If you are a freelancer, blogger, or online business owner you will always require high-quality images for your content because it helps generate more clicks and increases engagement on your website and social channels.
This probably has to do with the fact that the human brain process images 60,000 times faster than text and 90 percent of the information transmitted to the brain is visual. Visual stimulates the imagination and enables the users to process the information faster.
The high-quality images don’t have to always come with a high price tag and attribution hassle.
There are many websites offering free images for commercial use and the images are also excellent.
That’s all fine. But, where exactly can we find free images for commercial use without getting any type of copyright trouble?
In this article, we will discuss where you can get free images for commercial use.
But, first, let’s understand some basic terms.
Royalty-Free: This allows the user to use the intellectual property without having to pay royalties or license fees.
Creative Commons: You can use these images for free as the artist has waived their rights to their work. But, always review the terms and conditions before publishing these images.
Public Domain: The public domain consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. If an image was created in the United States before 1923 then they are part of the public domain. This means that you are allowed to use, copy, modify, or distribute these images without any permission.
Attribution: You can use these images as long as you give credit to the creator.
Commercial Use: You’re permitted to use these royalty-free images for any type of business.
Membership: On some sites, you may have to sign up in order to use royalty-free images. Some sites may charge you for membership.
Now that we have got that out of the way, right here are the list of website.
21 websites that offer free images for commercial use.
Pixabay:
On Pixabay you will find over 2.3 million + high-quality images, videos, and music shared by their vibrant community of creatives. All the contents are released under the Pixabay License, which makes them safe to use without asking for permission or giving credit to the creator.
Unsplash:
Unsplash is a platform of an amazing community of photographers who have gifted their own photos to fuel creativity around the world. You can sign up for free, or don’t. You get access to over a million photos under the Unsplash license, which makes them free to use as you want.
Pexels:
Pexels provides thousands of high-quality free photos licensed under the Pexels license. They keep on adding high-resolution photos regularly. All the photos are properly tagged, searchable, and also easy to find through their discover pages.
Stocksnap.io:
Stocksnap.io has a large selection of high-resolution images and is updated regularly. You can search the images easily that are relevant to your topic. All the images fall under the Creative Common CC0 license that lets you do what you want with the photos, with no attribution required.
Burst by Shopify:
Powered by Shopify, Burst is also a free stock photo platform. Their image library consists of thousands of high-resolution photos that have been shot by their community of global photographers. These images fall under Creative Common Zero (CC0) license, which means you can use these photos free for any purpose.
Gratisography:
Gratisography was started by photographer Ryan McGuire as an aid for people in need of pictures, for personal and commercial use, that they could download and use absolutely free of cost
Free Images:
Freeimages were started as an alternative for expensive stock photography. The idea behind this was to create a site where creative people could exchange their photos for inspiration or work. The site has evolved into a massive community today. There are more than 2,500,000 registered users and about 400,000 images online.
Free For Commercial Use:
Free for commercial use is a free image and photo resource platform for amazing lifestyle imagery for modern creatives. All the images are licensed with the Creative Commons license CC0, also called the Public Domain or Copyright Free. All the images are made by Markus Spiske.
All The Free Stock:
On AllTheFreestock you will find all the free stock images, videos, music, and icons in one location. These images are listed under the Creative Common Zero license, so you are free to use these images for commercial use also.
Picjumbo:
Picjumbo is a free stock photo website created by designer and photographer Viktor Hanacek. Picjumbo contains a collection of free pics from various categories ranging from technology, nature, and fashion that can be used either for your personal or commercial use. New photos are added regularly.
Freestocks.org:
Freestock provides a wide range of themes for various purposes and occasions. This collection of high-resolution photos are under CC0 license so you can use these royalty-free images for both personal and commercial use.
Free Range Stock:
Free Range Stock provides access to high-quality stock images from in-house photographers, as long as you register for free.
Picography:
Picography is one of the top sources for gorgeous, high-resolution, free photos. All photos are CC0 licensed. You can use any of their free stock photos the way you want, with no attribution required.
ImageFree:
As a registered user, you have access to high-quality stock graphics and photos for free.
Negative Space:
The images that you find on Negativespace have been taken by a photographer from their community. The photos on this site are free to use under the Creative Commons CC0 license.
Bigfoto:
Bigfoto calls them the royalty-free photo download agency. This site offers a free download of all the pictures from their massive and constantly growing photo gallery. All they ask is a link back to their website.
FreePhotoBank:
FreePhotoBank provides high-quality free stock photos. Those images may be used both for personal or commercial use. All the images of FreePhotoBank have a Creative Commons Attribution alone license.
FOCA Stock:
FOCA Stock is a collection of high-resolution photos from various categories by Jeffrey Betts. All the photos are released under Creative Commons CC0, you are free to use these photos for personal and commercial use.
Large Photos:
Images on the Large Photos are either shot by their photographers, drawn from their archives, or provided by their amazing community of photographers. All the photos can be used free for commercial or non-commercial purposes, All the media published on the website are subject to Creative Common Zero license (Public Domain).
Life of Pix:
Life of Pix is a resource that was created by the LEEROY Creative Agency in Montreal and its network of photographers. New photographs are added weekly. It offers free high-resolution photos without any copyright restrictions.
LibreShot:
All the images on LibreShot have been taken by photographer Martin Vorel. All these photos are free to use commercially since they are licensed under Creative Commons CC0.
You can also create your own images from sites like Canva, PicMonkey, Crello, or Ease.ly.
It is a good idea to always check the terms of use of the website before you use them as they may revise or update it.
Did we miss any of your favourite resources that offer free images for commercial use? Let us know in the comments sections below.
