30+ Websites to Get High Quality Images for Free

You might get tired of seeing same stock photos again and again, mostly the picture of people in suits shaking hands. They are not interesting at all and according to the new web design trends, they can degrade your reputation and brand value. And yes, they also cost money. Bottom line? Stop using traditional stock photos and offer your visitors something new.

The good news is, there are plenty of online sources that provide thousands of fresh high definition pictures without costing anything. For people who are struggling to find perfect photos for their latest project, we are presenting a few websites with beautiful free high quality stock images, for both personal and commercial use.
Read the license carefully before using them. 

Public Domain Archive

Public Domain Archive

It’s a large collection of modern and vintage images. All pictures are nicely categorized or you can search them directly through a search box. Overall, it’s an amazing place for photographers to explore and discover treasures by other great photographers.

Jay Mantri

Jay Mantri

Jay Mantri is the man behind this great photography website. He uploads 7 new pictures every Thursday, under Creative Commons license.

Stockvault

Stockvault

Stockvault is a photo sharing website where students, designers and photographers can share their images or graphic work with each other for free.

Cupcake

Cupcake

All the images present on Cupcake are captured by Jonas Nilsson Lee. Although the collection is not too big, but you can find some really awesome pictures of objects, nature, landscape and animals.

Magdeleine

Magdeleine

Magdeleine contains handpicked free photos for your inspiration. Here you can search through categories, tags, search box, license or by dominant colors.

Dotspin

Dotspin

Dotspin has a great photo bank that contains breathtaking pictures, all available under CC license. You can also buy these pictures ($1 per image) in case, if you don’t want to credit author(s).

Freerange Stock

Freerange Stock

Just sign up for free membership at Freerange and get thousands of high resolution pictures at no cost. All images are at least 2400*1600 and can be used in both personal and commercial projects.

Raumrot

Raumrot

Get free high resolution photos for your personal as well as commercial projects. Here you will find images of different sectors, different color and style. Most of the images are captured by Markus Spiske and distributed under CC License.

Google LIFE

Google LIFE

This is a huge collection of LIFE photo, stretching from 1750’s to today. Here, you can search from millions of pictures. All photos are available for personal and non-commercial use only.

Foodie’s Feed

Foodie's Feed

This website is absolutely made for foodies. Here you will find some amazing pictures of almost all kinds of foods. There is a separate tag for “free download”.

Gratisography

Gratisography

Gratisography contains thousands of free high quality pictures for both personal and commercial use. All photos are captured by Ryan Mcguire and free of copyright restrictions. Just click on the image to download the high resolution version.

DesignerPics

High Quality Images for Free - DesignerPics

Get free high resolution pictures for personal or commercial use. Drill down through several categories or use the search box to get what you are looking for. No attribution required.

Startup Stock Photos

Startup Stock Photos

As the name suggests, here you will find fresh pictures related to startups (especially software related). Take them for free and make your project more amazing.

Jeshoots

Jeshoots

Jeshoots is packed with cool and free photos in high resolution for business or personal use. You can use the search bar or narrow down the results through category.

Pexels

Pexels

Pexels is a perfect place to find free stock images at one place. All images are licensed under Creative Commons Zero license. The site includes over 1800 photos and every week they add 35 new collections (5 images daily).

Lock & Stock Photos

lock and stock photos

A big collection of free stock photos (taken by AJ Montpetit) under the Creative Common License ShareALike 4.0. The author of the site publishes a new picture every day.

Compfight

Compfight

Compfight is an image search engine that efficiently locates images blogs, inspiration and research. You can filter the image results by license, safe/unsafe and tags. Furthermore, it makes good use of Flickr API (not an affiliate).

New Old Stock

New Old Stock

The website (created by Cole Townsend) contains vintage photos from the public archive. So, if you are searching for old retro pictures for your next project, you know where to look at.

LittleVisuals

LittleVisuals

The site publishes new high resolution photos every 7 days, under CC license. You can sign up their email newsletter to get zipped images direct in your inbox.

Getrefe

Getrefe

This is a small Tumblr blog that offers free refe real life photos. Here you find mostly nature or environment related photos for desktop as well as mobile devices.

Kaboompics

Kaboompics

Kaboompics is a great place to get breathtaking pictures for business or personal use. You can use the search box, click #tag under the images or select category to find out what you are looking for.

SplitShire

SplitShire

SplitShire contains delicious free stock photos by web designer Daniel Nanescu. You can browse through category or by timeline.

Snapwire Snaps

Snapwire Snaps

Yet another Tumblr blog that provides 7 snaps every 7 days, all for free. Most of the pictures are distributed under Creative Common license. Moreover, mobile stock photographers can submit their images to answer several requests made by others.

Picjumbo

Picjumbo

Here you will find totally free pictures for your commercial and personal works. All photos are captured by the site owner himself. All he asks in return is proper attribution.

Snapographic

Snapographic

Snapographic includes fresh and free stock photos for personal and commercial use. All pictures are taken by Thomas Mühl (free of copyright restriction).

Read: 10 Best Photoshop Alternatives (Free Tools)

Unsplash

Unsplash

Unsplash consists of thousands of free high resolution images. They upload 10 new photos every 10 days. Subscribe their email newsletter to get new images direct in your inbox.

IM Free

IM Free

This is a large collection of free resources for commercial use, by IM Creator. All images, icons and templates are nicely categorized. Read license carefully as some pictures require attribution.

morgueFile

morgueFile

morgueFile hosts over 300,000 free high-resolution digital stock photographs for either corporate or public use. The image gallery features a cropping tool and you can also hotlink the pictures from your site.

Life of Pix

Life of Pix

Life of Pix offers free high resolution pictures with no copyright restrictions. All images are donated to the public domain which means you can use them in personal as well as commercial projects. New photos are added weekly.

Superfamous

Superfamous

Superfamous (Los Angeles based studio) is a large collection literary and visual content. Here, you can search under different collections. All pictures are available under CC attribution license.

Also Read: 14 Tools to Instantly Convert 2d Images to 3d Ones

Pixabay

Pixabay

Pixabay is packed with over 300,000 free images, vectors and art illustrations. Browse by category or search through color, orientation and image type. You can also upload and share your own pictures here. The site is available in 20 languages.

Flickr

Flickr

Many Flickr users have chosen to offer their images under CC license or for free. Here you will find millions of creative images that you can use in personal and commercial projects.

Wikimedia Commons

Wikimedia Commons

Recommended: Internet Images you CAN and CAN’T use on your Website

The site hosts over 24 million images, mostly under public domain and CC license, and a few of them under some private license. Everyone is allowed to copy, modify and use any picture freely as long as they follow the term specified by the uploader/author.

Written by
Varun Kumar

I am a professional technology and business research analyst with more than a decade of experience in the field. My main areas of expertise include software technologies, business strategies, competitive analysis, and staying up-to-date with market trends.

I hold a Master's degree in computer science from GGSIPU University. If you'd like to learn more about my latest projects and insights, please don't hesitate to reach out to me via email at [email protected].

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