If you’ve ever tried searching for free stock photos on the Internet, you probably know what a ridiculous hassle it can be.
As a general rule, free stock photos are extremely difficult to find. A huge portion of the stock photo market is owned by professional companies like Shutterstock and 123RF, who charge $20 or more for a single photo. Even when you can find free stock photos, most are low resolution, watermarked, blurry and, at best, uninspired.
Lucky for you, there are a few ways to access high-quality stock photos without any hassle or significant cost. High-quality stock photos can help improve the response you get from your marketing.
Here’s a lovingly curated list of the world’s best free stock photo websites for designers, business owners and anyone else:
1. Unsplash
Unsplash adds 10 new royalty-free photos every 10 days and they’re almost always of breathtakingly attractive beautiful landscapes. Just scroll down the home page to see foggy rivers, faraway mountain ranges or even battered signs in all their high-resolution glory.
Searchable? No
Attribution required? Yes
2. Superfamous
Dutch artist Folkert Gorter and his graphic-design peers at SuperFamouscurate this collection of incredibly high-resolution images, perfect for use in website design or as desktop backgrounds.
Searchable? No
Attribution required? Yes
3. Picjumbo
Picjumbo is a personal favorite of mine due to its easy navigation and extremely high-resolution photos (with no attribution required). This site also happens to sport a great collection of food shots, so if you’re running a restaurant or nutrition-themed startup, you might find it worth your while to take a browse.
Searchable? Yes
Attribution required? No, for almost all images
4. Pixabay
Pixabay is a web designer’s dream. Not only does this site offer an easy-to-use search feature, the images are absolutely brilliant. And most don’t require any attribution at all.
Attribution required? No, for almost all images
5. IM Free
IM Creator, which also offers an online website building tool, put together this small library of premium-quality free photos. Attribution is required but it’s well worth it: These pictures are of the same, if not better, quality as those of paid sites.
Searchable? Yes
Attribution required? Yes
6. Gratisography
Gratisography‘s collection is, in a word, incredible. Built by the talented Ryan McGuire, an artist and web designer, this site features some of the most evocative images on the web and they requires no attribution whatsoever.
Searchable? No
Attribution required? No
7. MorgueFile
One of the simplest sites on this list, MorgueFile has a streamlined layout and carefully curated list of photos. Its selection isn’t as large as that of some of the other sites on this list, but the photos included cover a wide range of topics. You can find images of everything from wildlife to antiques.
Searchable? No
Attribution required? No