Our definitive list of websites with free stock images and photos includes collections that exclusively feature plus-size models, people of colour, trans and gender non-binary models, art, travel, disability, S.T.E.M., and a whole lot more.
I’ve included some emojis to help you scan for what you’re looking for.
🎨 Art | 👋🏾 BIPOC | ♿ Disabled | 🏳️🌈 LGBTQ+ | ✨ Plus-size | 📓 Research
List of Websites with Free Stock Photos
- Unsplash
- Pexels
- Canva
- Rawpixel
- Art Institute Chicago 🎨
- The Met 🎨
- Pixabay
- Stocksnap
- Flickr 📓
- CreateHER Stock 👋🏾
- WOC in Tech 👋🏾
- Negative Space
- Burst
- PICNOI 👋🏾
- Kaboompics
- Reshot
- Gratisography
- PicJumbo
- Styled Stock
- Shot Stash
- The Gender Spectrum Collection 🏳️🌈
- NASA 📓
- Plus Size Stock ✨
- Nappy 👋🏾
- Life of Pix
- Pikwizard
- Disabled And Here ♿🏳️🌈
- Wunderstock
- Jopwell 👋🏾
- New Old Stock 📓
- WikiCommons 📓
About Using Free Images and Photos
We created this list of free resources, because you should never source images from a random online search engine under the “images” tab. Those images may require a copyright license to put on your site or social media. You also don’t want to steal images from social media sites. I’ve heard horror stories of bloggers charged fines up to $5,000 for using an image without a license. And you certainly can’t do take random photos from the internet if you plan to put it onto something for sale.
Instead, you can source an image from a site that uses creative commons license which ranges from allowing any type of use with no mention of the source, to allowing only certain uses and crediting the source. Or use an image within the public domain, which means copyrights have expired, have been forfeited, or are inapplicable. Or a royalty free site, where you don’t need to pay royalties to the owner of the image every time you use it, but you may pay a one-time fee to download.
I recommend when you download an image from any of these sites, you check the license to see how you may use it and save the image into a folder on your computer specific to that site. For example, I have a folder on my computer called “Unsplash” where all my photos sourced from Unsplash go. This ensures I have a record of where I got the image from, in case the image was not supposed to be free, which potentially could happen in rare cases. It acts as a digital record for my business.
Let’s dive into this list of website with free images you need to bookmark in your browser for the next time you need the perfect image without spending a dime.
Unsplash
Unsplash’s motto is “Photos for everyone”. I find their photos emotionally charged and magazine ready. Most of the people images feature younger early 20-somethings and often posed like Instagram models. But there are lots of gems worth checking out.
View their license here.
Images from Unsplash
Pexels
I’m not a big fan of Pexels because some of the images look like bad photoshop experiments or just plain weird and there are ads interwoven within their search. But they do have an extensive collection which makes it worth checking out if you haven’t found what you’re looking for on Unsplash.
View their license here.
Images from Pexels
Canva
https://www.canva.com/photos/free/
Canva has free photos for download, but you need to create a Canva account in order to access them. Their photos are pretty and look like an Instagram account I would totally follow. But searching through the photos, I found I was too easily landing on paid photos during my search of freebies. And there is definitely choice overwhelm on this site. But I do recommend having a look.
Images from Canva
Rawpixel
You’ll need to create an account to download images and you can access 100 free per month. They also have a collection from the public domain which includes artists like Monet and Katsushika Hokusai, as well as NASA photographs and textbook images. Make sure you select the “free” tab when searching otherwise you may fall in love with a photo only to discover it has a premium. You can also create boards on Rawpixel and download PSD and Illustration files. Rawpixels is quickly becoming one of my favorite sites to browse an image library.
View their license here.
Images from Rawpixel
Art Institute of Chicago 🎨
https://www.artic.edu/collection?is_public_domain=1
Speaking of art in the public domain, check out the Art Institute of Chicago. They digitized their collection on their website which includes paintings from Renoir and van Gogh as well as ancient cultural sculptures. Be sure to click “Public Domain” under filters to get only the content you’re allowed to republish on your website.
Images from Art Institute of Chicago
The Met 🎨
Need a little more classy art in the public domain to source for images or just some inspiration? The Met has also digitized their collection. You’ll find everything from old cartoons to over 23,000 ceramics. For real. Be sure that “Open Access” is check-marked when searching for the images you can use for free.
Images from The Met
Pixabay
Pixabay is a lot like Pexels and Unsplash. One thing that makes it unique is you can send a donation to the user who loaded the photo to the site. That’s kinda nice. Otherwise, you’ll find similar images on Pixabay as you would on Pexels and Unsplash.
View their license here.
Images from Pixabay
Stocksnap
Similar to Pixabay is Stocksnap. It mixes paid images in with their free images when you search for an image. But the paid ones are super obvious – they have a Shutterstock watermark and a yellow star, so you’re unlikely to mistake a free one for paid. The “trending” tab was disappointing because it had some slightly NSFW suggestive images which kinda left me feeling like people are pervy jerks.
View their license here.
Images from Stocksnap
Flickr 📓
It feels like Flickr was one of the original photo-sharing websites. It’s been around for…. ever? I didn’t fact check either of those two statements. But I do know I’ve been using Flickr since 2011 and it was designed as a social network. When you browse, make sure to filter by “Creative Commons” or “Commercial Use”. Check below the image, under the copyright info to whether you need to credit the source in order to use. On Flickr, you’ll get a much wider and diverse range of high quality photos from around the world, including public events and regular day-to-day people.
Images from Flickr
CreateHER Stock 👋🏾
https://createherstock.pixieset.com/
There is a very small collection here that is updated monthly but it’s really hard to navigate around the website. That said, it’s worth a visit to snag some beautiful shots featuring women of color, especially if you run a women-centered business or blog and are tired of coming up with the same female faces on the other stock photo sites. You have to trade a download for your email address, which is a small price to pay.
Images from CreateHER Stock
WOC in Tech 👋🏾
https://www.flickr.com/photos/wocintechchat/
For more diversity, specifically in the tech sector, check out Women of Color in Tech on Flickr. You do need to credit them to use their images. They’ve since shut down their community and stopped uploading, but the images are still available.
Images from WOC in Tech
Negative Space
Negative Space is similar to Stocksnap and also shows paid results from Shutterstock on top of their free search. I found Negative Space to return very few results. But I did see some images on there I hadn’t seen on other free sites, so it’s worth a gander.
View their license here.
Images from Negative Space
Burst
Burst from Shopify has a nice collection similar to the main-stream sites like Pixabay, but I found they had a broader collection for the types of images service-based businesses might search for. If you’re a B2B owner, this might be a good option for you.
Images from Burst
PICNOI 👋🏾
PICNOI features images with people of colour. I hesitate to tell you about this particular website because navigating PICNOI wasn’t a great experience. They don’t have a search feature and once you’ve picked an image, there’s no way back to the main collection. They now have a search feature and have organized their content a little better but the site is a bit slow and clunky to navigate. That said, if you want to spend some time to stock up on photos that you can keep on file for yourself, this is a place you can check out. Note that most of their images are low-resolution which is fine for social media posts, but won’t look great in print.
Images from PICNOI
Kaboompics
Kaboompics feels like the grown up mid-30’s married-with-kids sister of Unsplash. There’s a similar magazine-style quality to the images, but feels a little more mature. The “quick download” button in their search makes it really simple to grab your favorite image on the fly.
View their license here.
Images from Kaboompics
Reshot
Reshot promises “Handpicked, non-stocky images.” and it certainly feels non-stocky with some unconventional faces and places throughout.
View their license here.
Images from Reshot
Gratisography
Gratisography is… interesting. There are some bizarre photos on the site that you don’t see elsewhere that you may find fun to use on your website or post. It’s a relatively small collection (only 40 pages of content) and there are Shutterstock ads on the side. But if you want to break out of the mainstream stuff out there, check out Gratisography
Images from Gratisography
PicJumbo
PicJumbo feels like a crowded flee market on the weekend. There are lots of ads littered throughout each page and many times they ask for an email (you don’t need to put one in to download freebies). The images of people eerily never show the face. So be prepared for lots of T&A with hair covered faces if you search “women”. That said, they have some nice scenic and really cute dog pics.
Images from PicJumbo
Styled Stock
https://styledstock.co/free-stock-photos/
Exactly as you would imagine the perfectly stylized Pinterest worthy #bossbabe desk and accessories would be arranged. It’s a small collection of similar pink, white, and copper still life photography at the touch of a mouse click.
View their license here.
Images from Styled Stock
Shotstash
Shot Stash isn’t great for business or tech images, but they do have a good collection of travel photos. Overall, it was a small collection but there were unique images in the landscape and travel sections I haven’t seen elsewhere.
View their license here.
Images from Shot Stash
The Gender Sectrum Collection 🏳️🌈
https://broadlygenderphotos.vice.com/
The Gender Spectrum Collection is a stock photo library featuring images of trans and non-binary models that go beyond the clichés. The collection aims to help better represent members of these communities as people with careers, relationships, talents, passions, and home lives – not defined by their gender identities. It’s a small collection that I hope to see grow much bigger over the years.
View their license here.
Images from The Gender Spectrum Collection
NASA 📓
Not just galaxies and rockets (although they have lots of those too), this collection has historical images as far back as 1920. Perfect if you’re looking for S.T.E.M. based images and people working in technical fields or if you’re really into space (like me). They also have audio and video files. Their search feature is not great, but they have an extensive collection worth browsing if you’ve got the time.
View their license here.
Images from NASA
Allgo ✨
https://unsplash.com/@canweallgo
When it came time to source images of plus sized women for their social media, this tech company could not find appropriate representation. So they created their own collection and shared it with the world! It’s a very small collection with only a handful of models. But you’re bound to find a few gems.
View their license here.
Images from Allgo
Nappy 👋🏾
Beautiful, high-res photos of black and brown people that are magazine ready and oh-so Instagram-able. The search feature is limited, but if you don’t mind scrolling for your perfect shot, then this is the place to find excellent stock photography featuring people of colour.
View their license here.
Images from Nappy
Life of Pix
This website features hopelessly cool millennials traveling the world and being awesome. I’ve included it in my list because there is really nice travel photography in here including cities and local people. However, don’t expect to find any diversity when it comes to age and physical appearance because they’re mostly all young, thin, and perfectly pretty. Not that there’s anything wrong with that of course.
View their license here.
Images from Life of Pix
Pikwizard
Pikwizard has 100,000 free images on the site, and about 20% is exclusive to their platform (so you won’t find anywhere else). Their ultimate goal is to get to more than 1 million images! Wowza. They also have free videos. As a bonus, they offer a handy photo editor option so you can crop or add text with their online software. Note that some images are paid, but you’ll either see a “premium” button in the corner, or a watermark, or no download icon appears – then you know it’s a paid image to avoid.
View their license here.
Images from Pikwizard
Disabled and Here from Affect The Verb ♿🏳️🌈
https://affecttheverb.com/collection/
We are crushing hard on affecttheverb.com‘s collection of free and inclusive stock photos. Especially because it’s shot from their own perspective and features people in the LGBT community and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color). It’s vibrant, it’s fresh, it’s bold. Go grab some today.
View their license here.
Images from Disabled And Here
Wunderstock
Wunderstock is a growing site with 3+ million free-to-use images and has the ability to extend any search to Flickr (very useful for academic and niche topics). They also have the option to edit images in-browser before downloading. Perfect for snagging photos on the fly for any type of use. They even have a category dedicated to puppies for those days you don’t need stock photos but really need a visual mood boost.
View their license here.
Images from Wunderstock
Jopwell 👋🏾
Jopwell is a company that represents and advances careers for Black, Latinx, and Indigenous students and professionals. They put together a stock library that’s free to use, provided you give attribution to Jopwell. There doesn’t seem to be a search feature, but they’ve organized their photos into collections that are small enough to easily browse. The collections feature college/university students and young professionals, but many of the shots are specific to Jopwell’s organization so you might not find every collection relevant to your needs. That said, it’s worth a browse.
Images from Jopwell
New Old Stock 📓
This site offers really vintage photos (think 1880’s, not just 1980’s) from all over the world. Mostly black and white shots, but some more recent ones are in colour. There’s a basic search feature in the upper left corner that helps a little. I’d recommend having a look if you’re looking for a unique edge to your content, or you’re doing some research.
View their license here.
Images from New Old Stock
WikiCommons 📓
https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
WikiCommons is a community-sourced collection of over 70 million images! Wowza. This is the place to find pictures of celebrities and world events if you’re looking for things like that. Warning: there are NSFW photos in there, including full-on genitalia (which might be helpful for healthcare practitioners). Photos fall under the creative commons license but they may have different levels of use, so check the one you’re downloading before you share it. This stock photo site is the perfect source for any kind of research.
View their license here.
What did you think of this list? Drop a comment below to let us know your favorite, or notify us of one we missed.
