Anyone else remember the days when it was really hard to find free stock photos on the web? The search engines were full of expensive professional stock websites pretending to offer free images (they never actually did, but you didn’t find that out until after signing up). And there were rarely any good photos for bloggers either – definitely no flatlays or desks with flowers.
Happily, all that’s changed now. There are so many great free stock image resources, and more are popping up all the time. In fact, this post started out as “50 free stock photo resources for bloggers”. Then it became 100. Then 125+. You’ll never run out of images again.
These images are all great for blog post headers, social media images, email thumbnails, pop up boxes and more. Please check the licensing agreements of any photos you download; I’ve tried to include as many personal/commercial use, attribution-free, creative commons photo sites as possible but not all the resources in the list meet these criteria.
Have I missed a great free resource? Let me know in the comments!
General free stock photo sites
No particular theme, just high quality photos covering a wide variety of topics.
- Pexels.com
- Pixabay.com
- StockSnap.io
- Unsplash.com
- FreeRangeStock.com
- Gratisography.com
- Raumrot.com
- Passel.co
- LifeOfPix.com
- DeathToTheStockPhoto.com
- Cupcake
- NegativeSpace.co
- LibreShot.com
- Shutteroo.com
- Magdeleine.co
- Splitshire.com
- MMTStock.com
- Picography.co
- Jeshoots.com
- KaboomPics.com
- FuriousCamera.com
- ISORepublic.com
- Dustn.Tv
- FreeStocks.org
- Bara-Art.com
- TheLightPaintersLoft.com
- RealisticShots.com
- Foter.com
- Albumarium.com
- MegaPixelStock.com
- Finda.photo
- BossFight.co
- Minimography.com
- PickUpImage.com
- FreelyPhotos.com
- FancyCrave.com
- SuperFamous.com (attribution required)
- FreeImagesLive.co.uk (attribution required)
- TrunkLog.com
- RawPixel.com
- Photos.PolarFox.com
- LockAndStockPhotos.com
- RealisticShots.com
- Freeepy.com
- Stock-Image-Point.com
- BarnImages.com
- StokPic.com
- FreeJPG.com.ar
- LargePhotos.net
- SkitterPhoto.com
- DesignersPics.com
- JayMantri.com
- FreeImages.com
- CreativeVix.com
- GoodStock.photos
- FreeForCommercialUse.net
- PublicDomainArchive.com
- LittleVisuals.co
- Stock.Tookapic.com
- HighResolution.photography
- NoblWeb.com
- FreeUse.io
- Alana.io
- 4FreePhotos.com
- PhotoCollections.io
- AlegriPhotos.com
- Epicva.com
- StreetWill.co
- ZoomMyApp.com
- Epicantus.Tumblr.com
- StockVault.net
- Freemagebank.com
- SnapWireSnaps.Tumblr.com
- ImCreator.com (attribution more likely to be required)
- Flickr.com/commons
- US National Archives
- British Library
- NYPL.org
- Wikimedia Commons
- MorgueFile.com
- UsersThink.com
- GetRefe.Tumblr.com
- PDPics.com
- PJVRS.com
- OpenPhoto.net
- RGBStock.com (sign up required)
- WeFunction.com
- PickUpImage.com
Free themed stock photos
Websites with free stock photos that are based around a particular topic or niche.
- StartupStockPhotos.com
- FreeNatureStock.com
- Nos.Twnsnd.co (vintage)
- WinePhoto.co
- FreeFoodPhotos.com
- FoodiesFeed.com
- Women In Tech
- Iwaria.com (African-themed)
- Stockified.com(taken in India)
- TravelCoffeeBook.com (travel)
- Moveast.me (travel)
- Library of Congress
- Internet Archive Book Images
- Digi.Vatlib.it (manuscripts)
Free stock photo search engines and aggregators
Search across dozens of free stock photo websites at the same time with these handy search engines.
- LibreStock.com
- TheStocks.im
- PhotoPin.com
- Veezzle.com
- ImageFinder
- VisualHunt.com
- StockUp
- AllTheFreestock.com
- SplashBase.co
- AllFreePhotos.net
- Pixite.co
- ArthurWeill.fr (searches Unsplash)
- EveryStockPhoto.com
- ThePicPac.com (pay what you want)
Premium stock photo sites with free sections
These are sites that typically charge for stock photos, but have free downloads too. I’ve linked directly to the free sections wherever possible. Most of these websites require free sign up or ask you to subscribe to a mailing list.
- Creative Market Free Goods (six goods changed weekly, may not always include free stock)
- IvoryMix.com
- BossLatina.com
- Wonderfelle.com (not for commercial use)
- OhTilly.net (not for commercial use)
- 500px.com
- PicJumbo.com
- DepositPhotos.com
- 123RF.com
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19 Comments
I will definitely save this list. Thank you for putting it together.
04/03/2017 at 12:49 pmThanks for this amazing list! I will definitely be back to check some of these out.
05/03/2017 at 3:20 pmGreat list – there’s a new vintage site that you could include – http://vintagestockphotos.com – lots of great stuff.
07/03/2017 at 3:12 pmGreat list! Try also http://monisphoto.com/
07/03/2017 at 5:34 pmUmmmm….this is SUPER helpful! Especially to a blogging newbie! Thank you!
14/03/2017 at 2:20 pmThanks Emily, glad you found it helpful!
14/03/2017 at 6:12 pmThis is a fantastic resource, probably the best list I’ve seen in one place. I shared it in my bloggers group and added it to a list of other cool resources we have for bloggers. Thanks so much.
14/03/2017 at 6:07 pmThank you so much! I really appreciate that, it took forever to research and format
14/03/2017 at 6:12 pmSuper useful list Jenni, so glad you made this. I am always on the lookout for some great photos. But I have a question, are the photos available on these sites fit for commercial use? Can I use these on my etsy shop or zazzle etc.
14/03/2017 at 6:08 pmMost of them are fine for commercial use, I’d always recommend checking the specific website in question though as terms can change
14/03/2017 at 6:11 pmWow, I didn’t know there were so many different places to get stock photos. I will have to check them out. As I depend on Pixabay but would love to switch thing sup when I can’t provide my own.
14/03/2017 at 6:48 pmThis is wonderful!! Thanks so much!!!
15/03/2017 at 2:02 amThanks a lot, this is quite a comprehensive list.
15/03/2017 at 6:34 amThis is a great list. I will be sharing it with my other blogger friends.
16/03/2017 at 12:01 amThank you!
Jenni, you are a blogging angel! Since the last time you posted one of these sorts of posts, my blog photo game has gotten so much better as instead of trying to create an image I can just use a stock photo.
Thank you so much!
Rachel x
19/03/2017 at 3:53 pmThe Inelegant Wench
Hi,
Great list.
Please also check out http://Blogpiks.com. It has 30,000 free images for use in blogs, websites or elsewhere including for commercial use.
Thanks
Stuart
07/04/2017 at 4:24 amThank you for sharing. Great info.
11/04/2017 at 10:34 ami bookmarked this thank you so much,
29/04/2017 at 3:54 pmThanks so much for including my newer stock photography site! Honored to have made the list!
02/05/2017 at 9:29 pm