Free stock photos are great sources to find visual content that helps boost a commercial. Especially in the age of the digital revolution, brands and organizations must be visually appealing to their audience in order to hold their attention. Social media strategists, content writers, and even the most talented marketing managers can only do as much without strong creative visuals. Without visual content, you will not be able to make the impact that you want amongst your audience.
It is very difficult for brands to have a photographer as a full-time member of their team. Even if you do have a photographer, the products and logistics might not always provide the opportunity to click quality pictures for marketing purposes. That is when stock photos come to the rescue. Most marketers these days rely on stock photography to create complete marketing strategies- from social media to digital and website to commercial.
But one question that stays crucial in this process is from where companies can find free high-quality images to use for their online content. Photography, illustrations, and creative designs have always been an integral part of the commercial. Most visual contents come with a copyright clause that prevents or restricts the commercial use and modifications of the picture by the owner. Accidentally or purposefully using copyrighted content can result in lawsuits. It is always best to read the fine print on a piece of content before putting it to use to prevent problems in the long run.
We have compiled the 10 best websites providing free stock photos for commercial purposes to save you a long night of research and reading the fine print.
Table of Contents
1. photoAC
photoAC is a part of ACworks Co. Ltd. that offers free stock photos for businesses to use on their web pages, advertisements, marketing campaigns, and social media. The company is based in Japan but features the work of photographers from all over the world. With more than 7 million registered global users that are growing by the day, photoAC is one of the best free stock photo websites for commercials.
All contents submitted to the platform are checked for copyright issues so that the users don’t violate any law and can freely use the content for their marketing requirements. Every time a photograph is downloaded on the platform, the owner receives rewards and recognition. The photographs can be used for presentations, websites, social media, posters, brochures, advertisements, and more. All you have to do is enter a keyword on the search bar and explore all the submissions in the category. Pick the one you like the most and download it for use. It is as simple as that.
2. Burst (By Shopify)
Shopify came up with Burst as the free stock photo resource for businesses, entrepreneurs, and start-ups who want high-quality photographs for their commercial purposes. The photographs are majorly retail or service-based but you can find a wide variety of stock photos under multiple categories.
The photography content is licensed under Creative Commons CCO or Shopify’s photo license and is available for organizations to download and use as per their marketing requirements. Most photographs featured on the website are taken in-house and hence, are open for modifications and use under Shopify’s banner. You can create a paid account on the platform to easily navigate between categories and have no limit of downloads per day. However, even a free account works for most commercial purposes.
3. Gratisography
This unconventional free stock photography platform is a hit amongst its users because of the unique “peace of mind” license of the content. Under the license, users can download, modify, edit and use the photographs without the worry of copyright infringement. All the images are free and of high-resolution so that your marketing campaigns are top-notch on the visual content.
What the brand lacks in quantity is made up by the quality of photographs available on the platform. Gratisography is also one of the photo websites that has a standard for the images that are featured on the platform. They scour through the submissions are only feature the ones that are unique and interesting. Every week, the team at Gratisography uploads new content where the photographers or digital artists are given due credit for their work.
4. Adobe Stock Free Collection
You know when Adobe comes out with a range of services, it is going to be of the highest quality. Like photoAC, you can find free photos, vectors, and even videos on Adobe’s free stock photos platform. You do need to create an Adobe account to download any content featured on the platform. That is worth the effort as the platform offers free high-resolution, royalty-free stock images for commercial purposes.
You can enhance your creative work using the photographs available on the platform. The organization has its own photographers, illustrators, and videographers whose work they feature on the platform. All content is licensed under Adobe and is available for download, modification, and use. The website also has a section for paid users but even the free categories are of very high quality.
5. Stocksnap.io
Stocksnap.io features a very wide range of categories for free stock photographs. They have a large number of images that businesses can download and use for commercial purposes. The site is very user-friendly so that the users can navigate through thousands of photography content easily. The photographs are featured based on popularity so that you can see how many times a particular image has been viewed and downloaded. This helps businesses find the most unique photographs available on the platform and use them for marketing campaigns.
Hundreds of images are added to the platform on a daily basis, which is why they have one of the largest curations of free stock photographs available. All images are licensed under the creative commons public domain, making them available for modification and use. The platform mentions that you can “do whatever you want” with their range of images. The content available on the platform is suitable for both- digital and print media use. Like Gratisography, Stocksnap.io also has a standard set for the images that they feature on their website.
6. Unsplash
Unsplash is the platform for beginner photographers to feature their work, create a portfolio and eventually find paid contracts from organizations. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs, start-ups, and mid-sized companies can profit from a wide variety of quality photographs that are uploaded on this free stock photo website for commercial purposes. Hundreds of photographs are submitted on the website every day and the team picks the best work that they feature on their homepage.
The images are licensed under Unsplash and are available for downloads, modification, and use for digital campaigns. While navigating through the website, you can extensively use the search bar with relevant keywords to categorize a large number of contents. The website features the most top-rated photographers in a separate section so that organizations can easily view the best work available on the platform.
7. Pexels
Pexels is one of the most popular websites in the world providing free stock photos. The reason is the large number of high-quality images available on the platform that are completely free for commercial use. The licensing of all images on Pexels falls under COO and the images are divided into neat sections for easy navigation for users.
To maintain the quality of images featured on Pexels, each and every submission by Pexel’s community of photographers is checked by the team members before uploading based on the quality and content of the image. The photographers upload hundreds of thousands of free stock photos on the platform. There are quality checks done every day and the photographs that make it through the check are featured under category labels.
Several big organizations rely on Pexels for their creative photography requirements. The blog by Pexels is also a fun read and features the top-rated photographer in the community. Pexels is not only a good platform for organizations, but also for young photographers who are trying to get their work out there in the digital world.
8. Reshot
Not like the other photo websites mentioned above, the free stock photo platform Reshot was majorly launched for start-ups and freelancers. The platform is known for its bold photo features and the availability of unique free stock photos by some very talented photographers.
There are more than 30,000 photographs currently available on Reshot. All of these free stock photos and images are licensed under Reshot’s commercial license and are free for download, modification, and use. The photographs are also available in multiple formats- PNG, Vector, SVG, JPEG, etc, so there is no conversion required on the part of the user after downloading the image.
The interesting thing about Reshot is that it was created by designers who wanted to spread the work of talented photographers across the digital medium. You don’t have to create an account of Reshot to start downloading images.
9. Pixabay
Pixabay introduces itself as a vibrant community of like-minded creatives who enjoy sharing their work for commercial and marketing purposes. All creative content- vectors, illustrations, and photographs available on the platform are under the Pixabay license which makes them free for use.
Photographers and designers can create an account on Pixabay to start uploading their work. New users can upload up to 10 images in a day and the number grows as your work starts getting recognized. Organizations can donate to a particular artist if they use their photographs and designs extensively but it is not a requirement.
The platform currently hosts more than a million images and the number continues to grow every single day. It is one of the largest free stock photo websites in the world with regular visitors who heavily rely on Pixabay for their creative content.
Pixabay was acquired by Canva in 2018, after which the use of unaltered license work is prohibited. However, most images available on Pixabay are under a mirrored COO license which makes them available for modification and uses still. If you want to use Pixabay for commercial purposes, spend a few minutes reading through the terms and conditions on the images to avoid problems in the future.
10. Freestocks.org
Freestocks.org was started by three photographers who created stock images in their spare time. The platform is really good for finding pictures that have the “documentary” style aesthetic. Most images available on Fresstocks.org are suitable for social media platforms. However, you can also download and use the images on website landing pages and creative marketing campaigns with certain modifications.
The images are of very high quality and less like the usual stock images that we see. Since only three photographers are working on the platform, the quantity of images is a bit limited. However, given the quality and authenticity of their work, Freestocks.org comes at the top of free stock photo platforms.
The Creative Commons License (COO) allows free use of the images amongst other creatives and organizations. The images are very roughly categorized, and you will come across multiple similar images while navigating the platform. Select the images that meet your artistic requirement for an enhanced experience.
Free Stock Photos – Conclusion
That brings us to the end of our list of ten websites providing free stock photos. These photo websites are extensively used by freelancers, website developers, designers, marketers, bloggers, social media enthusiasts, and more. However, you can also use these photo websites for commercial uses.
The only minus point of using free stock photographs for your commercial purpose is that someday, you may come across another brand or business using the same image and you can’t do anything about it. Other than that, these platforms are very handy for small and mid-sized business owners who do not want to invest in a photographer or premium stock photo platform.
In case you are looking for images that are properly licensed and of higher quality, you can explore premium stock photo platforms such as Shutterstock. You can also create a paid account on one of the platforms mentioned above, like photoAC to view more exclusive content and have access to unlimited downloads in a day.
The fun part of navigating through these platforms and exploring the work of talented photographers is to come across the few hidden gems that are amongst a lot of amateur work. However, once you are certain of what kind of images you want for your commercial, marketing, or business needs, you can easily find out a relevant piece of content on these platforms. And most of the time, you don’t have to pay for it!