A picture is worth a thousand words. We all want our own beautiful website to be filled with high quality images. Yet, not all of us have the time to take our own photos or the budget to pay for each image we use.
Fortunately, there are now many photo websites offering free images. You heard it right. FREE photos. Regardless of your purpose, whether it is to create a commercial website, or to execute a content marketing strategy, these photos are free for you to copy, edit and use.
Before you hurry down to the list, let me run you through the important terms and information you should know before using any free image you find online.
Creative Commons is non-profit organization devoted to expand and share creative works through legal means. It enables free distribution of otherwise copyrighted “work” by releasing several Creative Commons licenses. These licenses vary in terms of its freedom or limitation on purpose of use, modification allowed, attribution requirement, or other terms stated.
When you find a free image to use, it is important to know what license it is registered under. Ideally, you would want to use images registered under the Creative Common Zero (CC0 1.0) license. Images under this license waive all rights under copyright law and allow users to copy, modify and distribute for all purposes.
Some other free photos websites may operate under other Common Creative licenses such as the CC BY-SA 2.0 license which allow the same as CC0 but require attribution.
Images or other creative works registered under Creative Common Zero CC0 license are:
In the public domain, you find images or other creative works with copyrights that have either expired, forfeited, or non-applicable in the first place. In most cases, they are free to use for all purposes.
Many users make the mistake of misunderstand royalty free images as free-of-charge images. It is not necessarily the case. In most cases, the user is required to pay a one time fee for an image under the royalty free license for it’s unlimited use in all places. The “free” in royalty free does not refer to the cost, but the freedom of using the image freely without paying any additional royalties.
Let’s get started! To save your time finding the right image you require, I have listed down the top 45 sites that offer free high resolution images for commercial and personal use, as well as your usage rights.
Note: Terms may change over time so it is highly recommended that you affirm each image’s license before using them.
License: Own license with similar terms to Creative Common Zero (see license)
License: Creative Common Zero (see license)
License: Own license with similar terms to Creative Common Zero, allowing free use for most purposes, but with some restricted use (see license)
License: Own license with similar terms to Creative Common Zero (see license)
License: Creative Common Zero or Licensed Photos, Both free for personal and commercial uses (see license)
What’s more? They even teach you how to start a business online!
License: Creative Common Zero (see license)
What’s more? New photos added weekly!
License: Creative Common Zero (see license)
What’s more? The site to go for if you are looking for quirky pictures!
License: Creative Common Zero (see license)
What’s more? The site to go for if you are looking for food photos!
License: Creative Common Zero (see license)
What’s more? 7 new photos added weekly!
License: Creative Common Zero (see license)
What’s more? New photos and videos every week!
License: Own license with similar terms to Creative Common Zero (terms indicated at the bottom of homepage)
License: Creative Common Zero (see license)
What’s more? Update daily! The site to go for if you are looking for nature photos!
License: Creative Common Zero (license indicated at homepage)
License: Creative Common Zero (see license)
License: Creative Common Zero (see license)
What’s more? New images added weekly!
License: Own license with similar terms to Creative Common Zero, but the restriction of redistributing its photos (see license)
License: Creative Common Zero (license can be seen at the bottom of homepage)
License: Creative Common Zero (see license)
License: Creative Commons Zero (indicated at homepage)
License: Creative Common Zero (license indicated on homepage)
License: Creative Common Zero (see below each image for it’s licence)
What’s more? 7 new photos added weekly!
License: Free for commercial use (indicated at homepage)
License: Own license with similar terms to Creative Common Zero (see license)
What’s more? The site to go for if you are a female entrepreneur!
License: Creative Common Zero (see license)
License: All public domain images
License: Creative Common Zero (see license)
License: Public Domain or Creative Common Zero (license indicated on homepage)
License: All public domain images
License: Own license with similar terms to Creative Common Zero, allowing the use of photos for broad purposes (see license)
License: Free of known copyright restrictions (indicated at homepage)
License: Own license with similar terms to Creative Common Zero (terms indicated at homepage)
License: Own license with similar terms to Creative Common Zero (see license)
License: Public Domain or Creative Common Zero (license indicated at homepage)
License: Creative Common Zero or Attribution Required (each image is marked with it’s license)
What’s more? Images are categorized based on their license for your convenience!
License: Free for commercial use (indicated at homepage)
License: Creative Commons Public Domain (see license)
License: Creative Commons Zero (indicated at homepage)
What’s more? The site to go for if you are looking for vector images!
License: Public Domain
What’s more? The site to go for if you are looking for vintage images from the 17th, 18th and 19th century!
License: Creative Commons Zero (see license)
License: Public Domain (see license)
What’s more? The site to go for if you are looking for photos out of space!
It is an online resource with one of the most diverse collections of stock photos.
License: Free, Royalty Free or Public Domain
License: Most free for commercial use, attribution may be required (different terms indicated on each photo)
What’s more? Not only do they have photos, they also offer icons, templates and button maker for free!
License: Creative Commons, attribution is required (see license)
License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 (indicated at homepage)
License: Creative Commons Attribution, meaning the images are free to copy and distribute as long as attribution to “Jopwell” is provided. (see license)
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