I get asked all the time – where do you get free stock images that I can use in my blog or Facebook page or some other document. I am always on the lookout for good quality free stock images as well. You can trawl Flikr for royalty-free images. For some of the images, you will have to give attribution.

Of late I have started using Unsplash (good quality beautiful images) you can sign up for their newsletter. You will receive notification of their newest uploads. I use Pexels, Pixabay PicJumbo, Lifeofpix for building photos and travel coffee for travel photos.

Please check for attribution before using and if needed please attribute the photographer.

Most of the photos you will find on these sites are free from copyright restrictions or licensed under creative commons public domain dedication. You can copy, modify, distribute and use for even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. However, some photos may require attribution. But they are all free to use.

1. Createherstock – Manually curated more than 200 high-quality images of women of colour, which might be used for personal use only. View licence.
2.  Crello – Similar to Canva, Crello is a free graphic design tool by Depositphotos, which has many free images for you to use.
3. Depositphotos – Depositphotos offers a sample of free images, vectors, editorial content, and footage, which is updated every week. You can also sign up for an account to get the free stock files every week.
4. Freeimages – Free Images provides over 300,000 free stock images under its own license. The license allows a very broad range of uses, though it does list several restricted use cases (which are quite common for most free images sites).
5. Wocintechchat – An album of photos of women of colour in tech, started by Christina and Stephanie, the founders of #WOCinTech Chat. The images can be used as long as you attribute #WOCinTech Chat or wocintechchat.com. (While the team isn’t updating the album anymore, there are over 500 images to choose from!)
6. Pexels: Best free photos in one place.
7. All The Free Stock: Free stock images, icons, and videos.
8. Designers Pics: Free photographs for your personal & commercial use.
9. Splashbase:Search & discover free, hi res photos & videos.
10. Startup Stock Photos: Make something.
11. Jay Mantri: Free pics. do anything (CC0). Make magic.
12. Moveast: This is a journey of a Portuguese guy moving east.
13. Travel Coffee Book: Sharing beautiful travel moments.
14. Unsplash: Free (do whatever you want) high-resolution photos.
15. Death to the Stock Photo: Free photos are sent to you every month.
16. Foodie’s Feed: Free food pictures in hi-res.
17. Mazwai: Free creative commons HD video clips & footage.
18. Jéshoots: New modern free photos.
19. Super Famous: Photos by Dutch interaction designer Folkert Gorter.
20. Picography: Free high-resolution photos.
21. Pixabay: Free high-quality images.
22. Magdeleine: A free high-resolution photo every day.
23. Little Visuals:7 hi-res images in your inbox every 7 days.
24. Snapographic: Free stock photos for personal & commercial use.
25. New Old Stock: Vintage photos from the public archives.
26. Picjumbo: Totally free photos.
27. Life of Pix: Free high-resolution photos.
28. Gratisography: Free high-resolution photos.
29. Public Domain Archive: New 100% free stock photos.
30. IM Free: A curated collection of free resources.
31. Cupcake: A photographer’s treat by Jonas Nilsson Lee.
32. The Pattern Library: Free patterns for your projects.
33. Getrefe: Free photos.
34. ISO Republic: High-quality, free photos for
35. Kaboompics: The best way to get free photos.
36. Stock Up: Best free stock photo websites in one place.
37. Paul Jarvis: Free high-resolution photos.
38. Raumrot: Free high-resolution picture.
39. MMT: Free stock photos by Jeffrey Betts. Royalty
40. Burst : Free photos for your next project. Neat photos in many categories
41. Reshot : Free photos. Very different from other stock sites. Human interest images.

What is Creative Commons?

Creative Commons is a non-profit organization that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools. There are various types of Creative Commons licenses that range from allowing any type of use with no attribution to allowing only certain uses and no changes.

What is public domain?

Works in the public domain are those whose copyrights have expired, have been forfeited, or are inapplicable. Finding something on the internet does not mean it is in the public domain.

What is royalty-free?

Royalty-free images aren’t necessarily free. In most cases, you’ll have to pay a one-time fee to obtain the rights to use the image. Then you can use it as many times as you like. The “free” in “royalty-free” only means that you do not have to pay royalties to the owner of the image every time you use it.

The original post was written a few years ago. I have updated the list for 2022 and added a few new sites. If you know of any website offering free stock images email me and I will add it to the list.