Free stock photo sites are an important and even essential commodity. They don’t just say that a picture is worth a thousand words for nothing. Anyone involved in digital marketing knows that using visual content is extremely important when trying to convey a message to a customer and sell our product. The web is packed with advertisers and ads competing for our attention. Good, high-quality images will help us, the advertisers, grab the potential customer’s attention and increase the chances of the customer clicking on the ad and converting on the landing page.
Beyond choosing the perfect picture, we probably want to do it on a budget. If you run a simple Google search, you’ll find many images that make you want to download and use them. It is important to know that in most cases, using these images for personal and/or commercial purposes might expose you to lawsuits and financial damages due to copyright infringement against the image owner.
Therefore, we have compiled some free image websites for you so you can enjoy high-quality, royalty-free images. We’ve also included free video stock sites (because creative video works great), as well as several paid stock libraries where you can buy higher-quality images.
A Brief Explanation of Image Copyright
What is copyright?
Copyright is the legal protection provided to the creator or owner of an original work against unauthorized use of the work, which constitutes their intellectual property.
As a rule, any image that you didn’t take, create, or purchase is most likely protected by copyright, unless explicitly stated otherwise on the site from which you download the image. This copyright protection grants the owner of the image the exclusive right to use or modify it.
What does this mean for us? Using such an image for business purposes (for example: creating an ad, using the image on business social media pages, using it on a commercial website, etc.) constitutes a breach of the law and puts you at risk of legal action from the image creator.
The web is full of free, royalty-free photo and video sites, and we are here to present you with the ultimate list for picking your next free photo/video (as well as some great options for a nominal fee!).
Free Photo Sites
1. Pixabay – This is essentially an entire community of creatives sharing royalty-free photos, video clips, and music. All contents are released under the Pixabay license, making them safe to use without asking for permission or giving credit to the artist – even for commercial purposes. The free library contains tens of thousands of photos, videos, and vectors. Beyond that, Pixabay gives you the option to download images in various resolution sizes according to your needs!
2. RGBSTOCK – This library was created by a group of passionate photographers and graphic designers. They did this to make high-quality images accessible to those who cannot afford to pay for them. Among the categories available on the site, you can find abstract images, textures, backgrounds, workspaces, people, and more. In this image library, you can download all the images you need in high quality! To enjoy the service, you need to register on the site and activate your account.
3. Freeimages – On this site, you can find over 400,000 free, high-quality images. You’re probably asking, what’s the catch? Registration is required to download the free images. If you don’t find a free image that suits you, you can always become a paying user and get access to another huge library of premium images. Furthermore, if you’re interested, you can contribute royalty-free images to help grow the library.
4. Yay Images Startups – This is a free stock photo site where the number of downloadable photos is limited (to 2 million photos, mind you). If you’d like to expand the library from which you can download images, you can purchase various plans at different price points, tailored to your personal needs and the number of images you think you’ll need in a month.
5. Unsplash – Whether you choose to create an account or not, you can enjoy over a million photos protected under the Unsplash license – which makes using them completely free, allowing you to do whatever you want with them.
6. StockSnap – Here you can find a broad and diverse library of photos, though access is subject to signing up for a 30-day trial during which you can download photos for free use. Afterwards, the account transitions to a paid plan.
7. Picjumbo – A large library of completely free photos that can be used for both commercial and personal projects. New photos are added daily, and if you want access to an expanded collection, you can upgrade to a Premium account and receive an additional library of photos.
8. KaboomPics – This image library is one of the most popular sources for free photos. Over 70,000 people visit Kaboompics each month. Images from this database appear on well-known sites like BBC, CNN, Forbes, Cosmopolitan, Yahoo, iSpot, BuzzFeed, and more.
9. FreePik – If you’re looking for diverse images on interesting topics, and most importantly – free, you’ve come to the right place. One of the most interesting categories is Instagram Stories, where you can find designed templates ready to use for your Instagram stories. This site also offers an expanded library for paid subscribers.
10. Flickr – An image platform that also includes free photos covering a wide variety of topics. If you want to use images from the site, you need to search for photos licensed for use with attribution – this can be done via the following link
Free Video Libraries
1. Pexels – Pexels is a large, highly recommended library with a plethora of stunning images and high-quality videos available for download on any topic you want!
2. Videvo – A huge library containing millions of free videos. Please note, there are videos available for download with no attribution required, as well as videos where attribution to the creator is mandatory. If that’s not enough, you can always upgrade to a premium account and enjoy even more paid videos.
3. Coverr – A collection of high-quality, professional videos organized by mood categories with a user-friendly interface!
4. Life Of Vids – A free library that lets you download a wide range of videos for free without copyright infringement. You can search for videos using relevant keywords, making it very easy to use. In addition, there’s no need to give credit, so you can use them freely without a second thought.
5. Videezy – Here you will find an extensive library of high-quality videos available for free download. Please note that you must provide attribution as outlined in the License Info located under each video.
Recommended Paid Image Websites
1. DepositPhotos – DepositPhotos is a website with high-quality paid photos and videos. In the photos category, the site offers monthly/annual/”On Demand” plans and “image bank” packages: pay-per-image (starting from $0.27 per image on a monthly subscription with a 750-image plan, from $0.22 per image on an annual subscription with a 750-image plan, and from $2.99 per image in a 100-image “On Demand” pack).
In the video category, the site offers a basic “video bank” with a starting price of $19.96 per video when purchasing a pack of 25 videos, and also offers different pricing depending on your desired video quality and resolution (starting from $45.96 per video when purchasing a pack of 25 videos in 720p resolution).
2. Envato Elements – Beyond its free asset library, Envato Elements offers a comprehensive library for all the creative assets you need, with unlimited access, starting at $16.50/month for an individual user, $10.75 for a group plan of 2-3 users, and if you are a student, you can enjoy a discount and pay $11.50/month (with an annual purchase). Note that this price also includes videos, templates, vector graphics, and music tracks.
3. 123RF – Your site for photos, videos, and vectors! On this site, you have two options:
- Purchasing a credit pack with which you buy the photo/video/vector – there are various credit packs, and the price starts at $1.18 per credit when buying a 40-credit pack. It is important to note that the credits remain available to you for a year from the date of purchase.
- A monthly plan where you prepay for the number of images you can download per month, starting from $0.55 per image when purchasing a pack of 150 images for $83, or $3 per image when purchasing a plan of 10 images per month.
4. Stock Unlimited – Photos, vectors, icons, fonts, and templates at affordable prices.
Here too, you will face several options:
- Purchasing a download pack – pricing starts at $9 for a pack of 10 downloads. The pack is valid for one year from the purchase date. The larger the pack you buy, the lower the cost per download.
- A monthly subscription with unlimited downloads, priced at $19.
- An annual subscription with unlimited downloads, priced at $79.
- A 3-year subscription with unlimited downloads, priced at $169.
5. YayImages – This site was also featured in the previous category of “Free Image Websites,” but this time we’ll explain the paid plans they offer. There are 3 plans to choose from via Appsumo – Single, Double, and Multiple. The prices are $59, $118, and $177, respectively, and payment is a one-time lifetime charge, allowing you to download 1,000, 2,000, or 3,000 images for life.
We hope you enjoy this and find the next image that will make your campaign soar as high as possible!
A Bit About Me
Rotem Bloom, studies Communication and Political Science at Tel Aviv University, loves digital and planning complex strategic moves
