36 Best Free Stock Photo Sites (2024)

There’s no denying the power of a great photograph. A stellar image can instantly resonate with customers and set the tone for your whole brand. The problem? Hiring and working with talented photographers is expensive and time-consuming.

Whether you want to set the scene for a seasonal product line or illustrate the satisfied buyers who’ve left you so many positive reviews, you can quickly choose from millions of free photos on a host of free stock photo websites.

Discover the best options for you with our list of the 14 best free stock photo sites.

Table of contents

14 best free stock photo websites
What to look for in a free stock image license
Free stock photo sites FAQ

📸 Note: As you browse this list of free stock photo sites, always double-check that your chosen photos are both royalty-free and approved for commercial use. Otherwise, you may be required to make payments each time you use an image.

1. Burst by Shopify

Burst is a free stock photo site powered by Shopify. Its library includes more than 20,000 high-resolution images, and all of them are approved for commercial use. If your image layout makes it tricky to credit the photographer, you can rest easy: Burst’s image licenses don’t mandate attribution.

You can sort through free stock photography by keyword or category, plus you can browse this week’s top stock photos and preset libraries in categories like “Blur-background” and “Around the world.” Burst also has free resources for photographers and small business owners alike, with articles on subjects such as product photography and Zoom backgrounds.

2. Pixabay

Pixabay has more than five million free stock photos you can use without attribution or permission from the photographer. The site features an integration with Canva that makes editing and adapting photos a breeze. Plus, you can find more than photos on Pixabay: You can download free videos, GIFs, sound effects, art illustrations, and vector files from the site, too.

3. Unsplash

With over six million stock photos from more than 375,000 contributors, Unsplash curates its large selection to prioritize top-quality stock photography. Although you need a paid account ($7/month) to download some images, there are still innumerable free options on Unsplash. Plus, you can reproduce your Unsplash photos an unlimited number of times without attribution to the photographer.

4. Pexels

You can choose from hundreds of thousands of free stock photos on Pexels, which hand-picks its offerings from both user uploads and other free photo websites. Each photograph is tagged and easily searchable. To incentivize relevant uploads, the site hosts challenges for photographers and features a “leaderboard” that lets you see Pexels’ top-viewed photographers. For example, you could enter one of your own photos into an “Autumn Across the US” challenge for the chance to win a prize.

5. Flickr

Flickr is a great way to share images with friends and join groups of like-minded photographers, but it’s also a great platform to find top-notch free stock photos. If you’re looking for an image of a specific subject or location, Flickr is one of your best options: The site has an astounding number of photos (an estimated 10 billion).

Just know that you’ll need to filter your search by “Commercial use allowed” if you plan to use a photo for your business. Depending on the preferences of the creator, you might not be able to edit the image and may need to credit the photographer, so always check the fine print when deciding to use a stock photo.

6. Canva

The graphic design tool Canva is a great place to find free stock photos for marketing materials. For example, if you’re incorporating an image into a marketing asset like a pamphlet or newsletter graphic, Canva’s stock photo library could be a good choice for your brand. You can search for photos within the tool’s intuitive editor, which lets you quickly find images and develop your assets all in the same place.

7. Freepik

Freepik offers free downloads of visual assets including stock photos, templates, vector files, and icons. That range of offerings makes it a great stock image website for small business owners with multiple design needs. Not everything is free to use, but you can easily filter your search to exclude paid results. You can also filter your free stock photos results to exclude AI-generated imagery. Note that you’ll need to include a “Designed by Freepik” attribution unless you upgrade to a premium account for $12/month.

8. Life of Pix

Life of Pix has a library of free stock photos fit for the pages of a magazine. The website doesn’t offer as many generic stock photos as other stock photo sites, but the library is a great place to look for unique, editorial-quality free stock photos. If you’re looking for inspiration, you can browse new photos in Life of Pix’s curated collections, like their photographer-of-the-week spotlight. You can use the site’s photographs for commercial purposes, and you don’t need to worry about attribution.

9. Depositphotos

Depositphotos has more than 68,000 free stock photos, editorial images, vector files, and videos for download. Once you select a photo, you can choose between different images in the series featuring the same model or subject matter, which can help you land on the perfect image for your business. Just know that in order to use these stock photos for free, you’ll need to include an attribution to Depositphotos.

10. Gratisography

Gratisography promises “the quirkiest, weirdest, and funniest stock photos on the internet.” Indeed, this free stock image site, founded in 2011 by artist, designer, and photographer Ryan McGuire, offers a diverse collection of whimsical (and utterly unique) images. Think: a duck dressed as a doctor, a squirrel in Amelia Earhart–style garb, and tiny construction workers on a slice of chocolate cake. You can use Gratisography’s free stock photos for either commercial or personal use without attribution requirements.

11. Kaboompics

Kaboompics features a library of sleek, high-quality stock photos that would look at home on even the most design-driven brands’ Instagram feeds. Kaboompics is particularly well-suited to brands with a specific aesthetic in mind: For example, you can scroll through images of artfully smeared beauty products or tastefully decorated minimalist interiors. You can also choose between similar images of the same subject using the site’s Photo Shoot feature.

Kaboompic’s licensing agreements don’t require attribution and even let you edit the site’s free stock images, so you can easily incorporate them into your product marketing, branding, or social media.

12. PxHere

All of the free stock photos on PxHere are in the public domain, so you can edit the library’s images without worrying about attribution. The site has a mix of generic stock images and unique content. To more efficiently find what you need, helpful filters let you sift through search results by specific theme or specific color palette.

13. Wikimedia Commons

All of the free photos on Wikimedia Commons are either in the public domain (meaning they’re free for any type of use) or published with the Creative Commons license (which often means they’re free for any use, so long as you credit the original creator). The site features more than 100 million image, video, and sound files, so you’ll have a lot to choose from.

Not all of the photographs on Wikimedia Commons look as professional as the other stock photo libraries on this list. But the sheer number of images make Wikimedia Commons a great place to look for stock photos of specific locales. You can also browse a number of vintage photos, which may suit certain brand aesthetics.

14. Openverse

There are more than 80 million Creative Commons images on Openverse, a stock photo site that compiles free stock photos from other stock photo sites into a single, easily searchable platform. Openverse lets you filter your search by the type of Creative Commons license, so you can be sure to select a photo that allows for commercial use.

What to look for in a free stock image license

Just because an image is free to download doesn’t mean it doesn’t carry restrictions. Make sure to read your free stock photo’s license to confirm you can use your photo where and how you want.

Look out for these characteristics in a stock photo:

Royalty-free images. This means you can use the image without having to pay each time you use it. For example, for brand consistency, you may want to use a particular image on a product page as well as all of the marketing channels where you promote that product.

Commercial use. Think of “commercial use” as any activity that supports financial gain. For example, using a photo in virtually any type of marketing effort would be considered commercial use. As an ecommerce merchant, you’ll want to make sure your stock photos are approved for commercial use before incorporating them into any of your channels.

Creative Commons. A Creative Commons license means you can use the free stock photo without worrying about copyright infringement. That being said, some types of Creative Commons licenses restrict commercial use or bar you from adapting and editing the photo; others allow those actions, but require you credit the photographer upon usage. Before you download free photos in the Creative Commons, make sure to read their licenses to confirm if and how you can legally use them.

Attribution. This refers to giving credit to the photographer or free stock photo website. Typically, you can simply give credit in a single line underneath wherever you use each free stock image.

Free stock photo sites FAQ

What is the best free stock image site?

Burst, powered by Shopify, is a free stock image site with all photos available for both personal and commercial use, no attribution required. Other popular stock photo sites include Pixabay and Unsplash.

Where can I get totally free images?

Some of the best websites for acquiring free stock photography include:

Burst by Shopify
Pixabay
Unsplash
Pexels
Flickr

Are free stock photos really free?

Yes, free stock photos are really free of charge. However, some free stock photography sites require you to publicly attribute credit to the website or photographer wherever you share their photos.

14 Best Free Stock Photo Sites for Any Purpose (2025)

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