If you’re reading this, it suffices to say you know the importance of visuals in your content.
And you’re simply looking for the best royalty-free stock photo sites to make use of. Without lifting pictures from Google’s image search for copyright reasons.
Still, it bears repeating for those, not in the know.
That aside the 1,000 words a single photo says, or its help in attracting traffic to your content through SEO and social shares.
Images take the boredom out of your content like blog posts by making them visually appealing.
And while this is so, getting these images from Google’s image search results could be dangerous. Since Google is simply an aggregator and not their copyrights owner.
So, to stay safe, this is where royalty-free stock photo sites come into play.
Giving you the right to use their photos for both personal and commercial endeavors free of charge.
So, whether you’re a blogger, designer, marketer, artist, business owner… these sites will come in handy.
And while there are many royalty-free stock photo sites on the web, here are the 10 best.
Just to note, though, some of the photos in these websites might or might not require attribution wherever they’re used.
But, don’t worry about the ‘how‘, as it’s usually indicated right before and after you’ve downloaded a photo, whenever needed.
So, without any further delay, let’s look at these free stock photo sites.
The Top 10 Best Royalty Free Stock Photo Sites For 2019.
1. Pixabay.
Pixabay is the go-to free stock photo site housing over 1 million high-quality stock photos, illustrations, vectors, and videos.
And not only are you allowed to copy, modify, distribute, and use them in your personal and commercial projects, with or without attribution. You can also contribute yours too.
But, no matter what you’re looking for, you’re sure to find interesting options here.
2. Unsplash.
Unsplash is where you’ll find over 850,000 of well-curated “do-whatever-you-want” high-resolution beautiful photos.
And with over 100,000 skilled photographers and creators, coupled with the daily additions of handpicked selections. Chances are they’ve got a photo for you that you didn’t even know you needed.
And to attest to the quality of their images, see who else uses them. Squarespace, Slack, Everlane, Apple, Trello, Medium, InVision, and Nasa, to name but a few.
3. Pexels.
Pexels features thousands of carefully handpicked high-resolution photos and videos, from artist submissions and other free sources.
Their photos and videos are free to use for personal and commercial purposes, with or without attribution, though, they usually appreciate this.
Another thing is their site’s direct user-friendliness. There’s no confusion over what you need to do to turn up the photo you’re looking for, nor download.
4. Rawpixel.
Rawpixel features both free and premium images, vectors and PSD mockups, sourced from qualified contributors.
As a free user, you’re limited to only 100 images per month from their rich and varied free collection. Even so, they are of high-quality, sure to make your content pop, and still free for personal and commercial uses.
A thing to note, though, is that your search will always comprise both free and premium results. And thus will always need you to filter for free ones with every search. Not a big ask IMO, or is it?
5. Picjumbo.
If you want thousands of beautifully shot free stock photos, you can fully trust for use on your blog or website, look no further than PicJumbo.
The brainchild of the Czech stock photographer, Viktor Hanacek. After all stock photo sites rejected his photos for “insufficient quality“.
Not only do you get very high-quality photos in different categories, but also new daily additions.
And should you need it, premium packages are also available.
Lastly, like the above four free stock photo sites, all photos are free for personal and commercial usage.
6. Stock Photos by Canva.
Canva is without a doubt one of the best free photo editors online for many.
And not only that, but they too offer a great collection of high-quality royalty-free stock photos in the millions.
And knowing Canva and their love for beautiful designs, it’s no surprise.
You can also get their premium photos offered in under three license agreements: One Design Use, Multi-use, and Extended use.
So, no matter the need, you will always find photos to match.
7. Burst.
Another amazing site to find thousands of compelling high-resolution royalty-free images is Burst.
Burst is Shopify’s own free stock photo platform. Aimed at helping designers, developers, bloggers and entrepreneurs access beautiful free stock images.
Popular categories include but not limited to Business, Fitness, Art, Fashion, Food, Seasons,.. etc.
And with their constant new additions of copyright-free photos from their global professional photographers. Chances are near impossible to not find an interesting photo to use.
8. Reshot.
For uniquely high-quality non-stocky photos, that are both free and exclusive, Reshot is your site.
Their huge library of royalty-free photos are handpicked, and not found anywhere else. This clearly is putting quality above quantity.
This is so because they source their photos from individual contributors and other photography community partnerships.
What’s interesting, is that their photos are also free for commercial and editorial uses, with an optional attribution.
9. PikWizard.
PikWizard isn’t your typical royalty-free stock photo site. Not only do they offer thousands of impressive high-quality images spanning multiple popular topics.
But also an on-page pro photo editing tool, Design Wizard, should you wish to create impressive designs quickly and easily.
What stands out more, though, is their love for natural-looking and posed photos of people. So, should you need these they are an excellent source.
Their photos too are free for both personal and commercial uses, with optional attribution, offered under two licenses: Free and CC0.
10. Foodiesfeed.
Driven by their mission to rid the internet of ugly, sterile stock photos of food. Foodiesfeed sources and features beautifully shot, naturally looking food images from food photographers from all around the world.
So, whether you’re a food blogger, a passionate foodie, a hobbyist, or a graphic designer in need of professionally shot appetizing food photos, you’re sure to get them here.
And who to thank for making this possible? None other than the owner and food photographer Jakub Kapusnak.
All images get published under the CC0 license, and thus free to use in your personal and commercial projects.
Over To You.
While one stock photo site won’t give you the perfect picture for every content and scenario. Having multiple choices to search from can increase your chances of finding that photo.
And that’s the reason for having a list of the best royalty-free stock photo sites at hand.
I hope this post was helpful in fixing the problem of where to search for the best royalty-free stock photos to apply in your content. Be that blog post, video, presentation, report,.. etc.
And if you feel there’s a worthy free stock photo site that didn’t get mentioned. Comment below about it.
That’s it from me today on the 10 best royalty-free stock photo sites for 2019 and beyond.
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