65+ Free Image Sourcing Tools for Your Website or Blog

“When there are so many options out there, there’s really no excuse for breaking the law.”

There are a number of ways you can go about making sure your blog or website is full of images that enrich your content without breaking any laws. Here's a few ideas:

Find a free stock photo

Stock photos can be a great source for finding something relevant to your topic and there are plenty of websites out there that offer free stock photos. Better yet, they're created for the specific purpose of being used commercially, so they're generally fairly trade-specific.

Some of these will require you to sign up in order to download your image, but most wont. Some have particularly quirky features about them, which make them fun to use. For instance, Dotspin is pretty much the creative commons for Instagram photos and Freepik holds a database of vectors created by Freepik and is perfect for something fun and creative! The rest, well, you'll just have to find out for yourself...

Find An Image in the Public Domain

While the Public Domain Archive offers a search engine for old, public domain images, the Wikipedia List of Public Domain Images gives you a go-to list for a number of sites hosting public domain images - if you're looking for something historical, this is the perfect place for you!

Use the Creative Commons

When artists upload their work to the sites below, they're given the opportunity to decide for themselves how they would like their images to be used by others on the Internet. They can select 'all rights reserved' or 'some rights reserved' and then choose from a selection of restrictions that they can allocate to the use of their work.

Find Free Hi Res Photo Sources

There are plenty of sites out there that will offer you free stock images that are amazing quality - generally you will be asked to sign up for a membership, but the pay off is worth it when you get to chock your website full of stunning visuals.

Where do you find these images?

That's a great question. Here we have a comprehensive list of 65+ free image sourcing tools for your website or blog. They're all marked with icons to specify whether they're free stock, in creative commons or in the public domain - as well as a few other important things you should know. Here's a key to help you work out what will work best for you:

Searchable

Public domain images

Has some or all creative commons images

Contains sponsored advertising to paid stock sites

Has paid component

Indietech loves it!

Make use of these sites and enjoy!

Photo credit: Zahir Batin, CC

Photo Credit: Theophilos Papadopoulos via Compfight, CC

Photo Credit: TANAKA Juuyoh (田中十洋) , CC

Photo credit: amenic181 via freedigitalphotos.net

Photo Credit: Evan Amos, Public Domain

Photo credit: geishaboy500, CC

Photo Credit Heather for openphoto.net

Free Image via Photober.com

Photo Credit: NickiMM via Photopin, CC

Photo credit: Folkert Gorter via superfamous.com , CC

Photo credit: Jim

Photo Credit: Александр Сорокин , CC

Now that you've discovered them - use them!

And so concludes our Indiesight series on legally using images for your blog or website. When there are so many options out there, there's really no excuse for breaking the law. We hope you found this information useful, and if you have any more sources to add to the list, please let us know!