My Top 7 Free Stock Photo Resources

Posted by Christina Hills | Design Tips, Getting Started | 27

We all want our websites to look professional and appealing to visitors, right? One of the fastest ways to make your site visually attractive is by using high-quality images. Great visuals can help set your website’s tone, grab attention, and highlight your key messages.

While you can purchase images from professional stock photo websites, those costs can add up quickly – especially if you’re building a site with lots of pages. And navigating the licensing terms on paid sites can be confusing. Always check the terms of use to see exactly how you’re allowed to use any image.

The good news? There are many excellent free stock photo services available, with clear terms and no price tag. Below are my favorite sources for free images, plus a few bonus options you might want to explore!

My Top 7 Stock Photo Resources:

1. Pixabay (https://pixabay.com)

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Pixabay is my go-to. It offers a huge library of free images, including photos, illustrations, and vector graphics. You don’t need an account to download, and their licensing is simple – no attribution required.

2. Unsplash (https://unsplash.com)

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Want designer-style images for your site? Unsplash is known for beautiful, high-resolution photos contributed by professional photographers. Most images are free for both personal and commercial use. (Note: Unsplash is now owned by Getty Images, so double-check the license on each image.)

3. Morguefile (https://www.morguefile.com)

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This site has been around a long time and still offers an extensive collection of free images. Each image displays its usage terms clearly. It’s especially good for more casual or realistic imagery.

4. Pexels (https://www.pexels.com)

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Pexels pulls from various photo contributors, so it offers a wide variety of styles. Their licensing is easy to understand—most images are free for commercial use. (Note: Pexels is also owned by Canva.)

5. Wikimedia Commons (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page)

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Stocksnap offers searchable, high-resolution images with clear usage terms. It’s great for finding modern, public domain images that look professional without being too “stocky.”

6. Stocksnap (https://stocksnap.io)

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Easy to search, and when there are many images that fit your search criteria, you can use the handy sort tools they provide. All public domain images. Their usage terms are simple to understand.

7. Canva (https://www.Canva.com/photos/)

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Canva offers both free and paid photos as part of its design tools. If you use Canva to create your graphics, this is a great built-in resource. Note: Some images are only available with a Pro subscription.

A Final Word on Licensing

Even with free resources, it’s important to read the license or terms of use for each photo you download. Some sites don’t require attribution; others do. And commercial use may have different rules from personal or editorial use.

Want Help Creating Your Own Custom Graphics?

If you’d like to go beyond stock photos and create personalized, branded images for your website, social media, or marketing materials, check out my Graphics Creation Workshop! You’ll learn how to use tools like Canva (even the free version!) to create stunning visuals—no design skills required.

graphcs creation workshop program with christina hills

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Here’s to your creativity and building a beautiful website—one image at a time! And if you have a favorite free image site I didn’t mention, feel free to share it in the comments.

(Originally Published Mar. 2015, Updated July 2025)

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About The Author

Christina Hills

Christina Hills helps entrepreneurs set up their websites using WordPress without having to rely on a webmaster or any tech people. Her trainings are fun and she makes it easy! Get the free PDF "The Do-It-Yourself Website Creation Checklist" Report Here

27 Comments

zirah1 on March 20, 2015 at 5:51 am

Thanks! This list is very helpful. Will definitely keep as a future resource to refer to.
- Christina Hills on March 20, 2015 at 6:02 am
  
  Yeah it’s great to find photos for your WordPress website that are free!
Liuda on March 20, 2015 at 5:52 am

Hi Christina! Very helpful photo resources! I love it. Thank you very much for all information you are sending, it is very helpful as I just started building my website.
- Christina Hills on March 20, 2015 at 6:03 am
  
  Liuda,
  Awesome! send me an email when you get your website done 🙂
Kamala Murphey on March 20, 2015 at 6:42 am

This list is great, Christina! I recently got slammed when an image I’d used several years ago (using a Creative Commons license) was later copyrighted – and I’m having to pay a hefty fee, as well as deleting the image. Ouch!
- hys on March 20, 2015 at 3:42 pm
  
  Don’t ever be bamboozled into paying photo copyright trolls. There’s plenty of information on the Internet about how to deal with the scare tactics employed by such lowlife.
  - Christina Hills on March 27, 2015 at 5:51 am
    
    yes you have to be very careful when it comes to photo rights
Vicki Kaufman on March 20, 2015 at 6:56 am

Thanks, Christina! Can’t have too many great resources.
- Christina Hills on March 22, 2015 at 4:54 am
  
  Vicki,
  yes that is my attitude! You can never have too many image resources!
Mark on March 20, 2015 at 8:19 am

Thank so much Christina!

Those are seven totally awesome resources for some great looking stock photos!

Most of whom I had not previously heard of before!
- Christina Hills on March 22, 2015 at 4:55 am
  
  Mark,
  Yes with the web becoming so visual, have a lot of photography and image sites to go to when you need a picture makes blogging so much easier 🙂
Linda Waldon on March 20, 2015 at 9:19 am

Thanks a lot for these great sites! I’m always looking for the right photo to express a lesson or thought. Even though I’m okay with paying for license rights, it’s always nice to fill in with free photos. Keep it up! We love your work!
Linda
- Christina Hills on March 22, 2015 at 4:56 am
  
  Linda,
  
  Glad you brought up that point! Yes I pay for images too. Especially when there is something specific I want to do, and the free sites just don’t have it.
  
  I buy images all the time!
Linda on March 22, 2015 at 7:52 am

Great new photo resources Christina. Thanks so much!
Michaela on March 23, 2015 at 12:06 am

Thank you for your tipps.
Sometimes I see the same free pics allover…
I’m guessing not everyone knows these pages and I’ll find some “new ones”.

Blessings
Michaela
Lynn Moore on March 24, 2015 at 8:56 am

Hi Christina! Many thanks for these! Images are so important on the web these days. I’m using more and more. Lots to explore here.

Lynn
Martin on March 27, 2015 at 2:07 am

Hi, great list. You can try also my site: http://freepix.eu
- Christina Hills on March 27, 2015 at 5:50 am
  
  Martin,
  that is a great site!
  
  so with your site, we can use your images, but we must link back to your website?
  
  where does the link to your website need to go? anywhere on the site?
- zirah1 on March 27, 2015 at 6:26 am
  
  Wow, Martin, thanks for the tip. Just went to the site and will definitely spend some time getting to know what’s there. That’s for the additional resource.
Lars on April 7, 2016 at 2:39 pm

Hi Christina:
Just curious what your thoughts are on google images. I find the usage rights often confusing to people (not filtered by license, labeled for reuse with modification, labeled for reuse, labeled for noncommercial reuse with modification, labeled for noncommercial reuse, etc). I’ve never been comfortable using any image from google images more or less just to be on the safe side. Your thoughts? Thanks. Love your site by the way!
- Christina Hills on April 9, 2016 at 10:49 am
  
  Lars,
  safer to stay away from Google Images. There are some there that you can use, but I prefer to go to stock photo sites
  - Lars on April 9, 2016 at 11:49 am
    
    Thanks for your reply. I tend to agree with you about google images. Here is a site I sometimes use for free images:
    http://www.freeimages.com
    - zzirah1 on April 9, 2016 at 12:39 pm
      
      Thanks for the tip, Lars!
Elizabeth tobin on April 28, 2016 at 8:04 am

Thank you Christina! I was just asking in one of my facebook groups where to find free or low-cost images for my website. You must be psychic : ) I’m definitely book marking this post for future reference. Thank you again!
- Christina Hills on April 28, 2016 at 9:00 am
  
  Elizabeth,
  LOL! I just knew you needed this 😉
Kathy Pop on July 9, 2019 at 10:10 am

You can find a list of sites at http://allthefreestock.com/
a curated list of sites that offer free stock image, video and more
Elaine Christine on July 9, 2019 at 3:52 pm

Thanks again, Christina! Still following you after all these years.

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