While there’s no substitute for professional original photography, it’s not always practical. This is particularly true when selecting images to accompany your blog posts and other regular content. You may decide you can afford a subscription to a paid stock photo site to support your content marketing, but many small business owners and operators are curious about where to find free stock photos.
Fortunately, the quality and variety of freely available, unlimited use stock photos has greatly improved in recent years. And the number of websites offering them has multiplied exponentially. So, if you’re wondering where to find free stock photos that look great and convey the right message to accompany your content, below are a number of recommended resources.
As a side note, there are a number of free stock photo sites that have you subscribe and then they send you a batch of new images every week or two. We’ve omitted these and stuck to sites that have easily searchable databases of photos, as they’re much more practical when you’re looking for the right images to include on your website, content, social media posts, etc.
Just keep in mind that some sites also have photos you’re required to pay for. Always read the full license details about the permitted usage of any stock photo you want to use.
Sites with Free High-Quality Stock Photos
- Gratisography – Visit this site when you’re looking for quirkier free-use stock photos.
- HubSpot – This is a particularly useful option if you want office-, business-, or other work-related images, though it’s not limited to these.
- Kaboompics – While attribution isn’t required, the photographer does request that users include photo credit and/or a link back to the site if possible.
- LibreShot – This site has some of the most artistic and unique free stock photos available.
- Life of Pix – There’s also a sister site, Life of Vid, that offers free-use videos and clips.
- Nappy – Here you’ll find free stock photos featuring minorities to promote diversity.
- Pexels – This one has videos you can use for free, too.
- Picnoi – Find stock photos featuring people of color here. Note that while you don’t have to pay to use images from this site, you do have to provide attribution.
- Startup Stock Photos – Here’s another helpful resource for business, tech, and related images, but there are pictures relevant to most industries.
- StockSnap.io – Head here if you want unique images that stand out among all those typical stock photos you see everywhere.
- Unsplash – This is another excellent resource if you’re looking for something besides the same old cliché stock photos.
