Stock Photo Sites: 25+ Top Free and Paid Sites for Stock Photos

25+ Top Free and Paid Stock Photo Sites

The following provides a list of free and payment-based stock photo sites.

This list is regularly checked and updated. However, stock photo sites change regularly, so please just contact us if you spot anything needing correction. You can also get in touch should you have any other suggestions of good quality sites not included here.

Paid Stock Photo Sites

Shutterstock

shutterstock.com

Over 70 million stock photos, vectors, videos and music tracks. Purchase images individually or via a subscription for cheaper images and ongoing access.

iStock

istockphoto.com

Millions of royalty-free images, illustrations, videos and music clips from Getty Images’ iStock site. Purchase credits that you can then use to acquire images and other downloads. Or use a subscription for the best rates. Unused credits or subscription downloads are rolled over.

Fotolia

fotolia.com

This stock photo site is part of Adobe. It offers 54 million royalty-free images, vectors and videos available via on-demand pricing (through credit purchases), a monthly subscription with a quota that rolls over, or a daily subscription for heavy users.

Getty Images Getty Images

gettyimages.com

Getty Images also own a number of other stock photo sites such as iStock above, and regularly acquire others. While iStock is focused on everyday photos and illustrations, the main Getty Images site is focused more on curated, hand-picked premium content.

Fotosearch

fotosearch.com

Offers over 30 million stock photo images, videos and audio content from thousands of photographers, illustrators and videographers. The site brings together dozens of different stock agencies within a single site.

Crestock

crestock.com

Royalty-free stock photography that offers good quality images starting at just $1. You can pay on demand, use a subscription if you need more volume, and/or purchase credits. With the latter option, you get discounts for volume, though note credits expire after a year.

Alamy

alamy.com

With over 70 million stock photos, vectors and videos, Alamy claim “the world’s largest stock photo collection”. Images are offered on a on-demand basis, there is no need to register with them, purchase credits, or use a subscription.

BigStock

bigstockphoto.com

Over 33 million stock photos, videos and vectors. Search for images within categories or via keyword searches. The site displays social media-like trending keywords, offering a glimpse of what others are searching for. Purchase images via three different subscription options.

photofolio.co.uk

This UK-based stock photo site provides a platform through which photographers can sell their work to publishers and marketers. Purchase images on an as-needed basis.

SuperStock

superstock.com

Millions of stock photos and illustrations curated from photographers, artists, archives, museums and special collections from around the world. If you require a particular image, you can request their experts to search their collection for you. Credit packs and Subscriptions are purchased via their Purestock site – see below.

Purestock

purestock.com

Associated with SuperStock (see above), Purestock offers high quality imagery, vectors, video and even fonts. Purchase via various levels of subscription, or use credit packs.

Thinkstock

thinkstockphotos.com

Another Getty Images-powered site, Thinkstock offers “millions of premium art-directed and user-generated royalty-free photos, vectors and illustrations selected from Getty Images, iStock” and other partners. Purchase image packs (minimum 5 downloads) or various subscription options.

Death to Stock

deathtostockphoto.com

Death to Stock offers a premium subscription service with on-demand access to their full library of images. Their real difference, however, is that each month they will send out to premium members two “photopacks” – a crafted story and curated group of 12+ images fully edited and ready to use. Along with the subscription comes a free to do whatever you want with the image license.

Mixed Paid and Free Stock Photo Sites

Dashmote

dashmote.com

An Amsterdam-based startup, Dashmote provides more than 300 million images from 10 free and paid image providers. Provides hand-picked and curated options. Easy to use, professional and modern feel, and easy to differentiate between free and paid options, and between different providers.

Dreamstime

dreamstime.com

Download images for free as well as access premium paid images, with much lower pricing than other sites. Claims to be the world’s largest community in stock photos as well as the lowest pricing. The site has 42 million images in their collection. Pricing starts at just $0.20.

Free Stock Photo Sites

freeimages.red

While mostly in English, you’ll find some of the text here is in German (the site originates in Switzerland). It’s a newer site, and as such does not have as many images as on other sites, and it’s not as well developed.

morgueFile

morguefile.com

Free high resolution digital stock photographs for commercial and other uses.

Flickr

flickr.com

Part of Yahoo, this widely-known site allows users to “upload, access, organize, edit and share your photos from any device, from anywhere in the world”. It’s also possible to use content hosted here on your own site, as long as you link back to the content’s page on Flickr. Not all the images are free to use for commercial purposes. Check the image rights for the photo in question before usage.

rgbstock

rgbstock.com

Over 100,000 free stock photos for personal or commercial use. Categories range from backgrounds and textures to landscapes, cars, food and more. Registration required.

freeimages

freeimages.com

This is another site run by Getty Images, and claims to have nearly 400,000 free photos and illustrations. Registration required.

openphoto

openphoto.net

This platform was first created in 1998, with images offered free of charge under the usual Creative Commons licensing arrangement. Despite its apparent longevity, a lot of the site appears to be in beta, and has some usability issues such as an expired security certificate for their log in area.

www.freeimages.co.uk

UK-based free stock photo site, with over 16,000 photos and 89 searchable categories. Includes an “exclusive house collection of approx 5000 images”.

Pixabay

pixabay.com

This popular, easy to use free stock photo site has over 610,000 free stock photos, vectors and art illustrations. Images are available for commercial use, with no attribution required. You do not have to register to download an image, though there is a captcha-type requirement before download begins.

stockphotos.io

There are around 27,000 images in this collection of high quality, high resolution free stock photos. Photos are available for commercial use, though proper credit must be given to the photographer.

Stock Free Images

stockfreeimages.com

Claims to be the largest collection of free images, with over 1,500,000 royalty-free stock photos and illustrations. The site is owned by Dreamstime (see above).

Realistic Shots

realisticshots.com

This is a basic free image site from a designer in the Dominican Republic. Offers free high-resolution stock photos for personal and commercial use. Seven new quality photos are added every week.

Gratisography

gratisography.com

This site offers high resolution photographs from photographer Ryan McGuire free for personal and commercial use. New photos are added weekly, and there is no need to sign up to download the images – simply click and download.

SplitShire

splitshire.com

SplitShire describes their mission as “helping you to be awesome out there with great content” and they fulfill that mission by offering free stock photos and images for commercial use. They also offer free to use videos for your commercial projects.

Unsplash

unsplash.com

Unsplash offers user submitted high-resolution photos with a free “do whatever you want” license. For each photo you consider, they offer stats for views, downloads, and likes available by clicking the image. There is no need to sign up to download images.

Burst

burst.shopify.com

Burst offers free photos for commerical projects, and as a site is built with entrepreneurs specifically in mind. In addition to their photo library, they offer a “Business Ideas” section of the site. Here you’ll find the latest trends in online business along with business model templates, marketing tips, and images to help get your business off the ground.

Keep this list of stock photo sites handy the next time you need to source a suitable image. Simply send this list to your mailbox so you have it to refer back to.

Please note: For the sake of transparency, some links in this list may be affiliate links. This potentially earns this website a small commission in return for the recommendation, should you decide to make a purchase after clicking. Please perform your own due dilligence before purchasing any online products or services.

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