Gone are the days of paying an obscene amount of money for a beautiful image. We’ve rounded up 74 of the best free stock photo sites on the web for you to use. Plus, we kept the chit-chat to a minimum so it won’t take you a year to scroll through all of the options.
Most of the sites listed here don’t require attribution for the photos, but always double check the attribution requirements before you use an image.
This post was originally published on 05/20/2016 and updated on 02/15/2019.
Short on time? Here's a simplified list.
- Unsplash
- Canva
- Natural Women Collection by Canva
- Stocksnap.io
- Magdeleine.co
- Flickr
- Burst by Shopify
- Jeshoots
- New Old Stock
- Reshot
- SkitterPhoto
- Jopwell
- Styled Stock
- Raw Pixel
- PikiWizard
- PolarFox
- Grallim
- Scatter Jar
- Get Refe
- We Function
- Death to Stock
- Picjumbo
- Superfamous
- Freemage Bank
- Foter
- Negativespace
- Public Domain Archive
- Morgue File
- Streetwill
- Stokpic
- Pixabay
- Free Images
- Free JPG
- IM Creator
- ISO Republic
- Plixs
- Pexels
- Libre Shot
- RGB Stock
- MMT
- Visual Hunt
- Picography
- Free Stocks
- Snapwire
- Pond5
- Good Stock Photos
- Splitshire
- Gratisography
- Albumarium
- Realistic Shots
- Creative Commons Search
- Epicantus
- Kaboompics
- Fancy Crave
- High Resolution Photography
- Raumrot
- Life of Pix
- Stockvault
- Smithsonian Archive
- Splashbase
- Find a Photo
- Jay Mantri
- Travel Coffee Book
- Cupcake
- Free Nature Stock
- Moveast.me
- Free Stock Image Point
- Barn Images
- Bucketlistly
- Little Visuals
- Startup Stock Photos
- Hubspot
- Foodies Feed
- Free Food Photos
- Food Everest
- Dreamstime
- Deposit Photos
All categories
Stocksnap.io
We love the selection on stocksnap.io and use it frequently for our marketing needs. They’re also a local company in Ottawa, Canada, so we love supporting local!
Magdeleine.co
They post a new hi-res photo every day and have an awesome gallery to browse with a ton of filtering options so it’s easy to find what you’re looking for.
Jeshoots
Hi-res photos for business or personal use.
New Old Stock
A collection of vintage photos from the public archives. The perfect place if you’re looking for something with that oldschool character.
Unsplash
Unsplash falls a little more in the stunning landscape category, but also has a great mix of tech, lifestyle, architecture and people. You can subscribe to Unsplash to get 10 new photos in your inbox every week.
Sites similar to Unsplash that we also like:
- Get Refe
- We Function
- Death to Stock
- Picjumbo
- Freemage Bank
- Foter
- Negativespace
- Public Domain Archive
Morgue File
Morgue File is a good combination of candid looking shots and the standard stock photo feel, so this is a good one if you’re not sure which style you’re looking for.
Streetwill
If you’re looking for rustic, look no further. Streetwill compiles a great pick of rustic photos in all categories.
Stokpic
A great selection of bright and beautifully saturated photos, plus tons of categories to choose from so it’s easy to find what you want.
Other free stock sites that excel in bright and saturated:
MMT
All photos here are free for commercial use by the exceptional photographer and UX/UI designer Jeffrey Betts.
Visual Hunt
An epic gallery with millions of images from multiple sources, and another site where you can filter by color.
Picography
A great collection of crisp and clean photos from a slick branding and design agency, hiddendepth.
Free Stocks
Plenty of lifestyle and tech shots to choose from here, as well as landscapes, music production, food, and architecture.
SnapwireSnaps
Snapwire is on a mission to provide authentic photography to the world, for free. They don’t disappoint with their selection of feel-good shots that don’t look stocky in the slightest.
Pond5
Thousands of historic media files, all for public use, include video and audio!
Good Stock Photos
Another site similar to Stokpic, but they get a shoutout for using the .photos domain!
Gratisography
A great place to start if you’re looking for photos that are a little more whimsical and wacky.
Splitshire
Not actually pictures of Hobbit’s in their natural habitat as I had thought. You’ll find gorgeous grungy photos with plenty of types to choose from.
Albumarium
Albumarium has you covered from a-z in categories, but I was delighted to discover they have a category just for Redheads (I’m an aspiring redhead.)
Realistic Shots
Self-described as the place to go for non-cliché photos, and they’re not lying.
Creative Commons Search
Search multiple databased for attribution-free content across the web
Epicantus
Landscapes and lifestyle shots that will melt your heart and make you wish you went on more adventures.
Similar to Epicantus:
High Resolution Photography
Note their creative use of a .photography domain (get yours here!)
Raumrot
A small collection of beautiful lifestyle imagery for modern creatives.
Life of Pix
Gorgeous photos added every week, handmade with love by another Canadian crew, Leeroy
Stockvault
Over 71,000 free photos, textures, and art illustrations
Smithsonian Archive
The official Smithsonian Institution Flickr archive, most photos have no attribution requirements. Another hotspot for vintage shots.
Splashbase
Here you can search other stock libraries in one place, so it’s a good time-saver if you’re in a pinch.
Find a Photo
Another stock provider that lets you browse photos by colour.
Travel, Landscapes, Adventure
Photo by Alfred Aloushy / Unsplash
Jay Mantri
You’ll find a lot of Jay’s gorgeous shots on Unsplash and some of the other popular sites above. He’s got an awesome collection of beautiful nature shots, outdoor landscapes, adventures, and more.
Travel Coffee Book
Sharing beautiful travel moments with epic photos that make me feel more and more like a hermit.
Cupcake
Stunning photos that give you all the warm feels of a sepia filter without being too… sepia-y?
Free Nature Stock
‘Nuff said.
Moveast.me
Self-described as a site dedicated to the journey of a Portuguese guy moving that decided every photo should be used for free. Try not to get all wanderlust-y browsing his photos.
Free Stock Image point
Awe-inducing travel shots from around the globe
Barn Images
Not actually images of barns! A stunning collection of landscapes and other categories.
Bucketlistly
2800+ Travel photos with those gorgeous hipster filters everyone pretends they don’t like but secretly love.
Little Visuals
While more focused on bright and airy landscapes, you will also find some great shots of vintage cameras and hipster-esque tech.
Business, Tech, Startups
Photo by Fabian Irsara / Unsplash
Startup Stock Photos
An amazing collection of tech photos, people working in offices, desktop accessory shots, etc minus that pretentious and cold business vibe. Just real people, hanging out, working.
Hubspot
Download 160 business themed stock photos for free from one of the most well know inbound marketing platforms out there.
Food
Photo by Brooke Lark / Unsplash
These ones are pretty self-explanatory, so I’ll leave it up to you to explore them.
Foodies Feed
Free Food Photos
Food Everest
