75 Legit Free Image Sources

Last Update: October 5, 2018

 

Visual contents are crucial to digital marketing success. Naturally, as humans are incredible visual consumers and our brains are wired to process and remember images better than texts. Based on Brain Rules by Dr. John Medina, if we’re given hundreds of images today, well remember 90% of them three days later and 63% a year after. This research means a lot just for everybody else across many industries e.g education, politics, marketing etc.

Aside from that, statistics also show that images account for social media marketing engagement. According to Buffer Social, posts with images get 150% more retweets on Twitter. On the other hand, Buzzsumo revealed that Facebook posts get 230% more engagement when relevant images are used.

As these numbers emphasize the advantages in incorporating images along with online effort, a relevant question also comes into the minds of digital marketers: “Where do you get relevant and catchy images that are high quality enough to pass your artistic judgement?”

Good to know there are dozens of free image sources on the web that provides quality images without royalty fee, whatsoever. We went over a lot of “free image” sites and filtered only the best sources to get relevant quality images. Here are the 75 “legit” free image sources that you can use.

IMPORTANT: In case you come across copyrights jargons and creative commons licenses check out this awesome article from M2Social to understand them better.

75 Free Image Sources

#1 Dreamstime

This image source boasts over 45 Million collections of photos and illustrations collection that you can access for free upon registration. Search a keyword on the “Free Images” section to get images without a price tag.

#2 Free Digital Photos

Although free images are only available in small sizes, you can download them in a variety of subjects in this web collection. This proves useful for thumbnail images and Twitter cards

#3 Free Images

This is a good collection of beautiful free images in high resolution. The search box suggests the number of free image stock available for the keywords you enter. And for the results, you view, be careful to check the license status found in the details section.

#4 Free Rangestock

With free registration, you can enjoy downloading high-quality free images from this web source. Get relevant images based on the keywords you search.

#5 Flickr

This photo collection website hosted by Yahoo offers a wide range of images straight from the source. Most of the images are free but make sure to read the terms and condition of use as each uploader has his own terms.

#6 Pexel

This is one of our favorites. Pexel is a wonderful image source when you’re looking for beautiful hipster-ish images in high resolution. It doesn’t require registration and shows a no-brainer alternative license for each image you pick so you’d know how to use them legally.

#7 IM Free

There’s no better way to know the site than with how it describes itself: A curated collection of free web design resources, all for commercial use. This website offers high resolution images that are highly relevant to the keyword you search. (See that some sources don’t throw related images to the keywords you search).

#8 Pixabay

This cool collection boasts not only of high quality free images, but also free videos available on this site. Like Pexel, it shows the license of the image you pick with no-brainer details.

#9 Stockvault

Come across beautiful photos in a variety of subjects contained in their Stockvault for free! One good thing about this site is that it requires no registration.

#10 Rgbstock

Fill out a quick registration form and you’re good to download 100% free stock images. The site has a good collection of images from a wide range of categories.

#11 Ancestry Images

For history buffs, students and family history researchers, this site offers free photos from their historical archive. The site specializes in genealogy, family history, and other antique prints.

#12 Gratisography

This cool website offers a collection of fantastic photos for personal and commercial use–all for free! For added convenience, you can use this free image source without being required to register.

#13 Death to The Stock Photo

This site tries to end the culture of stock photo(graphy): A photo & inspiration haven for creatives crushing their path. Sign up to their newsletter to receive a weekly dose of mesmerizing photographs.

#14 FreeMediaGoo

This site offers royalty-free images for the taking. However, last time we checked, it doesn’t have a search box, rather its collection is under categories e.g beach, building, wildlife, and more.

#15 Little Visuals

This web source of free image stock was once run by a guy named Nic. But he died in 2013  and since then there were no more images uploaded. But you can still get high res images on a weekly basis by subscribing.

#16 NewOldStock

Hosted by Tumblr, this free image web source offers a vintage-looking portfolio of photographs from public Archives. Sadly there is no search box available on the site. But this serves well when all you want is browse vintage photos.

#17 PicJumbo

No Registration. No Price. Just Free images for personal and commercial use. This site has any type of image stock you need, for free!

#18 Pickup Image

This free image source has a huge collection of landscape images and a ton of other tags. It also allows copying, modification and distribution of photos even for commercial purposes.

#19 Superfamous

This site is a museum of high-resolution free images with high-resolution textures, backgrounds, and photographs. Visiting this site is like going to a museum of modern art. Just head to the “Superfamous Images” to see their collection.

#20 unsplash

Unrestricted use of high-res wonderful images is housed in this site. Be good to yourself, bookmark this page or subscribe to their newsletter to receive a curated collection of images.

#21 Wikimedia Commons

A brother of Wikipedia, this site offers a huge collection of images and other media. But be careful to check the permission details to know whether the image is available for personal, commercial and whatever-you-want use.

#22 Can we image

This site streamlines Wikicommons image categories. The landing page for each result directs to the permission details of the image.

#23 Compfight

Compfight offers a vast collection of free images in almost all categories you could think of. It does not require registration, but make sure to check the license agreement and give the owner credit.

#24 MorgueFile

A collection of beautiful photos “for creatives, by creatives” this is a must-follow website for creatives and just for everybody else who needs free high-resolution images. It requires no login access and you can subscribe to their monthly image pack for a well-curated collection.

#25 EveryStockPhoto

This site asks free registration to enjoy the free download of stock images from a wide collection of images. This site streamlines other image sources websites for convenient access. Make sure to check out the image’s license so you won’t get into trouble with copyright issues.

#26 ImageFinder

This is a search engine for images deposited in other sites. The site directs users to images licenced under Creative Commons. Generally, the images  found in this site are free and safe for personal use.

#27 PhotoPin

This photo collection curates millions of creative commons post for ease of access and easy posting on your blog. Access high resolution images for free, with no registration required.

#28 StockPhotos.io

With a free registration you can enjoy only the best public domain images on the web. One cool thing about this Pinterest-like site is that it offers a huge collection of free images for commercial use.

#29 Tineye

Ever had the experience when you can’t find a duplicate of a picture because you don’t know its title or caption? Thanks to Tineye, you can search for an image using the image itself, and not keywords.

#30 Wylio

Wylio offers a myriad of high resolution free images (with attribution) and all you have to do is to  register–for free. One good thing about this site, their images are closely related to your keyword search and look good. They also provide an embed link in case you want to use it in your site.

#31 Pablo

Ever wonder where to find those blog-worthy images with texts? Pablo has thousands of free images that you can edit with texts. No registration required, only wit and creativity.

#32 Aarin Free Photos

This is a personal collection from the creator himself: when he said it’s free for use, it is literally free for use! A plus for this site are the web design tips that it provides.

#33 AllTheFreeStock.com

This site curates free stock images from other sites. You can search for images, by choosing a site in the sidebar menu. You’ll love the convenience it offers! It streamlines multiple free image sources on one page, so you completely get rid of multiple tabs.

#34 Visual Hunt

Visual Hunt is a playful website for free stock images. You can download high-resolution images, minus the headache of finding the license details. This free image source identifies the license status of every image.

#35 BAJstock

Brush up your French as this site is hosted in this language and if this doesn’t suit you, you will find the English translation available on the site very handy. It offers a huge collection of haute-def images for free. It has a rather limited collection of stock images, but the site is worth visiting to view images from different places in the world (See categories).

#36 Bigfoto.com

Amateur photographers around the world who are chasing audience feed this site with their works. You can use their images free of charge even when you intend to use it commercially. Take note however that this site was last updated in 2013. It is most useful for searches involving street and landscape pictures from around the world.

#37 BurningWell

You can never go wrong with using the images from this site as all of them are in the public domain. However, their collection is not extensive enough to support all your visual content needs.

#38 Cepolina

This quite eccentric website offers free downloads for images about travel and nature. Good thing, it offers up to 5 different download formats in 7 different sizes.

#39 Cromavista

An online collection of photographer, Ricardo de Herrero, this site offers images of beautiful sceneries and landscape in Spain and across Europe. The images are free for personal use “without any limitation” but are not permitted for commercial use.

#40 DHD Multimedia Gallery

This old-looking site offers a collection of free images on different categories that are as diverse as those that include Toilets, Tall Ships along with Pasta Psycho.

#41 Foter

This site offers a good collection of beautiful high-resolution stock images across several categories–available for free. It also provides easy-to-understand indicators about the licensing status of an image and how you are allowed to use it.

#42 Free Images.co.uk

Boasting 15 years of providing free images, Free Images UK is a modest site that offers humongous collection of free stock images that are free for use, provided that you link to the site as your image source.

#43 FreeLargePhotos.com

While having a low-key collection of free images, this site offers large format, high-resolution images for personal use. Take note that a one time $50 fee is charged should you want to use images for commercial use.

#44 Freepik

This is a one-stop place for good collection of vectors, stock images and PSD for creatives all for free! What’s more, you can access images without being required to register.

#45 FreeStockPhotos.biz

A single place where you can find high-resolution images for a variety of purposes. One good thing about this site is that it indicates the license of each image with icons and words that are easy to understand.

#46 FromOldBooks

Another great find for history buffs, this site offers free high-resolution images from century-old books. And it also includes some facts about the image, as well as some historical notes!

#47 GetRefe

A collection of free and priced images, GetRefe also offers a platform for photographers to sell their images. You need to create an account to download free images. Just make sure to check the price before your download as this site is an eCommerce site of sort.

#48 Image After

Search tons of free photos on this site while meeting other photography lovers on the forum. Here you’d find free images, textures and a lot more. It is also a hub for photographers to share tips, experiences and sample shots.

#49 Image Base

This is not only a source for wonderful high res images but also a good source for powerpoint templates.

#50 Lensicle

A cool source of free stock images where you can edit the image first before downloading it. Legit cool!

#51 Life of Pix

Aside from a being a great stock image source, LifeofPix is also a community of creative photographers and appreciators where you can create an account to save photos and follow your favorite photographer.

#52 Lock & Stock

Lock and Stock offers an immense collection of high-resolution photos across a diverse of categories. Its slogan: “Use in any way, anywhere and anytime,” is a good enticement to use their photos and simply explains the purpose of the site.

#53 Lost & Taken

Search photos and textures, no attribution necessary. Lost and Taken is a treasure trove for graphic artists. It holds thousands of textures from wood and fabric to grunge and industrial textures.

#54 Archive.org

This site is a way back machine for researchers and for all people. Aside from audio, texts, and video, here you can download images from across libraries and archives around the world for free!

#55 Obsidian Dawn

Along with png and stock photos for free, you can also chance to find brushes here.

#56 OpenStockPhotography

Open Stock Photography gets their collection of stock photos from public domain collections of Wikimedia Commons. Here you can find a vector, illustrations, and images–royalty free.

#57 PD Photo

PD Photo is a proud public domain database where you can find free images in high resolution.

#58 Photogen

Photogen is a fairly simple website where you can find high-resolution stock images for free!

#59 Pickupimage

This site lets you pick up free high-resolution images that you can modify distribute or use for commercial purposes.

#60 Picography

It offers free images for use “however you like.” This Ireland-based website is the best place for wallpaper-worthy images to don your desktop or for background for typographies.

#61 Public Domain Archive

This PD archive is a sleek and simple source for free images in the public domain.

#62 Public Domain Photos

Another collection of public domain photos where you can also find free vector.

#63 Shutterstock Free Images Archive

This repository of images offers large-scale sizes and in different formats. You need to register a free account to enjoy free access. And make sure to check the license details of your downloads!

#64 Snapwire Snaps

If you failed to find the photos you need from any free-image source sites, you can head to this site to request for the exact photo you need.  They also have a search engine so you can look up their collection.

#65 SplitShire

This site is a great place to look for free stock photos and images for commercial use. This free image source features the top best photos and range categories to match your requirements.

#65 Stock.xchng

Here you can find beautiful photos that are relevant to what you’re looking for. The site redirects you to the public domain collection of Adobe stock so you can trust the quality of the images

#67 StockSnap.io

Their collection grows by hundreds every week. Here you can find beautiful stock photos for free, no copyright restrictions.

#68 Subtle Patterns

Looking for hipster-ish and beautiful textures and patterns, you must visit this site. They offer free and high-resolution photos of patterns.

#69 Textures.com

As their website name suggests, it is the best place to find whatever textures you need. They have diverse categories that you can use to filter your searches.

#70 tOfz.org

This site is a good source of urban photography shots. The photos are free, but you might want to donate to the owner.

#71 TurboPhoto

A partner of Shutterstock, this free image source keeps images classified under 10 categories for you to navigate easily through their collection. A search bar is also available to find professional and high res stock images.

#72 Unprofound.com

A database of free images from “designers” as they call themselves. Here you don’t need to register to use their images. You can download right away.

#73 Gimp Savvy

Gimp is a community indexed archive of free photos and images. It is the best place to search for when looking for materials that you want to use for collage and montage.

#74 Canva

Canva is a free graphic-design tool that has everything you need – photographics, graphics and fonts – to create a stunning visual content- There is no design skill required, all you need to do is to simply drag and drop.

#75 PikWizard

PikWizard has a collection of more than 30,000 impressive images in its library. If you are looking for quality and natural-looking photos across a broad range of subjects, this is one image resource library that’s worth checking out.

Now that you know where to source free images for your blog, you’re now ready to put them into action. To set you off, here’s a helpful reminder of the real purpose of using images in your blog posts.

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