Finding free stock images for commercial use for your website or your next giveaway can be a pain. Just running a quick search for free stock photos, free images for commercial use, or royalty-free photos will bring you to tons of deceptive websites that require payment to download any of their images.
We’ve done the dirty work for you and compiled this resource of 20 different sites so you can get free stock images that fall under the Creative Commons Zero license or similar; meaning you can copy, modify, and use any photo you find, even for commercial purposes, without having to ask permission or provide attribution.
Free Stock Images for Commercial Use
All sites below have links to their terms and licenses. We’ve specifically chosen sites that offer Creative Commons Zero licenses or similar so that the images are free to use for commercial purposes. Be sure to read each site carefully, as terms may change over time.
Please note, even though we’ve done our best to provide you with this list of sites, we suggest you always do your own research when using an image to ensure that its license allows for what you plan to do with the photo.
1. Unsplash
License: Creative Commons Zero. See License.
Why it’s great: They add 10 new photos every 10 days.
2. Realistic Shots
License: Creative Commons Zero. See License.
Why it’s great: They add 7 new photos every week.
3. Pixabay
License: Creative Commons Zero. See License.
Why it’s great: Over 320,000 free photos, vectors and art illustrations.
4. Life of Pix
License: Creative Commons Zero. See License (at top of homepage).
Why it’s great: Photos are broken down by category in their gallery.
5. Gratisography
License: Creative Commons Zero. See License.
Why it’s great: High-resolution and high-contrast photos, with new photos added weekly.
6. Free Nature Stock
License: Creative Commons Zero. See License.
Why it’s great: Stock photos of nature only, updated daily.
7. Magdeleine
License: Creative Commons Zero (on the link provided above). See License (each photo is marked as CC0 – Public Domain).
Why it’s great: Sort photos based on colors and tags, updated daily.
8. Snapwire Snaps
License: Creative Commons Zero. See License (look under each photo to see the license).
Why it’s great: 7 hand-picked snaps every 7 days, completely free.
9. StockSnap
License: Creative Commons Zero. See License.
Why it’s great: Awesome search function with hundreds of hi-res images added weekly.
10. Kaboompics
License: You can use the images nearly any way you want, commercial or not.
Why it’s great: Several different categories of photos, updated daily.
11. Public Domain Archive
License: Images are public domain. See License.
Why it’s great: Everything you need for creative projects, updated weekly.
12. Travel Coffee Book
License: Creative Commons Zero. See License on homepage.
Why it’s great: 10 new photos every 10 days of beautiful travel moments.
13. ISO Republic
License: Images can be used for almost any commercial project. See License.
Why it’s great: High-quality free photos for any creative project.
14. Foodie’s Feed
License: Free to use, modify, and edit for commercial purposes. See License.
Why it’s great: Free high-resolution images of food. What’s better than that?
Cons: Will make you indescribably hungry.
15. FuriousCamera
License: Creative Commons Zero.
Why it’s great: Free lifestyle photos to use on commercial projects, updated daily.
16. MMT
License: Creative Commons Zero. See License on homepage.
Why it’s great: Updated weekly with a lot of great nature and city photos.
17. Jay Mantri
License: Creative Commons Zero. See License on homepage.
Why it’s great: Beautiful landscape photography. 7 new images added every Thursday.
18. Pexels
License: Creative Commons Zero. See License.
Why it’s great: Fast search results and beautiful images.
19. Cupcake
License: Creative Commons Zero.
Why it’s great: Stunning landscape and nature photography from Jonas Nilsson Lee.
20. Startup Stock Photos
License: Free to modify, edit, See License on homepage.
Why it’s great: Stock photos for startups and tech related businesses.
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