Attractive web design helps make your content engaging. It helps emphasize a point, make the content more readable, and, most of all, engages your users. Yet, sourcing high-quality, relevant imagery can be expensive and time-consuming. On the other hand, free stock images often come with a watermark or are not as inspiring as a paid photograph.
Nonprofits, frequently operating with budget constraints, often find themselves torn between a good image and its price. In this article, we solve this dilemma by providing you with a list of websites with robust libraries of free imagery.
Unsplash
Unsplash has aggregated some of the most beautiful, free images gifted by a generous community of photographers globally. These free high-resolution photos come in a vast range of categories, including nature, people, architecture, current events, business and work, experimental, fashion, film, health and wellness, interiors, and more. Unsplash also has topical photos on subjects relating to Covid-19, art and culture, mental health, etc. Apart from free stock images, they also have a collection of images that are part of the public domain, meaning they’re free for anyone to use.
StockSnap
Stocksnap is another site where you to access hundreds of high-resolution images, free from copyright restrictions. Photos are added to Stocksnap weekly, and you can download and use them for both commercial and personal projects for free. The popular categories include photos of nature, people, fitness, art, and more. You also get to see popular or trending photos sorted by views, likes, and downloads.
Pexels
Pexels is another destination for talented creators to share stock photos and videos with the community. All photos and videos on Pexels are free to use. Since attribution is not required, giving credit to the photographer or Pexels is not necessary when you use one of their photos. Users can modify the photos and videos by editing them as they choose.
Pixabay
Pixabay has a collection of more than 2.3 million high-quality stock images that are free and do not ask for any royalty. The contents come under the Pixabay license, making them safe to use without asking for permission or giving credit to the artist – even for commercial purposes. However, users can contribute through PayPal if they choose to. Pixabay also offers a developer API, giving access to the entire collection of more than two million photos, illustrations, vector graphics, and videos for free. Companies like Canva, Adobe, Buffer, Befunky, PIXLR, and Lightricks use the services of Pixabay.
Death to the Stock
Death to the Stock is a co-operative owned by artists that equips users with the freshest possible stock photos and videos. While it’s not completely free, it does offer a 2-week free trial, with an incredibly affordable monthly plan after that. The allowed number of downloads is unlimited as the site keeps adding new work to its portfolio every month. However, knowing that you’re directly supporting a community of artists helps make the fee worth it. You’ll also have access to a truly diverse library of photography you likely won’t find on other stock websites.
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