10+ Amazing Free Stock Photo Sites

If you are just starting out in the design business, or even if you are a seasoned veteran, I am sure you are aware of how difficult it can be to find quality images. Finding stock images we can use for commercial projects without gobs of money or lawyers beating down your door can be tough. There are a lot of good Royalty Free stock sites out there. Many offer reasonable subscription rates like Bigstock, for example. These sites are good to have but having free resources is also good. Free is good.

There are times when you need something that maybe doesn’t look “stock”. Perhaps there is no budget for professional stock images. I have seen a ton of these free sites out there, and have curated the 10 I like the best. I have used images from many of these for my own personal projects and commercial projects as well.

The List

Most of these sites below are offering free photos. Many of the sites have no restrictions on use, commercial or personal. That being said, please read their individual policies. Make sure you are clear on their license requirements, just to be safe.

1. Unsplash
2. Splitshire
3. Pexels
4. Life of Pix
5. Pixabay
6. Stokpic
7. Public Domain Archive
8. PicJumbo
9. Libreshot
10. IsoRepublic
11. Pikwizard

I also use the Creative Commons search. It’s a great resource for just about anything, but particularly good for reference photos.

In conclusion

There is nothing wrong with purchasing Royalty free images, in fact, it’s the proper thing to do to stay legal! However, when the budget is tight or you are looking for something different, try some of the sites above and see what you can dig up! If you have any resources you would like to add, please feel free to mention them in the comments.