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Last Updated on December 31, 2019

If you’ve ever tried to design a website or start your own blog, you’ve probably felt the need to add images to your creation. It can be easy to see the internet as a free-for-all, but images belong to the people who created them.

Stock images provide you with a reliable source for your design needs. It also helps you to make sure you are doing everything legally.

It is sometimes even worthwhile to pay for images that are not copyrighted. For example, stock image sites may still charge you for images even though they are royalty-free.

Fortunately, there are a number of sources for completely free images, and we’ve collected them here. So read on for 100 sources where you can find free stock images: and don’t worry — they’re all legal!

Most Popular

These resources are some of the most popular free stock image sites on the Web and with good reason. If you’re looking for some mainstream images for your website, these are the first place to try.

Pixabay: Free photos and images that don’t require attribution. FreeFoto: FreeFoto.com claims to be “the largest collection of free photographs on the internet.” They’re available for offline projects as well, as long as you’re not using them to make a profit. KAVEWALL: Look for images and textures in unique categories like tattoo, smoke, and food. Digital Dreamer: Free, royalty-free stock images can be found here. Free Photos Bank: This features a handful of the newest photos in their directory, so check back often. Free Digital Photos: Find gorgeous, easy-to-download photographs in categories like animals, celebrations, home & garden, and lots more. PD Photo: Browse through the categories and subcategories in this site’s database, most of which depict the urban and rural landscapes of the United States. Cepolina: On cepolina, you can choose to save photos in up to five different formats. FreeImages.co.uk: A wide array of beautiful images are found on this well-organized site. Lensicle: Chances are you’ll find whatever it is you’re looking for on this terrific site. TurboPhoto: TurboPhoto has 10 categories keep the high res photos easy to find. Unsplash: A photo site that adds 10 new royalty-free photos every 10 days. Stockvault: Search by photo subject or by the newest and most popular photos on Stockvault. Dreamstime: While most of the photos on this site cost a fee, Dreamstime provides a few free stock photos. Superfamous: This site offers a curated collection of beautiful high-resolution images.

Community-Powered Content

In addition to being a great source of images, these sites host forums, file sharing and other features designed to nurture community spirit.

Image After: Search tons of free photos on this site while meeting other photography lovers on the forum. Unprofound.com: Use the images however you want, just make sure you let them know where you’ve published it! Font Play: This site has nearly 10,000 free photos for you to use any way you want. Look under the “Guests” heading to search by your favorite contributor. Studio 25: This attractive site lets you upload and search images. Picjumbo: Lots of high-resolution photos, especially of food and nutrition-related imagery. Abstract Influence: Search for the stock images you want while talking about photography with other visitors on the site’s forum. amygdela’s atmosphere: This site hosts a forum and a blog, as well as tons of stock images. Every Stock Photo: A forum and blog keep this stock image site fun and informative. Photocase: The good people at Photocase are “prettying up the world.” Check out their great library of stock images. deviantART: Provocative photos spawn great debates on the site’s forum.

Artists Welcome

It’s probably pretty safe to say that every stock image site on the Web needs the help of photographers to keep it running. The following sites, however, really cater to the needs of photographers, designers, and other artists even though they’re donating their photos for free.

Stock.xchng: Check out the gorgeous shots organized into lots of different categories, making your search as easy as possible. Morguefile: Browse thousands of beautiful photos in this site’s archives, but don’t miss their job board either! IM Free: Images and other resources organized by topic. The NOAA Library: Breathtaking science and nature shots are available at this site. Don’t forget to check out the “Meet the Photographers” page which includes short bios and descriptions of the featured photogs. Free Range Stock: Photographers are rewarded for giving away their pictures by getting a percentage of the site’s total ad revenue. AMG Media: As long as you give credit to the photographer somewhere on your site, these images are yours for the taking. Gratisography: Free high-resolution pictures you can use on your personal and commercial projects, with new ones added weekly. Picography: A gallery of shots offered by a handful of professional photographers. PhotoRogue.com: If you can’t find a picture of anything you want, go to PhotoRogue.com and make a request for whatever it is you’re thinking of. Photographers will take pictures for you — and it’s still free! New Old Stock: A collection of vintage photos from public archives. GetRefe: Great source of architectural and landscape photos by photographers traveling throughout Europe. Image Temple: Send in your own photos to be included in this site’s gallery. Flickr: Most of the photos on this site are not free, but a clever search will turn up some real goodies. FreeLargePhotos.com: Downloaders must link their chosen photo back to the site, which gives the photographer credit.

Less is Sometimes More

Just because the sites listed in this section aren’t as expansive as some of the others on our list doesn’t mean they’re not worth checking out. Sometimes less can really means more, especially when it comes to narrowing down your search or coming across hard-to-find treasures.

Stock Images Plus

There is a lot more to legal stock images than just a bank of free photos. The sites in this section all go beyond being a basic stock photography resource by offering more services that will help improve your search for and use of stock images.

Miscellaneous

These image sites don’t necessarily fit into one particular category, but they’ve still got a lot to offer for your website’s needs.

General

These stock image sites offer a wide range of photo subjects, perfect for casual browsing or a way to get ideas before you plan out your site.