Free stock photos and video
Photos and stock footage you can use commercially without paying or crediting anyone — as long as you read the licence.
- UnsplashHigh-quality photos free for commercial use, no attribution required.
- PexelsFree photos and stock video clips with a simple license.
- PixabayPhotos, illustrations, vectors, video and music, all free to use.
Free stock photos and video: what to know
Free stock has one catch: "free" means something different on every site. Most of these allow commercial use without attribution, but each has its own list of what you may not do — resell the file as it is, put a recognisable face in a sensitive context, or imply an endorsement.
The other catch is that everyone uses the same popular images. Search for the specific object rather than the concept, and go a few pages deep, and your page stops looking like everyone else’s.
How to choose
- Read the licence on the site itself, not a summary somewhere else.
- Photos with recognisable people need a model release for advertising.
- Resize and compress before uploading — stock files are huge.