Hey, dear readers. We know many of you have used Internet images during your life, for work presentations, personal use designs, some social media posts… and surely you must have used some free image banks.
The first problem we have to face is, always, what images we can use so we don’t have problems with copyright. We make it easy for you: you can both obtain the written permission of the author or use images with a Creative Commons license (a license regime almost completely right-free, that depending on the regulation will let you use the image for some goals or others).
And now, solving a problem we pass to the other: where to obtain the images. We’ve tried some time to search images in the Google browser, but the quality of the images and the amount of times they’ve already been used make it an evitable option if possible. But don’t suffer, because in Crece we bring other options: 20 free image banks you can use for your projects. We’ve used some images of these websites for our projects. All of them have high quality images that, although the searching is sometimes difficult, is worty it to have good quality pictures which are not much used.
1. UNSPLASH
This free image bank is the first on the list because it is our favourite. Basically, Unsplash is a platform which allows professional photographs to promote themselves through it in exchange of letting the images free of rights. Right now it is trying to monetise the photography sector, although it considers important that the pictures have free access for they arrive to more people. Although it is becoming more known and the used images are seen in many places, it is still a website with varied and high quality pics, with a sofisticated and clean aesthetic line. Furthermore, there’s also the APP version for iOS and Apple TV, so you can save the downloaded photos in the smartphone or use them as screen saver respectively.
2. PEXELS
When talking about free image banks, it is similar in structure to Unsplash. Lastly it has experienced a professionalisation in the pics galery, being at first an amateur image bank. As Unsplash, it also has a mobile app. You have to be careful, because when you’re seeing a picture, under it there’s a line of sponsored photos whose downloading costs money. Simply if you focus in the upper pics, which are free, you can profit what it offers.
3. PIXABAY
This website is from Spanish origin, and one of its main differences with other free image banks is that besides it has acquired recently an illustration, video and vector stock as well so the materials you use in your developed audiovisual projects are complete and varied.
4. FREE IMAGES
If something characterises the good free image banks is is the amount of different photos you can find. Free Images fulfills this requirement, having more than 300.000 photos renewed and increased every day. This page, differently to the others, is more amateur with an old-fashioned commercial style, but no doubt with patience you can find the pic you’re looking for.
5. NEW OLD STOCK
This photo stock gives a clue about its main feature: it has in its directory some digitalised old pictures that you can use to give a vintage perspective to the designs you use. They say they give the chance to explore the history with a cool note, and they’re based on Flickr photographies.
6. STOKPIC
The good categorisation of the pics in this free image bank has made it win a space in this list. A pic you need can be searched through category filters to make everything easier. However, the variety of pics in this case is little. The license of the photos is Creative Commons, the one we commented at the beginning, but it has a limitation: under any concept you can redistribute the pics.
7. STOCKSNAP.IO
This page is little, but because it’s still growing. It has a big stock of Shutterstock photos for the ones you have the option of registering and downloading for free. The good part of this option is that it’s still unknown and the images you can find have not been very used.
8. GRATISOGRAPHY
For the ones who like the not mainstream photos, i.e. not commercial but with quality, this is a great choice. There are few photos among to choose because it’s relatively new, but the images have an indie touch of humour and surrealism, some of them with trendy photo filters. If you like to experiment with the images, this can be your site.
9. LIFEOFPIX
What characterises this free image bank is the extreme quality and professionality of the pictures it contains. They’re varied, although they’re mostly landscapes and nature. According to what’s specified in the home page, all the images have a Creative Commons license with no limitation. Besides, they update the stock weekly, and they also have the version with videos (Lifeofvids).
10. MMT
The strange combination of city images, nature and office insides result very useful for some webs and social media, although there are too many flowers pictures. All the images, like in Lifeofpix, have a Creative Commons with no restrictions, and they also upload new photos weekly, a thing that gives innovation and freshness.
11. MAGDELEINE
The variety of images in this pics bank of high resolution goes from abstract photos (ideal for backgrounds) to citys and people among others, always playing with contrasts. They promise every day posting a new pic, and most of them are public domain with no permission nor attribution (Creative Commons 0). Nevertheless, you need to be careful, because some of them are Creative Commons 4 and you have to attribute the author. Don’t worry, because when entering in the photo the license each one has is clearly identified.
12. CUPCAKE
Another free image bank (CC0) where to find a great amount of landscapes, nature and city pics. The good thing about this website in comparison with the other free image banks is that with a simple click you can download the image in its maximum quality. The negative part, however, is that Cupcake doesn’t have a browser, so you have to navigate until you find what you need.
13. JAY MANTRI
This photo stock has high quality images of many categories, and it also uploads new photographies every week. The license of the pics is CC1.0, so you can use it with no permission personally or commercialy. On the other hand, it also has a video stock. Like Cupcake, it doesn’t have a browser, but it has an archive that facilitates the search.
14. PICOGRAPHY
Also little and growing, Picographi is an image bank with high quality photos and a well categorised browser. The descriptions are really detailed, and that makes easier to find the perfect picture for you. They assure their pictures are free of license.
15. STOCKYAULT
The images you can find in this website are mostly public domain (CC0), with a good quality and including textures and graphics. It’s quite similar to Shutterstock, but in this case the use is free. As a negative detail, we can see there’s a lot of advertising in the page, but it overweights it if the image you find is ideal, right?
16. STARTUPSTOCKPHOTOS
The main audience in this portal are startups, bloggers and website developers which have a link with the technology world. As in most of the sites, the HD images they have are free of rights and can be used for anything.
17. SPLITSHIRE
From Italian origin, Splitshire counts on high quality photos, with all kinds of categories. Regarding the licenses the page doesn’t say anything about the regime of their images, but it does something better: under each image there’s clearly specified what you can do with it, all of them are free and you can use them if you respect the detailed uses.
18. SUPER FAMOUS
This site has a free image bank with natural landscapes and abstract photos which are ideal for backgrounds. The images are subject to a license CC3.0, so they can be used for anything (even commercial) but an attribution to the author is required, sending them the link to the photo and notify if some change in the image is made.
19. FOTER
This website allows you to access an uncountable amount of visual resources for blogs and websites under the CC license. Unlike the majority of free image banks we present, Foter gives the HTML code so you can have the images embed in your blog or website very easily.
20. EVERYSTOCKPHOTO
And last but not least, this website has a free image bank of high quality to download with 21 million pictures. It takes them from other image banks, so it can be considered the best and widest database of free pictures currently on the Internet.
Until here our list of free image banks. We have elaborated it with all the sites we know, but there may be more. Do you think there’s any missing? Tell us, and we will add it to the list.