For anyone who has built their own website, or simply sourced the content for it, you already know how challenging it can be to find beautiful, relevant, on-brand imagery for your site – without spending thousands for the service.
Fortunately, there are multiple resources you can turn to for free and affordable stock photos that will help your website shine.
Here are our five top photo websites to try.*
1. StockSnap.
StockSnap is one of the largest downloadable free image libraries in the world.
There are hundreds of high-resolution images added to the library every week, and their search function and options make light work of finding photos that meet your needs.
One of the best things about StockSnap is that they offer free stock images for commercial use, as some stock photography libraries only allow images for editorial use. With StockSnap, you don’t have to worry about any copyright restrictions in the fine print.
2. Unsplash.
Another hugely popular stock image library is Unsplash, which is also free and allows users to download photos for personal, editorial, and commercial use.
Unsplash is fueled by photographers from around the world, so you have access to a huge variety of images that are every bit as professional and polished as high-price photo content.
3. PicJumbo.
PicJumbo is slightly lesser known, but still a fantastic resource for when you’re looking for that perfect image for your site.
The stock photos are free, and the site even gives you the option of downloading the entire image library in one go, which would give you more than 2,500 photos to use at any time that suits you. This library is known for its great food images, so keep it in mind if your brand deals with meals and treats.
4. Shutterstock.
Shutterstock is not a free service, but it is easily the largest and most well known image resource library on the net. There are more than 295 million items in their library in total.
As well as photos, Shutterstock offers videos, music, and vectors, making it a complete library if you’re looking for something more than just images. And even though Shutterstock is not free, it does offer image packs, so whether you need five photos, or 350 per month, there will be a package deal that can help keep the price at an affordable minimum.
5. Death to the Stock Photo.
If you’re tired of seeing overpolished, cheesy, or staged photos, or simply want something a little left of centre for your brand, Death to the Stock Photo is for you.
This site is a subscription service, and will email you a new package of 45 (minimum) images, and you will also have access to several thousand existing photos in their library. This is a membership subscription with low affordable monthly fees, and a two-week free trial to test out the service before you buy.
*This information is provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only; it does not constitute an endorsement or an approval by Yellow Pages.
