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These places to get free stock images are here to help you on your journey as a blogger. Stock photography is exepensive, and having great photos is critical to getting your blog out there. Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links.

Things to know when using free stock images: 

• They’re free. That means that others are likely to use them too. Don’t be surprised if you find the perfect photo, as I did for this post, and then see it elsewhere on another blog post. That being said, using resources that offer TEMPORARY freebies is a great alternative! (P.S. You can personalize them to some extent to make them unique. I did this when using stock photos for this post.)
• It’s not as personal. If you try to keep things personal on your blog, refer to stock photography only when in a fix.
• KNOW YOUR LICENSES! Some things require attribution (give credit to the source). Some things are free only for personal use. Your blog does not count as personal use, unless you don’t plan to ever make money off it.
• Watch for quality. Especially on public websites where various individuals upload their works, there is less quality control than with paid stock photography.
• “Sponsored results” – many of these photos that have search engines feature “sponsored results” at the top. These are often affiliate links to paid images.

50+ Places to get free stock images for commercial use: 

1. Creative market – Offers free premium images for a limited time only. That means you’re getting PAID images for free.
2. Designbundles.net – offers the same.
3. The Hungry Jpeg – Again, offers free premium images regularly. Download images from these first three sites and stockpile them so you have them handy. These are a win-win as they are much less common than stock images from the below websites, much higher quality, but they are usually only available for a week!
4. Pixabay – my favorite. I can usually find what I need, and all images are 100% free for commercial use, no attribution required. It’s easy to search and has vector clip art too. That being said, it’s also the most common.
5. Free Images – I used this before I discovered Pixabay. It’s also easy to search though some images require you to “notify the owner”. License is clearly written out beneath each image.
6. Foter – is unique in that you don’t need to download the images. You can embed them using the provided embed code so you don’t need to worry about attribution. You will need to filter your search by “commercial use” friendly, and you can download if you’d like. Each photo has a separate license that is clearly described next to the website.
7. StockSnap.io – It’s totally free, no strings attached. They have proportionately lots of animals and landscapes, though they have others as well.
8. Gratisography – Also restriction free. There’s no search or category feature, which may make it hard to find what you need. They do, however have the funnest quirkiest photos, making it fun to browse.
9. Tinyography – is the iPhone version of Gratisography – same photographer, same license, same style.
10. Unsplash – Totally free. They release ten new photos every ten days. While these photos are magnificent, there is no search or category function. These types of sites are great if you enjoy browsing and saving images for later use, and have storage space for that.
11. Jay Mantri – is restriction free, with no convenient browsing features.
12. Creative Commons Search – This allows you to search various free image websites, and to filter according to your needs (commercial, etc.) When finding an image this way, double check the original source to make sure the license is actually good for your needs.
13. Little Visuals – A free photo subscription service. You get 7 images a week zipped in your inbox. License: “Use them any way you want”. Visit the website to subscribe, or to download previous weeks.
14. Splitshire – Restriction free, searchable and features categories. (The camera on the image above is from this website.)
15. Unrestricted Stock – offers lots of vectors too. There are very few restrictions, and no attribution is required.
16. Death to the Stock Photo – is a website loaded with paid features, however they do allow you to subscribe for monthly free images. They have a unique license with fair rules – you can see the “plain English” version here.
17. picjumbo – Images are free for personal and commercial use, however attribution is required. You can link to the image source in a caption on the image – it’s simple and the photos are beautiful. Website features search, and categories.
18. Free Refe – This is the free version of the paid Refe website. Features beautiful nature and street scenes.
19. Life of Pix – Restriction-free. The only way to browse is to scroll through – no search or categories.
20. SuperFamous Studios – An attribution-required stock photo site, with no search feature.
21. Cupcake – No restrictions, no search or categories.
22. IM Free – is another third party photo site, so you’ll need to double check the license of each photo you want to use.
23. Picograpy – Again, no search but it’s also restriction-free.
24. Public Domain Archive – doesn’t have much in the way of browsing but has magnificent photos. All images are public domain and restriction free.
25. IM Free – has various design elements for your blog including lots of photos and a button creator. The photos are third party – so check the original source for attribution requirements.
26. Photo Pin – is another Creative Commons search engine. Don’t forget to double check your licenses on this one, and the quality.
27. New Old Stock – get some great vitage photos here! These are free photos from the public archives and have no known copyright restrictions. There’s no way to search but it’s cool to browse.
28. Travel Coffee Book – is as it sounds – travel photos. You’ll find some great landscapes and cultural shots here. Restriction-free, but no search or categories either.
29. Magdeleine – They offer a free stock photo every day. You can browse by category, color scheme, license, or search the old ones. Some require attribution, some don’t.
30. Compfight – is another image search engine where you’ll need to check the license of each image individually.
31. Snapwire Snaps – offers 7 free images every 7 days. There are no browsing or searching features, but it is restriction-free.
32. Flickr Creative Commons Search – you can search Flickr by license too.
33. Lock & Stock Photos – features fun photos that tell a story. Attribution is required and you can only redistribute it (for example, create a printable) under the same license.
34. Foodie’s Feed – offers free food photos. They’re free to use however you want, except for resale.
35. Wikimedia Commons – Another image search feature, so double check your licenses.
36. Raumrot – Has categories, but no search. Double check the license requirements of each photo individually as they vary. Includes some spectacular story-telling photos – not just landscapes and such.
37. The Pattern Library – it’s not for photos, it’s for patterns that tile seamlessly so you don’t need to make your own!
38. Stock Photos for Free – loads of searchable, browsable images. You can read the nitty gritty of their license here. Read once and remember it for all the images…
39. I’d Pin That – a beautiful search engine that scours many of the sites above for your keywords. Check each image for individual license.
40. Morguefile – Easy to use and searchable. Check each image for individual license. You usually need to alter the image in some way, which is great if you’re creating a blog post cover image with your title text.
41. Designer Pics – No restrictions, searchable and browsable by category.
42. Stokpic – restriction free, searchable, has categories, plus a subscription option.
43. WANA Commons on Flickr – This is actually a group of bloggers on Flickr who believe in the power of give and take in the blogging community. If you take great photos too, join the group, submit some and use some (with attribution).

Still didn’t find what you need? Here are another ten you can check out. I haven’t looked into these in depth to make sure they’re good for commercial use, etc, so make sure to check out the details on your own. Some also include paid photos so if you’re using these, pay attention:

• Open Clip Art
• Stock Vault
• Free Range Stock
• Free Digital Photos
• Dreamstime
• Free Pixels
• Every Stock Photo
• Unprofound
• Imagbase
• Ancestry Images

You can read more about fair use and copyrights here. This is why unless you are earning a good income from your blog at this point, there’s no reason for you to need to pay for images…

Did I miss any websites with 100% free stock images? Share it in the comments below!

If you enjoyed this, you’ll love:

• Free Social Media Icons for your blog
• The ideal sizes for images on social media
• Why you need a beautiful blog
• How to design a logo for your blog
• The entire blog design series

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