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Updated by Susan K. Daniels on May 24, 2023
Headline for Low to No-Cost Images
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Low to No-Cost Images

When you use free images from any site, be sure to create separate folders in which to store them. Please note that sometimes free graphics get sold to sites such as iStock or Getty Images. So, be sure to name your folders by website and date to prove when and where you sourced the image. This will protect you when a formerly "free" photo is found on your site after it gets sold to iStock or Getty Images or a similar site. I recommend that you keep an excel record or something similar. If you keep a blog log or another type of record keeping system - add a column for source of image.

Also, two very important things to note about royalty free online images is:

  1. Many artist/photographers often post the same image for sale on several sites.
  2. Some image site such as Canva Pro source their images from several sites.

What happens is some sites will try to go after you for an image that you sourced from a site other than theirs. So, it's very important that you date your images and keep them in folder by source on your desktop or in the cloud and record it in your logs.

What becomes really difficult for you is when the site from which you sourced your image no longer keeps that particular image on their site. Then, another site that current holds that image might ask you to prove your source. So, keep logs and date files - especially if you source from more than one or two sources regularly.

For my graphic art projects such as Editorial, Presentation and WordPress design, I source my images from CanvaPro and Adobe Images. CanvaPro remains at low price of about $14.99 per month and Adobe Images is $49.99 per month for 24 credits per month. Adobe is a high price but it gives you a great source for higher quality should you need it.

TIP: Be aware because some of the artist/photographers who sell their images on Adobe also have them posted on other sites as well. So, sometimes you're paying more than is necessary. As you become familiar with the sites, you will see what I mean. So, I always search Canva Pro first and Adobe second to keep my operating costs at a minimum.

Image credit is requested but not required on many of these sites. However, read carefully and follow the instructions for each site. 👌

Canva Pro - An Online Graphic Design Tool: Try Canva Pro Free

Canva Pro is an online graphic design app trusted by over 200,000 companies worldwide. You'll have access to thousands of beautiful design templates, our easy drag-and-drop software, Brand Kit, Magic Resize Tool, and Unlimited Storage. Start your free Canva Pro trial or use Canva for free.

Adobe Images

Search Adobe Stock for millions of royalty-free stock images, photos, graphics, vectors, video footage, illustrations, templates, 3d assets and high-quality premium content. Try risk-free today.

Unsplash

Unsplash | Beautiful, free pictures. Explore popular picture categories on Unsplash. All photos are free to download and use under the Unsplash License.

Pixabay

Over 1,300,000 high quality photos, illustrations, and vector graphics. Free for commercial use. No attribution required.

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PEXELS

PEXELS

Search through thousands of royalty free images on Pexels. You can use all images on Pexels for free, even for commercial use.

Storyblocks Images

Download all off the stock photo, vectors, and graphics you need with a Storyblocks Images membership. Join today and get access to our unlimited library.

Creative Commons

When we share, everyone wins. Another year, another incredible Creative Commons Global Summit! This year, nearly 400 Creative Commoners gathered in Lisbon, Portugal to lift their voices in support of the Commons as advocates, activists, creators, and community members dedicated to a more open and sharing world.

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Flickr

Flickr

Please note that there are several license types presented on Flickr, including Attribution, Noncommercial, Share Alike and No Derivative Works. Choose the best fit for your blog needs.

The Met Open Access

On February 7, 2017, The Met made all images of public-domain works in its collection available under Creative Commons Zero (CC0). There are more than 406,000 images of artworks from The Met collection to use, share, and remix—without restriction.

Search the Collection

Read the FAQ page for more information on our Open Access program.

Public Domain Pictures - Free Stock Photos

Home for Public Domain Pictures. Free for private and commercial use.

Getty Images Free for Non-commercial Use

If you are a non-profit or have a completely non-commercial site (no google ads, etc.), Getty Images has a program wherein you can use their images free of charge.

Wikimedia Commons

If you are browsing Commons for the first time, you may want to start with Featured pictures, Quality images or Valued images.You can also see some work created by our highly skilled contributors in Meet our photographers and Meet our illustrators. You may also be interested in Picture of the Year.

New Old Stock

New Old Stock | Vintage photos from the public archives. Free of known copyright restrictions. Recapturing History.

Morguefile

Morguefile | Free stock photos. Looking for high resolution stock photos for your illustration, comp or design needs? Search morgueFile for free reference images. Yes, they're all completely free. whether you're an illustrator, art director, instructor or looking to add a defining visual to a presentation.

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Toptal

Toptal

Subtle Patterns â—Ź Free textures for your next web project. Subtle Patterns brought to you by Toptal, free textures for your next web project. Find out more here.

Gratisography - Free High-Resolution Photos

The world's quirkiest collection of free high-resolution pictures you can use on your personal and commercial projects. All completely free of copyright restrictions. New photos added every week!

GraphicBurger

GraphicBurger | Tasty design resources made with care for each pixel. Free for both personal & commercial use. Have a bite!

Best PSD Freebies

Best PSD Freebies | The top resource on the web to download high quality, free PSD design resources for your web and print projects. These Photoshop resources include icons and much more.

PDPics.com

Get Public Domain Pictures and Images at PDPics.

Sketchapp TV

Sketchapp TV | The best free Sketch Resources, every day. | Free Sketchapp 3 Resources | Sketchapp TV offers free Sketch video tutorials and design resources like iOS and Android UIs, icons, web designs and device mockups for Sketch 3 by Bohemian Coding. Sketch 3 is super easy to learn, has a beautiful, yet simple interface which allows you to create stunning vector graphics and has a great community of designers who contribute many freebies everyday.

Sketch App Sources

Sketch App Sources is a catalog of free resources for web ui ux designers working with Sketch 3 by Bohemian Coding. All .sketch files and .svg files are editable and freely use.

PixelBuddha

PixelBuddha is happy to offer exclusive Free and Premium high quality resources for web designers and developers.

ByPeople

ByPeople | A growing repository with 733 bundles & 10148 resources for web ninjas (freebies, plugins, photos and snippets) updated & curated every day, so it never expires.

Free PSD Goodies and Mockups for Designers

Free PSD Goodies and Mockups for Designers | Hello everyone! We are really proud to Introduce our new font Gant, a classy and bold font that makes everything looks a bit more elegant. Another great font created by Marcelo Reis Melo, download for free or donate 2$ to support the author.

flypixel

flypixel | Awesome design freebies | Hundreds of awesome web and UI design freebies. 834 design freebies and counting. Designed by everyone. Curated by @n33co.