The Best Places to Find Free Stock Photos to Use for Your Business

Ever wonder how your favorite business blogs are able to include a crisp, professional, appropriate photo with every blog post? Turns out, they're not taking the perfect photo for every post; they're using stock photos.

The use of stock photos has been a common practice for decades. Originally created for print use, stock photography now primarily fills our digital spaces.

If you've ever taken a look at the prices on single images from Getty or Shutterstock, then you know that stock photography can be expensive. In fact, the typical cost of a stock image from Getty is around $500!

Luckily, there are lots of free options available for small businesses and entrepreneurs who don't have the budget for pricey stock photography.

Let's take a look at some of the best places to get free images to use on your business blog or social media.

Unsplash

Unsplash initially started as a Tumblr blog with 10 images that were free to be used anywhere. Today it is a powerhouse of a photography database, with over 850,000 high-resolution photos that can be used anywhere.

Photographers submit their work directly to Unsplash and if it makes the cut, it could be the hero image on your blog post next week.

Burst by Shopify

Burst by Shopify is probably the best option for you if you are looking for primarily professional or business photos. Here you'll find photos of businessmen and women, computers, offices, workspaces, etc.

You do not have to have a Shopify store to be able to download these images and you're free to use them anywhere.

Pexels

Pexels is similar to Unsplash in that photographers can submit their photos directly to Pexels for consideration and may be chosen to be added to the collection. Pexels also pulls photos from other free sources; therefore, you may see some overlap in the photos on Pexels and other free stock photo collections.

All photos on Pexels are free for personal or commercial use.

Pixabay

Pixabay is home to over one million free stock images. Like Pexels, you'll also notice that Pixabay aggregates free stock images from other websites so there may be some overlap.

Pixabay also offers vector graphics and illustrations, something the sites listed above do not. 

We hope you find these resources helpful. As a small business ourselves, we love finding free and affordable tools to help move our business forward.