Whether you are creating a graphic for your Instagram post, looking to up your presentation design game, or enhancing your blog story with visuals finding the right stock photography websites that avoid the cheesy factor and don’t break the piggy bank is achievable if you know where to look.
Here are some of our go-to stock photography websites when we are looking for just the right pic, inspiration, or just a good laugh.
Stock Photography Websites (mostly for Free!)
1. Unsplash
Unsplash is one of our favorite stock photography websites. It’s a collection of so many amazing photographers with a global lens of people, places, environments, and of course, dogs. They also offer some nice filtering options around orientation and color to help you find the right photo for your project. Free
2. Pexels
Pexels also has a broad assortment of photography, similar in style to some of the images you might find on paid services such as iStock or Shutterstock. Their trending, new, and leaderboard navigation is a nice way to find some of the top choices. In addition, they offer some free stock video footage as well. Free
3. Negative Space
Negative Space is a great resource for those looking for plenty of room in their photo to place copy blocks, overlays, etc. While their library is smaller than some of the other free stock photo websites, their images fit the bill for those social media quote cards or inspirational slides you’ve been working on. Free
4. picjumbo
picjumbo has a large number of photography categories including desktop and iPhone wallpaper. While they offer a large library of free photos, they also have a premium membership which offers instant access to new collections and access to all premium photos. Free or Premium Packages starting at $49 a month that includes 10K+ exclusive photos.
5. StockSnap.io
StockSnap.io is another great free photo website with a large variety of image categories. While the photography styles vary widely, you can usually find good options for projects. They also offer background, abstract, and texture images which can come in handy for presentation and quote card graphics. Free
6. Pixababy
Pixababy offers an assortment of stock photography, illustrations, videos, music, and sound effects. You can filter by the type of content you are looking for but it can be a little cumbersome to wade through all the options. Free
7. Fancy Crave
Fancy Crave curates photos from some amazing photographers and organizes them into collections to make it easier to find what you are looking for. Think of mountains, architecture, fireworks, Barcelona, sunsets, etc. Free or Premium ($9.99 a month or $79.99 a year) to access 41 premium collections and 50+ new photos added monthly.
8. Gratisography
Gratisography is another great free stock photography website. Founded by photographer Ryan McGuire, their photos range from glimpses into real-life moments to more obscure and quirky. Photos are organized into categories to make it easier to browse, and more photos are added weekly. Free
9. Death to Stock
Death to Stock is on a mission to end cheese overused stock images by creating a carefully curated library of photos from talented photographers. Membership starts at $15 a month ($12 if billed annually) and offers access to 4500 + unique photos with new photos added monthly.
10. Adobe Stock
We are big Adobe Creative Cloud users so Adobe Stock makes it easy for us to find the perfect image, illustration, or video when we are in the middle of creating because of its seamless integration with Adobe Creative Cloud. But even if you don’t use Creative Cloud, Adobe Stock has some amazing images available. You can buy credit packs starting at $49.95 for 5 credits, or get a team subscription starting at $29.99 a month for 10 standard assets.
Let us know your thoughts on these websites or if you had others suggestions you would like to share with the community.
