10 Fantastic Stock Photo Sites in 2021 (Paid + Free)
Visuals have a language of their own. What cannot be fully conveyed with words or numbers will score a bullseye with a meaningful shot attached to it.
In today’s modern world, images have become an integral part of our everyday digital routine. We come across thousands of photographs every day, and the online world literally revolves around photos.
So, suppose you are running an online business or owning a simple blog. In that case, you need high-quality images to promote your work across the World Wide Web.
But don’t worry if you don’t own photos of your own yet. You can source images from these fantastic stock photo sites that offer stock images in both – free and paid modules. Let’s get started.
Paid Stock Photo Sites
First, let’s begin with the websites that offer pictures for a price. These are licensed images and somewhat more exclusive than free versions as they are not very overused.
- Shutterstock
Shutterstock is one of the best stock photos websites out there, with as many as 360 million images up for grabs. These include photographs of all sorts, illustrations, vector images, videos, even music, you name it, and it’s there. There are several price plans that you can choose from according to your specific budget.
And this is not it; if you have limited finances, the website offers you pay-as-you-go plans to get some images for a minimal fee.
- iStock
Are you looking for some stunning, artistic visual content to use for commercial or non-commercial purposes? iStock has a vast library of stock images and photographs belonging to various categories. Their content is backed under the royalty-free license, allowing the users to use the pictures as many times as possible.
In case you are looking for images on iStock, you can get a fantastic discount by using an iStock promo code.
- StockPhotos.com
If you are seeking some legally safe and really cool photos, look no further. StockPhotos has got your back! Not only images, but you could find vector illustrations and fonts here as well.
The plethora of excellent quality images and visual content definitely got us overwhelmed. Check out this stock photos website for images and illustrations at highly affordable and reasonable prices. You won’t have to strain your wallet and still get photos worth much more than they cost on this website.
- Adobe Stock
Adobe Stock is another useful platform that offers excellent quality photos and images. We all know Adobe for their famous Photoshop and Illustrator software programs, but their expertise just doesn’t limit that. They have a whole website where they offer best-curated photos, illustrations, 3D visual content, vector pictures, and so much more.
If you are not sure whether you want to buy from Adobe, you can check out their 30-day trial, which offers up to 10 photographs for free.
- Dreamstime
Dreamstime has an enormous stock of professional photographs where expert photographers contribute their best pieces every day. As of this writing, the site hosts some 170 million stock images on its platform. The images will cost you less than a dollar for one piece. They also have a 15 image free trial that you can try out if you are on a budget.
Also, check out their free section to get your hands on some really great shots without having to pay a dime.
Free Stock Photo Sites
Enough of the paid stock photos websites. Who doesn’t like free stuff? Because we sure do!
Let’s dig into some stock photos websites that offer free stock photos to everyone.
- Shopify Burst
Let’s begin with the fantastic stock images platform, Shopify Burst. It is a great resource to get free stock photos. It has images primarily for entrepreneurs.
This website offers images with high quality and resolution, while it has an excellent user interface and a modern design. You can quickly get free stock photos according to your preferred category. Check out their “Business Ideas” section to readily locate images that suit your niche best.
- Unsplash
Another great free stock photos website is Unsplash. They have excellent, editorial-style pictures that could fit your market campaigns, promotions, e-stores, or whatever purpose you need the images for. The website keeps updating its database of over 2 million pictures every day as well.
Although the website’s search function is somewhat limited, it is an excellent source of royalty-free and high-quality images.
- Pikwizard
Definitely, one of our favorites is Pikwizard. It boasts an impressive library of over 1 million high-quality pictures, with more being added daily.
Although it is always good to give credit to the man behind the camera, it’s all right even if you don’t want to. Similar to others in this list, Pikwizard doesn’t make attribution necessary. So, just grab any picture of your choice from this platform and enjoy them for free!
- Gratisography
Download all your favourite stock photos from Gratisography and use them to upscale your visual game for your blog, promotional pieces, and whatnot. Their “peace of mind” license lets you collect all the lovely pictures from their website. Oh, and yes! They have some really cool illustrations too!!
- Pexels
Pexels is definitely a treasure chest of unique and aesthetically pleasing stock photos. If you can’t find pictures of your liking on the above websites, you are sure to find them here. Their search function offers some handy parameters and is easy to use. I am a fan of their spectacular landscape photos. Do check them out!
Conclusion
So whether you are on a budget or not, you are sure to upgrade your business game with the best creative and appealing visual content from the above list. While you can totally drool over the freebies, too, it definitely is worthwhile to pay for some high-quality stuff from the paid websites as well.