Where to Get Royalty Free Images (15 Websites Listed)

I have been writing online for a little over 10 years. When I first started writing, I would craft my well-written articles (I like to believe they are that. Lol), then head over to Google to pick up any image that caught my eyes, which I felt fit in with my article theme.

I did this for a couple of years and everything went smoothly.

Did I get caught by the real owners of the image as time went on?

Actually, no. I never did get caught using these images for my blog. However, this only happened because I was lucky.

You see, over 90% of the images that appear when you type a search query into google search bar are copyrighted. Which means, you aren't to use them without paying for them or fulfilling one or other terms the image owner wants fulfilled. If you break this, you could get slapped with a lawsuit so fast, it'd make your head spin.

With this in mind, bloggers and writers are constantly on the lookout for royalty free images to use for their blog post or articles. You want to find one that fits in perfectly with your blog theme and is also completely free, or at least, won't have you robbing a bank to purchase it.

So, if you are wondering where to get royalty free images? You are totally in luck as this post will give you not just one, but 15 of such places.

Here goes...

1. Pixabay

Pixabay is usually the first choice for most people looking for where to get royalty free images and that's because it contains over one million high quality stock images (and videos, if you happen to be in need of these too).

Founded by Hans Braxmeier and Simon Steinberger as a personal image collection site in November, 2010, it has since grown to become the first point of call for high resolution images. .

You can get just about any image on any theme whatsoever, and you aren't even required to make any attributions. Isn't that grand?

2. Unsplash

Okay, even though pixabay boasts over a million images, there will be that one (or a few) time when you won't get exactly what you're looking for. At such times, you can turn to one very good pixabay alternative, unsplash.

Unsplash was created by Mikael Cho in 2013 and grew fast to become an answer to the image need of lots of bloggers.

You should know though, that unsplash has a lot of the images you will see on pixabay. However, you will find a lot others that are entirely unique to this site.

3. Pexels

Pexels was founded by a set of twins, Ingo Josef and Bruno Josef in 2013 and were later joined by Daniel Frese in 2014.

Like pixabay, you can find high resolution royalty free images and short videos on this site.

4. Free Photos (.cc)

This is another good spot to find royalty free images. You get one free featured photo daily, but can search for and download from thousands of other images in their portfolio.

5. Free Images

With over 300,000 images uploaded, you can search for and download tons of high resolution images for personal or commercial use.

6. FreeStock (.org)

Freestock is a much smaller stock image library, compared to others, however it does boast of over 2,000+ high resolution and high quality images classed under categories like people, animals, food & drinks, fashion, and so on.

7. Splitshire

Splitshire was founded by a graphic designer, Daniel Nanescu, who started out uploading a hundred high resolution images unto the platform. He soon uploaded over a thousand plus high resolution images and these images have gone on to receive over two million downloads.

8. PicJumbo

This is yet another platform to find high resolution royalty free images.

Created by Victor Hanacek, PicJumbo boasts over 3000+ images that are free for personal or commercial use.

It also has a paid membership plan and users who sign up to this plan get sent 50+ high resolution pictures each month.

9. PikWizard

PikWizard is owned by a software company, DesignWizard and boasts of a large database of free high resolution images and videos (over a million).

The site is also integrated to it's mother company, DesignWizard, so you can edit the images to give it that added edge, if you want.

10. ISO Republic

ISO Republic was created by a UK based photographer and has 6000+ royalty free stock images that can be used for personal or commercial purposes.

11. Morguefile

Morgue File is yet another answer to where to get royalty free images. It was created by Michael Connors in 1996 and has 350,000+ royalty free images to be used.

12. Reshot

Reshot is yet another free stock images platform with a variety of handpicked stock images submitted by individual contributors.

Again, you can use the images gotten from reshot for both personal or commercial use without any attribution to the website.

13. FoodieFeed

If you run a food website or have an article on food or recipe, then this website is just what you need.

Started by food photographer, Jakub Kapusnak, FoodieFred has a wide array of food images that can be best used to correctly interpreted tour article piece.

14. Picspree

In picspree, you can download thousands of high resolution images, illustrations or vectors for personal or commercial use free without having to sign up or attribute these images.

15. Rawpixel

Last on the list of where to get royalty free images is rawpixel.

Like other of such sites, rawpixel has a wide collection of stock images that are free to use as you want. However, you get just five free images for use daily from the collection.

Rawpixel also has a premium plan ranging from $3 - $19 monthly that gives you access to unlimited free high resolution stock images monthly.

With most of these free stock images sites, there's the option of making a small donation (called a cup of coffee) to the contributors.

Donations are typically made via PayPal, can be of any amount, and are given as a sort of encouragement to the contributors listing their works for free use.

It is, how, not mandatory and you can download any image you like without having to make this donation.