10 Best Places to Get Royalty Free Images for Your Blog
There are many ways to spend less on blogging resources, and one of them is sourcing images. But first, let’s recall the importance of images for your blog posts. They hold your reader’s attention, break up long and chunky paragraphs, and increase the time people spend on your blog. But most of all, images convey your message faster than text.
Fortunately, I’ve prepared a list of 10 websites where you can get amazing visuals for free. No attribution is required for these images. Excited? Let’s dive in.
1. Unsplash
Unsplash has a huge collection of photos for every niche and topic possible - Business, Food, Women, Nature, and more. Simply click the “Download free” button and the photo is yours.
2. Pixabay
Without a doubt, Pixabay has the largest database of images. With over 1.4 million images and videos, surely, you’ll find what you need. You might want to click Editor’s Choice to discover the best picks.
3. Pexels
Love to choose a specific color for your branding needs? Luckily, Pexels allows you to browse by color. Or, you can enter “color: [your color]” into the search box. I downloaded the image above from Pexels’ pink selections.
4. Magdeleine
If you’re looking for images with a mysterious or serious feel, look no further. Make sure to check out Magdeleine and choose the license “CC0 - PUBLIC DOMAIN” to explore attribution-free options.
5. Picjumbo
Started in 2013 by photographer Viktor Hanace, Picjumbo boasts of over 6 million downloads. Picjumbo features popular tags for its free images so all you have to do is click on a tag and scroll down the page to choose your best image.
6. Life of Pix
If you’re after images of beautiful people, you won’t go wrong with Life of Pix. The site continues to grow its collection. Just click the search icon to get started or browse by photographer.
7. Gratisography
Gratisography permits you to utilize its photos for business use and even add filters and text to improve it. I should say that the site doesn’t have thousands of images but you can be sure that every image is worth it.
8. Splitshire
What you’ll appreciate about SplitShire is that it specifies the number of photos it currently has. SplitShire’s images are stunning and the best part is that the owner himself welcomes everyone to download his images for personal and commercial use. The site has over 6 million pageviews and over 3 million downloads.
9. Stocksnap.io
Each week, hundreds of new images are added to Stocksnap.io’s collection. When you look through prospective photos, you’ll see their number of views and downloads. The image above is one of the most trending picks.
10. Skitterphoto
Groningen and Drenthe, photographers from The Netherlands, started Skitterphoto in 2014. Though new, it’s very simple to find the best image as you only need to enter your keyword into the search box. If you appreciate the photographer’s work, you’re more than welcome to make a donation.
Final Thoughts
From now on, searching for the perfect blog image should be easy. A common question that people ask is whether paid stock photos are worth your while. The only time I would recommend the use of paid options is when you run out of choices from the list above. Maximize these free resources and know that you can always tweak your images to match your blog theme.