The Best Copyright Free Image Sites
Finding copyright free images that you can legally use on your website legally can be a long-winded process.
Purchasing stock copyright free images can be exceptionally expensive and out of the reach of smaller websites.
It is still possible to find images that can be used for free for commercial purposes.
The difficulty with many free image sites is understanding the many different licenses and attribution clauses individual sites have.
The information concerning usage rights is given in good faith, but it could be worth checking the licenses yourself. License can change over time.
1. Burst
Burst uses images from Shopify’s photo library, you do not need to be a member of Shopify to have access to the photos.
All of the photos are free for commercial use, no attribution is needed.
The images are all top quality and are especially suited to web page use.
| Burst | |
|---|---|
| Free for commercial use | yes |
| Attribution Required | No |
| Range of images (1-10) | 7 |
2. Unsplash
Unsplash has one of the largest image libraries of any copyright-free image site.
The Unsplash license is also very straight forward with all images free for commercial use.
Attribution is not required, although if it can be given unobtrusively it always good to attribute images if you can.
| Unsplash | |
|---|---|
| Free for commercial use | yes |
| Attribution Required | No |
| Range of images (1-10) | 9 |
3. Pexels
Pexels has its own license that allows commercial use without attribution. You can modify the images in any way you wish.
Pexels also has a large selection of free stock videos you can use. The videos tend to be very short, but they are great for social media platforms like Pinterest.
| Pexels | |
|---|---|
| Free for commercial use | yes |
| Attribution Required | No |
| Range of images (1-10) | 9 |
4. FreeImages
FreeImages has its own usage license like many of the other sites on this list. The usage license does allow commercial use with out attribution.
The only slightly confusing part of the license is when it states ‘if you are using content for editorial purposes, you must include the following credit adjacent to the content or in audio/visual production creditsbut if you are using content for editorial purposes, you must include the following credit adjacent to the content or in audio/visual production credits:’
| FreeImages | |
|---|---|
| Free for commercial use | yes |
| Attribution Required | No |
| Range of images (1-10) | 4 |
5. Kaboompics
The usage license for Kaboompics offers copyright-free images for commercial use without attribution.
The number of images seems more limited than more popular services.
One stand out element that Kaboompics has over other images service is that it shows a color palette derived from an image.
| Kaboompics | |
|---|---|
| Free for commercial use | yes |
| Attribution Required | No |
| Range of images (1-10) | 3 |
6. Stocksnap.io
High-quality free images are available under a Creative Commons (CC0) license.
You can download and use the photos for personal and professional use.
| Stocksnap.io | |
|---|---|
| Free for commercial use | yes |
| Attribution Required | No |
| Range of images (1-10) | 4 |
7. Flickr
Flickr has a vast range of images, the images are available under many different licenses.
You can use a filter to find images that show “Commercial use & mods allowed”.
It is a pain checking individual image licenses and all images need you to attribute credit.
Flickr is still useful for finding quality, amateur copyright free images to use on a website.
| Flickr | |
|---|---|
| Free for commercial use | Depends |
| Attribution Required | Yes |
| Range of images (1-10) | 8 |
8. PicJumbo
Another website to consider is PicJumbo, although the range of the image is not as extensive as some, the image quality is high.
| PicJumbo | |
|---|---|
| Free for commercial use | Yes |
| Attribution Required | No |
| Range of images (1-10) | 6 |
9. Pixabay
Pixabay uses the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license copyright free images to be modified and used commercially without the need for attribution.
| Pixabay | |
|---|---|
| Free for commercial use | Yes |
| Attribution Required | No |
| Range of images (1-10) | 7 |
In Conclusion – Copyright Free Images
There are a surprising amount of sites that offer copyright free images for commercial purposes.
It is also bearing in mind that image creation sites like Canva and Crello also have a limited number of free images available.
Using a combination of images from differing sites will stop a website from having a definite stock photo look.
