11 Best Stock Photo Sites in 2024 | (Free and Paid Options)
Stock photo sites have been a game changer for designers, bloggers, and business owners looking to add high-quality images to their content without breaking the bank.
Nowadays, You don’t have to worry about doing your photo shoots, and you can save your precious time.
Plus, with the right stock photo site, you can find a wide variety of images to suit your specific needs.
So, In this article, I have compiled a list of the top 11 best stock photo sites for 2024.
Whether you are looking for free options or are willing to invest in high-quality images, this site will get you covered.
The 7 Best Stock Photo Sites (Free Options)
1. Unsplash
Unsplash has a vast library of high-quality images that are free to use for personal and commercial purposes. They have more than five million photos in their collection and add thousands of new images daily.
The site is easy to navigate, and the photos are organized into different categories, making it simple to find what you’re looking for.
They also have apps from different platforms like iOS app, Android photo pickers, desktop wallpaper apps, and a Google Chrome extension for easy access.
You can also use them with popular tools like Figma, Notion, Trello, Canva, and Zapier. So, it’s a perfect source for any creative work.
2. Pexels
Pexels provides a wide range of high-quality images, videos, and illustrations. It has a simple search function and categories to help you find the perfect photo quickly.
They have over three million free stock photos and videos in their library, which is also regularly updated by users and manually reviewed.
You can use their free photos for any personal or commercial project, with no attribution required.
They also offer a premium subscription service with additional features and exclusive content access.
The two most popular stock photo sites, Pexels & Pixabay, were acquired by Canva in 2019. So, If you have a Canva subscription, you can reap the benefit of their huge collections for your visual projects.
3. Pixabay
Pixabay is another popular site that offers over four million free stock images, videos, vector graphics, and illustrations.
Their library includes both user-submitted content and images from other sources, ensuring a diverse and comprehensive collection.
They have a clean and easy-to-use interface with categories for quick browsing. You can search by filtering photographer, orientation, color, and size for more specific results.
Pixabay also features an Editor’s Choice curation section, showcasing the best images on the site.
So if you need stunning and unique visuals for your project, check out Pixabay!
4. Burst by Shopify
Burst is a free stock photo site specifically designed for entrepreneurs and eCommerce business owners.
It offers high-quality images catering to business-oriented photos like retail, eCommerce, money, products, etc. They also have a substantial collection of lifestyle, nature, and technology photos.
Burst is user-friendly and features categories like popular business niches and seasonal collections to make finding the right photo easier.
You can also find helpful articles and resources on their blog about business and marketing-related topics.
So, If you’re an entrepreneur or online business owner looking for professional-looking visuals that align with your brand, Burst is a great option.
5. Freepik
Freepik is a great choice for unique and creative illustrations, icons, PSD files, and vector graphics.
It has over three million free resources that are updated daily. They also offer a premium subscription service with access to more exclusive content.
Freepik is user-friendly and allows you to search by category, asset type, collection, or license. You can also filter results by AI-generated color or orientation.
All images of Freepik are downloaded in a zip file that comes with AI, EPS, and JPG file formats.
So, it’s perfect for designers or those who need quality visuals for their creative projects.
6. 123RF
123RF is a comprehensive media library that offers both AI-generated and stock photos, video footage, audio clips, and vector illustrations.
It has a user-friendly interface with features like advanced search filters, auto-suggest keywords, and categories for easy navigation.
You can also create custom collections to save and access your favorite images later.
You can even remove the image’s background, add text, and customize it according to your needs using their online image editor.
123RF offers a Plus subscription with exclusive content and unlimited downloads from their vast media library, including photos, AI images, vectors, and 3D illustrations.
It’s a great option for those looking for more versatile media than just photos.
7. Flickr
Flickr is a community-based photo-sharing platform with a vast collection of over ten million images shot by amateur and professional photographers from around the world.
It is a great way to find talented photographers and discover unique, authentic images for your projects.
This site lets you search by trending photos, explore themes, and engage with fellow creators.
You can also upload your photos and join groups to connect with other photographers and showcase your work.
But you can’t use every photo for free on Flickr, especially for commercial purposes. So make sure to read their Creative Commons License before downloading an image.
You can use their advanced search filters to find Creative Commons-licensed photos that you can use for free, with proper attribution.
So, if you’re looking for artistic and original images to elevate your content, Flickr is a great place to start.
The 4 Best Stock Photo Sites (Paid Options)
1. Shutterstock
Shutterstock is one of the most popular paid stock photo sites, with over 450 million images and videos in its library.
It offers a wide range of content, including photos, illustrations, vectors, and video footage.
Every day, Shutterstock adds ten thousand new images to its collection, and all of them are high-resolution and professional-looking.
They offer multiple subscription plans that allow you to download a certain number of images per month or purchase on-demand credits.
Shutterstock’s images can be expensive if you purchase them individually, but they offer discounts with their yearly subscription plans, saving you some money.
Other than that, Shutterstock also provides a free image editing tool for customers to edit photos easily.
2. iStock
iStock is one of the longest-standing stock photo sites, originally founded in 1999.
It has a vast collection of images and videos with over 175 million assets in its library.
iStock offers Basic, Premium, and Premium + Video subscriptions for which users pay monthly or yearly fees to download images, videos, and illustrations.
It offers high-quality and exclusive content with various pricing options to fit different budgets.
It’s great for finding unique and high-quality images, videos, and illustrations for your projects.
It also offers a free image editor to make basic edits on your purchased images.
3. Adobe Stock
Adobe Stock is a paid stock photo site owned by the popular software company Adobe.
It features over 200 million royalty-free assets that you can access for a relatively cheaper price.
Adobe Stock’s collection includes photos, illustrations, vectors, and videos that you can use in your creative projects.
It also offers templates, plugins, and other resources to support designers and content creators.
One of the benefits of using Adobe Stock is its integration with other Adobe products, such as Photoshop and Illustrator.
This makes it easier to access and use your purchased assets seamlessly within these programs.
So, if you’re already an Adobe user, this would be a great option for adding high-quality visuals to your projects.
4. EyeEm
EyeEm is a paid stock photo site that focuses on authentic, high-quality images taken by photographers around the world.
If you find an image you’re interested in using, you can purchase it through on-demand pricing or choose from one of their subscription plans.
EyeEm also offers a platform for photographers to sell their photos and earn royalties, so you can find unique and original images on this site.
Overall, EyeEm is a great stock image website because it is founded by photographers, and it gives back to the photography community.
It’s perfect for finding eye-catching and genuine images that will elevate your creative projects.
Overall
Stock photo sites have been a valuable resource for creatives and businesses alike, with their vast libraries of high-quality images and other media assets.
They save a lot of time to find the perfect image and offer a variety of options to fit different needs and budgets.
Most of the time, the free stock sites are enough to meet your needs, but if you’re looking for more exclusive and professional images, paid stock sites are the way to go.
Ultimately, it’s important to choose the stock photo site that best fits your budget and meets the needs of your projects.
So, I would recommend checking out multiple sites to compare prices and offerings before making a purchase.
After all, it’s all about finding the perfect visual to elevate your content.
