30 Free Image Sources for Commercial Use Stock Photography and Clipart Graphics

People ask me all the time, “Where can I find a free image for my blog post (or printable, or e-book, or print book)?” The good news is — this blog post is going to give you a great starting point. And the follow-up post 31 More Places to find Free Images for Commercial Use is going to get you even further!

I take a lot of my own photos, and I buy photos too. But, when I do need a free image, I can almost always find something that will do the job by working my way down this list. For instance, the pinnable image in this post was totally free!

Disclaimer: Before using any graphics in a printable, ebook, or website I would read and print out the terms of use or licensing information and keep them in a file. This blog post is not intended as a substitute for your own understanding of the proper use of graphics according to the owner’s terms of use.

Unsplash adds ten new free photos every ten days and all photos are free to do with what you want. Very nice. The photo in this post came from Unsplash.

Free Images (Stock Xchng) has a nice collection and a generous Terms of Use; some images do require attribution but most do not.

PicJumbo has gorgeous photography all free for commercial use.

FreeFoto has a huge collection (over 130,000 images!) and some do require attribution but not all.

BigFoto has a nice collection of free images with no attribution required.

TurboPhoto has a small but beautiful collection of photos available for free.

Old Design Shop has a beautiful collection of vintage graphics from public domain sources — all free.

Unprofound has a stunning and sometimes odd collection of free photos, no strings attached.

Viintage.com (spelling error purposeful) has a collection of public domain vintage clipart.

FreeRangeStock has a sweet collection of free images for registered users.

Morgue File has a great selection of free images. Also requires registration.

Pixaby has a wonderful selection of free images without any strings attached.

FreeImages.co a nice collection of 13,500 images — require attribution.

Free Digital Photos has a nice collection, however you can only get low-resolution web-quality images for free. Upgrading to high res photos requires paying.

PhotoGen has a nice collection and a generous terms of use with no attribution required.

PhotoPin provides a simple way to search for Creative Commons images on Flickr, attribution is usually required.

FreePik has beautiful vector images and drawings and they are all free but do require attribution.

PDPhoto has a generous collection of free images and most are free for commercial use. Use caution when using a photo with images of people as the photographer admits he did not obtain a model release.

Free Pixels has a great collection of free images for commercial use.

ImageBase has a generous collection of photographs — all free and all donated by one man. A link back is appreciated but not required.

Free Commerical Photos has a solid collection of free images; attribution and link back are both required.

Wikimedia Commons has a fantastic collection of free public domain graphics. Many of the images in Commons require attribution, which you can place at the bottom of the image. This is where I start when I need a free photograph.

Christian Image Source has very generous terms of use for ebook/printable creation and plenty of free images.

Public Domain Clipart has an interesting collection of clipart-style graphics.

Photos in the Public Domain has an astounding collection of photographs free for commercial use. They have a voluntary donations button, and sometimes they require attribution so be sure to read the terms.

WPClipart has a very nice and family-friendly collection of free images in the public domain.

National Gallery of Art has digital versions of a huge collection of artwork in the public domain. The website is clunky to use, but worth it.

OpenClipart.org is an excellent source for free clipart type drawings.