The demand for free stock images for blogs and websites has always been high. I mean, with the advent of WordPress, one of the driving themes has been creating a blog or website on a shoestring budget (or no budget at all). But what is a website with out images? Boring. That’s what. We are visually driven creatures by nature. Do we really buy magazines for the articles? Maybe a little, but what really grabs us are the images. The same goes for blogs and websites.
Until the last year or two, finding quality (emphasis on quality) free stock images for blogs and websites has been a real chore. That has changed, however. Several sites have really stepped up their game and have become great resources for free images and free stock photos. We thought we would share some of the top sites we use and recommend to clients.
Unsplash
Unsplash.com is by far our favorite website for free stock photos. The site is 100% photographs taken by professional-grade photographers. The images are stunning, high grade, and very useable for any level of site, whether free blog or Ferrari-quality website. What’s more, the images are completely free to use. You don’t even have to give the artists credit. That’s pretty damn cool.
You know what else is pretty damn awesome? Giving the artists credit! Hey, they did you a solid. It’s just common decency. In a world where we all help each other out, great things happen. (You’ll notice we used an image from Unsplash for this blog post AND credited the artist! 🙂 )
Freepik
Freepik.com is our other #1 stop for quality free images. (Again, emphasis on quality.) They have some pretty cool copyright rules. You can either credit the artist (which it’s just fair and decent if you do anyway), or you can purchase a VERY reasonable monthly membership and not have to credit the artist. Either way, it seems like a win-win situation.
Another important way Freepik differs from Unsplash is that it has a wider array of graphics available. Not only does it have basically free images for blogs, it also has vector graphics and other art that are great for websites. Check ’em out!
VideoHive
This may seem a teensy bit out of place, but for those of you looking for a great stock VIDEO resource, we recommend VideoHive.net. Super, super awesome resource. It gives you great videos for truly amazing prices. Granted it’s not free, but it is practically free. We use this resource liberally and have been extremely happy with it.
Check ’em out! VideoHive.net
Runners-Up
Here are some other resources for free stock images for blogs and websites. If we don’t find what we’re looking for at the above resources, we frequent these sites:
- pixabay.com
- thestocks.im
- deathtothestockphoto.com
- picjumbo.com
- photopin.com
There are lots and lots of stock photos and free images sites nowadays so it’s easy to do an internet search for ‘royalty free images’. Browse several of them and find which one gives you the best results for your style.
Remember to give credit to the artists. These people work hard to make your site look good!
Photo credit: Teddy Kelley
