictures are definitely needed when blogging and breaking down those texts is actually pretty important in enhancing your readership engagement. Glad you find this list helpful, good luck on your site!
Oh my gosh Riaz, such a great article! Thanks so much for breaking down the options into this comprehensive list! Free images are all important and I have already been using a couple of the aforementioned but you have given me so much more to look into, in order to find that perfect pic. Thanks a lot!
Kris
Your welcome Kris, perfect pictures which at the same time are also free are everywhere, we just need to know where to find them 😉
Your totally free stock photos page is definitely bookmark worthy. I bookmarked as a reference site since I am always looking for free stock photos. Well done!
I also use Free Range Stock which has thousands of high quality images. Morgue File is also one of my favorite sources of free graphics. And no I did not see a photos from a morgue.
Thanks Glen, Free Range and Morgue are great and they are both on my list up above as well. Awesome to know that you find my page helpful, hope you have a great weekend!
So many awesome resources for my blog in one place, just what I needed! Thank you, man, you did a great job. Most are pages I had never seen before and they offer pretty cool stuff and very beautiful pics. And the whole website is pretty cool too. Keep gooing! 🙂
Glad I could be of help Marta, I like to make my content detailed and interesting to give the best value for my readers. Hope you have a great Wednesday my friend.
When I go to look at a blog or a website, there is no doubt that the main two aspects that can encourage me as much as anything to continue reading are the headline and the photos that I can see immediately. Of course, this is just human nature, as an eye-catching photo will hold the reader’s attention and indeed maybe pique their interest in the subject. So to anyone making a website, I would say: get some good photos and make it all the more interesting!
Right you are Molly! Images are what people are looking at today as we humans are really just visual creatures. Almost everyone will stop to look at the images when reading so using an eye-catching one will definitely tip the scales to your favour.
Hi Riaz,
I still find it difficult to find good quality free photos. So I will definitely make note of this list. I use mainly Pixabay but there are a lot more great sources as you’ve just shown me.
I’m also glad, you made a link to Roni’s story. I’ll be even more careful when choosing my images in the future.
Pixabay is great Zuzana, but having other alternative choices is a better option, you’ll be able to fin d pictures that you never thought existed. Glad you liked my list, appreciate the feedback!
Thanks Riaz for this. I’m delighted I found this post. . Every time I search for free photos it turns out they’re not free.and when you are starting out every penny counts. Thanks so much for doing this research for us, it must have taken you ages. Are there any of these sites that you use less because of the quality of the images?
Keep up the good work!
As a mater of fact, I do.
I don’t use Flickr as much because the photos are a mixture of quality as many people upload pictures through their phone. I myself upload my own Flickr photos through my phone so I know it first hand the quality that comes out.
Still, there are quality photos in Flickr uploaded by professionals but I don’t really spend time much there to find them as it is a tad difficult to find those good ones. Thanks for the kind words, I really appreciate that and I do hope you have a great Tuesday.
Nice list! This is definitely something I’ll print out or bookmark for future reference.
Isn’t Flickr another good option? I’ve used quite a few photos from Flickr (it even gives you the camera data that took the photo) as long as you give attribution and provide a copy of the license somewhere in your attribution.
Flickr is a good option too Ian, thanks for suggesting. Cheers!
This was a very valuable blog post.
As someone who uses blogging as a method of lead generation, I am always looking for other sources of web images that don’t have any potential associated copyright issues.
This is a well written post which will prove to be extremely valuable to other bloggers who are struggling to find decent images other than Google images.
I have book marked your page and I will be coming back frequently.
Thanks for the really useful info – thanks.
Awesome to hear that man, guess I’ll be seeing more of you here soon!
This is a very informative page and how to secure photos for use on your site. It points out that it is often a photo that first grabs attention. This article basically gives a list of 30 sites from which photos may be obtained. Some are totally free;a few require attribution. Also it gives the type of niches each site can be useful for. It also discusses commercial and non commercial applications for the use of photos and ways to avoid any legal complications when using photos. This is a site that will proof very useful to me.
Glad you find my article useful Steve, hope these websites can be of good use to you. Cheers!
Wow,
you have a lot of sites for free photos. All I’ve been using was pixabay. It was really great to find additional sites with free photos.
The New York Public Library also recently released over 180,000 digitized photos for free use. With all those free photos, bloggers will definitely have a lot of options.
Thanks for sharing thse resources
Thanks for suggesting the New York Public Library Dan, I’ll add that to my list. Awesome to know you liked my article, thanks for dropping by!
Hi Riaz, I just want to say thank you for directing me to these free sites.
They’ve been a great resource to use and have save me so much money.
I particularly like the ones which email you a link to new photos each week!
Keep up the great work!!
Sammi
Hey Sammi,
You mean death to the stock photos? They are awesome and some of these sites do give you new photos or inform you when they have new ones. Glad you liked my list, hope you have a great day!
Hi Riaz,
thanks for the great list. Another great site that you might want to add into the list.
http://fotoscopy.com
All images provided are completely free for personal and commercial purposes. No attribution or permission required.
That’s awesome Wandy, definitely adding that to my list. Thanks for suggesting, cheers!
Hi Riaz,
First of all i would like to congratulate for your great success of your Website.Its really good Website and great review about free photos.Hope many people use this.This is really a wonderful site with extraordinary information provided which i never get till.
Thanks to you for such a wonderful Website.
Your welcome, glad to know you liked my site. If you ever have any questions on yours I will be more than happy to help. Cheers
Awesome! Riaz totally awesome! I used to struggle a lot to find the right royalty free images as I cant just use somebody else’s image without their permission and as a photographer..i’d be pretty peeved of somebody was using my images without my permission.
bookmarked your site as an excellent resource!
Thanks Derek, you are too kind. I was struggling with photos myself too and I was jumping from one website to another so instead, I decided to compile everything into one post. I’m glad you find it helpful, thanks for dropping by and I wish you all the best on your website as well!
Hi Riaz,
Thanks for the exhaustive list! It’s really helpful.
I started by using images found on Google without knowing the implications of copyrights.Now that I know better this list will come in handy soon.
Anytime Edward, glad to know my article helped. Cheers
Hi Riaz,
Loving this page and have bookmarked it and some of the picture links you’ve provided. Being a blogger this is a fantastic resource and I think I can speak for a lot of people in saying well done and thank you!
I currently use Pixabay and that works pretty well, but it’ll be nice to add some more to the arsenal.
Cheers for sharing
Pixabay is awesome and you’re definitely right on having an arsenal of high quality photos thing. You’ll never know when you need them plus its great to have a variety in photos tastes. Thanks for the kind words Tim, cheers!
Awesome! You have no idea how long I have waited for a list like this! I have copied the list and will take a closer look now. For me no attribution photos are the best. Am very visual so I always use pictures for my posts. Nothing beats a picture right when you need it for your blog post, right? Thank you so so much! 🙂
Right you are Gin, awesome to know I managed to help you out greatly. Pictures are indeed important for blogging especially with the fact that only 16% of visitors actually stay to read as most of them just skim through. Thanks for dropping by!
Hi Riaz This is such a great resource you have put together here and it will be invaluable to your many readers I am sure. I have bookmarked your site so I can return often to find the free stock photos that you have so wonderful put together. I also found the site easy to navigate and easy to understand. Thank you again for this awesome free service 🙂
Always a pleasure Peter,
I know how difficult it is to find quality photos so I decided to write one so that everyone can access it easy. Guess i’ll be seeing you here again pretty soon!
dude this is awesome! People need more stock photos Im sure for blogging and such. Personally, I like to use my own photos for the fact that they are a bit more original, but sometimes I’ll still use stock photos, so I’m most definitely going to bookmark this for future reference. Thanks!
Matt TheDopestMatrix
Original is the best don’t you think? However it’s kind of hard if you blog more than the times you go out to take pictures so whenever I’ve used up my own photos, I use the Stock photos instead. It’s great to mix things up a bit but just as you said, original photos are the best – they are more personal and people can relate to you more.
This is a really thorough list of free picture websites. I like the variety that you offered, by finding some websites that specialize in pictures for certain topics. Whoever are in those specific industries will love those websites. I know that people who have online businesses will find this immensely useful, I know that I will. Thanks again for this excellent article!
Glad you loved my list Justin, I hope they will too! Its always hard to pictures when you’re managing blogs on different niches so I figured writing all of them down here would help out a lot. Thanks for dropping by, cheers!
Hi Riaz, thanks for this list! I’m always on the look out for new photos to use. This is a really useful article for anyone with a site. I can’t believe how expensive photos can be! I also use death to the stock photos. If you sign up they send you a bundle of 10 photos to your inbox every month (I think it is). Sammi
Hello Sammi,
Photos are expensive alright, especially if you are living in a different country whose currency is way lower like Malaysia, they can go up to 3 to 4 times more! And yes, Death to the Stock photos are awesome and they do give 10 photos every month which is great for advertising as they let us feel their best photos before deciding on going premium. Thank for dropping by, cheers!
Hello Riaz , how are you?.
I am so glad you placed Unsplash at the top and recommended it as your best resource.
Unbelievable guys , they share this awesome artwork in exchange for some traffic.But this is a side project they run.And it was few days ago that they announced one book on Kickstarter , something they were building for 2 years now.A collection of artists and photos.
You made a great list , all the photos are excellent.Bookmarked.
Another brilliant post , cheers.
Hello again Tasos,
I’m fine thank you, so good to hear from you again. Hope you’re doing all right! Unsplash is one of my favourites and I’ve been using it before I realised that there are other similar websites as well, glad to know you love their photos too! Collection of artists and photos on Kickstarter you say, definitely going to crowdfund them, thanks for informing! Hope you have a great day.
As someone who just started a website… this is literally a gold mine! While first making my site I would have never thought of this niche in a million years. You have some great content and some very helpful info. to people who might be just starting out just like me. Great job.
Thanks Aaron, the reason I created this website in the first place is because I wanted to help beginners by providing them with the best resources for free. I’m glad my article helped you out, wishing you all the best in your online endeavours!
Excellent. This kind of information is always really useful especially as I am always on the lookout for free well photographed images as I build websites myself. Often these 2 things do not go hand in hand! I’ve pinned this post to my pinterest account for future reference. Thanks for that.
Thanks so much for bookmarking Sduncan, glad my little compilation here helped you out for your website!
Thanks for the great article on 30 websites offering totaly free stock photos! I have bookmarked your page because in reading through the different sites, I can see I need to know how to get to them quickly. This post will help!
I do prefer free lol, as I and surely many others in this business need to keep costs to a minimum where possible, and spend available funds for the things that will positively affect my overall sales… I will be back lol and thanks!
Free is one thing, free and high quality is another Dave!
So awesome to know you liked my article, the sites here can really help you out if you’re wanting to cut costs. Startups especially need to master the art of resourcefulness and getting free and quality service without spending a dime is what can help you grow your business faster.
Great list! I regularly bookmark free stock photo sites and I was still able to get another 7-8 off this list that I didn’t have before. Can’t ever have too many stock photo sites and it’s nice not to have to pay $30 a pic too.
Good info on how to attribute the photos too. Haven’t been too sure on how to best do that. I like your idea on leaving the reference at the bottom of the page.
Thanks Caleb,
Yup, there are many ways on how to attribute but these two are the most common and effective ones. Cheers!
Wow, I had no idea that there were so many free stock websites, and many dont even require attribution!
Untill now Ive been using a few here and there, but now you have opened for me a vast amount of opportunties! I will surely come back here for further reference.
Thanks Ben, and yes there are loads of photo sites which doesn’t need attributions. Hard to find nameless heroes but they’re there if you look for them right 😀
It’s definitely very true that images make all the difference to your blog posts. A blog post without images looks really dull and uninspiring. Image brighten it up and also help break up the writing so it’s not just one big wall of text.
The main site on this list that I have used is Pixabay. In fact, I use it nearly all the time, anytime I want an image. I will have to have a look at the others, though, because Pixabay doesn’t always have the image I am looking for.
Thanks for your feedback Marcus!
Pixabay is great but there are tons of other image sites to go through, cheers!
Such a comprehensive article, top job! Thank you for featuring us! Pixabay does it best to provide the best quality photos, currenlty we have over 480000 photos ready to use for free and on top of this illutrations and graphic vectors. You can check out our Editors Picks for photos we like the most: https://pixabay.com/en/editors_choice/. If you have any questions or feedback, just send me a quick message
Hey there Aga,
You’re welcome! So great to know that Pixabay noticed my website, I love your photo collection and its one of the websites that I always recommend to my friends and colleagues too. I’m sure everyone would like to check your site more when they know you’re commenting with them here 😉 Cheers!
Wow! A great list of Stock Photos for Free I can look into. I am so happy that you provide some of the websites as being no attribution required for their images, they are my favorite. 🙂
Pexels is something new to me but it is still worth a good look see.
And, what really amazed me about that one was that you clearly mentioned that it has pictures that relates to any Niche. That is pretty important to me and many bloggers because sometimes we run into free image websites where the theme of the images has either nothing to do with business but mostly with nature or so.
IM Free is another one I shall bookmark too. 🙂
When you mean Niche as being commercial, does that relate to business?
Wow, thanks for ending the Blog Post with saying your experiences with giving attribution where it was due. To me it was time consuming and probably added bad user-friendly experience for my visitors to my website as they would click the link and drift off elsewhere in cyberspace without finishing their reading on my Content.
Wishing you all the best with your online success Riaz above and beyond the horizon,
~Angel
Hello Angel,
So awesome to know that my list helped you! Pexels and IM Free are really good and I personally use photos from there on my own blog posts as well. I totally understand the pain of putting attributions as people tend to click away from our website as they are curious to find out who created that picture.
The non-attribution photos are perfect for bloggers and they are usually added by nice photographers who do not ask for fame and royalty. Great to know there are still good people helping us out. And yes, Commercial niche is for business-related posts or ads. Wishing you all the best on your website!
Hi Riaz Shiah,
You have so many resources to free stock photos. This is very helpful. When I first starting out, I use Google images and realized it is NOT the right way to add images to my website.
Now I personally use Pixabay for my site. Anyway, thanks for sharing it here 😀
Cheers,
Edy
Wow, I’m so happy I’ve found this post. Downloading photos can get very expensive. Everytime I search for free photos it turns out they’re not so free.Thanks so much for this list!
I know right? It can get very hard to find quality photos nowadays especially when photographers are able to sue you out of the blue, one can never be too cautious. Thanks for dropping by Carolyn!
Greetings, Riaz! I have reviewed many, many websites but I have never, before today, bookmarked a site I reviewed. This is a wonderful site…the information is extraordinary and you have done a very thorough job. I will share it on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest…I will also share it on WA, as I believe everyone should be exposed to this level of quality resources for building great websites/blogs. I appreciate your work! Papa Dave
Hey there Papa Dave!
Wow that is a great honour for me to carry, thanks so much for your kind comment and for sharing across your social media. The reason I write is to help as many people as I can because when I first started blogging, I had a very rough start and seeing how it helped you lets me know i’m on the right track. Again, thank you for everything Papa Dave, guess I’ll try to live up to your expectations 😀
Just what I was looking for, thank you Riaz, I will use some of the website, on my website. Thank you again. 🙂
Anytime Lyubomir, that’s very cool of you. Glad you liked it too!
Hi Riaz, this is what I would call a great post. You really provide useful information here, with a thorough description of sites with free photos. Many people need this and I am sure the post will be a great success for you. Many thanks. Jovo
Thanks Jovo, glad my article can be of use 🙂
Hey Riaz,
That is a pretty extensive list! Pixabay is my favourite so far but I may be updating that if I come upon one I like better from your list. I also use Flickr.com/creativecommons which was my second favourite.
Again thanks for the list and I will book mark this page until I’m able to try out each free picture website.
Pixabay is pretty cool, Marlon! It’s one of my first free photo sites that I know of. Flickr is pretty neat when you want to find images with personal touch as some of those pictures taken by amateurs for fun rather than photographers. Thanks for teh bookmark, I guess I’ll be seeing more of you here, eh?
those are all some great free sites to get pictures from and you really helped by breaking them down and letting us decide which one to choose
Its what I do, man thanks for drooping by 😉
Thanks for this great article! I was looking for these website and I got them all listed thanks to you!
Keep up this great work!
B.t.w which one do you like the most to work with?
I like Barn Images, Pexels and Life of Pix, thanks for dropping by Tijmen. Glad you find my article helpful!