When to use free photos and when is it better to buy images?
Free pictures for the site are your option when:
the quality of the images doesn’t matter;
limited or no budget;
you are looking for content on a common topic;
enough time to search: it is not easy to find a suitable free photo, sometimes you have to look through hundreds or even thousands of pictures before you download the desired one;
a “modest” use of media content is planned: on the blog, on the site, for presentations and personal viewing;
you do not need to make a grandiose advertising campaign with photos;
You don’t need images of people, brands, logos.
It is better to buy images if:
there are special requirements for picture quality: as a rule, images for sale have a resolution from 3000 pixels;
it is important to be able to use the photo or picture at one’s discretion (editing, cropping, base for other compositions); the content, most often, has a Royalty-Free license;
you need an exclusive and original image.
Below we recommend services, where to take pictures for the site on a free and paid basis, and tell you why, to make it easier for you to decide.
The best free photostocks
In a selection of 15 free photobases for search of images of any theme, size and resolution for commercial use.
Pixabay
The top photostock opens a large marketplace of photos and videos that users can freely dispose of.
Search by word, phrase, or manually by rubric. Registered users rate images, comment, add to favorites, download in different sizes. You can choose favorites and subscribe to them to track the appearance of new works. There is an opportunity to support the author: pay him some amount of money for the photo – this is optional.
Topics: 20 categories, including architecture, religion, sports, leisure, education, animals, wallpapers.
Number of works: more than 1,5 million photos, illustrations, vectors and video content.
Burst
The resource offers bright, high-quality copyright-free pictures for commercial use: website, blog, printed products, souvenirs and so on.
High and low resolutions are available. The first is chosen for printed publications, the second is better for web graphics.
To use photostock, you do not need registration. A simple interface, easy navigation and downloading in a couple of clicks make Burst one of the popular sites.
Topics: 28 collections from different spheres – sports, business, family, fashion, nature, music, holidays, food, beauty and more.
Pexels
The base allows you to take photos for the site from more than 150 collections, every day images are added to them. There is a search by words, headings, photographers.
Headings: animals, sports, space, cafes, design, water, creativity, from above, dance, portraits, sweets, agriculture, architecture, children, city life and more.
Number of works: 150+ thousand.
Language: English and German.
Dreamstime
A database of stock photos, video and audio content from various spheres made by amateurs and pros. The site has a free section and prices for paid content start at $0.20 per image.
Topics: 16 categories – art, technology, travel, animals, objects, nature, industry, people and more.
Number of works: 85+ million.
Unsplash
A resource for collecting photos that you won’t find at other stock sites. Sorting is possible by collection, tags or author. Updates are released every 10 days.
All images are free, but you can thank the author with a nth amount of money.
Topics: there are the usual collections (people, nature, style, fashion, animals, and so on), as well as a selection of the most downloaded, popular pictures, the choice of the editors.
Number of works: 550+ thousand.
Free Images
Image repository from all over the world: amateur photos and professional works of photographers, illustrators. If you want you can add content to Favorites, just rate it or subscribe to the authors and make a newsletter.
Authorization is required for uploading. Customize your search parameters – popularity, novelty, views, number of downloads, favorites, rating – and choose quality free photos for your website or personal use.
License: Creative Commons Zero (CC0), indicate authorship as desired.
Topics: you will find works on topics such as sports, celebrities, army, cars and motors, signs and symbols, health, medicine, religion, food, architecture, fashion, beauty, games and others.
Number of works: 380+ thousand free photos.
Stockvault
The site is different in that it publishes graphic content by photographers and designers, which is used, most often, for personal and noncommercial purposes. Free pictures for the site are divided by themes.
You don’t need registration to view and download the images – you should log in to the resource if you want to comment on the photos.
License: Creative Commons Zero (CC0), CC Attribution No Derivatives (CC-BY-ND), CC Attribution Non-Commercial (CC-BY-NC).
Topics: animals, people, industry, seasons, textures, transportation, designs, graphics, objects, 3D.
Gratisography
Service offers free pictures for commercial use. The interface is intuitive and you can upload a photo in 1 click. The site has the usual division by category, word search is available.
If there are not enough images Gratisography offers to go to Shuterstock and continue searching there. You will get a 20% discount with the GRATIS promo code.
License: Creative Commons Zero (CC0).
Topics: animals, business, fashion, eccentric, food, nature, objects, people, city.
Number of works: about 1 thousand, updated daily.
Gettyimages
This resource contains free stock imagery, paid photos, audio and video.
The peculiarity of the site is the availability of actual pictures from sports and social life from all over the world, which allows selecting the best images for the news web resources, printed and multimedia media.
Gettyimages overview
Choose a category or collection at a glance
Cost: starting at $150 for 1 download of 10 images. Single download costs from $ 175.
Topics: collections include photos of celebrities, famous politicians, athletes, musicians and actors, collections of images of animals, nature, events and activities, news and more.
DepositPhotos
The number of images at this photostock is constantly growing. Low price for the content and the variety of themes and styles attracts users. There are photos, illustrations, vectors, and videos.
Cost: there are 3 types of plans to choose from. “Flexible” costs $29 for 30 photos per month. If you haven’t used the whole subscription, the number of remaining images will be carried over to the next month.
Categories: 36 categories including abstract, art objects, industry, professions, shopping, communications and more.
Number of works: 80+ million.
Photocase
Inspirational photos of any theme or style will help design your website, magazines, and print products and make them even brighter and more appealing. This is a website where photos are not like ordinary pictures. Every picture here is a work of art. Not for nothing the resource is considered to be one of the best photobanks.
Photocase has comments, ratings of images and authors, and a chat with photographers.
Cost: from $10 for a small size photo. There are credit packages: from $49 for 4 standard size photos.
Sections: collections include a variety of areas of life (studies, education, work), images of people, nature, animals, individual objects.
Pond5
Resource provides stock images, video, audio, sound effects, special effects. Search by word or through a collection catalog.
Bright from the first pages
Cost: different for each job.
Topics: cities, technology, people, food and more.
Number of works: 11+ million images, 12+ million videos, 500+ thousand audio.
Language: photostock is available in 7 languages, including Russian.
Istockphoto
Photos, vector illustrations, audio and video are available in 20 categories. Sign up, choose your price and use a selection of visual content at your discretion.
Freedigitalphotos
The site has a lot of graphic content for any commercial, personal, educational or charitable purposes. The variety of themes allows to buy pictures for web-sites, printed editions, books, social networks, TV shows, movies, work and educational projects.
Cost: There is a free license for small size images, but a link to the final product using the downloaded content is required. The price of paid content starts at $10, with an extended license costing $75.
Topics: symbolism, people, sports, technology and science, holidays and events, travel, transportation, background images.