We all know that a picture is worth a thousand words, especially in the competitive online landscape, where every blogger, business owner, and eCommerce shop is trying to stand out in the crowd.
But with everyone using the same old cheesy stock images on their websites, standing out can be tough. This is especially true if you don’t have any web design experience.
Luckily, there are tons of websites that compile beautiful stock images that can be used on your site to complement your content and encourage site visitors to stay. And the best part is, lots of them are free to use!
If you’re looking for stock images to use on your WordPress website, and aren’t sure where to go, keep reading. We’ve got 67 of the very best stock photo sites listed for you so you don’t have to stress about finding images to publish on your site.
What is a Stock Photo?
A stock photo is a professional photograph of a place, landmark, event, person, animal, or nature that can be used on personal or commercial websites.
Stock images are not unique and are available for anyone to use. They can be used for free in some instances or purchased for a flat fee, depending on where the image is found.
Each image has their own license and terms of use. In other words, you can’t just run a simple Google search, choose an image you like, and copy and paste it on your website. If you do that, and violate a copyright or trademark, you’ll quickly find yourself facing legal trouble like EliteDaily did some years ago.
Here are some of the most common conditions that may be linked to an image you want to publish on your website:
- Public Domain: an image that you can copy, modify, or distribute in any way you want, even for commercial purposes, without asking permission or attributing the work to the original creator. In other words, there is no copyright or trademark protecting it.
- Attribution: some images require that you attribute (or give credit to) to the original owner/creator, while still allowing you to copy, modify, or distribute the image how you see fit.
- Personal vs Commercial: there are some images that you are free to use as you want for personal purposes only. If you use it on a commercial website, you could get in trouble for violating the license.
Of course, there’s more to using stock images on your website than is listed above. And while we’ve done our best to identify which license each stock photo site falls under, we always recommend you make sure you’re following the individual image use terms before adding them to your website.
So, let’s take a look at where you can get stunning stock images for your website.
StockSnap.io has thousands of beautiful, high-quality stock photos for all your website needs. There’s an easy to use search function so finding the right type of image for your project is a cinch.
And if you’re looking for a photo that is really popular, you can check out each image’s views and likes. StockSnap is always adding new images to their collection so you’ll never have to look far for a great stock image for your website.
License Type: Public Domain (no attribution)
Price: FREE
Negative Space has tons of stock photos for personal or commercial use.
Check out their image tags, use the search function, or even sort based on color scheme to find the perfect image for your business, brand, or blog. And if you prefer, you can always look up images based on categories such as sport, food, and nature.
Want the latest images delivered straight to your inbox? You can also sign up for their email list and always get the newest stock images before anyone else.
License Type: Public Domain (no attribution)
Price: FREE
Pixabay has over 1.6 million images to pick from, with new ones being added all the time.
But don’t worry, the interface is simple and easy to navigate, despite there being so many photos to look through.
You can filter images based on photographs, vectors, and illustrations and find exactly what you need. And if you need video content for your website, Pixabay has that too.
License Type: Public Domain (no attribution)
Price: FREE
Getty Images is a massive stock image resource with images, video, music, and other multimedia products.
Their target audience includes creative professionals, media (both print and online publishing), and corporations (e.g., in-house design, marketing, and communication departments).
All you have to do is search for images you need, purchase the usage rights, and download to use for your project. Keep in mind, this stock photo site can be very expensive.
That said, there are some images available free of charge using the embed option, though this strategy is not allowed on commercial websites.
License Type: Varied
Price: Starting at $175 for 1 download
Pexels provides high-quality stock photos that are easy to search using the search bar, tags, or discover pages.
With hundreds of thousands of photos to look through, and new ones being added daily, Pexels offers site owners an easy way create amazing products, designs, stories, websites, apps, art, and more.
License Type: Public Domain (no attribution)
Price: FREE
Unsplash is a unique stock photo site providing people with images not usually found elsewhere. On top of that, they release 10 new “do whatever you want” images every 10 days, so you know there’s always going to be fresh new images to pick through.
Start by looking through image collections such as backgrounds/textures or brands, use the search function, or just browse through their top photos on the homepage.
License Type: Public Domain (no attribution)
Price: FREE
Foodiesfeed is a great niche stock photo shop for those that run a food blog, own a restaurant, or sell kitchen appliances.
Boasting natural looking food images to help get foodies away from using “ugly sterile stock photos,” this resource of images makes finding food-related photos easy thanks to popular tags, trending food images, and a search directory with over 1200 images to look through.
License Type: Public Domain (no attribution)
Price: FREE
Death to Stock was created in response to the difficulty people were having finding stock images that weren’t overused. You have two options when it comes to using their library of images.
The first is to subscribe and access over 3500 stock images and video content right away, with 20 new images being sent directly to your inbox every month.
Or, you can sign up for a monthly membership and access premium images reserved for premium customers through a convenient login.
License Type: Free to use, reproduce, and modify (no distribution)
Price: FREE (memberships starting at $12/month)
Pucjumbo is a stock photo site full of images that can be used for personal or commercial works.
Choose from categories to start browsing, click on popular stock images you like, or run a quick search and find something particular for your needs.
And if you want premium images sent via email every month you can always sign up for a membership too.
License Type: Free to use (no attribution) with limitations (e.g., no redistribution)
Price: FREE (memberships starting at $6.58/month)
Kaboompics offers people over 10K images and specializes in lifestyle, interior design, and blogging photos.
That said, there are plenty of other categories from technology to animals to food and drink that can be used for personal or commercial reasons.
Plus, you can filter based on color, category, orientation, and even mode.
License Type: Free to use and modify (no attribution) with limitations (no selling or redistribution)
Price: FREE
Shutterstock is a leading stock photo site, complete with images, video, music, and editorial assets.
It’s one hundred percent premium to use (and is one of the only like it on our list) but has so many millions of great images for your website it can be worth the monthly price.
Search based on photographs, vectors, or illustrations, edit the image to your liking, and download it for use.
License Type: Royalty Free (buy usage rights and do as you please)
Price: Starting at $29/month for 10 images
Burst by Shopify is not just for people that have a Shopify shop.
In fact, this stock photo site was created to help entrepreneurs make better websites, products, marketing materials, and more.
Enjoy categories like business, spring, fashion, background, food, and many more. Just search, download, and add to your project; it’s as simple as that.
License Type: Public Domain (no attribution)
Price: FREE
Reshot sources photos from individual contributors in photography communities in an effort to unify creators and give them access to the best visual content possible.
Search for specific images, check out those that are trending, and even look into related images to make sure your site’s visual content and other projects are unique when compared to the competition.
License Type: Public Domain (no attribution)
Price: FREE
Gratisography claims to offer people the quirkiest, yet most beautiful, stock images around so you can stand out from the crowd.
The photographer, Ryan McGuire, is picky about the images he adds to the collection and strives to give creatives a way to brand themselves as different in this boring, stock-filled image world.
New images are added weekly and often elicit a laugh.
So, if you’re looking for something completely different for your personal or commercial projects, this is a good place to start.
License Type: Free to use (no attribution)
Price: FREE
Freestocks.org is a simple photo site that gives people free stock images to be used in any type of project, whether personal or not.
There are several categories organizing images, such as animals, fashion, and people.
Plus, there’s a search bar if you’re looking for something special. There are also related images to view when searching for the perfect image that can help you finalize your content and make it visually appealing.
License Type: Free to use (no attribution)
Price: FREE
ISO Republic caters to bloggers and online business owners alike in providing high-resolution stock images to add to websites and social media posts.
They also offer a ton of video content that’s also free to use. Search using the search bar, look into their collections of images, and even check out related images after conducting a search to find images that suit your needs.
License Type: Public Domain (no attribution)
Price: FREE
Picography is a sleek stock photo site that makes finding images to use on your website easy.
All you have to do is enter a search term and see what’s available.
Click on tags to see more, check out related images, or download the photo you clicked on and add it to your site. On Picography, there’s no shortage of categories to browse and hundreds of beautiful images to pick from.
License Type: Public Domain (no attribution)
Price: FREE
New Old Stock is a photo site filled with vintage photos from public archives.
There’s a healthy mix of stunning black and white photographs and color images that bring a life and a sense of nostalgia to any website or project.
With a new image added daily, New Old Stock will always have a little something extra to add to your content that will make you stand out from the rest.
License Type: Free to use (no attribution)
Price: FREE
Stokpic, maintained by photographer Ed Gregory, has loads of categories to choose from if a beautiful and unique stock photo is what you’re looking for.
There are also the Latest 100 and Favorite categories if you need a little inspiration. And to top it off, if you subscribe to his email list, you’ll receive 10 premium images in your inbox every two weeks.
Not only will this put you ahead of everyone else, it’ll save you precious time so you can focus on other parts of your website, content, email campaigns, and more.
License Type: Free to use (no attribution) with limitations (no redistribution)
Price: FREE
DesignersPics does one simple thing: It gives you free pictures on subjects of interest to designers and creatives. This is a niche that has a surprising lack of coverage, especially in the way the site does it.
You’ll find lots of hand-made scenes, such as origami, paper cuttings, and burnt matches. The images are unique, and doesn’t tread the standard stock image tropes. Because of this, it’s always a good site to have in your bookmarks.
License Type: Public Domain (no attribution)
Price: Free
Free Nature Stock is another site that pulls no punches. It’s a stock photo site that provides free nature images. The quality is high, and you’ll find long-lens animal shots, gorgeous landscapes, and much more.
This is another site that you’d expect to have a premium price attached. That the photos are being offered for free is crazy – if you have the right topic for the images here, they are going to enhance your content.
License type: Public Domain (no attribution)
Price: Free
Styled Stock offers people feminine stock photography for those in need of a softer set of images for their projects. Enjoy pastel colors, elegant layouts, and an easy to use search function for finding the right photo for your vision. And don’t forget to subscribe to receive exclusive images not found on the website.
License Type: Free to use (no attribution) with limitations
Price: FREE
Foca deals in videos, social media templates, and – important for us – photos. The default view of the size is to show the most recent photos added to the platform. This means the first images you see might not be the best on offer.
The photos are grouped into collections, and there are also featured collections curated by Foca. They all look crisp and clear, and could suit all manner of professional-looking blogs.
License Type: Public Domain (no attribution)
Price: Free
Based on the photos we’ve seen, Skitterphoto offers landscapes, nature, and street photography based on realism. This makes sense, as it’s presented as a ‘photographer-friendly’ stock site.
While there is a broad range of photo collections, we like the admin-curated collection. It shows that the owners are vested in the photos you’ll download, which is always a mark of approval.
License Type: Public Domain (no attribution)
Price: Free
The tagline for Life of Pix is “Free high-resolution photography”. As a description, this undersells the concept. It’s a photographer-focused site, with a leaning towards ‘art’ rather than the standard fare of stock sites.
The categories are broad enough that you’ll find something you suit your purpose. The search functionality also is robust, and includes a way to filter by orientation – vital for some website and blog layouts.
License Type: Public domain (no attribution)
Price: Free
Little Visuals is a stock photo site with a sad story. The original site owner, Nic Jackson, passed away in 2013. Despite this, his family now run the site and make sure the images are accessible.
You’ll find a tiny sample of images here, which is understandable given the back story. Still, the photos are good quality, and have a ‘hipster’ vibe that will suit lifestyle blogs (in our opinion).
License Type: Public Domain (no attribution)
Price: Free
Jay Mantri is a Twitter Product Designer who also takes photographs. These make up a large collection of photos that cover all manner of landscapes, architecture, animals, and more.
Despite the quality of the images, there’s no search function or collections. This means finding the right images is a big task. The good news is there’s very few duds on the whole site.
License Type: Public Domain (no attribution)
Price: Free
Another ‘classic-style’ stock site that has a big selection of categories to choose from, Picspree could be one of your regular visits. The whole site is based around searching, which means you’ll have an easy job of finding the right image.
The quality is there too, and if you’re looking for abstract subjects or food, Picspree is going to be on your radar.
License Type: Public Domain (with restrictions)
Price: Free
PikWizard claims to have around one million images in its database, and we believe it based on the plethora of categories available. There are more categories here than we’ve seen at any other stock site, so you’re able to find the image you need based on your exact requirements.
Even so, there are no filters for the results of a search. This is disappointing, but in practice it may not matter. All of the images we’ve seen are of a good quality, so you’ll have a lot of choice at your disposal.
License Type: Public domain (although some are not for ‘editorial use’)
Price: Free
SplitShire is the personal project of Daniel Nanescu, in order to put some of the images on his hard drives to use. The project has grown to encompass a wide-range of content that all have an air of quality.
The search functionality wasn’t as accurate as other sites we’ve used. Despite this, it wasn’t tough to find something to suit our requirements, and we’d bet it won’t be for you either.
License Type: Public Domain (most have no restrictions on copyright or attribution)
Price: Free
While Rawpixel looks like a bare-bones site, there’s a lot going on. The images themselves are standard stock fare for the most part, albeit with more diversity from the subjects in them.
Though, the site is billed as a “Creative Home”, and the way the photos are organized shows it. The Creative Feed is more of an algorithim for showing you relevant images, while the Trending stack is full of the most popular images. Collections here are called Boards, and this gives Rawpixel a Pinterest-feel that will help you grab design elements for your next blog post or poster.
License Type: Public Domain, Personal, and Commercial licenses
Price: Free (although there are premium photos too)
Much like other sites on this list, LibreShot is a personal project of Martin Vorel to give royalty-free images to those who need them. Because the site is a ‘one-man band’, it has a ‘Do-It-Yourself’ feel and offers almost a personal connection to the images you’re downloading.
What’s more, all of the images are from Martin. As such, it often feels like you’re getting hand-picked recommendations rather than choosing from a mountain of anonymous images.
License Type: Public Domain (no attribution)
Price: Free
Don’t let the aged website design put you off, Rgbstock is a site full of colorful images. In truth, there are images of all types here, but there’s often something suitable for your needs in the over 100,000 photos ready to download.
There are a few nice touches with Rgbstock too. For example, there are localized sites for specific regions, and there’s also a counter of how many images are hosted. This is nice to help you feel connected to the images you use, rather than picking from a faceless repository.
License Type: Royalty-free, with restrictions
Price: Free
Setting its stall out with a hyper-descriptive name, Good Stock Photos has a library of photos arranged into logical categories. At first glance, Things and Scapes aren’t helpful. Though, this opens out into sub-menus with more specific descriptions. It’s a good way to present the images, and it means you’ll have no problem finding a photo to use.
Downloading images is straightforward – you could say even a little dated. Though, we did find loading speeds to be poor on the few times we’ve visited. Even so, this doesn’t detract from the images themselves.
License Type: Public Domain (no attribution)
Price: Free
Talking of “specific”, Startup Stock Photos is another site that doesn’t pull any punches about what it contains. In a nutshell, all of the photos here are based on tech, in the office, and on startups.
These kinds of images are always welcome, as good photos of this kind are rare. It’s a shame that there aren’t too many to choose from, although the images here are functional and will do a job as long as they’re not a centerpiece of your design.
License Type: Public Domain (no attribution)
Price: Free
Freerange is another site that looks to offer something of value to the stock photography niche. The site is laid out well, with the standard search box front and center. We also like the prominence of the links to popular and new photos.
While most of the images are good quality, we did find some that were lacking. Even so, no site will present 100 percent killer photos, so this is a minor criticism.
License Type: Public Domain (no attribution), and Equalicense
Price: Free
It’s often hard to differentiate between different stock photo sites. Even so, StockVault looks to offer more than just free photos. Still, there is a mammoth selection on hand, complete with an expansive category list.
A nice offering from StockVault are collections based on the most popular downloads of all time. Though, we’d argue that these photos are ones to avoid if you want your project to look unique.
License Type: Creative Commons Zero, commercial, and non-commercial
Price: Both free and premium images
Regardless of whether you call them Icons 8 or Moose Stock Photos, the team are talented and offer high quality. Each photo looks like it could be featured in a magazine spread. Of course, fashion blogs are going to love these images, but any ‘high-class’ publication is also going to enjoy browsing these images.
Our favorite elements is the image titles. This is an often-skipped element of stock images, and helps to give some context and inspiration to each photo.
License Type: Royalty free, with attribution
Price: Free and Premium
Shutteroo is another personal project stock site, this time run by Klaye Morrison. They take all of the photos, and we like the bright and calm feel of each of them. All of the photos have a place within a project given the subject.
Even so, the site hasn’t been updated a long time, and there aren’t many images to choose from. As such, you’re not going to visit very often. When you do though, you’ll come away with something gorgeous.
License Type: Public Domain (no attribution)
Price: Free
Our next site, Nappy, tags itself as “Beautiful photos of black and brown people, for free”. As such, it has a special place on our list, for diverse and cultural reasons.
Even so, it wouldn’t be here in the first place without stellar images. There are lots of great photos here, and they would suit a number of niches. In short, Nappy’s photos will suit any site that needs good stock photography.
License Type: Public Domain, without attribution
Price: Free
At first glance, FreeImages doesn’t look like a Getty company. Even so, it is, and is host to around 300,000 free stock photos. Given the parent company you can expect supreme quality at the right price (i.e. free!).
You’ll find plenty of scope in variety and subject matter. The search functionality is decent, and on the whole the site is well-presented and stocked with good photos.
License Type: Royalty-free, with some attribution depending on the use
Price: Free
This popular and accessible graphic design tool isn’t a natural choice when it comes to stock photos sites. Regardless, Canva does have free stock images buried within its menus.
Of course, you’re able to drag in a number of images and manipulate them as your project requires. This means you could fit an image to your canvas’ dimensions, and export it for use elsewhere. That’s clever!
License Type: Free Media License
Price: Free, but there are also premium Canva accounts and images
It almost seems like a site from a bygone era, but Flickr is still going strong. Think of it as social media for photographers, to more of an extreme than Instagram.
This means the images run the gamut of licenses, but you’re able to download or embed photos from the site and use them in a variety of ways.
License Type: Varied, and it depends on the image you’re looking at
Price: Free, if the license stipulates public use
For the uninitiated, Jopwell helps minorities win new career prospects and opportunities. There are many photo collections on the site, but those marked as the “Jopwell Collection” are royalty free.
Much like Nappy, the Jopwell Collection is going to suit you if you have a business or tech site. Of course, given the diverse nature of the subjects, these photos are also going to fit right into those topics too.
License Type: Public Domain, with attribution
Price: Free
This site is another stock photo collection looking to showcase an under-represented group. This time, CreateHER Stock focuses on women of color, but in myriad settings.
There are around 185 images available, and they’re downloadable from a couple of locations. Lifestyle sites will like these photos, as they offer portrayals that will go well with family- and friendship-centric content.
License Type: Royalty-free, for non-commercial use
Price: Free
This site is not known for it’s free stock photography. Depositphotos is a premium stock site, but they do offer a batch of free images. This is to entice you to stump up for a subscription.
As such, there are around 65,000 images that offer good quality. The consistency of the images varies. For every few great ‘featured image’ entries, there’s a random ‘end-of-roll’ photo that could have been deleted. Even so, Depositphotos has put together a good collection here that’s worth investigating.
License type: Public Domain, with attribution
Price: Free
Much like Canva, Crello is another accessible graphic design tool that includes around 650,000 stock images. What’s more (and also like Canva), you can edit and mold the image to your liking before exporting it.
Even though there are a plethora of stock sites at your disposal, making images your own is important. The likes of Crello and Canva help you to achieve that goal. Also, Crello has partnered with Depositphotos to provide another 180 million stock assets to use.
License Type: Royalty-free
Price: Free, although there are premium plans too
If you’re after aerial landscapes that are abstract, Superfamous is going to be up your street. There aren’t a lot of images here, so we don’t think it will be a frequent haunt for your stock image needs. Still, all of the photos are high and consistent in quality.
What’s more, not every niche is going to have a use for these stock photos. As such, visual sites and topics are going to get the best out of what’s on offer here.
License Type: Public Domain, with attribution
Price: Free
Everyone’s favorite search engine can (of course) deliver images based on your chosen topic. Though, lots of people don’t realize that you can perform an advanced image search too.
This means you can look for images that you have a right to use, rather than skirting an unacceptable legal line.
License Type: Creative Commons searches only
Price: Free
50. Social media embeds
Of course, not every image is able to be downloaded and used on your site. This is why royalty-free licenses exist in the first place. Even so, most social media sites let you embed content on your site.
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and more let you display images from the platform with branding elements. This means you can use an image you’d like, while the social media platform gets noticed too.
License type: This depends on the social media site and specific image. Though, you can often embed any image you like if you follow the guidelines.
Price: Free
Dreamstime is a premium stock photography site. This means you’ll pay a subscription to the site, or pay per image. Despite this, there are some free images available to download.
To access them, you’ll need to sign up for a free account, and dig through the premium images to find the photos you need. As such, there could be some disappointment when you find a image, but it has a cost attached. This is a testament to the quality of photos on offer, as they’re good all-around stock images.
License Type: Royalty-free
Price: Free
For the unaware, a ‘morgue file’ is a reference folder full of clippings and other materials for future project inspiration. As such, the Morguefile site is a community stock photo library that has regular updates.
The quality of the library is mixed, although you should have no trouble finding something suitable. You’re also able to request an image, which is novel for a stock photo site.
License Type: Royalty-free, based on Morguefile’s own license
Price: Free
Refe offers a number of photos, although some of them are sourced from other stock sites. There are a few broad categories, although they’re useful enough that you’ll find what you need within the library.
We especially like the prominent titles for each photo. This gives you a way to gain some extra context about the photo before you look deeper at whether it’s right for you.
License Type: Royalty-free
Price: Free
ThemeIsle is a WordPress theme developer that has been featured on the WPKube blog in the past. MyStockPhotos is a collection of thousands of stock images put together by ThemeIsle’s team. While the library is small, it’s growing. What’s more, you’ll be able to find images covering architecture, landscapes, nature, and more.
There is a decent range here, and we’d argue there will be some topic to suit almost every image here. Even better, the pictures are all liccensed under Creative Commons Zero.
License Type: Public Domain (no attribution)
Price: Free
Although the tagline for Magdeleine is “A free hi-resolution photo every day”, this doesn’t mean you get access to one image. All of the previous images are available too, which means there’s a great hand-picked library of free stock images at your disposal.
There are a couple of great features of the site worth mentioning. First, you can filter images by their dominant colors. Second, each image displays its color palette in the meta data. This makes it a cinch to find a ‘design match’ for your current project.
License Type: Public Domain, both with and without attribution
Price: Free
LIFE magazine is a national institution in America. As such, there have been a number of iconic images that have documented various points in history. In collaboration with Google Arts & Culture, you’re now able to use photos from the LIFE magazine archives in your own projects.
There are nearly 4.5 million images available, featuring iconic celebrities, politicians, advertisements, and much more. For historical and popular moments captured on camera, LIFE’s collection is a ‘must-browse’.
License Type: Public Domain, with attribution and non-commercial use
Price: Free
This site isn’t linked to the other named “FreeImages”, but it achieves a similar goal. There are over 20,000 stock images for you to choose from, in a bunch of easy-to-navigate categories.
We like that there are niches you don’t often see, such as space. Though, you may need to dig for a suitable image, as the consistency in quality could be improved. Still, there’s plenty to like here, and the site is worth keeping in your bookmarks as it can often turn up a good fit for your project.
License Type: Public Domain with attribution
Price: Free
Here’s something different to other stock photo sites. Landing Stock provides images for landing pages, but in this case, it only gives you illustrations. There are no photos here, and the collection isn’t big. This means you may run the well dry within a couple of visits.
Even so, having illustrations such as these on hand for free is a valuable resource. It’s going to be great for those creating new landing pages, especially where you can take the illustration and turn it into something unique for your needs.
License Type: Public Domain (no attribution)
Price: Free
Pixistock is a site that helps you create social media content. As such, stock images are a valuable and important resource. The site isn’t a free stock photo site as such, although with a premium membership you can get over 5,000 images to use in your content.
Instead, you can get 30 days of free resources, including stock images, by signing up to the newsletter. You’re not going to be heading to the site to trawl through a library here, but you can keep the images you receive on your hard drive for later use.
License Type: Public Domain (no attribution)
Price: Free
Ivory Mix is another social media content creation service. As with others we’ve featured on this list, you’ll sign up for the newsletter and get a bunch of images to use in your own work.
Here, there are around 550 styled images available to you, with more arriving on a monthly basis. This is going to be a good resource for creating social media content on a budget, although we could see some of the designs work well on lifestyle blogs.
License Type: Pubic Domain (no attribution)
Price: Free
Albumarium deals in “beautiful” images, so this site pricked up our ears. You’ll find a wealth of categories that are front and center. It’s a nice design that makes browsing the site a comfortable experience.
Clicking through to an image opens it in full screen, and gives you the bare minimum of details – the license, image dimensions, and a download button. It’s all you need, and for a site with a wealth of great images it’s a valuable resource for stock images.
License Type: Varies, but almost all have a Creative Commons license
Price: Free
Historical records are a rich vein of stock images, and will be ideal if your site handles content of this type. Of course, the niches Ancestry Images will cover is narrow. Despite this, for sites that align with the content here, you’ll have a lot of choice.
The images skew to European topics, although there is also a growing collection of US-based photos and scans. We could even see these images used on sites such as hiking or mountaineering blogs, if the topic fits.
License Type: Public Domain, for non-commercial use
Price: Free
BigFoto is one of the oldest stock photo sites on the web, and used to work with film transfers to the internet before digital photography became the norm.
The site takes a different approach to others, in that it offers images within a relevant article on the topic. We like this, as you can get some context on the images themselves. Some of the images are going to be hit and miss though, as age catches up with the older collections in the library.
License Type: Public Domain (no attribution)
Price: Free
We’ve mentioned Creative Commons (CC) a few times throughout this piece, often as a type of license. As such, it makes sense that there would be a way to collate all the licensed CC images in one place.
There’s a great filtering system in place, that lets you choose the exact license you require. You can even drill down further into file types, sources, and much more. It’s a first port of call for any stock images, especially as you’ll know they’re legal to use.
License Type: Public Domain, with a varied range of license types
Price: Free
It’s worth noting that Crow the Stone hasn’t been active in a number of years. Still, this doesn’t mean much when the photos provided are great for certain types of blogs. Travel sites in particular are going to like these images, although any content that needs a dose of atmosphere will appreciate them.
Though, there’s no search facility to speak of, so you’re going to be running through the entire batch of photos to find the right one. If you have the time and the right topic, Crow the Stone is going to be a perfect stock site for you.
License type: Public Domain (no attribution)
Price: Free
Chalk up another site in the ‘personal stock project’ mold. Cupcake is run by Jonas Wimmerström, and gives you a whole host of photos based around close up subjects.
Most of the recent images have been of nature, although there has been a lot of other subjects covered over the years. The quality is outstanding, and the photos deserve to have a cost attached. Despite this, they’re free and available for immediate download.
License type: Public domain (no attribution)
Price: Free
And there you have it! 67 of the very best stock photo sites found on the web today. Don’t let your website, email newsletters, social media posts, or other projects fall victim to boring stock photos.
Instead, add vivid images that set you apart from the competition and make your site visitors say “Wow.”
Have we left off any stock photo sites you love to use? If so, we would love to hear all about it in the comments below!
