First published January 2016 – Updated 1.8.19
Having great images on your website, social media and blog is one of the keys to Modern Marketing. But using the big stock photo libraries can be expensive, or a bit unexciting.
So where can you find awesome royalty free images to market your business? Here are some of the most popular
Editors Note: Royalty free means the images are in the public domain and you can use them as you like, without paying for a license. Creative Commons license means you can use the images for free as long as you credit the photographer/source
#1 Pixabay – one of my favourites
Great and unusual images from volunteer photographers – use keyword searches to find some amazing images
#2 Unsplash.com
A fantastic range of royalty free images, updated weekly including featured images and collections. Some great landscapes and quirky pictures *Bonus* Unsplash now has a chrome extension so you can get new images in your inbox!*
[This is now $12/month after a 14-day free trial] Great collections, you’ll find something different here.
#4 Life of Pix
Search by gallery to find landscapes, textures, urban collections.
Includes images, videos (Life of Vids) and inspirational quotes (tons of ads though)
#5 VastPic
Some amazing vistas, breathtaking views and thought provoking pictures
For vintage images
Probably the nearest thing to a free stock library
#8 Flickr
A range of photos from amateur and professional photographers.
#9 Albumarium
Some great quirky collections including “redheads”, “blackandwhite” and “London”
#10 Gratisography
Some wild and wacky pictures – brilliant if you want something different for your blog or social media!
OTHER FREE IMAGE SITES INCLUDE:
Pexels (similar to pixabay)
StartUp Stock Photos – lots of office / desktop / laptop images
SuperFamous – some great background images
The Superfamous Images are available under the conditions of a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. This means that you can use the work for your own purposes as long as credit is provided. All images by @FolkertGorter
Picjumbo – some great photos for Social Media
And of course, for inspiration there’s Instagram and Pinterest.
If it’s stock images you’re looking for (perhaps something the smaller sites can’t help with or you need something very specific), the most popular “paid” image sites are:
#1 Bigstockphoto.com (this is my preferred paid image site)
#2 istockphoto.com
#3 Shutterstock
#4 Adobe Stock
#5 gettyimages.com