Get Great, Free Photos to Use on Your Blog

Millions of free images for blogs and websites

Finding free photos for blogs can be challenging because so many images online have stringent copyright restrictions. However, several websites offer high-quality photos that bloggers can use for free.

Some of the free blog photos on these sites require you to provide attribution or notify the photographer before use.

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Best Site for Free Photos: Freeimages

FreeImages free stock photos for personal and commercial use
What We Like
  • Images are free for personal and commercial use in digital or printed form.

  • Each image is available in several sizes.

  • Image page displays thumbnails of related images.

What We Don't Like
  • A free account is required for downloading.

  • No exclusive rights are granted.

  • Prohibits the use of images in products for resale and company logos.

FreeImages (formerly Stock Xchange) is a great resource for finding free photos. This attractive website organizes photos into categories so that you can easily peruse images on specific topics. Restrictions vary by photo, so check the copyright and attribution requirements for each image.

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Free Photo Sharing: Flickr Creative Commons

Flickr Creative Commons free stock photos for personal and commercial use
What We Like
  • Any image with a Creative Commons license is available for download.

  • Other images can be downloaded for a fee.

What We Don't Like
  • Primarily a photo and video cloud storage service.

  • Many images are private and cannot be downloaded.

Flickr is a cloud storage service that allows users to upload their images for others to use. Search for Creative Commons to see a list of freely available photos, and click on any of the thumbnails to view rights retained by the photographer. Make sure to always provide attribution and a link back to the source if required.

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No Attribution Needed: MorgueFile

MorgueFile free stock photos for personal and commercial use
What We Like
  • More than 350,000 free images for commercial or personal use.

  • Click a thumbnail to see size, number of downloads, license, keywords, and other info.

  • No attribution required.

What We Don't Like
  • Cannot search the site by category (only keyword).

  • Images cannot be sold, and you cannot claim ownership.

MorgueFile has a large mix of free and premium high-quality photos. Just search for Free to see only royalty-free images. While you can't claim the images as your own, you don't have to provide attribution to the original creator, even when using an image for commercial purposes. If you can't find a photo you like, you can put in a request with MorgueFile's massive user community.

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Free Vector Art: Dreamstime

Dreamstime free photos, illustrations, and vector graphics
What We Like
  • Extensive selection of free and public-domain images.

  • Huge list of categories for search.

  • Millions of royalty-free images.

What We Don't Like
  • Credit card required to set up a free account.

  • Not all photos are free.

  • Must read license carefully to avoid misuse of images.

Dreamstime provides a large selection of royalty-free stock photos and vector images that are available either for free or for as little as $0.20. As long as you don't claim to own the image itself, you can use most of these on your blog. Just check the rights that the photographers have assigned to the images before downloading them.

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Free Background Textures: StockVault

StockVault free image collection
What We Like
  • Free Stock Photos tab goes straight to free images.

  • Search by term or category.

  • Lots of background textures for blogs.

What We Don't Like
  • Licenses vary on free downloads.

  • Some licenses require attribution.

StockVault is a community of photographers and artists who share their work online. The site includes a section just for bloggers, where it showcases free textures, photos, and design elements that are particularly useful for blog posts. You'll also find links to get discounts on premium stock photo services like Shutterstock.

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Your Citation
Gunelius, Susan. "Get Great, Free Photos to Use on Your Blog." ThoughtCo, Dec. 6, 2021, thoughtco.com/top-sites-to-find-free-photos-3476732. Gunelius, Susan. (2021, December 6). Get Great, Free Photos to Use on Your Blog. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/top-sites-to-find-free-photos-3476732 Gunelius, Susan. "Get Great, Free Photos to Use on Your Blog." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/top-sites-to-find-free-photos-3476732 (accessed March 19, 2024).