Why devote an article to free image banks? Because in a world where the image is king, it is essential to use quality visuals on your website, in your publications on social networks and for all your other content.
But where and how can you find free royalty-free images? What is the best source for royalty-free photos? Where can I find free illustrations? Or, where can I find copyright-free designs?
In this article, we take a look at the free photo banks that offer royalty-free photos. By using these sites, you will have access to a large catalogue of free images to meet your needs. You will be able to find very different content: free photo, photo without copyright, free photos free of copyright, image without copyright, free image free of charge, free illustration, free drawings, etc.
If the majority of visuals offered on image banks are free, some can sometimes be paid. But honestly, when it comes to making your website or online store more credible, isn’t having beautiful images to illustrate your brand worth spending a few dollars?
Discover our complete guide to finding the free stock photos that suits your needs. We review 65 different free image banks. In this list of image banks, some are in French, but we explain how to download the images that interest you.
- What is a royalty-free photo?
- Where can I find free royalty-free images?
- Top 5 Free Stock Photo Sites in 2020
- 61 Best Free Image Banks for Startup Business
- 1. Pixambo: 100% Free Stock Photos
- 2. Negative space: High-Quality Free Image Bank
- 3. Devostock: Free Stock Photos for Swedish
- 4. Skitterphoto: Free Stock Photos for Personal Use
- 5. Barn Images
- 6. Picjumbo: Free Stock Images for Commercial Use
- 7. Visualhunt
- 8. Streetwill
- 9. Kaboompics
- 10. Free Stock
- 11. Reshot
- 12. Freephoto.cc
- 13. Public Domain Photos
- 14. Styled Stock
- 15. Designer Pics
- 16. Jeshoots
- 17. Pxhere
- 18. LibreStock
- 19. Photostock editor
- 20. StockSnap.io
- 21. Foodiesfeed
- 22. Pexels
- 23. cc0.photo
- 24. Stockvault
- 25. Foter
- 26. Morguefile
- 27. Libreshot
- 28. Imagebase
- 29. Picdrome
- 30. Lost and Taken
- 31. Photo Everywhere
- 32. Realistic Shots
- 33. Alana.io
- 34. Public Domain Vectors
- 35. Freerange Stock
- 36. Freepik: Free Vector Image Bank
- 37. Rgb Stock
- 38. Gratisography
- 39. Superfamous
- 40. Life to Pix
- 41. Startup Stock Photos
- 42. Jay Mantri
- 43. Picography
- 44. Isorepublic
- 45. Stokpic
- 46. Cupcake
- 47. Getrefe
- 48. Splitshire
- 49. Canva
- 50. All The Free Stock
- 51. Free JPG
- 52. Everystockphoto
- 54. Flickr
- 55. Wikimedia
- 56. Openphoto
- 57. Photopin
- 58. Wallpapers.io
- 59. Freestocks
- 60. Photober
- 61. Pixnio
- 62. Photogen
- Paid image banks for Business
What is a royalty-free photo?
A royalty-free photo is a photo without copyright, which you can use however you want. You have the possibility to put this free photo on your media without mentioning the author. You can decide to use it commercially, like selling products for example. It is also possible to modify a royalty-free photo, in particular by using photo editing software.
Where can I find free royalty-free images?
To find a free photo or royalty-free images, you have to go to an image bank. Also called photo library, an image bank is a website that offers a selection of free photos and royalty-free images. In other words, the free public domain photo or images to copy for free.
Are you wondering how to use a royalty-free stock image bank? It’s very simple. An image bank works as a search engine. All you have to do is type in a keyword such as “jewellery” or “nature” and the bank will offer you images associated with that keyword. You can then download the image of your choice in one click. However, some free image banks require prior registration, with the creation of a user profile.
Top 5 Free Stock Photo Sites in 2020
What are the best free image banks? To help you see more clearly, discover our top 5 free image banks with reference sites for free photos popular with users worldwide.
1. Pixabay: a very varied free image bank
Pixabay is a bank of images, illustrations and videos free of copyright and free, offering more than a million images.
The strengths of this free image bank:
- The Offer Of Royalty Free Vector Sketches And Illustrations
- Wide angles as well as material zooms
- 4 download formats to choose the most suitable resolution
2. Free images: Getty’s free image bank
Free images is an American image bank that works with Getty Images and offer more than 370,000 free royalty-free photos and free illustrations.
The strengths of this free image bank:
- 5 resolution formats offered
- A suggestion of similar photos
- Download without registration
- Commercial use permitted
Please note, some images are chargeable and refer to the Getty Images site. The uses for editorial purposes are chargeable.
3. Unsplash: a very stylish free image bank
Unsplash is a great source for free royalty-free photos. This easy-to-use image bank offers a large selection of royalty-free images for free from a large community of photographers.
The strengths of this image bank:
- Suggested categories
- Very aesthetic photos
- Download without registration
- Search by format and color
4. Fotomelia: a free image bank for French users
Fotomelia is a French free image bank. It brings together hundreds of thousands of royalty-free images classified by topic.
The strong points :
- The interface in French
- Many sub-themes
- Free illustrations, vectors and clipart
5. Burst: Shopify’s copyright-free image bank
Burst is a free image bank created by Shopify for entrepreneurs and small businesses. The platform offers thousands of high-resolution photos and free royalty-free photos taken by its community of photographers. Burst photos work well with Shopify themes.
The strong points :
- A section dedicated to business launches
- Highly visible categories
- Download without registration (you can access all the content by submitting your email address)
61 Best Free Image Banks for Startup Business
Beyond our top 5, there are a large number of free image banks offering free photos. Zoom on 63 image banks to meet all your royalty-free photo needs, even the most specific.
1. Pixambo: 100% Free Stock Photos
This free image bank in English offers free high-resolution images for commercial and personal use.
The strong points :
- High performance site
- Similar photo suggestions
- Download without registration
2. Negative space: High-Quality Free Image Bank
This English image bank is linked to Shutterstock .
The strong points :
- Beautiful picture quality
- CCO license (free personal or commercial use)
- Download without registration
- Subscribe to the newsletter to receive new suggestions every week
Please note, suggestions for similar images – to the right of the image you have chosen – are chargeable on Shutterstock. The free suggestions can be found below.
3. Devostock: Free Stock Photos for Swedish
Devostock is a Swedish image bank, whose site is partially translated into French.
The strong points :
- The site offers free vector illustrations
- 4 download formats including full HD or 4k
- Free download without registration
4. Skitterphoto: Free Stock Photos for Personal Use
Skitterphoto is a small company from the Netherlands, founded by two photographers, who have since opened up the platform to a whole community.
The strong points :
- Free high resolution photos under CC0 license
- Display of shooting dates
- Easy download without registration
5. Barn Images
Barn Images is a free image bank created by two Latvian photographers and open to all photographers. The site is in English. All images are free, but free donation is suggested.
The strong points :
- Download without registration
- Freebies
- Original photos
- A blog for English speakers
6. Picjumbo: Free Stock Images for Commercial Use
Picjumbo offers free photos, wallpapers, and high-resolution images for personal and commercial use.
The strong points :
- Large number of royalty-free images
- Very easy download.
- Premium formula for exclusive images
- Efficient site
7. Visualhunt
Visualhunt is an aggregator of free and royalty-free images from various image banks. The site is in English, so you need to know the terms that interest you.
The strong points :
- Over 300 million photos
- 5 download formats
- License search filter
8. Streetwill
This is a very minimalist free pictures site, with great photos, including lots of landscapes.
The strong points :
- Very high resolution photos
- Original shots and zooms
- Lots of artistic black and white photos
9. Kaboompics
Kaboompics is an excellent free and royalty-free stock image bank, specializing in lifestyle, decoration and blogging.
The strong points :
- Very aesthetic composition of the photos
- Dynamic and community project
- Super easy download
10. Free Stock
This image bank comes in the form of a very simple platform where you can download your photos for commercial and personal use.
The strong points :
- A minimal interface
- Indication of the place where the photo was taken
- Lots of tags for ultra-precise photo search
11. Reshot
Reshot is a free image bank dedicated to emerging photographers. Originality guaranteed!
The strong points :
- Photos selected manually
- Possibility to download free image packs on a particular theme (in exchange for a tweet)
- Original angles on various subjects
12. Freephoto.cc
This image bank offers free and paid photos, but still royalty free.
The strong points :
- A large selection of portraits
- Free lifestyle images (travel, gastronomy, fashion, etc.)
- One download without registration
13. Public Domain Photos
A large platform of royalty-free images, with lots of commercial and advertising type photos. For maximum resolution, you will have to pay a few cents.
The strong points :
- Ideal for illustrating a blog or articles
- Lots of free illustrations
- The license conditions are specified under each photo
14. Styled Stock
A royalty-free and free image bank, specializing in subjects with a mainly female audience: fashion, beauty, decoration, maternity, etc. Type “free” in the search bar to access free photos.
The strong points :
- Specialized content
- An interesting blog for English-speaking entrepreneurs
- Premium packs by theme, in high resolution
15. Designer Pics
This free image bank provides free photos to find simple images from everyday life or professional life.
The strong points :
- Simple but original images
- The conditions of use of royalty-free photos are indicated under each image
- Download without registration
16. Jeshoots
A photo library launched by a photographer who brings together 2.5 million free images on all kinds of themes.
The strong points :
- A collection of free mockups
- Simple, everyday free images
- No attribution required
17. Pxhere
A free image bank in French, on all kinds of themes. You must register on the site to download royalty-free photos.
The strong points :
- A “random” option when inspiration is lacking
- About fifteen download formats
- Description of the conditions of use for each photo
18. LibreStock
Librestock is a free image search engine that relies on several image banks.
The strong points :
- You are sure to find the free photo you need
- Popular tags feature to find images on trending themes
- Download without registration
19. Photostock editor
A photo library of royalty-free and free images in very high resolution, with lots of nature photos.
The strong points :
- Professional and free images with beautiful contrasts
- Free photos of animals, nature, technology, people and food
- Suggested images on the same theme
20. StockSnap.io
A bank of images free of English rights and in high resolution. Some images are chargeable and come from the Shutterstock.com photo library.
The strong points :
- The display of popular queries
- Photos classified by trend
- Ability to add photos to favorites
21. Foodiesfeed
Free images on the food theme exclusively. Coffee, pizzas, cooking, free top view photos of dishes, everything is there.
The strong points :
- All free images for a cooking blog
- Categorization by foodies trend
- Easy download
22. Pexels
A bank of free and royalty-free videos, as well as millions of free images. The site is available in French.
The strong points :
- A very extensive free photo catalog
- Top photographers to discover new talents
- Challenges for those who wish to submit their work
23. cc0.photo
A family site that brings together hundreds of royalty-free photos on a wide variety of everyday themes.
The strong points :
- High resolution photos
- Simple and warm navigation
- A collection of free abstract photos
24. Stockvault
Stockvault is a royalty-free image bank that brings together photographers, graphic designers and students, who share their royalty-free photos and free vector images.
The strong points :
- New images and textures added daily
- Thematic selection according to trends
- Photos chosen manually
- Free illustrations
25. Foter
A platform that brings together more than 365 million free photos. Probably one of the biggest free image banks.
The strong points :
- The size of this image bank
- Several image formats to download
- Details of the rights to the image in question
26. Morguefile
A large family of photographers who publish their photos free of rights every day.
The strong points :
- New free images every day
- Discount codes valid on paid image banks
- Spectacular photos as well as everyday ones
27. Libreshot
A free mini image bank with an interface in English, nevertheless well supplied.
The strong points :
- A photo library with original free photos
- An ultra simple download without registration
- The possibility of following the photographer on social networks
28. Imagebase
Imagebase is an image bank in French, offering free and royalty-free photos for commercial, personal or educational purposes.
The strong points :
- Random search
- Ability to save images to favorites
- Instant download
29. Picdrome
A small database of royalty-free and free images with an interesting selection.
The strong points :
- An interesting selection of free textures
- Beautiful photos under Creative Commons CC0 license
- A collection of free abstract images
30. Lost and Taken
Lost and Taken is a database of free texture photos. Ideal for artistic or creative content. You must register to access the download, but the photos remain free.
The strong points :
- The artistic and free image bank
- An ideal source for a blog dealing with fine art or drawing
- Many formats: free illustration, royalty-free drawings, etc.
31. Photo Everywhere
Photo Everywhere is a photo library specializing in travel memories.
The strong points :
- Over 4000 free travel images
- Many destinations and a focus on Great Britain
- The possibility of integrating images into your content thanks to a line of code
32. Realistic Shots
This free stock image bank is ideal if you are looking for royalty free amateur photos. Realistic Shots indeed offers that little personal touch perfect for blogging.
The strong points :
- One new photo per day
- Personal themes but with which we identify easily
- Download free images without registration
33. Alana.io
The personal website of a photographer named Alana, who offers her photos to the public domain.
The strong points :
- An original signature and free photos that stand out
- Personal and authentic portraits, funny images
- SEO tags that facilitate searches
34. Public Domain Vectors
This is a bank of free vector drawings. These are exclusively royalty-free designs. Ideal for personalizing your communication media.
The strong points :
- Over 60,000 vector images in the public domain
- An interface in French
- A choice of different formats
35. Freerange Stock
An American image bank offering modern free images. You must register to download the photos. Click on “Need to register”.
The strong points :
- Free images in multiple formats
- Lots of texture photos
- New photos every day
36. Freepik: Free Vector Image Bank
Freepik is a free image bank, but free access has one condition: the author must be credited. If you don’t want to do this, you will need to opt for the premium subscription.
The strong points :
- An interface in French
- Over 4 million free photos, vectors and icons
- Free and trendy images
37. Rgb Stock
An easy-to-use, royalty-free photo site in English. Registration required to download the photo.
The strong points :
- Over 100,000 free images
- A section textures and backgrounds
- Technical indications for each image
38. Gratisography
A free images site under common creative license and in high resolution.
The strong points :
- Modern and good quality images
- The number of likes for each image that allows to see the popularity of the image
- A selection of free funny images
39. Superfamous
A rather enigmatic site, which offers a free images section in very high resolution to download.
The strong points :
- Very nice free texture images
- Free aerial photos
- Very aesthetic photos free of rights
40. Life to Pix
Life to Pix is a very Instagram-able free image bank that will give you a hit on social networks! A good source of free photos to liven up your community.
The strong points :
- An extremely modern and young selection
- Very high resolution photos
- Free portraits
41. Startup Stock Photos
A free and royalty-free image bank ideal for entrepreneurs.
The strong points :
- Specialized images for business
- Download by clicking to the right of the photo
- Images for editorial and commercial use
42. Jay Mantri
The site of a professional photographer, who regularly offers his work for free download.
The strong points :
- Exceptional image quality
- A nice selection of black and white
- City videos and seven new photos per week
43. Picography
A site in English but easy to use, which offers images of everyday life.
- A search engine to locate free images
- Tags for trendy photos
- No need to register to download images
44. Isorepublic
A free image bank with lots of very graphic and modern visuals.
The strong points :
- Trendy free images
- A selection of free videos
- Packs grouped by themes
45. Stokpic
Another image bank in English with stunning free photos.
The strong points :
- Lots of royalty-free vacation and paradise island photos
- A large category of free black and white photos
- A “favorite” section to follow trends
46. Cupcake
Cupcake is the site of a Swedish freelance photographer, who makes his free images available.
- A collection of public rights images, with a unique style
- Beautiful landscapes and images of nature
- Free images of Sweden
47. Getrefe
The Tumblr of a pro photographer, who makes his photos available for free use.
The strong points :
- Daily photos but also spectacular
- A shopping experience that is simple, fast and free
- High resolution images
48. Splitshire
A free image bank of around 1,000 photos for free use.
The strong points :
- High resolution photos of original places
- Free photos of parties
- Very high resolution images
49. Canva
Canva is an online visual editor, which allows you to make a variety of documents for free for all your marketing needs. The site also has an image bank. You must register on the site to access it.
The strong points :
- A selection of free business and design oriented photos
- The ability to directly edit images with text or visuals
- Textures and wallpapers
50. All The Free Stock
AllTheFreeStock is a platform containing millions of images, videos and music, all free and royalty-free.
The strong points :
- An impressive list of categories: free special effects
- A bank of free icons
- Color inspirations
51. Free JPG
Another free image bank for commercial or editorial use.
The strong points :
- A color filter to find your royalty-free images
- Categories in the form of hashtags
- Download in engagement
52. Everystockphoto
This site acts as a search engine among 30 million photos under 10 different licenses.
The strong points :
- 53. Free images from NASA
- Lots of free photos of monuments
- Images from the Library of Congress
54. Flickr
This photo-sharing site also allows you to find royalty-free photos. This is not the case for all photos. You must register to have access to the download.
The strong points :
- Original photos
- A search filter for all possible licenses
- Technical details of the shooting
55. Wikimedia
As the name suggests, Media Wikipedia encourages the free sharing of knowledge, including through images. Be careful, most of the time you will have to credit the author of the photo.
The strong points :
- A global and community image bank
- Licenses of different types (to be verified)
- One new free image or video per day
56. Openphoto
This free image bank has offered thousands of photos for free download for over 20 years. The conditions of use vary from one photo to another but are indicated on the site.
The strong points :
- Dozens of interesting textures
- Free close-up images
- Technical details provided for each image
57. Photopin
A free image bank designed for bloggers, with millions of photos on all possible and imaginable themes.
The strong points :
- 8 download formats
- A powerful search engine
- Content dedicated to bloggers
58. Wallpapers.io
A site in principle dedicated to wallpapers but which will also be perfect for images to download for free. As you can see, there are pictures of cats in particular.
The strong points :
- A very pleasant wall of images to scroll through
- Different download formats
- Presentation of the most popular or commented categories
59. Freestocks
A well-stocked image base, with everyday themes: gardening, tattooing, coffee, business …
The strong points :
- A search engine to find the ideal free photo
- Seasonal images
- Indications on popular images
60. Photober
Photober is another free photo bank, where you will find a large collection of amateur photos.
The strong points :
- Ideal for having photos with a personal and authentic touch
- Images of everyday life: food, nature, city life …
- Technical information under the photos
61. Pixnio
Pixnio is a site that brings together hundreds of images for free download, taken by amateur photographers.
The strong points :
- A deliberately imperfect style
- A search engine by color, very practical to use
- Lots of technical details for each photo
62. Photogen
This small, free image bank offers quality, high-resolution photos.
The strong points :
- Photo search by category
- Lots of textures (via texturegen)
- One click download
Paid image banks for Business
While it is possible to find many free photos of very good quality, sometimes it can be useful to use a paid image bank. This is the case, for example, if you want to have a unique visual to stand out from your competitors, or if you are looking for something very specific. Paid image banks tend to offer a more extensive selection on the same theme than free image banks. Pay banks often hire professional photographers to take photo series. We recommend 4 paying image banks in particular.
1. iStock by Getty Images
The strong points :
- Millions of images of all types
- A unique and careful selection
- Accessible subscription plans
2. Fotolia by Adobe
This paid image bank was acquired by Adobe Stock. The famous graphics software suite guarantees high-quality images.
The strong points :
- A welcome offer: 10 free images
- Unparalleled quality
- Affordable prices
3. Death To Stock
This paid image bank offers you a monthly subscription which gives you access to 45 photos per month.
The strong points :
- Super original and exclusive photos
- Many texture images
- 3 different types of subscriptions
4. Deposit Photos
A platform that offers CC0 license and high-resolution images. If the consultation is free, you must subscribe to download the images.
The strong points :
- Lots of royalty-free abstract images
- Royalty free vector images
- Free videos for editorial and commercial use
You are well informed about the banks of free images free of rights. What to find a free photo of your dreams! So what do you think is the best image bank? Tell us in the comments.
Where can I get free stock photos?
There is a huge number of sites which offer royalty-free images. Some of them are Pixabay, Pexels, Unsplash, Freepik, Flickr, and many more.
Can I use stock photos for free?
Yes, you can use royalty free images for personal, editorial and commercial purposes.
Where can I download high-quality images for free?
Pixabay, Unsplash, Freepik, Flickr and Pexels are the best image banks to download high-quality images for free.
What is the best free photo sharing site?
Google Photos, Imgur, 500px and Flickr are some of the best photo sharing sites on the Internet?