Free stock photos are in demand if our readers are any indication. Our article “25 Free Stock Photo Sites” has been read more than 360,000 times since it was published about two years ago.
Since then, we’ve received suggestions from readers for sites we missed in the first list (and some sites that didn’t exist two years ago). So it’s time for a second list, pushing the number of sites way past 25. Thanks to everyone who left an email or comment suggesting a site.
Caveats: Note the terms of use for each site. Some of these sites offer free images in addition to images for a fee. Keep in mind that “Royalty Free” does not mean the images are free; it means that you don’t need to pay the photographer a royalty each time you use the image. These sites offer free royalty-free images.
Freeimages offer more than 3000 medium-resolution stock photos in 75 galleries, as well as marketing tips, links, wallpapers, templates, and other goodies.
Budget Stock Photo has no photos of its own. Rather, it contains some rather long lists of other sites hosting free stock photos. You could spend days here, so grab some coffee (or tea) and hit the lists!
Photo Everywhere has free travel stock photos, especially from the UK, categorized by geographical region. Link back required.
Photoree strikes me as similar in style to Google Image search. Free registering seems necessary. Also, note this warning: “Avoid recommending photos containing nudity, if possible.” So, do try and restrain yourself.
Photogen has a nice search feature, based on tagged photos. Web usage is unrestricted, but free registration is required.
Okay, I know what you’re thinking at this point. “Thousands of free images. Is that the best you can do?” Well, how would you like to try MILLIONS?! Both Flickr and Wikimedia house a bazillion images that are under the Creative Commons license. For this, a large coffee urn will be required. Good luck. (Wikimedia’s CC image is here.)
This blog offers free texture images, and (this is cool) they encourage everyone to upload their own textures to share. What a great idea!
Free Stock Photos has over 10,000 free stock photos for download, nicely grouped into a bunch of categories.
Wallpaper Stop has a lot of wallpapers. 12,000, give or take. And they are big and high def. Very nice. Sign up and get free wallpapers in your inbox once a week.
Free Digital Photos has a good idea: give away low-res versions of photos, and sell high-res versions for a few bucks. The low-res (640px) are perfect for a web page. And the photos? They are NICE. Check ’em out.
Free Foto, like Free Digital Photos (above), offers low-res for free, and higher-res for a price. But you’ll need to request the price, and wait for a reply. To download a freebie, you need to sign an agreement and give your email address. Every. Time. You. Download. But they do have over 130,000 photos…
The “pd” in PDPhoto stands for the “public domain.” There’s not a vast number here, but they’re free…and if you need a pic of Kermit’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, they’ve got you covered.
“All pictures on this site are explicitly placed in the public domain, free for any personal or commercial use.” And there are some very nice photos here, hidden in among the Google ads. Worth a peek.
RGBStock reminds me of my favorite pay-for-stock site, iStockphoto.com. Same nice pop-ups when you hover over an image, same clean design. The only difference is: RBGstock is free. Gotta love it.
