While nailing your copy is crucial in digital ads and across all branded content, visual assets are equally, or perhaps even more, important, since photos and other graphics can grab attention much more successfully than text alone. As a professional photographer with over a decade of experience working with various brands across multiple categories, I’ve seen firsthand the power of quality images in ad performance, brand awareness, and more. But wanting to use high-quality images in your campaigns or on your website doesn’t have to mean hiring a professional photographer or taking images yourself.
Stock photo websites offer a more feasible alternative for most companies. These websites are simply online photo libraries that provide royalty-free or rights-managed access to professional-quality images, videos, and illustrations. Instead of paying a photographer to create custom images, and all the steps involved in that, a bit of time spent searching these databases can yield images you can use in your materials.
Stock photo sites span just about every genre and industry, so no matter your business’ focus, you’ll be able to find relevant images. Thanks to these sites, you can find eye-catching visuals to include in your marketing materials or website with much less fuss and at a significantly lower cost.
Free Stock Photo Sites
If your business doesn’t have the budget for stock photos, you aren’t out of luck. There are plenty of free stock photo sites you can take advantage of to find visuals for your brand. Of course, free sites often come with some restrictions. That may be in the form of a more limited or less polished selection, less useful search tools, restrictive licensing, or specific attribution requirements. Still, the sites below all offer worthy images for those needing stock photos for free.
Unsplash
When I need free stock photos, Unsplash is my first stop. Its images are more modern and trend-driven than traditional stock photo sites. The site also focuses on authentic lifestyle images, which is why I often search there for photos when I need adventure-based imagery. There are over six million photos at the site from 375,000 contributors, so there’s a good chance you’ll find something that fits your brand. If you need help figuring out what you need, there are many collections to browse, even as niche as water lily photos and unicorn photos.
Attribution for photos you download from Unsplash isn’t required, but it is appreciated since photographers are giving away their images for free. You can use the images for commercial purposes, so use is flexible even though you don’t need to pay anything.
The main downside to Unsplash is the search functionality. It can be a time-consuming process to find the right images since there are so many and the search tool isn’t very robust. There aren’t as many filters as paid stock photo sites, and search results aren’t as reliable as what you may get elsewhere. But for free, high-quality lifestyle images, Unsplash is a great resource.
Pixabay
Pixabay hosts more than 5.2 million images that are free to use, making this site a great resource for brands without much of a marketing budget. Like Unsplash, you can use the photos commercially and don’t need to credit the photographer, though it is appreciated, especially in editorial content where attribution is more common.
Pixabay’s images vary in terms of style. Some images are more generic and staged, like traditional stock photos, while others offer a more authentic, modern feel. You can find content for just about anything, including still life imagery, flat lay backgrounds, landscapes, editorial images, and more. Beyond photos, you can also find a range of videos, illustrations, and even stock audio, helping you elevate your videos.
Like Unsplash, the search functionality is more limited. There are only a few filters to use, including orientation, size, color, and published date, but you can’t get more granular than that. That means you’ll likely need to spend more time sorting through images than you would elsewhere. But there are very high-quality images at Pixabay, so if you have the time, it is worth it.
Pexels
Pexels offers hundreds of thousands of images for brands to use for free. Images are available through the Pexels license, and like the others above, attribution isn’t required, though it is appreciated. You can modify images from Pexels as much as you’d like, allowing you to fine-tune what you find so it best fits your needs.
The style of images at Pexels is vast, but across the board they are high-quality with a professional-grade aesthetic. Most images are more candid than traditional stock photos, giving a more authentic and on-trend look. There’s also plenty of diversity in subjects across Pexels, so if that’s important to your brand, you’ll be able to find images to meet that need. Of course, like the other free sites, the search tools are very limited, so you may have to spend more time sorting through images to find what you need.
One of the main benefits of Pexels is its stock video library. You’ll have access to a wide range of videos for free, but despite the fact they’re free, they are very high quality, giving you pro-grade video content for your brand without hiring a videographer. If you need video content for social media or email newsletters, Pexels is a fantastic resource.
Burst
Burst is a free stock photo website run by Shopify, the popular commerce platform. As a result, its images are primarily commerce and business-related, with plenty of photos of products, office workspaces, laptops, technology, and entrepreneurs in action. At more than 20,000 images, its selection is comparatively small compared to other options. Still, they are high-quality and modern-looking, mostly staying away from the stereotypical and generic stock-photo look.
Images are completely free to use, and attribution isn’t required, though still appreciated since photographers aren’t paid for their work. Images are submitted by individual photographers, and if you find you like a particular photographer’s work, you can navigate to their portfolio to see more of their images and even find their contact information (though it may not be up to date).
Searching is easy, as is downloading and accessing your chosen images. Unfortunately, there are no filters to narrow down search results, so you’ll have to spend some extra time sorting through images to find what fits your needs. There are also no videos available, so this is strictly a site for photos. However, if you already use Shopify’s platform, Burst provides a seamless experience.
Paid Membership Stock Photo Sites
If you know you’ll need stock photos on a regular basis, a paid membership stock photo site could be the best option for you, as opposed to purchasing individual images. Each site handles membership slightly differently, so what a membership entails depends on the particular platform. Most limit you to a specific number of downloads per month or year, while some may offer unlimited downloads. Some sites may offer additional benefits like curated lists, captions, and content beyond photographs. Be sure to look closely at what is involved in your membership and what the limitations are before subscribing.
Shutterstock
Shutterstock is one of the most well-known names in the stock photo industry. It offers a massive array of photos, videos, music, vector files, templates, and even 3D models. Its content spans the spectrum from news and editorial images to stylized shoots and everything in between. With over 500 million assets, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to find images for your brand. You can search based on many parameters, including image orientation, colors, the number of people included in the image, editorial or non-editorial, and more.
Shutterstock offers multiple membership options. Packs are ideal for one-time projects. These allow either two, five, or 25 downloads within a year, with pricing at $29, $49, and $229 respectively. Or, if you need content regularly, opt for a recurring membership of either month-to-month or a full year. Like the one-time project option, you are limited to a certain number of downloads with your subscription, with the option to choose between 10, 50, 350, or 750 downloads per month. The pricing depends on the number of downloads, whether you pay month-to-month without a contract, opt for an annual monthly subscription, or pay for a year upfront.
Overall, Shutterstock’s selection is primarily traditional-looking stock photos. The images are mostly high-quality, though there are some more amateur-like images you may have to sift through as well. It may not be the site for you if you need something more polished, modern, or unique. However, the site is a fantastic choice for editorial or more basic stock photo needs. Additionally, Shutterstock offers a WordPress plugin, making it easy to use stock photos on your WordPress site.
Adobe Stock
Adobe Stock offers a wide range of high-quality images and videos across most genres, including travel, business, nature, medical, food, landscapes, and more. Style-wise, Adobe Stock ranges from traditional stock imagery to more contemporary, trend-aware images. Overall, it is more refined and modern than traditional stock photo sites. There are curated lists to browse if you aren’t quite sure where to start, such as a list of photos that illustrate ideas in abstract ways, a list of authentic lifestyle images, and more. You can also search based on various parameters, much like at Shutterstock. You can even use Adobe’s Firefly AI to manipulate any stock image you find, allowing you to customize it for your company.
As part of the Adobe ecosystem, the site is integrated into most of Adobe’s most popular apps, including Photoshop, After Effects, and Premiere Pro. That means it’s incredibly easy to drop in a photo if you’re already working on a project in one of those programs. Adobe Stock is ideal for anyone working heavily in Adobe products already, as it provides a very seamless experience. While Adobe Stock isn’t as beneficial for non-Adobe users, it’s still a worthy stock photo site.
Adobe offers several plan options, so you can choose one that suits your budget and needs. That includes plans for individuals at $29.99 per month or for larger teams at $199.99 per month. Each plan comes with a different number of credits for downloads, so you are limited on how many assets you can download each month. It’s also important to note that Adobe divides its offerings into “Standard” and “Premium” categories. Premium images are more expensive, while Standard images are cheaper, but more basic.
Depositphotos
Depositphotos is one of the best options for those looking for a more affordable stock photo site. It offers competitive prices, so you can pick up quality stock photos without blowing your marketing budget. Thanks to its affordable rates, Depositphotos is one of my go-to sites for stock photos when I need images to go with articles I’m writing. You can pay for a subscription at $29 per month that allows you 30 downloads per month, or up to 750 images per month at $169 monthly. Alternatively, you can also pay for a pack of downloads, ranging from five to 125. There are even some free images available.
The low prices don’t mean limited selection, either. There are over 303 million assets to choose from on Depositphotos, so you should be able to find images that work well for you. The search function is easy to use, and there are many different ways to filter, including the camera angle, type of portrait, season, and more. If you aren’t sure exactly what you want, you can browse the site’s plentiful collections. Images range from editorial and news to still life, lifestyle, and more. You can find a variety of photographic styles, but overall, the look is more generic, like traditional stock photos. These work well for many applications, but if you’re looking for a more modern or elevated style for your images, this likely isn’t the site for you.
Once you’ve selected your image, Depositphotos even offers some basic tools for editing it, including a background remover and image upscaler. It’s important to note that the site doesn’t offer any exclusive content, so the images you pick may also be used by countless others. The images also aren’t as curated as more expensive sites, so you may have to spend longer searching to find just what you’re looking for.
Élevae Visuals
If you have a specific brand style and aesthetic, especially a more modern one, the above stock photo sites may not be as helpful as this option. Élevae Visuals offers a highly curated selection of stock photos with a modern luxury lifestyle look. Its images are polished, clean, and contemporary, fitting a variety of business types. If that fits with your brand needs, it could save you loads of time trying to search larger stock photo sites for the same look. Best of all, there’s a custom curation tool, making it even faster to find what you need.
There aren’t as many assets as the sites listed above, but there are still over 8,000 professional images and 700 videos. New visuals are added weekly, so you’ll constantly have access to fresh content. Its selection includes mockups, flat lays, travel and lifestyle images, and more. All images across the different categories are consistent in style, too, so you’ll be able to create cohesive materials even if you need lots of different types of visuals across your website or marketing materials.
Élevae Visuals offers a few different membership plans. The Quarterly Membership costs $67 per month or $199 quarterly. You’ll have access to the full gallery of images and videos, plus a caption library of more than 100 templates, digital marketing essentials training, curated visuals suites, and ready-for-you Canva templates. The Annual Membership costs $42 per month ($499 per year) and includes a Content Curation Bootcamp and two additional courses to help elevate your marketing. Finally, the Designer’s License Annual Membership costs $250 per month ($2,997 billed annually) and includes all features of the Annual License, plus an extended-use designer’s license.
Editorial Stock Images
Editorial Stock Images is another more tailored stock photo website for those needing a specific look. The founders of Editorial Stock Images partnered with photographers and videographers to bring unique content to a stock photo platform, as opposed to the generic look of traditional stock photos. It’s also a women-owned business with a focus on diversity and supporting other female-founded businesses.
The images at Editorial Stock Images are more contemporary and in line with current trends. They embrace motion blur, noise, and less-than-perfect lighting, resulting in an authentic, candid feel with plenty of emotion. They are ideal for anyone wanting to promote authenticity or have more on-trend images for their brand. As a more niche stock photo site, its selection isn’t massive — at the time of writing, there were more than 5,000 images — but content is updated weekly, so you’ll have access to fresh visuals. Plus, you can collaborate with top photographers if you need more custom content from time to time.
There are two membership options at Editorial Stock Images, personal or brand, with the option to pay monthly, quarterly, or yearly. Monthly memberships are limited to a certain number of credits (50 credits for personal, 80 for brand), with photos costing one credit and videos requiring two credits. The quarterly and yearly plans for both personal and brand memberships come with unlimited downloads, plus access to Canva templates and Photoshop mockups.
Benefits of Using Stock Photo Sites
There are many benefits to using stock photo sites, though it comes down to two main factors: Time and money. Put simply, stock photos provide an alternative to sourcing custom images whenever you need visuals, saving you time and money.
Working with a photographer can be a time-consuming endeavor. First, you have to find a photographer who fits your brand’s style. Then, there are the steps involved in contracting the photographer and narrowing the scope of the shoot. Finally, you’ll need to wait for the shoot to happen, then wait a bit more for the editing and delivery of images. The exact time frame varies wildly, but it could easily take months until you have images in hand. The above process isn’t viable if you have an ad, blog post, or email campaign that needs to get out as soon as possible.
Stock photo websites, on the other hand, provide essentially instant access to images. You’ll need to spend some time searching for the right photos, but most sites offer useful filtering options to help you find what you need quickly. Some even offer custom curation based on your brand’s color palette and keywords, making it faster to find what you need.
Stock photo websites can also save you a significant amount of money. Custom photography is expensive: After all, you’re paying for the photographer’s expertise, gear, and time, both during the shoot and time spent editing. A single shoot will cost hundreds of dollars on the low end, and you may have to pay additional fees for licensing based on how you’ll use the images. Even paid membership stock photo websites can save you money compared to hiring a professional photographer, especially if you need photos on an ongoing basis. Plus, there are lots of free stock photo resources.
Key Takeaways
Professional, high-quality images are crucial for all portions of your business. They can drive engagement in ads and on your website, help you build out your brand style, and much more. Stock photo sites are a great way to access high-quality visuals for all types of content, saving you time and money while enhancing your brand.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How do I find high-quality stock images?
If you’re looking for high-quality stock images, there are plentiful options. All of the stock photo sites mentioned above offer professional-quality images to help you elevate your brand. It simply takes some time on your part to narrow down what you need and search the website.
Which is the cheapest stock photo site?
Many free stock photo websites make finding quality images and graphics more accessible. Unsplash, Pixabay, Pexels, and Burst all offer free stock photos, giving you access to brand-elevating imagery without spending anything at all. Other than the free options, Depositphotos and iStock are both very budget-friendly.
