Do you run a blog and/or social media profile and need good quality, free stock photos? If so, read my today’s guide. I’ve put together a list of the best places to find free stock photos with a CC0 licence.
Free stock photos with a CC0 licence – what does that mean?
The CC0 (Creative Commons Zero) licence means that the author of the images has waived the exercise of all copyright rights over them worldwide and has voluntarily transferred them to the public domain.
In practice, this means that you can easily download, copy, edit and distribute such photos or graphics for both non-commercial and commercial use. Furthermore, you do not have to (but of course can) credit the author.
There is also the CC by licence, which allows all of the above, with only one difference – you have to mention the author of the photo.
While I know it is good to support the authors whose works you use and promote them in every possible way, I also realise that this is problematic in some cases. Adding a reference to the author on photos or graphics that we would like to use, for example, as article covers or on social media, would each time require editing (adding captions). For those who publish a lot of content, this would certainly take a lot of extra time. Not everyone can afford to buy images from the web, either.
That is why for today I have selected 10 places where you can find completely free stock photos with a CC0 licence. The photo authors who publish their works on such sites have voluntarily and consciously waived the exercise of copyright on them. No rights are therefore violated and no one is harmed.
Free stock photos with a CC0 licence – 10 best places
There are plenty of sites on the web that offer free stock photos. As I mentioned earlier, for today’s post I have selected those that only include photos and images with a CC0 licence.
The photos and images from the sites I have included below can therefore be used without any issues, whether for commercial or non-commercial purposes. You also do not need to include the authors’ names on them. In addition, the stock photos on the following pages are available without registration and are of high resolution and quality.
1. Pexels
One of the best-known sites for free stock images. Images are divided into various themed collections. In addition, the site offers a convenient search engine, which enables users to search for photos and images by keyword. I often enter general keywords, such as smartphone, MacBook, or office.
2. Pixabay
Another great service. Its database contains almost 1.5 million high-quality photos and images. As on Pexels, the stock is divided thematically into collections. However, I prefer to use the built-in search engine and search for photos by keyword. In my opinion, this is the most convenient option.
3. Unsplash
A fantastic service that is one of the largest databases of free stock photos. As you can read on the website, it already contains over 3 million images. I have to admit that this is one of my favourite free photo sites. Here I always find what I am looking for.
4. Picjumbo
I found out about picjumbo a little later, but as soon as I tried this site I was satisfied with it. On Picjumbo I definitely recommend searching for photos by category. The images are grouped very well, so for people who need photos with a specific theme, it’s perfect.
5. Startup Stock Photos
This bank of free stock photos is my latest revelation. It contains office and business-themed photos, which is what I mostly look for.
6. Kaboompics
Another database of free and good-quality stock photos. It contains a lot of fashion-related photos, but not only those.
7. Gratisography
Not my favourite site, but I know some people love it. This site contains a lot of fun and unusual photos. For people who need exactly that – highly recommended.
8. Jeshoots
The advantage of the Jeshoots website is certainly the clear division into categories. However, the stock database is considerably more limited than those available on the top services. The site is less famous than Pixabay or Unsplash, so you can find less popular and used photos there. Everything has its benefits.
9. Skitterphoto
Like the previous site, Skitterphoto also has far more limited resources than the top image banks. However, this has a positive side – less frequently used stock photos can be found here.
10. Skuawk
The advantages of the last site I’m mentioning today are its clarity and convenient categorisation. Another plus is that you can find less popular images on it. The site doesn’t even have a built-in search engine, but the division into specific topics does a sufficient job.
In summary, there are plenty of free stock photos on the internet with high quality and resolution. The choice is so huge that it is almost hard not to find what you are looking for. In addition, there are plenty of sites offering photos and images with a CC0 licence, which you can do anything with – use and distribute in any way you like
So at the moment, paying for images from the internet in my opinion is pointless.
I hope you found my list of the 10 best places with free stock images helpful.
