6 Best Sites for Free Stock Photos for Commercial Use (2026)

Stock photo libraries let you add professional images to your website without the cost and logistics of hiring a photographer. You just need to pay attention to different licensing restrictions: If you’re using stock photos for an online store, you have to make sure those images are cleared for commercial use.

Learn what else to look for in a free stock image license, then read about six online libraries that provide thousands, and sometimes millions, of free stock photos for commercial use.

What to look for in a free stock image license

Some stock photo libraries such as Burst and Pexels have a single license for every photo on their site. Others, like Kaboompics and Flickr, have different licenses for different images. 

Look out for these terms in a stock photo license:

• Commercial use: If a photo is for commercial use, it can be used for activities that support financial gain. Using a stock photo in a marketing campaign would be considered commercial use. 

• Attribution: This refers to crediting the photographer or free stock photo website. Some photos require attribution and some do not.

• Royalty free: This means you can use the image without having to pay each time you use it. 

• Creative Commons: This means you can use the free stock photo without worrying about copyright infringement. That said, some types of Creative Commons licenses restrict commercial use, bar you from adapting and editing the photo, or require you credit the photographer upon usage. The Creative Commons Zero license carries no restrictions.

6 best free stock photo websites for commercial use

• Burst by Shopify
• Pixabay
• Unsplash
• Pexels
• Flickr
• Kaboompics

For a wide selection of free photos that are approved for commercial use, don’t require attribution, and have a contemporary look, try these six websites: 

Burst by Shopify

Source: Burst.

Burst is a completely free stock photo site powered by Shopify. Its library includes more than 20,000 high-resolution photos, and all of them are approved for commercial use. If your website layout makes it tricky to credit the photographer, you can rest easy: Burst’s image licenses don’t mandate attribution.

You can sort by subject or category, like “Coffee” or “Fitness,” or explore by style by browsing categories such as “Blur background” and “Dark.” Burst also provides a roundup of the week’s top photos. 

Pixabay

Pixabay, owned by the design platform Canva, has more than 6.2 million free stock photos from upward of 400,000 creators. If you select the “Edit image” option on a photo page, Pixabay opens a new Canva design with the photo. You can then make edits and choose your preferred image file type for download.

There are more than photos on Pixabay: You can download free videos, GIFs, 3D models, sound effects and songs, illustrations, and vector files from the site too.

Unsplash

With more than 400,000 contributors, Unsplash has compiled a library of over six million stock photos. It allows you to select different image sizes for download. Image size is a consideration in image optimization on webpages.

All photos are cleared for commercial use and don’t require attribution. However, some images require you to purchase a $20 per month subscription. This subscription also unlocks in-platform editing. You won’t pay any download fees or royalties on either the free or paid plans. 

Pexels

Pexels’ millions of images all have the same license, which allows for commercial use and doesn’t require attribution. Each photo is tagged for searchability. These tags get as specific as “arched ceiling” and “afternoon light.” 

To incentivize uploads, Pexels hosts challenges and displays a “leaderboard” showing Pexels’ top-viewed and most active photographers. For example, you could enter one of your own photos into a “Taste of France” challenge for a chance to be featured on the Pexels homepage and win $100.

Flickr

If you’re looking for an image of an ultra specific subject or location, Flickr is a good option: The site had an estimated 10 billion photographs in 2024. Just know that Flickr markets itself toward photographers rather than businesses looking for images for commercial projects, and you’ll need to parse through editorial-style images and ads to find what you’re looking for. 

Filter your search by “Commercial use allowed” if you plan to use a photo for your business. Depending on the preferences of the creator, you might not be able to edit the image and might need to credit the photographer, so always check the fine print when using a Flickr photo.

Kaboompics

Kaboompics bills its collection of sleek, sometimes luxurious-feeling photos (think curated, minimalist interiors and vacation destinations) as perfect for both websites and social media feeds. 

If you’re on the hunt for an ultra specific shot, you can choose between similar images of the same subject using the site’s Photo Shoot feature. This shows groups of images that are similar enough to look like they came from the same photographer at the same time.

Kaboompics’ general licensing agreement doesn’t require attribution and lets you use photos for commercial use. However, some images are marked for editorial use only, so you won’t be able to use them to sell products. 

Alternative to free stock photo sites

If you don’t find exactly what you’re looking for on a free stock photo site, you can also experiment with AI image generators. You enter a prompt, and the tool provides images that match your description.