So - you’re all over your content marketing strategy. You’ve done your keyword research, utilised a content planning calendar and nailed your on page SEO - but you know that featured images increase blog traffic through social sharing and you haven’t got one yet. You’re time poor and limited on the lens skills - and need to get this post out stat! Well, you're in a for a treat. We've put together a list of free stock image sites just for you.
Now is the time to bookmark this blog post!
Keep your audience happy by including an image that supports your message and encourages your readers to embrace your content. If it ain't getting opened - you might as well not have written it - so jump on in and stop wasting your time up here!
I’ve broken the list down into 2 sections for easy perusal and listed mostly free services, to keep the wallet happy. Finding good stock images has never been so easy.
LARGER SITES: [ Time poor ]
These sites are often going to yield you faster results. The search functionality is better, the libraries are larger and you'll spend less time looking for something suitable.
PIXABAY
Login: required
Cost: Free
Searchable: Yes
Attribution Req'd: No
Pixabay is more like a stock image social network than a stock library. You can create an account and follow photographers you like and favourite images to save for later. You can filter on photos, vectors and illustrations, as well as ORIENTATION! (there is a god!), a good range of generic categories and even colour preferences.
STOCK SNAP
Login: required
Cost: Free
Searchable: Yes
Attribution Req'd: No
Stock Snap has a fairly hefty library with an average to above average quality image stock. There is a search bar (which I find practical, but limiting), but the sort function includes options like date, trending (my favourite), views, downloads and favourites. This helps to weed out the most popular (and gives you a heads up on what’s on trend vs what’s saturating the blogosphere!) There’s a pretty good range focusing on a bit of everything. User experience is above average in an otherwise frustrating marketplace.
PEXELS
Login: No login required
Cost: Free
Searchable: Yes
Attribution Req'd: No
Pexels is a massive stock photo library that is searchable. There is a better quality of image here than some other sites with similar stock volume. You can check out new photos vs popular photos and there are 10 new high quality photos posted daily, so there’s always something new. The categories help you along with your search, and the range is there. The “popular photos” section is a really happy place for me.
PIKWIZARD
Login: No login required
Cost: Free
Searchable: Yes
Attribution Req'd: No
Pikwizard is a new addition to the stock photography family. It holds over 100,000 high-quality images with 20,000 that are completely exclusive to the site, which means your article won't look to repeatable on socials. There's plenty of average style stock photos, though it's especially if you're looking for people, with above average quality and variety at your fingertips. There is no attribution required on any of the images, which makes it very easy to use without any copyright fears!
FOTER
Login: required
Cost: Free
Searchable: Yes - has some relevance issues
Attribution Req'd: Yes
Foter is an overwhelming library of stock images. You can search, filter on category, search on commercial use only (licensing) and sort on recent additions. The quality of the images varies dramatically with a quick search on “business” bringing up a horse, a shirtless woman, a california cable cart and a series of more relevant images… I’ll let you decide what you’re looking for!
CREATIVE MARKET [PAID]
Login: No login required
Cost: Varies on your item
Searchable: Yes
Attribution Req'd: No
Creative Market is like fairy land for designers. It has every possible element you could need to pull together your dream project - including: Fonts, patterns, scene creators, stock images, objects, textures... My only advice? Go in here with a purpose or you will come out the other side with an empty credit card and a designers tool kit to die for.
DOLLAR PHOTO CLUB: [PAID]
Login: required
Cost: Now owned by Adobe, so no longer $1 an image ☹️
Searchable: Yes - comprehensive
Attribution Req'd: No
As the name suggests - images used to cost $1 each on Dollar Photo Club. It’s got a vast library, and if you know roughly what you are looking for - the search functionality is far superior to any of the other stock photo libraries listed above. If I haven’t found what I am looking for in the libraries above within 5-10 minutes, I opt straight for DFC. There are a lot more generic photos in the feed, though there are some easy wins too. Interested to see how the acquisition changes the offering from DFC.
SMALLER SITES:
[ I can spare 5 mins/I have a beverage]
UNSPLASH
Login: No login required
Cost: Free
Searchable: No
Attribution Req'd: No
Unsplash has 10 new photos every 10 days - all free to use (if you subscribe they’ll even send them through!). Mostly lifestyle shots and images of sweeping landscapes, busy cities, objects and people. There’s an emphasis on landmarks and iconic buildings and the vastness of the natural environment - with the images presented in amazing quality.
LIFE OF PIX
Login: No login required
Cost: Free
Searchable: Yes - limited
Attribution Req'd: No
The pictures are really high quality on Life of Pix - what I would deem most useful to a travel or lifestyle blogger or someone making an abstract point through their inbound marketing strategy. There is an average sized library with a broad range of images. The search function could use some help, maybe some categories to break it down, but the quality of the images speak for themselves, so is worth a scroll.
PICJUMBO
Login: No login required
Cost: Free
Searchable: Yes - limited
Attribution Req'd: No
Picjumbo is a foodie’s delight. Plenty of lifestyle images and a bit of an all rounders generic heaven really. The search menu is limited, but the categories on the left margin are great for narrowing your field and the image quality is pretty good. As with most of the stock sites - sunsets take front and centre.
STARTUP STOCKS
Login: No login required
Cost: Free
Searchable: No
Attribution Req'd: No
Start up stocks is a good place for tech, people working on tech, office spaces and people working in office areas and coffee shops. Pretty much office/work and people working images exclusively. (Handy if you want to mask the identity of your employees with stocks!)
SPLASHBASE
Login: with your twitter (don’t have Twitter? WHAT!)
Cost: Free
Searchable: Yes
Attribution Req'd: No
Using Splash Base is made easier by the search functionality. You can also browse under the guise of images only, videos only or the lot! You will see a lot of cross over here from other stock sites. The library is predominantly lifestyle based photography - great for blogs about travel, human influence and thought pieces.
RAUMROT
Login: No login required
Cost: Free
Searchable: Yes
Attribution Req'd: No
Raumrot does a good job of breaking their photo’s into practical categories for their niches - like sport, mountains and transport. They stick to their niches, but do them well, with high quality stock images that are free to use and easy to hunt. The library isn’t very large, but you know what you are getting upfront. They also have some preset photo packs which are pretty handy for social sharing campaigns that you want to shift the image of so they brand align but aren’t all the same.
UNRESTRICTED
Login: No login required
Cost: Free
Searchable: Yes - you’ll nearly miss it at the bottom of the page.
Attribution Req'd: No
Unrestricted has a mix of hand drawn images, psd’s, vectors (like the set above) and photography. If you are looking for tech related, social, patterns, graphics and left of centre or self editable images - this is a good place to check out.
FOODIES FEED
Login: No login required
Cost: Free
Searchable: Yes
Attribution Req'd: No
You guessed it! Its a food blogger’s dream run at all things colour, texture, yummy and juicy. There’s some people shots, some design shots and some tech shots - all directed at food. Who doesn’t love looking at a decent doughnut for some lunch break salivation? The photos on Foodies Feed aren’t just useful for foodies - they can take a unique spin for your inbound marketing strategy if you get a little creative flair flowing through your veins.
NEW OLD STOCK
Login: No login required
Cost: Free
Searchable: Yes - but limiting.
Attribution Req'd: Check
These guys have a library of vintage photos from the public archives available for personal use. Commercial use is acceptable to the best of the site providers knowledge. The coolest part about New Old Stock is that the photos are all old and create a feel or a vibe that is hard to recreate in the now. The downside is you need to use your imagination to make some links between what you’re saying and the images here. Photos were taken with a little more specificity back in the day - pre digital!
PICOGRAPHY
Login: No login required
Cost: Free
Searchable: Yes - limited
Attribution Req'd: No
Picography is searchable, though don’t get too excited. The library is limited, but the images are high quality. Scrolling through is a quickie, with fast loads and easy to view images. An eclectic collection.
FANCY CRAVE
Login: No login required
Cost: Free
Searchable: Yes
Attribution Req'd: No
Fancy Crave gets updated daily with two new photos. It’s searchable, you can filter it by month, or by file style. Images are high quality - with an eclectic mix of food, objects, textures, buildings and landscapes.
SPLIT SHIRE
Login: No login required
Cost: Free
Searchable: Yes
Attribution Req'd: No
A library of over 500 images and a searchable function! Hurray for Split Shire! A majority of the images are people, objects or landscapes. A good tech section also. Lots of scrolling required, but some gold amongst the pages - so worth persevering if you are looking for something a bit unique for your campaign.
ISO REPUBLIC
Login: No login required
Cost: Free
Searchable: Yes
Attribution Req'd: No - but appreciated.
Filter the library on ISO Republic through categories such as architecture, nature, people, textures, urban and various (misc). Images have a gritty or urban edge to them with plenty of street art, lifestyle and stop motion shots.
DEATH TO STOCK PHOTO
Login: Sign up (or don’t - there’s a free option too)
Cost: Free option or subscription option - $15 per month.
Searchable: Yes, but clunky.
Attribution Req'd: No
This site has a paid subscription and a free option. We went with the paid option given that for $15 a month we had access to the back catalogue on Death to Stock Photo AS WELL as the new monthly deliveries - all free - all the time. There’s a nice mix of adventure, lifestyle, people, tech and office and hospitality style shots to choose from. These guys are relatively new so we look forward to seeing their expanding library and bettering their search functionality (which at current is pretty dismal - we hope because it’s still early days).
MAGDELEINE
Login: No login required
Cost: Free
Searchable: Yes with categories.
Attribution Req'd: Yes
You will feel like all your friends uploaded the images you find on Magdeleine. Great for personal articles that hit a little closer to home. Most of the images feel like a warm cuddle from your Mum, in that familiar way.
SUPER FAMOUS
Login: No login required
Cost: Free
Searchable: Yes with categories.
Attribution Req'd: Yes
Artsy images reign supreme in the hands of Super Famous. Especially handy if you are looking for something square.
STOCKA
Login: No login required
Cost: Free
Searchable: Yes
Attribution Req'd: No
The horses above are a great example of the quality you can find in the archives at Stocka. For a small library, you can get some top quality images - but you'll need to take 5 to find something perfect for your point. The categories make it easier to search, though you'd almost be convinced to jump over and pay at Shutterstock if you were in a rush.
GRATISOGRAPHY
Login: No login required
Cost: Free
Searchable: No
Attribution Req'd: No
Big Thanks to Ryan McGuire for a stash of photos that are updated weekly. Simple to use with categories, though no search functionality. Gratisography has photos which are a bit outside the box and encourage a laugh.
MORGUE FILE
Login: No login required
Cost: Free
Searchable: Yes
Attribution Req'd: No
You can search for plenty of images on Morgue File with not much trouble to you. Image quality is nice, but more traditional than anything edgy or moody.
TOOKAPIC
Login: No login required
Cost: Some Free/ Some paid
Searchable: Yes
Attribution Req'd: Check pending photo.
Tookapic is a fabulously robust library of images that are beautiful and useful - win.
JAY MANTRI
Login: No login required
Cost: Free
Searchable: No
Attribution Req'd: No
Thought provoking blog posts - look no more! If you are creating content that has any kind of personal development, or aspirational theme - Jay Mantri has the shot for you! Double bonus - you can use the full quality image as your desktop picture it's so beautiful.
GET REFE
Login: No login required
Cost: Free
Searchable: No
Attribution Req'd: No
Plenty of "about town" and nature shots on Get Refe, with lovely quality. You'll feel like you're on Instagram over a stock site, and so will your audience.
IM CREATOR
Login: No login required
Cost: Free
Searchable: Yes
Attribution Req'd: Yes - this photo is by Daniel Zedda.
Categories make IM Creator an easy experience when looking for the right image. The quality is good for all images, and there isn't a massive overlap with the other stock sites that you visit.
BONUS TIP: Image Editing: Size
The place where all photos can be edited simply for resizing: Pixlr
You can also use photoshop if you’ve got the skills, though if it’s a simple resize, it’s quicker for me to use Pixlr.
So get busy finding the best supporting images in ready made existence to have your content consumers running in slow mo at your content. A little “visual assist” will make all the difference in your attraction - so get cracking!
