Images can make your pages and posts stand out. However, you must respect copyrights of other people and try to find images that you are legally allowed to use.
We are often asked by our network members about how to find best royalty free images to use in their posts?
There are many websites where you can find free images to use. However, you will soon notice that images on those sites look overused and generic.
See our list below of the best sources for free public domain and CC0-licensed images on the internet.
Sources for Free Public Domain and CC0-Licensed Images
Public domain is the term used to describe works whose licenses have expired, or works that are explicitly released with no restriction on their usage.
CC0 is a license that allows copyright owners to release their works with no restrictions at all.
Images under public domain or CC0-License can be used by anyone for any purpose. As a website admin/owner you can use these images in your blog posts, featured images, slider, image galleries, backgrounds, and basically anywhere else you want.
Having said that, let’s take a look at some of the best curated sources for free public domain or CC0-Licensed images.
Completely Free Websites
Pexels is unique in that it doesn’t only display images located on the Pexels website. It also outsources images from other high-quality websites.
Pixabay offers a large collection of free images. The site updated on a regular basis so you will find new and less used images there.
StockSnap provides an excellent and extensive library of free stock imagery. With hundreds of high-quality photos added weekly, StockSnap isn’t your casual photography outlet.
Freerange has thousands of high-resolution stock photos will be at your fingertips at no cost. In addition to thousands of unique images, the site also has about 20,000 CC0 photos, most of which have accurate keywords and descriptions.
Life of Pix has new high-resolution photographs added weekly to its website and donate all its images to the public domain. Although it’s free for both commercial and personal use, the site doesn’t allow mass distribution. As such, you can only repost a lifetime maximum of ten images before you require Life of Pix’s express written consent.
Negative Space is a beautifully curated collection of CC-0 licensed images for bloggers, artists, and small businesses. It has an easy to use search feature and you can also browse images by tags and colors.
PDPics is an easy to browse collection of free public domain stock photos. PDPics has a large collection of thousands of public domain images that you can download and use in your blog posts.
Pickup Image offers a huge collection of public domain images. The site can be easily browsed through tags or you can try the search. It also offers free clipart and graphics.
Public Domain Pictures offers free high quality images, graphics, and vectors for downloads. Images are sorted into categories for easy browsing.
Wikimedia provides a truly stunning image repository, spanning everything from lush landscapes to historical events.
Websites With Free and Paid Plans
Unsplash is a very popular destination for high quality CC0 licensed photographs. The site releases 10 photos every 10 days. It has a nice search feature which you can use to find images matching certain themes like nature, office, work, etc.
Picjumbo focuses on business photos and has hundreds of unwatermarked, high-resolution images available for free download. You can use Picjumbo’s search function to find the images you need, or navigate its library based on image categories like business, fashion, and nature.
Canva is much more than just a stock photo site; it’s an online design and publishing tool that helps entrepreneurs and designers worldwide create novel content. It provides over 1 million free photos and graphics, 250,000+ free templates, more than 100 design types, and 5GB of cloud storage for your creations.
Media Bakery has supplied creative teams around the world with over 10 million image assets. Its highly curated content is sourced from professional photographers and is constantly evolving to satisfy real-world needs. While the site focuses on business photography, you can access tons of other images from its home menu on topics like nature, sports, music, and more.
Source: WP Beginner
Questions or suggestions? Contact: networksupport@artsopolis.com