Top 17 free photo stocks - features, advantages and disadvantages of free photobanks

A photo stock is a site where photographers and designers upload author content. On free photo stocks, the content is designed for general use for almost any purpose, including commercials. In the following article, we will tell you about the best free photo stocks, their advantages and their disadvantages.

Graphic content is used all the time by online shops and is not limited to product photos alone. Many people have an online shop blog, a shop page on Instagram or profiles on other social networks where different images are needed. Creating them from scratch is complicated and costly, and doesn't make much sense when there are free photo stocks.

A photo stock is a site where photographers and designers upload author content. On free photo stocks, the content is designed for general use for almost any purpose, including commercials. In the following article, we will tell you about the best free photo stocks, their advantages and their disadvantages.

Pixabay

Pixabay is one of the most popular free photo-sharing sites online, offering more than a million pieces of content. Here you can find everything: photos, illustrations, videos, vector graphics and even music. The service has a convenient search engine with different filters, such as size, orientation and categories. The site also has features of a social network - under the photo, you can find comments and swear words. The only disadvantage is that you must register to access all functions, but you can download content without it.

Pexels

Pexels is noticeably inferior to the previous photo stock in the variety of content. Here, the emphasis is placed on photos of people and their emotions. For the users' convenience, there are thematic selections. You can download the pictures at once in the desired size. The disadvantages are not too convenient navigation of the site and a small amount of content.

Burst

Burst is a photo stock from Shopify whose content is available for anyone who wants to use it. Photos are usually organized into categories and subcategories. Although the platform is designed for online stores, not all content is suitable for e-commerce topics. Of the site's localizations, there are only English and Portuguese, as well as a small selection of picture quality. High and low-quality downloads are available, and it is not allowed to choose the resolution.

Iso Republic

Iso Republic is a photo stock perfect for people obsessed with maximum image quality. The site creators paid attention not to the variety and quantity of photos but to their technical characteristics. They even forgot about the navigation, which is very uncomfortable here. Upload photos can only be one size - the biggest. Otherwise, the photo stock does not differ much from others.

Free Nature Stock

Free Nature Stock is a photo stock specializing in nature photos. There are flowers, landscapes, animals and everything else related to nature. The number of images in categories is small, and one size is available for download. Even if the photos are not usable for work, you can always look at them and take comfort in them.

FOCA Stock

FOCA Stock can be called a showcase of another large photo stock from Adobe. There is free content here, divided into 40 categories. The photos are presented in a variety of quality, and there are no hindrances to downloading them, but they serve as a sampler. Each image has premium options available on Adobe's site for a cash fee.

Splitshire

Splitshire is a photo stock with images that can be characterized by the epithet "Instagrammer". It is hard to name any feature of this photo stock. The site has high-quality content in every sense, which is a pleasure to browse. If you plan to start a promotion on Instagram, the photo stock comes in handy. However, the site has a disadvantage - the content is rarely updated, and it is small.

Life of Pix

It is another Adobe partner photo stock with professional photos. About 3,000 images are divided into 15 categories, which is not much by the standards of photo stocks. If you like a photographer's work, you can go to his profile and see all his photos, which are available on the site. You can download the images in one quality only. Many advertising banners make it hard to view them in the general directory.

BucketListly

BucketListly is the blog of a Thai traveler who has taken so many great photos that the section with them has become a photo stock. The site has more than 10,000 photos broken down by continent and country. You're unlikely to find pictures related to online shopping there. That's a minus. But overall, the site has a lot of great content, and, optionally, you can find a use for it.

Picjumbo

Picjumbo is a photo stock of a Czech photographer who started as an author's site. There are more than 4 thousand professional photos on the site. All pictures have different subjects and styles but the same high level of performance. The free features on the site are limited because there is premium access. However, even without it, you can find much good content on photo stock.

Reshot

Reshot is a source for people thinking more about the design of an online store and looking for options for icons, logos, etc. The site has more than 40 thousand vector icons and illustrations.  Downloadable content can be edited and used for any purpose. For some people, the uncomfortable moment can be a keyword search for images.

Stockvault

Stockvault is a photo stock with a great selection of categories and content. The site is easy to navigate, making it easy to find interesting material. There is a section with paid premium content, but there is so much free content that you don't feel disadvantaged. The only downside is that you cannot use all the content for commercial purposes. You must look at the license before downloading.

Freerange

Freerange is a classic free photo stock with photos and illustrations. There's not much to say about it because there's nothing unusual about it. There are high-quality, exciting images here, and that's the main thing. Many of them you can use as ready-made covers for a blog. The main disadvantage of photo stock is mandatory registration for downloading.

Foodiesfeed

Foodiesfeed is a specialized photo stock dedicated to the theme of food. If your online store operates in a niche related to food, you will need this site. It has two disadvantages: first - there is no categorization, and second - you can get hungry after looking at photos.

Stocksnap

Stocksnap is probably the most diverse photo stock of all in our article. The site has 100 image categories, each of which includes three subcategories. Users can edit the image directly on the site, for example, crop it or add transparency. A minus in photo stock is still found - in the catalog are mixed free and paid images.

Unsplash

Unsplash is a photo stock without any noticeable weaknesses. The site is convenient, fast and with a lot of content. There is no paid content or other restrictions here either. One of the few wishes for the photo stock is to equalize, or at least bring closer, the number of illustrations to live photos. Now there are a lot more of the latter.

Freepik

Freepik will suit anyone having skills in graphics editors because it has vectored images, PSD files, icons and photos. The site is easy to use - it has filters that simplify the content search. It is not possible to download all images in a row. There is a limit of downloading per day on photo stock: three downloads without registration and ten with it. It is possible to remove the restriction by purchasing a premium account.

Conclusion

The promotion of your online store relies a lot on the use of graphic content. Free photo stocks simplify the search for images for the online store - they provide high-quality photos, illustrations, and icons that you can use for commercial purposes. Use it and make your online store better.