Before we delve into Great FREE Image Resources consider that you will likely want some input on the imagery that serves the persona of your website. So the question is “where do I get my inspiration from?” or something similar.
This is true whether you’re creating a bespoke website yourself, using a CMS like WordPress, or employing a Web Designer or Web Developer to produce a website for you.
Which FREE Stock image site we prefer?
We can’t specifically say we prefer one over another, because ultimately it is about individual images, and you might prefer to mix and match, but what we can give you is a big tip!
With PicJumbo (No. 8 below) you can download thousands of free stock photos. Even our featured image is from PicJumbo.
And if you want to keep up to speed for new active content, why not sign up to their premium package!
Before continuing with this FREE Image Resources, we do recommend you review our other article:
Understanding Copyright on Web Images
It is recommended you familiarise yourself with the individual site’s rules around using and sharing. They might require you to attribute the author, or limit you to non-commercial.
Once you have the basics, it is time to move on to the next:
16 FREE Image Resources on the Web you Must See
1
Unsplash is a well curated collection of donated photos by skilled photographers. There are fewer images than you’ll find on other sites, but the quality is more consistent.
Unsplash’s search facility is an excellent way to find a picture, but it is worth checking out their collections based on various themes. Whether that is by user, Work, Food, Fashion and many more. If you sign-up for a free account, you can start curating your own collections too.
Unsplash notes that it would be polite to add a credit to the author, with a link back to their profile as a courtesy, bot not necessary.
It holds many high-resolution images, and its worth checking out just their front page to see some of the latest.
2
StockSnap is popular with marketing gurus, especially becaise all the photos on the site are released under Creative Commons – CC0. This means they do not require attribution.
Unfortunately there can be somewhat of a reduced selection on StockSnap when filtering for a genre. But the quality of those photos is excellent, and they do provide promotions towards another paid-for site, so at least it is a comparison whilst you browse.
One very cool function of StockSnap is to browse by what’s “trending” Great for inspiration in your own website.
3
Many people like using Pixabay for resources, because the content is all available for personal and commercial use. In addition Pixabay doesn’t require attributions to the artist/author.
Pixabay carries more than 2.3 million of high-quality, royalty-free stock images. And many of these images are in the public domain.
As a bonus for a one-stop-shop Pixabay carries videos and music shared by their ever growing community.
The quality isn’t always as good as some others like Unsplash(above), but the options are immense and its filtering of results excellent. And in addition you can choose a resolution to download. IF space is a premium this can be an excellent tool.
4
Yes the site FreeImages really does exist. And it has a crazy amount of free images to choose from. FreeImages is a well curated collection, and excellently categorized, and gives you great “recently search” to maybe give you a few ideas too.
For the most, the images you retrieve from FreeImages are licenced for free in pertpetual, non-exclusive, and unlimited. Again FreeImages do provide promotions towards another paid-for site, so at least it is a comparison whilst you browse.
5
Pexels is an unusual images repository in that anyone can upload to their website, but it is the site’s curators that choose which images show up in their searchable collections.
Pexels seems to be very popular with app developers and web designers. And is also home to some more niche categories such as “space photography”.
What is particularly impressive is that the curators not only tag these pictures for categories, but the pages give you alternatives or associated keywords to follow.
And just to top it off, you can ask Pexels for images in a color… yes… images by color! This is excellent if you are hoping to find image in-keeping with your theme.
Finally, have a browse through their “most recent” and “trending” sections for even more inspiration.
All the photos are free to use, and editable on license.
6
What makes Reshot different, is that all photos and other resources are hand picked my the gurus behind the website. And those images are likely to be more bespoke than the stock photos of other sites.
The curators at Reshot also have the foresights to put collections together for those that don’t have as much time on their hands as they’d like, bringing a set of image together to cover a specific theme.
Although Reshot‘s collections may seem a little limited compared to others, you can rest assured that the licence agreement lets you do almost anything to the images once you’ve got them.
And as an added bonus, for those who want to be a more abstract or just more hands-on techie, Reshot also has an amazing collection of “SVG Icons” (resizeable icons) and “Vector Images” (more cartoon-like pictures).
7
At first glance Rawpixel looks to be similar to many other stock photo image websites, but don’t let that fool you. They have a good selection of FREE stock that is proved to be as good as the premium stock. This is a site well worth your time to investigate.
The key to the magic at Rawpixel is the team of mindful curators whose sole job is to vet and expand the selections they have. The result is a family of free stock photos that (as someone put it) “share a quality of excitement, engagement, and creativity”.
In an affectionate way, Rawpixel are the hippies of the tech design world. And to prove just a little of this paradgm shift, they say 10% of any revenue they create via their premium membership will go directly to the
8
PicJumbo is a favorite in as much it is blatantly a one-man vocation relating to his own photography. Viktor Hanacek from the Czech Republic is an artist in its true form, that turned to WordPress and websites as a way of presenting some beautiful collections of his own.
Since then PicJumbo has flourished into a great source of unique stock of free photos used by bloggers, theme developers, marketers, web designers and app designers alike. You are less likely to see PicJumbo images on other websites compared to some of the other FREE Image Stock websites we have mentioned..
PicJumbo even has a FREE sign-up for receiving images on a regular basis. We recommend signing up to PicJumbo’s news letter as soon as possible. And/or the site has a “Buy me a Coffee” and “name a fair price” option throughout the site.
And their premium version is also an excellent choice for those of you that blog on a regular basis. You will receive a collection of photos every month to keep you up to date and up to speed with your fresh content.
If you are in support of artistic talent outside of conglomerate power, then pop across to PicJumbo.
9
PikWizard is another one of those FREE stock image sites that doesn’t get enough of the limelight. The quality and quantity of their free images is great, and just as important their categorizing of images is very helpful. Indeed, it seems their free stock collection is greater than some of the previously mentioned.
Sometimes looking for some high quality more unique images can be hard work. PikWizard‘s categorising makes things a little simpler, and you can rest knowing that there’s only two types of licencing (CC0 and Free License (see target for more information on licensing).
Other reasons to make PikWizard a must-go place to review:
Once you’ve chose the image you want, you can EDIT it by cropping/rotating and filtering the image BEFORE you download it, so again, it will be your own personal flavor of that image.
They have many free VIDEOS too, so you can really spice-up your website. Granted, some of the other sites (such as PicJumbo – above) do have free videos, but I think PikWizard has a greater range for freebies.
The only drawback we saw was that it can be difficult or at least a little annoying to discern a free image with a premium image or a 3rd party promotion image. But this is only a small annoyance given that you’re getting images for free. Of course, signing up to PikWizard‘s premium package removes most of that issue.
10
For those of you who enjoy obsessing over beautiful food, and indeed are creating content for your website relating to food, then you might enjoy FoodiesFeed.
At the time of writing this article FoodiesFeed has in excess of 17,000 free food photos. This might not seem much in comparison to other FREE Stock Images websites, but do consider FoodiesFeed is only about food.
The FoodiesFeed website is not as well categorised as other sites, but… you sorta know its about food, and you can categorise “egg” or “Easter” yourself.
You can download an image immediately from FoodiesFeed, but if you sign up, the options are grated and downloads more instant.
Let me make it clear, FoodiesFeed images are free. All of them. All the time. Like many other FREE Stock Image websites, they do advertise for another well know repository, but to be honest, that’s not a detractor and they need income somehow.
Another great thumbs-up for a niche FREE Stock Image gallery in FoodiesFeed.
In Conclusion
We have shown you many FREE Image Resources on the Web, with a diversity to keep your dynamic content on the move for some time. But bear in mind there are many more stock image websites out there. Some more niche than others, and many asking for subscription fees, or pice-meal payments.
Having more than one source for your imagery is definitely a bonus. And over time you will tend to prefer one or two over the others.
We are unashamedly impressed with PicJumbo, and actively promoting this site. If we are lucky we might even get somepayments if you mention us if you sign up.
