Images are an important part of any blog post. They help to break up the text and add visual interest. However, finding images that you can use for free can be difficult. In this article, I’ll discuss some places to get free images for your blog – and provide some tips on how to use these images legally.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words — and with our diminishing attention span, using visuals in our marketing is becoming even more important.
And I think we can all agree that traditional stock photos are pretty bad…
I mean, really?
That said, where do you get free images for your blog?
Copyright Concerns
First, it is important to note that, while it may be easy (and tempting) to just use Google Images, those images are owned by someone, not Google. So simply finding them does not entitle anyone to use them.
You must look for images where the owner has given express permission for those photos to be used for personal or commercial purposes. This is the license they are extending to you for the use of their property.
There is a big difference between free, royalty-free, rights-managed, copyright and even specific uses for personal or commercial. Make sure you don’t get bound up in legal trouble for using images you do not have a license to use.
(Stock Photo Licenses has a great article on how various stock photo licenses work.)
Where to Get Free Images For Your Website or Blog
In no particular order, here are 36 places to get free images for your blog:
1. Unsplash
Unsplash provides high-quality, royalty-free stock photos. The images are released under the Unsplash license which allows for free use and redistribution with no restrictions. This makes them ideal for use on websites and other online publications. I get 90% of my images from Unsplash. They were recently purchased by Getty, how that impacts them is yet to be determined.
2. Pexels
Pexels is a website that provides free, high-quality images for personal and commercial use. The site has a library of over 30,000 photos that can be used for websites, social media posts, and other marketing materials. Pexels also offers a free stock photo search engine that makes finding the perfect photo easy.
3. Pixabay
Pixabay has a library of over 2,600,000 images that can be used for personal and commercial purposes. The images on Pixabay are released under Creative Commons licenses, which allow users to remix, tweak, and build upon the photos however they see fit. The site also offers a variety of tools and resources for creative professionals, including a blog with tips and tricks for using images in your work. I think Unsplash and Pexels have a better library of images for content creators, but Pixabay is worth a mention.
4. Burst (By Shopify)
Burst – a service by Shopify – is an incredible resource for quality photos. They really did a great job of creating a stunning library of photos across various categories to make an e-commerce site or blog pop.
5. Stock Vault
Stock Vault is a growing community of members contributing their photos, images, and illustrations. I’ve found they have a wider selection of textures and illustrations than the others mentioned so far. If you need backgrounds like dirt, paint, or rusty surfaces, check out Stock Vault.
More resources for stock images:
- StockSnap
- Vecteezy – good selection of free vector graphics, too
- Free Pik
- Reshot – loads of free icons and illustrations
- FoodiesFeed – beautiful photos of food
- Gratisography – billed as the world’s quirkiest collection of royalty-free images
- Freestocks
- Foca
- Picjumbo
- KaboomPics
- Picspree
- StyledStock
- Startup Stock Photos – A ton of startup, tech, business, and office-themed images
- Life of Pix – Life of Pix has a lot of dramatic photography of the world around us
- Little Visuals – Where Life of Pix is a dramatic look at the macro, Little Visuals focuses on the micro. If you need the little details, check out this library.
- New Old Stock – Vintage photos from public archives
- Superfamous (requires attribution)
- Scatter Jar – more food images
- The Pattern Library
- IM Free (requires attribution)
- Jay Mantri
- Public Domain Archive
- Magdeleine
- Picography
- Raumrot
- ISO Republic
- Dreamstime
- Free Digital Photos
- Free Images
- Free Range Stock
- Free Photos Bank
- Image Free
- Morguefile
- Public Domain Pictures
- RGB Stock
- HubSpot
Other Helpful Image Resources
Final Thoughts
It is always nice (and sometimes required) to give attribution (that is, credit) to the source or owner of the photo. They are, after all, providing their work to you for free. A shoutout and link to help their business is the least you can do.
For example, the photo used at the top of this post is from Charlie Green on Unsplash
What do you think? Did I miss any free stock image resources? Leave a link or comment below.