The services we are going to talk about today are different. These are no-frills websites that offer you amazing, high quality stock images for you to use however you want. No strings attached.
1. Unsplash
Unslplash is a non splashy website that posts 10 images every day, which are completely free to use. You can subscribe to their site to get a fresh set of images every day.
2. Little Visuals
Little Visuals sends you 7 high quality images nicely zipped up to your inbox every 7 days. You can check out their website to get a taste of what kind of images you can expect. These guys are very choosy so you get only the best images.
3. Death To Stock Photo
Death To Stock Photo is an upcoming site which got a lot of attention in press recently. But until these guys are ready to go primetime, they are sending high quality images to their subscribers every month. I’m a subscriber so I can vouch for their quality and diversity of images.
4. Pic Jumbo
Pic Jumbo is more feature-rich compared to the sites listed above. New photos are added every day and are accompanied by a relevant description. The category view is helpful as well.
5. The Pattern Library
Vivid is the only way to describe The Pattern Library. The website itself is beautifully designed. All you get is a pattern wallpaper spread across the entire browser window. You can scroll down or up to scroll through the patterns. Options to download is available on the left and you can activate the grid view (which looks excellent as well) from the right.
6. The Old Stock
The Old Stock is a minimal Tumblr blog to discover old and vintage photos for your project.
7. Gratisography
Gratisography is another website that gives you free high resolution photos to use in personal or professional projects.
8. Stock.xchng
Stock.xchng is a subsidiary of Getty Images and probably the most powerful website for stock photos listed here. It is also the closest you can get to the big players like iStockphoto. It has a collection of more than 400,000 photos and the search tool is really powerful.
9. Every Stock Photo
Every Stock Photo is not a stock photo website in itself but is a search engine and a pretty powerful one at that. It lets you search photos from many sources at once and lists out the licensing details front and center so there is no confusion later on.
10. Stock Photos
Stock Photos is a pinterest styled website for browsing stock photos. The website has a collection of 25,000 curated stock images spread across various categories.
The Stock Photos
The websites in this article are sorted according to the ease of use. The ones at top being the easiest. They are the indiest of the indie sites. There is no search bar or a quirky description. These are the best websites to browse when you have the time and are looking for inspiration for your new project. If you are looking for something specific, try something like Every Stock Photo or any of the last three picks.
Your Pick?
What is your preferred way of finding stock photos for your projects or website or even for personal use? Which of the above sites is likely to replace that (or not)? Let us know in the comments below. Top image credit: Nicola Perantoni
