Top 21 Websites to get license-free images in 2024
Web Design | 6 mins read
Visuals are the new thing. Yes, words can be your greatest weapon. But nothing can attract eyeballs as much as an appealing visual, a static photo, or a video. You will need many vibrant and colorful images to attract someone's attention. Now the main question pops up:
Where can you find free photos that are high quality and clear to use for your blog posts or social media content?
Nearly every image created in the last 30 years is still protected by copyright, which gives virtually every author the exclusive right to use or reproduce their work. But you can find a public domain photo, use a Creative Commons image that might need attribution, or even create your image from scratch. But there's a catch. Many websites house copyright-free images that can be used without any worry.
In this article, we will look at the top 22 websites to get license-free images for your website or blog.
1. Unsplash
Unsplash is one of the biggest websites for getting copyright-free images. Unsplash is a side project started by Crew, an online marketing agency dedicated to making your design dreams a reality. Besides free stock photography, Unsplash showcases user graphic design work with its MadeWith section. It's a one-stop destination for getting license-free images for commercial use.
2. Pexels
Pexels is another popular website where users throng to get license-free images. Pexels has a vast catalog of free stock photos that can be used for websites, blogs, and social media. Additionally, they have free stock videos. If you are a YouTuber looking for a generic and copyright-free intro video or even copyright-free images for commercial use
, Pexels is the destination.
3. Pixabay
Pixabay has a huge database of high-quality &
copyright-free images for commercial use. It's somewhat more oriented toward business and marketing than Unsplash, which is often helpful for content marketers and bloggers. Another significant advantage of Pixabay is that it offers free vectors and illustrations.
4. Freepik
Freepik is a great website to get copyright-free images if you want to design creatives for your social media. Freepik is a source for free vectors, PSDs, icons, and photos. The platform uploads over 80,000 exclusive free resources every month, designed by Freepik's team or the community of graphic designers and vector artists contributors.
5. Stockvault
Stockvault is another great source of copyright-free images, wallpapers, and even textures. The collection is only about half the size of Unsplash, but it's well-curated and has daily new additions. This site also has a good search engine and is well-organized for browsing by category.
6. Wikimedia Commons
Wikipedia is for text, and Wikimedia is for images. It provides a stunning image repository, spanning everything from lush landscapes to historical events. Comprising over 34 million freely usable media pieces, including videos and sounds, Wikimedia is necessary for graphic designers, photographers, and artists looking for free, high-quality images.
7. PicJumbo
Run by a 24-year-old photographer who was tired of getting his photos rejected by major stock sites and decided to create his own, PicJumbo is now a thriving free stock photo community with an extensive selection of beautiful free images.
8. Gratisography
Are you looking for quirky images for your social media post? Then, Gratisography is the one-stop solution. The site features a heap of "quirky… beautiful… arresting", copyright-free images that will enable you to put a unique spin on your next project.
9. Reshot
More than just a simple stock photo collection, Reshot is a community with a mission. They aim to give emerging photographers a platform to share their creativity with those who need it. Their curated collections are extensive, stunning, and completely free.
10. Burst (by Shopify)
Burst is a free stock photo platform for entrepreneurs by Shopify. The images are both free and royalty-free. (P.S. Burst has a fantastic business ideas section with tips and high-resolution images for getting your business started.)
11. Morguefile
The Morgue file is slightly different from the rest. You'll find pictures of random people and everyday objects. Morguefile’s huge database comprises free high-resolution digital stock photography for either corporate or public use.
12. Free Images
Free Images provides over 300,000 free stock images under its license. The license allows a broad range of uses, though it lists several restricted use cases (which are quite common for most free image sites).
13. Kaboompics
Kaboompics uses its license, similar to Creative Commons Zero, except you cannot redistribute its photos. I love two things about Kaboompics: one, it allows me to search by color, and two, it provides a complementary palette of colors in the photo.
14. Stocksnap.io
Stocksnap uses the Creative Commons CC0 license, so its photos are free to download, edit, and use for commercial and non-commercial projects.
15. Life of Pix
Life of Pix lists free high-resolution photographs and partners with Adobe Stock for more (paid) stock photographs.
16. Negative Space
Negative Space is a new website that offers new stock photos every week. Be it architecture or technology, Negative Space houses thousands of images with a copyright-free license. The website has an easy filter wherein images are sorted via category, copy space position, and color.
17. Pikwizard
Pikwizard gives you access to high-quality free stock photography and videos. You can also take each image and edit it on your graphic design tool. There’s no attribution required, meaning you can take each image and use it as you please for commercial and non-commercial use.
18. Freerange
Freerange provides free and royalty-free images from their arsenal of stock photos. The website - Slowly, the community around the site is also being built up, providing additional content. The goal is to provide really good and very high-resolution images.
19. StockSnap.io
The motto “not to be some shitty stock photo site” is implemented by StockSnap.io nice. You could spend hours scrolling through the great shots and viewing the hand-picked masterpieces of royalty-free images. Worth a few views/clicks because here, you can find pictures not available elsewhere.
20. Startup Stock Photos
This website is designed for startups. On this website, you can get all types of photos required for a startup’s website. The pictures are specially designed to display content, apps, and other things so that you can wear a professional appearance without much effort for photoshoots with models, etc. If you need to market a new app or website or want a nice photo for a presentation, this might be the best place to find your royalty-free photo.
21. SplitShire
The website offers an extensive array of unique license-free pictures. The website is a passion project for Daniel Nanescu, an Italian photographer. The best part is that you can see and feel the love Daniel puts in all his pictures. With all these beautiful stock photos online, you will find the license-free images you need for your project.
22. FoodiesFeed
Do you own an Instagram page that revolves around food? Then, my friend, you are in luck. Here’s presenting FoodiesFeed, a great website with thousands of pictures of food, nutrition, ingredients, and cooking. Take a look!!!
Wrapping It Up
With so many options available, there won't be any dearth of vibrant and colorful images for your website. Do you have any favorite websites from where you download copyright-free images for your websites and blogs? Comment down below. Let’s help one another.
Happy Designing Beautiful Websites!
