August 24, 2017
17 Best Free Stock Photo Websites For Web Designers
The Difficulties of Finding Free Stock Photos
Finding websites with stock photos that are actually free sucks. Add in quality and the challenge gets even harder.
What are “royalty-free” stock photos?
Royalty free is a type of license used by stock photography agencies to sell stock images. Once you have purchased the license with a flat, one-time fee, you are granted a determined set of rights to use the image in multiple ways.
For example, you could use an image in a print ad campaign, social media post, on your website, and web banner ads, without having to pay each time you used the image.
The reason for this is simple. When you are working with stock photos, you are acquiring the right to use the photo in a certain way. You do not however acquire the property of the photo itself.
A rundown of our choices:
- Unsplash
- Gratisography
- Picography
- Death to the Stock Photo
- Pixabay
- Kaboom Pics
- Jay Mantri
- New Old Stock
- IM Free
- Picjumbo
- FoodiesFeed
- Little Visuals
- Life of Pix
- Skitterphoto
- MMT Stock
- Stocksnap
- SplitShire
The Importance of High-Resolution Photos for Web Designers
As a web designer, you need to use quality images so you look like you actually know what you’re doing.
Kidding.
Well, sort of.
In all seriousness, images are a heavily used marketing tool, and for good reason.
Whether you are offering a service or selling a product, images help illustrate your message.
A high-resolution image can display your product or service at its height of potential.
Images can be used to educate your audience. A high caliber image can clarify an issue without any words needed. Remember, as a web designer, you want to be a problem solver for a user.
Free stock photos are a great way to ensure quality, without paying a lot to get your message across.
Where can I find the highest quality free stock photos for my web design?
Here is a list of our top 17 favorite sites for use for quality free stock photos.
1. Unsplash
Unsplash is our personal favorite for free high resolution and high-quality stock photos.
They release 10 new photos, every ten days and have over 25,000 contributing photographers.
It generates an estimated 1 billion photo impressions a month.
Every photo published on Unsplash is licensed under Creative Commons Zero, which means users may copy, modify, distribute, and use the images without permissions or attribution.
Free? Yes
Best For? Anything and everything
2. Gratisography
This is another website that provides photos covered under the Creative Commons Zero license.
All of the high-resolution images are taken by photographer, Ryan McGuire.
Some of these pictures are the things of which nightmares are made.
If you are looking for quirky, unique images, (or want to scare the shit or of a small child) this is the site for you.
New pictures are added weekly.
Free? Yes
Best For? Quirky, not your average photos
3. Picography
Small, but mighty.
The site contains visually pleasing free stock photos, taken by Dave Meier and other photographers.
Their saying; “Free images to use however you like” pretty much sums up how the website works.
They also offer premium collections available for purchasing.
Free? Yes, but there is a premium option available.
Best For? Objects and scenic locations.
4. Death to the Stock Photo
Simply, enter your email and Death to the Stock Photo will send you a pack of 10 photos within a certain category.
The theme range from a simple object such as “fruit”, to a conceptual idea like “wild imagination.”
Free? Yes, but there is a premium option for either $15 per month or $145 per year. And they give scholarships for nonprofits and social enterprises.
Best For? Inspiration haven for social media, blogs, and mockups
5. Pixabay
Pixabay has over 780,000 free photos, art illustrations, and vectors on their website.
You can use any image with attribution in printed and digital form, even for commercial applications.
The site is crisp and organized. The search bar lets you select specific factors such as color, minimum dimensions, orientation, and media type.
Free? Yes
Best For? Vector graphics, illustrations, videos, ad photos covering a wide range of topics
6. Kaboom Pics
Kaboom can be your go-to for fashion, food, landscapes, abstract, and more.
The creative brains behind this website is a web designer from Poland, Karolina.
She requests that you include photo credit with a link back to the site when possible.
Free? Yes, they even add a color palette with free graphics for download for every photo
Best For? Extremely wide variety of topics
7. Jay Mantri
If you don’t know who designer and photographer Jay Mantri is, we recommend you look him up.
“free pics. do anything (CCO). make magic”
His site has tons of professional images, that cover a wide range of themes.
The best part, 7 new images are added every Thursday.
Free? Yes
Best For? Scenic images
8. New Old Stock
Everyone likes a good black and white photo.
When vintage is the look you need, go to New Old Stock.
The images are from the public archive via Flickr Commons, and they are free of any known copyright restrictions.
Free? Yes
Best For? Vintage projects, retro web designs
9. IM Free
IM Free is where you can find a collection of photos, plus other web design resources, free for commercial use.
IM Free aims to target web designers and agencies specifically with their free photos.
Free? Yes, for commercial use
Best For? Their nature and landscape collections have almost 3500 images
10. Picjumbo
This site is the perfect example of how to use criticism, and turn it into something positive.
Photographer and designer, Vikto Janacek, started Picjumbo in 2013 as a result of his work being rejected by other stock photo sites.
Now, the site has blossomed into a thorough collection of free photos for personal and commercial use.
New images are added daily.
Free? Yes, but there are premium packages available for bloggers, designers, and agencies
Best For? Wide variety of categories such as architecture, fashion, transportation, and people
11. FoodiesFeed
Tired of looking at yourcousin’s shitty food pictures on Instagram?
FoodiesFeed is your answer.
For those of you who write about food, or sell food products, or maybe just love food, FoodiesFeed is a dream come true.
FoodiesFeed has thousands of free, high-resolution food images for you to choose from.
Disclosure: The site may induce food cravings.
Free? Yes, but there are premium options to choose from that cost anywhere from $39-$199.
Best For? Food bloggers and food-related websites
Visit Website
12. Little Visuals
The creator of this site, Nic, has sadly passed away.
His photos tell his story, and were released under the creative commons license public domain dedication.
Free? Yes
Best For? Quality landscape images
13. Life of Pix
Life of Pix is managed by Leeroy Advertising Agency and its talented photographers.
New photos are added weekly, all under public domain.
If you need videos, check out Life of Pix’s counterpart, Life of Vids.
There you can find free videos, looks, and clips.
Again, there are no copyright restrictions to the content.
Free? Yes
Best For? Nature, everyday life, landscape
14. Skitterphoto
Skitterphoto is the result of three skilled photographers in Groningen, The Netherlands.
You’ll find a stunning collection of vivid and quality images.
The site has 15 categories ranging from industry to animals to travel, but check out the unique music category.
Free? Yes
Best For? Animals, nature, people
15. MMT Stock
MMT Stock is where you can search through collection after collection of high resolution photos, all thanks to Jeffrey Betts.
MMT Stock covers a wide range of topics, from “yellow flowers”, “green leaves”, to ideas such as “getting work done” and “focused.”
Really, MMT Stock features everyday photos that can be used on an extremely wide range of web design projects or mockups.
Free? Yes
Best For? Everyday life, website mockups
16. Stocksnap
“Not your typical crappy stock photo site.”
One of the best parts of Stocksnap is their search feature, that makes it simple and easy to browse through thousands of images.
Hundreds, yes hundreds, of quality photos are added daily, and no attribution is required.
Free? Yes
Best For? Objects, nature, wildlife
17. SplitShire
Ran by Italian photographer, Daniel Nanescu, SplitShire, has plenty of amazing free photos to choose from.
Nanescu claims the photos are “made with love” and this definitely shows.
SplitShire offers unique, high resolution photographs many times feature awesome lighting or grunge textures.
Free? Yes
Best For? Bloggers, everyday life, grunge photos, unique lighting