50+ Sites To Get Free Royalty Free Stock Photos
82This Hub Is My Resource For Free Stock Photos
Lets face it, its not that easy finding free stock photos, well not the right ones anyway... There are lots of sites out there on the web which offer royalty free stock photos, but not all of the stock photography sites offer free royalty free stock photos, thats why I started bookmarking sites that I found which were offering free royalty free photos.
YOU NEED TO REMEMBER... If a stock photography site claims that they offer "royalty free photos" that does not necessarily mean that you can use the photo free of charge, it simply means that you don't have to pay the owner a royalty every time that you use the photo. The sites which I include on this hub all offer FREE TO USE royalty free stock photos, so you should be able to find the perfect photo for your article without spending a penny!
I have collated those stock photo sites which I found were offering free royalty free images, and tried to provide a brief description of each, to share with you on this hub. I do hope that you will find the resource as useful as I do.
If you know of a site offering free stock photography that I have missed, please drop me a line and I will include the link here on the hub.
Remember To Check The Individual License On The Free Stock Photo
One more thing to mention before we start on the list of free stock photo sites:
If you do find a free photo that you want to use then please check the individual license for that image.
Yes the photograph may be free to use but the photographer or stock photo site site may request a credit or link back, so please respect their wishes if you do use their work.
Free Stock Photo Sites 1-10
Searching the internet for sites that can give you the ideal free stock image can be a really tedious job. I hope I have been able to take some of the tedious work away for you by collating my list of free stock photography sites here.
Now all that's left to do is to find those perfect free stock images.
- Stockvault.net
A stock photography sharing site where designers and photographers share their stock photos and images. All images on Stockvault.net are free for personal and non-commercial usage. - FreePixels.com
FreePixels offers free high resolution stock pictures for use in both personal and commercial design projects. - FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Free photos. Thousands of royalty free photographs for commercial and non-commercial use. A link back to the site is requested if you use one of their royalty free images. - Historical Stock Photos.com
There are Lots of free vintage photos and posters here! If you need free stock pictures of American history then you should take a look. - ImageBase, free images, public domain, free photos
The royalty free photography here is free to use for personal, commercial or non-profit purposes, is are licensed under a Creative Commons license.
- FreeImages.co.uk
Feeimages.co.uk offer free digital photographic images for web, dtp, and design. Free royalty free stock photos. Free stock photography library. - Public Domain Photos
All of the royalty free pictures are in the public domain and therefore free to use. You will also find a section offering free clip art images. - openphoto
The free photography at openphoto is nicely grouped by category, but there is also a useful search function if you are looking for something specific. - stock.xchng
Often my first port of call when looking for a free royalty free photo. It is easy to search and browse the site, and you will also find some great free photo editing tutorials which are well worth looking at. - Morguefile.com
The search facility at morguefile is really good or you can browse for free stock images by category. At Morguefile you can get free high resolution stock pictures which you are free to adapt and to use for commercial purposes without attribution.
The Free Stock Photo Sites 11-20
All of these sites offer some great images for free, but if you are looking for a royalty free image that's different check out the free fantasy pictures, they have some really great and unusual royalty free stock images to offer.
- Kavewall
A fantastic source of free close-up and macro photography. Not a great deal here but what is here is categorized, easy to browse and excellent quality. Worth looking at. - Free fantasy pictures digital art and photos
Free pictures, digital art and photos to use on your website. They have fantasy, science fiction, aliens, vampires, werewolves, fairies, demons, wizards, dragons, angels ,trees, plants and clouds. - BurningWell
A repository for public domain (free for any use) images. You are free to download, copy and use the photos you find here for any purpose. - FreeFoto.com
FreeFoto.com claims to have the largest collections of free photographs for non-commercial use on the Internet. - Everystockphoto
Search engine for royalty free photos and clip art for the stock photography community including images of creative commons and public domain and other free licenses
- NationsIllustrated.com - The World in Pictures
Here you will find royalty free stock photography from around the world. You can browse by city, country, or continent and there is a good search function, and a site-wide index. - freerangestock.com
Free stock photography for commercial or non-commercial use at freerangestock.com. High-resolution stock images and textures for FREE. They also claim to share ad revenue with photographers who upload their photos. - PhotoRogue.com
PhotoRogue take online requests for particular photos. They have a crew of photographers who will actually go out and take your photo for you, for free. Acceptance isnt guaranteed, but it is a great concept if it works. - unprofound.com
The photos at Unprofound are grouped by color and can be used in just about any way you like. If you are looking for a specific royalty free photo there is also a search facility. - GeekPhilosopher
The photos are grouped in categories and there are also backgrounds, wallpaper and sectiondedicated to art. So if you are looking for free images by Van Gogh and other artists take a look here.
Free Stock Photo Sites 21-30
- Cepolina Photos
Enjoy thousands of free photos. Use the photos as wallpaper, in presentations, for websites or for school projects. - Free Photos By Dennis Hill And Friends
a collection of free photos that may be used for any artistic endeavor, whether it be personal or commercial, without having to give credit or a link etc. - Insect Images: The Source for Entomology Photos
Insect Images: Entomology and Bugs Photos with pictures of mosquitos, ticks, beetles, butterflies, moths, roaches, ticks - Abstract Influence
You have to register here if you want to enter the site, but then you can upload your own photos or download their free stock photos, and participate in the forum, all for free. - Free Nature Pictures
Free Nature Pictures, high resolution pics of beaches, forests, deserts, animals, sunsets, mountains, and flowers free to use for any purpose.
- Free Stock Photos.com
We offer only high quality free photos & images for your personal or commercial design projects. - Image * After
Free high resolution images and textures for commercial and personal use. Daily additions. Free hi-res stock photography, with abstract graphics search. - Pixel Perfect Digital
A small site with a growing collection of free stock photos. Registration allows you to upload to your own personal gallery. The search function is useful as it allows you to search within one or more categories. - Photo Rack
The photos are organised into categories which are then broken down into subcategories, but there is no search function so you may find it a bit more tricky to find the photo that you need. - Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons have a database of almost 3.5 million freely usable media files, including photos, which anyone can use or contribute to.
Free Stock Photo Sites 31-40
- Geograph British Isles - photograph every grid square!
Geograph British Isles is a web based project to collect and reference geographically representative images of every square kilometre of the British Isles. - ImageBlowout
Royalty free stock photo library for commercial use - no fee, no backlinks, no credits, no money - absolutely free - NASA Images
NASA Images, a service of Internet Archive, offers public access to NASA's images, videos and audio collections. - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Photo Library
Most NOAA photos and slides are in the public domain and CANNOT be copyrighted. Although at present, no fee is charged for using the photos credit MUST be given - FreePhotosBank
A nice but small free stock photo site. Photo's are offered under aCreative Commons licence and they ask for a link back if you use the images. Images are categorised for easy browsing.
- Woophy - Photos
Woophy is a free online photo database of the world. Click on the map to find photographs taken in a specific area or use the handy search function. - DesignPacks.com
Offer free, high quality image collections that can be used in both personal and commercial web design projects. Each collection features a group of 15 images that share a common theme. - U.S. History Images
A collection of over 300 free stock photos related to the colonial period of American history. The images are free for you to use any way you want with just a couple of exceptions. - Antarctic Photo Library: Images of Antarctica
Print and electronic media may use the photos free of charge; however, the photographer and the National Science Foundation must be credited. - Photoeverywhere.co.uk
Photoeverywhere.co.uk has 1000s of free travel and tourism stock images, instant image download and use on your blog, website or printed material - all at no cost!
Free Stock Photo Sites 41-50
- FoodPhotoSite.com | Free Food Photos
has a library of food related images. You can use the food images free of charge and royalty free in your projects provided that you link back to the site. - Hooverstock.com
contains free stock photos with various themes by category. In exchange for the free stock photo, you must provide a clearly visible text link back to hooverstock.com. - Free Images and Stock Photos
Image categories include abstract, food, flowers, miscellaneous, nature and scenic, household, technology and world travel images. - Barry's Free Photos
1000S of free PHOTOS!!! One of the best FREE resources on the Net with an amazing selection of images for download! - Art.com
become an affiliate with art.com and you can use their images and earn 25-30% commission on all sales through your website.
- Flickr: Creative Commons
There are lots of users on Flickr who have elected to share their work under a Creative Commons licence. Here you are able to browse or search for photos under each type of license. Its well worth a try as there are some great photos here. - Creativity103.com
creativity103.com has an abstract and unusual digital image gallery, and is a good resource for free design stock images - Pictures Free Download
Free Download of all Pictures provided you attribute the source with a link or reference. Most photos from amateur photographers. - FreeMediaGoo.com
FreemediaGoo.com has Free images, audio, video, and flash. all photographs are royalty-free! The site is definately worth a look. - PD Photo
PD Photo offers lots of free stock photos which are categorised for easier browsing. You don't have to link back to the site if you use any of the free stock photos but they would prefer it if you do.
Free Stock Photos Sites 50+
- Free African Wildlife Pictures, Including Lion, Elephant and Giraffe photos
Eye-catching wildlife pictures from Africa - http://www.copyrightfreephotos.com/
High quality copyright free photo library for any use. - Adigitaldreamer.com
A nice collection of free images, categorised for easy browsing. - FreePhotoP.com
Free photo archive containing the largest community-indexed collection of free images. 100,000+ Totally Free Pictures, free photo gallery. - Photogen
Free photos from the Photogen library of stock photos and images - search and download free stock photos in high resolution of animals, agriculture, architecture, backgrounds, concepts, nature, transport, travel and destinations, business etc - Free Photos, Free Stock Photos
FreePhotosWeb.com offers free photos, free stock photos and royalty free photos.
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I hope this resource for royalty free stock photos has been useful to you. If you know of a site that isnt listed here then please let us know.
You're welcome :) I hope you find the sites as useful as I do.
You really did some heavy duty work here. This list is beyond useful. Thank you I really needed this list. Great job!
I'm glad you find it useful crazybeanrider... if you come across any more sites offering free to use stock photos let me know and I will add them to the list.
Thank you for the information. Thanks to your hub I discovered some new sites I had not heard of before.
Thank you for putting this resource together. I have a blog and rarely use images because I'm concerned about copyright but really want to have images as it makes posts engaging and look more professional.
flighty02 - Very nice article. Most helpful to me. Thanks.
thanks - the only site I have used is morguefile but its nice to know I have more options. I am bookmarking this hub. Thanks!
Aappreciate the time you took ,to put this altogether flighty, popped it into bookmarks. Looks like it will be a great help!
Wow!! The pictures are awesome too!! Very Nice!!
Thank you for very valuable information, thank you so much for sharing it. creativeone59
thanks buddy!!!
Thank you very much. Its very helpfull to me. Thanks.
ChrissyDean says:
5 weeks ago
I love stock images for art. Thanks for all the info!