Photos are a key element in a brand’s communication. When used correctly, stock images can bring your ads, blog posts, and social media content to life.

There are plenty of stock photo sites that offer free images, but have you noticed that many of them seem to use the same photos? Or that you actually can’t use the images however you want because of certain license restrictions? This is an issue even with paid stock photo sites like Shutterstock.

In this article, I want to share my 5 favorite sites that will help you find the images you’re looking for and make your work easier.

5 free high-quality stock image sites

Kaboompics

What I like most about Kaboompics is that their stock photos come with a matching color palette, which is perfect if your project relies heavily on photography but doesn’t yet have a defined branding. It’s also very unlikely that you’ll find the same photos elsewhere—whether landscapes, interiors, people, you name it, they’ve got it. On top of that, there’s a featured category where you can find the most downloaded images of the day.

Unplash

I absolutely love this site. The best thing about Unsplash is that it’s such a huge library that you’ll almost certainly find an image that fits your needs. Even better, you don’t need to double-check each photo for specific license details (everything is free), which saves you a ton of time when working on large projects.

Pexels

Pexels is so easy to use that you’ll know within seconds whether they have the right image for your project or not. One of the unique features this stock site offers is the discover section, where you’ll find curated collections of related images. This is super helpful if you’re not entirely sure what type of image you’re looking for, since it can give you plenty of inspiration.

Pixabay

All content is published under the Creative Commons CC0 license, which makes it safe to use without asking for permission or compensating the artist (even for commercial purposes).

Pixabay allows you to search by file type (photos, illustrations, vectors, videos), so you can really narrow down your search. The quality and originality of the photos on this stock site are truly amazing.

Rawpixel

Whenever someone asks me where I got an image, the answer is almost always Rawpixel. It’s a mix of free and premium images, but you can usually find some real gems that will keep you coming back whenever you need stock photos for a project.

They offer everything from stock photos and vectors to icons, portraits, and even adult coloring book images. Another great feature is the ability to filter by size (portrait, banner, Pinterest, Instagram Story), which makes it super practical.