5 free photo stocks with quality photos
Free photo stocks exist and it is important to know where you can download photos without fear.
Do you pay attention to where you download photos from? You must have needed a photo many times for a flyer, presentation, brochure or website. Then you probably started with a Google search. You found a photo without a watermark and decided to use it. Big mistake. Just because a photo you find doesn’t have a watermark doesn’t mean you can use it for your promotional materials.
Why use free stock photos?
Unless the photo you found through Google search has a clear license next to it or a link to a page where the author’s license states that commercial use is permitted, chances are the photo is copyrighted. You shouldn’t use such photos.
If you are not ready to buy photos from popular photo stocks, we bring you several quality sites where you can download photos for free. You can use them without fear of infringing someone’s copyright. This way you avoid a possible lawsuit due to the illegal use of photos. There are more and more such sites lately, and we have singled out a few of the most popular ones. There are fewer and fewer authors who have put their works under public domain, but there are quite a few under license where they retain their copyright. There are no restrictions on use except for a few that we will mention here. You can’t call yourself the author and use photos for inappropriate content. You also cannot sell or share their photos without significantly modifying the photo. However, if you can and want to, author credits or donations are always welcome. By doing that, you support their work.
Licenses are important
Our advice is to always read the licenses. Even for the sites we list here as licenses can change over time. They are usually found next to the photo itself or in the header or footer of the website (Terms of use, Legal terms, License, etc.) when downloading any content from the Internet. If you don’t see the license on the page, you’d better skip that page.
Such photo stocks do not have typical photos of business people in suits. They are modern and what you should watch out for is that they generally do not have a written Model and Property release. This means that you will not always be able to find and use photos of people in full view. They will often be in the background, in profile, from afar, or blurred. Care should also be taken if a protected brand appears in the photo. Therefore, if you have a need for classic business photos and photos with models that you are sure may appear on the cover of your brochure, you will probably have to reach for a purchase. But don’t worry, there are various single purchase or subscription plans on the shopping pages too. They allow you to buy extremely high-quality photos for only a few euros.
Here is our selection of photo stocks with free content.
Pixabay
It offers a large selection of high-quality and interesting free photos, illustrations, videos and music from various authors published under the Pixabay license, which makes them safe for free commercial use without asking for permission or crediting the author.
Pexels
It also has tons of free stock photos that you can use for commercial purposes, including using them on your website, blog, or app, using them to promote your product, in your company’s print materials, or on your company’s social media. They may not be used for any inappropriate content, sell on a promotional item without modification or sell them and share as your own.
Unsplash
There are over 265,000 photographers sharing their work. From 2021. is owned by Getty Images. They used to be under the Public domain license, but are now allowed for free commercial and non-commercial use with a few common restrictions. They may not be sold as such without significant modification, nor may they be downloaded and used as a base for a similar web service.
Gratisography
It has excellent Out-of-the-box photos, and in 2011. was founded by photographer Ryan McGuire. The license is similar to the others: you don’t have to ask permission for commercial projects or credit the author (although you can to support him), use the photos for anything offensive, immoral or inappropriate or sell or share them with others and on similar stocks and publish and sell as your own.
Picography
Stock is with beautiful photos and a CC0 license (public domain), which means even fewer restrictions for use, which is that you may not declare yourself the author of the photos. Other than that, you are allowed to use them for your commercial projects.
If you have any doubts, you are always welcome to send the authors an email with a query about your intention to use the photo listed on each of these pages.
Enjoy free photos for your website, blog, flyers, catalogs, ads and other marketing posts!
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