Finding truly free images for commercial use is a confusing pain. There are a few things going on.
First, photographers (sensibly) do not give free images restriction-free. And violating those restrictions can result in bad, expensive consequences for your business.
Second, there are incentives for photographers to give free images to businesses with license restrictions. And there are businesses that would rather follow license restrictions than spend budget on good imagery.
Third, many times photographers want to offer the general public images for free, but also reserve the right to charge businesses.
And so – we’re left with a confusing situation for honest businesses on a budget. And unfortunately, there plenty of lists of “free images” on the Internet that blindly list image websites that offer images that are not truly free.
They have license restrictions for businesses, require email registration, require watermarks, or generally go beyond the Creative Commons commercially allowed licenses.
So! I have reviewed 200+ “free image” websites and curated them into this list of 59+ image sources or search tools to find truly free images for commercial use.
Image Search Tools
The first group of free image sources are image search tools that allow you to scour either the entire Internet or the largest online collections quickly for free images.
Google Advanced Image Search
This is one of Google Image Search’s buried but valuable features. Navigate to Google Advanced Image Search and select the Usage Rights for the images you are trying to find.
Creative Commons Search
Creative Commons – the organization that provides the licensing you’re looking for – provides a “meta-search” of the largest Creative Commons license search engines. Be sure to select “use for commercial purposes.”
500px Creative Commons Search
500px is a platform for very high-quality images. You can use their Creative Commons search function to find free images.
Flickr Creative Commons Search
Flickr is still the largest repository of Creative Commons attribution images. Just search by license that’s available for commercial use. This source is usually everyone’s favorite. It’s simple to attribute as well.
Can We Image
A simple search engine that focuses on Wikimedia Commons’ available images.
Compfight
A search engine focused on Flickr…but with additional capabilities.
Every Stock Photo
Another “meta” search engine similar to Google’s abilities. Has additional tagging functions.
Foter
Another “meta” search engine but with simple attribution tools. Also available as a WordPress plugin.
Image Finder
Another “meta” search engine supported via advertising and links to premium services.
PhotoPin
Another “meta” search engine with a focus on simple attribution.
Free Image Sources
Outside of search tools, there are several websites that offer free images from their own collection. While all the sites listed allow commercial-use, be sure to re-read their license information to implement attribution correctly.
These are not listed in any particular order.
StockPhotos.io
This site is supported by ads & web design lead generation. Lots of high-quality images.
Free Range Stock
Ad supported website with interesting images.
Free Photos Bank
Another ad supported site with decent diversity of photos.
Pixabay
Well-known image source with an extensive library.
BigFoto
Smaller, older site.
Gratisography
Very high quality site supported by lead generation to the creator’s agency work.
Death to the Stock Photo
You can get photos free by email OR just do a site:http://deathtothestockphoto.com/ search in Google.
FreeMediaGoo
Older, smaller site with interesting textures & photos.
Little Visuals
This site is on auto-pilot, but has a good archive. The search function is in the top left on the homepage.
New Old Stock
They are taking old photos in the public domain.
Picjumbo
The free photos are buried beneath ads – but they are there.
Pickup Image
Collection from a photographers’ collective.
Superfamous
Personal project from a prolific photgrapher.
Unsplash
An interesting crowd-sourced site supported by lead-generation to a freelancers’ site.
Wikimedia Commons
Giant repository of the Wikimedia foundation. Has lots of public domain images.
Negative Space
Smallish quality collection. I have no idea how this site is supported. Kind of mysterious.
Life Of Pix
Nice collection from an ad agency in Montreal.
Pexels
Great collection – no idea how they make money.
Stock Snap
Collection from a designer’s software.
Magdeleine
Curated selection of photos around the web. Sort of like a manual search engine.
Jay Mantri
Personal project with good images.
Re:splashed
Small, interesting collection.
Picography
Great collection created by a WordPress design shop.
ISO Republic
High-quality independent collection supported by ads & direct support. Great project.
Stokpic
An independent project with plenty of free images.
Raumrot
Small, independent project supported by ads.
FoodiesFeed
This site sells images to food bloggers, but has a large free section as well.
Cupcake
Personal project with an interesting collection.
SplitShire
Small, ad-supported resource.
Travel Coffee Book
Interesting personal project.
DesignersPics
Another interesting personal project. Plenty of quality “generic/versatile” images.
Moveast
Personal project with plenty of travel related photos.
Snapwire Snaps
The free collection from a premium photo service. The search box is in the top right.
Jéshoots
Rapidly growing personal project.
Startup Stock Photos
Small, office focused collection.
Kaboompics
Great collection from a web designer in Poland.
FancyCrave
Growing quality collection. Ad-supported. Very classy site.
Snapswell
Great personal project.
Free Nature Stock
Great personal project.
Realistic Shots
Another great personal project.
Streetwill
No idea about this website’s background, But they have great landscape imagery.
Photo Collections
Another mysterious but quality collection. The search box is in the rollout on left-side.
Barn Images
Ad-supported project from 2 designers in Latvia. Great collection.
Free Image Tools
In addition to image sources, you can also find free to use images that are built into free design tools. The bonus here is that you can edit the images directly inside the tool.
Canva
Design app that lives up to every bit of hype. Has a large library of free images and plenty more for just $1 each.
Pablo
Free design app from Buffer. Solid collection of free images that you can edit & share easily. The only downside is that it’s so popular that you’ll likely re-use the same image as many other websites.
ShareAsImage
I used this app for the featured image of this post. It’s similar to Pablo, but with a much larger image library. Most of the best features are only available with a paid plan though.
Excluded Image Resources
Lists of free image sources are a dime a dozen on the Internet. But they don’t all filter out free image sites that are not truly free for commercial use.
Here are the most commonly cited “free image sites” that are restricted, not free for businesses, or simply re-post free images from the sites listed above along with lots of ads.
Feel free to Google them & use them for personal projects though!
Dreamstime
Albumarium
Free Digital Photos
Free Images
ImageFree
IM Free
Morguefile
Public Domain Pictures
Stockvault
Rgbstock
Ancestry Images
BucketListly
Getty Images
Premium Image Sources
If you have a money value on your time, sometimes it’s simply not worth it to dig around for the perfect free image.
That’s where premium image marketplaces come in. They are huge, cheap and simple. You pay for an image, download it, and use it however you like. Here’s my favorites.
Disclosure – I use these sites as a paying customer. I also receive customer referral fees from these sites to support my free work.
iStockPhoto
They are the biggest brand in the space. I like how smaller images are usually big enough for my needs, but are also much cheaper.
Shutterstock
Another big brand in the space. Anecdotally, they have much less “stock-looking” images.
Photodune
Smaller collection, but also very cheap.
Creative Market
Rapidly growing & highest quality. You won’t find typical stock photos here.
Next Steps
If you are a business looking for free imagery, be sure to understand the legal landscape, licenses, consequences and benefits of imagery.
Try to find one or two sources of imagery that fits your brand & licensing needs. Use them for fast, free imagery. If you need something unique, skip the search and pay for premium imagery.
Lastly, notice how you’re going to be linking back to all these image sources. What if you could be the one to get all those links? Check out how you can take advantage of this tactic with my guide to Automating Image Link Building post.
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