Free Images for Websites: 7 Top Stock Photo Platforms

You can find free images for your website legally on platforms such as Pexels, Unsplash, Pixabay, Burst and StockSnap. None of these five requires attribution, and you may use the images on a company website too. Free does not mean free of all rights, though: every platform has its own prohibitions, and if people, brands or logos appear in the picture, the licence alone is often not enough. Below you will find seven platforms with their licences (as of 27 October 2026), what applies under German law and how to check the licence of an image you found elsewhere.

The seven platforms at a glance

Platform	What the licence allows and prohibits
Pexels	Own licence: free, no attribution, editing allowed. Prohibited: selling unaltered copies, implying endorsement by people or brands shown.
Unsplash	Own licence: free, commercial use allowed, no attribution. Prohibited: selling without significant modification, building a similar image service.
Burst (Shopify)	Own licence: free, commercial use allowed, no attribution. Prohibited: selling unaltered images, harming the reputation of people shown.
Pixabay	Own content licence, no longer CC0: free, no attribution. Prohibited: selling content unaltered as a product, commercial use of recognisable brands or logos.
Magnific (formerly Freepik)	Free only with attribution, without attribution only on a paid plan. Daily download limit for free users.
StockSnap	CC0: free to use, commercial use allowed, no attribution. Prohibited: implying endorsement by the photographer or a person shown.
Canva	Own content licence with free and Pro content. Releases from people shown are generally not obtained for free content.

Types of image licensing

“Free”, “royalty-free” and “public domain” do not mean the same thing. So before we get to the platforms, a quick look at the terms.

What is Creative Commons?

Creative Commons is a non-profit organisation that provides standard licences for works on the web. They range from CC0, where the creator waives their rights, to licences that require attribution (BY), exclude commercial use (NC) or prohibit modifications (ND). What each abbreviation means is listed in the Creative Commons licence overview.

What is public domain?

Public domain works are works whose protection has expired or that were never protected. Under German law, copyright expires 70 years after the author’s death (Section 64 UrhG), while simple photographs are protected for 50 years after publication (Section 72 UrhG). An image being freely available online does not make it public domain.

What does royalty-free mean?

Royalty-free means you pay once, or nothing at all, and may then use the image as often as you like within the licence, without paying again for each use. At paid agencies a royalty-free image therefore still costs money. There is always a licence, and it governs what is allowed. At Pexels, Unsplash and Pixabay it is the provider’s own licence, at StockSnap it is CC0.

Stock photo websites

Pexels

Pexels is my personal favourite, for the range and the quality of its images. Pexels has its own licence: photos and videos are free, attribution is not required and you may edit them. You may not sell unaltered copies (for example as a poster), show identifiable people in a bad or offensive light, or imply that people or brands in the picture endorse your product. You also may not offer the images on other stock photo or wallpaper platforms or use them as part of your logo or brand name.

Unsplash

Unsplash is a community of photographers with many high-resolution, atmospheric images. The Unsplash License allows you to download, edit and use images without permission and without attribution, for personal and commercial purposes. It prohibits two things: selling images without significant modification and compiling Unsplash images to replicate a similar or competing service.

Burst by Shopify

Burst belongs to Shopify and is aimed at merchants and founders, with many motifs for shops, products and advertising. Under the Burst terms you may edit the images and use them commercially for free, without attribution. You may not sell unaltered images as photo files, use pictures of people in a way that could damage their reputation, or imply endorsement by the photographer or by Shopify. The old address burst.shopify.com redirects to the new page.

Pixabay

Pixabay offers photos, illustrations, vector graphics and videos. The content is no longer published under CC0 but under the Pixabay Content License: free, no attribution, editing allowed. Among other things, it prohibits selling content unaltered as a standalone product, using images with recognisable brands or logos commercially for goods or services, and using content as part of a trademark or company name. Pixabay itself points out that some content may contain third-party rights and that you are responsible for checking whether you need permission.

Freepik (now Magnific)

Freepik now operates as Magnific; the terms of use on freepik.com redirect to magnific.com. Besides photos it offers vectors, icons and PSD files. According to the terms of use (June 2026), free content may only be used with attribution. Using it without attribution requires a paid plan (Premium, Premium+ or Pro). Free users also have a daily download limit.

Stocksnap.io

All images on StockSnap.io are published under the CC0 licence. You may download, edit and use them for personal and commercial projects without paying, without permission and without attribution. What you may not do is imply that the photographer or a person in the picture endorses your product.

Canva

Canva is an online graphic design tool with its own library of free and paid Pro content. Canva’s Content License Agreement applies, and content labelled CC0 or public domain follows its own terms. Important for photos of people: for free content Canva generally does not obtain releases from the people shown and gives no warranty for people, brands or logos in the picture.

Royalty-free is not rights-free: what applies in Germany

The platform’s licence covers the photographer’s rights. What is shown in the picture can carry rights of its own. The following four points refer to German law, which applies to websites aimed at Germany; other countries have similar rules. This is not legal advice; if in doubt, ask a copyright lawyer.

Attribution

Under Section 13 of the German Copyright Act (UrhG), authors have the right to be recognised as the author. If a licence requires attribution, as Magnific does for free content and many Creative Commons licences do, the credit has to appear where the image appears. A ruling of the Cologne Regional Court of 30 January 2014 (case 14 O 427/13) shows how strictly courts read this: a photo from an image database was credited below an article, but the credit was missing on the overview page and when the image file was opened directly, and the court upheld the photographer’s injunction. In WordPress every uploaded image has its own address under /wp-content/uploads/. Platforms that do not require attribution are therefore the easiest choice.

Right to one’s own image

Under Section 22 of the German Art Copyright Act (KUG), pictures of people may only be distributed or shown publicly with the consent of the person depicted. In the stock photo business this written consent is called a model release. On free platforms it is not guaranteed: Canva generally does not obtain releases for free content, and Pixabay says you have to check yourself whether you need permission for third-party rights. For advertising and your home page, images without recognisable people are the safer choice.

Brands, logos and endorsements

At Pixabay you may not use an image showing a recognisable logo or branded product commercially for goods or services. Pexels, Burst and StockSnap prohibit implying that people, brands or the photographer endorse your offer. Watch out for this especially in ads and on product pages.

What happens if you get it wrong

Under Section 97 UrhG, anyone who infringes copyright faces claims for removal and injunction, and for damages if they acted intentionally or negligently. In Germany this usually starts with a formal warning letter (Abmahnung), as in the Cologne case. Keep a record of where each image comes from and under which licence you downloaded it.

Stock photos without a subscription

If you only need a few images from a paid agency, a subscription rarely pays off. iStock, for example, sells credit packs without a contract: on the German site a single credit costs €9, an image from the basic collection costs one credit and one from the Premium collection three (as of 27 October 2026). Credits do not expire as long as you log in at least once a year. The standard licence is included and extended licences can be added. Check before buying whether the standard licence covers your use.

Best practices for using free images on websites

Even with free images, a little care pays off:

Read and record the licence
Read the platform’s licence before downloading, not just the word “free” next to the image. I recommend saving the download page and the licence with the date as a PDF or screenshot. Licences change, as Pixabay shows, and this way you can prove later what applied when you downloaded the image.

Credit right at the image
If the licence requires attribution, put it next to the image, for example as a caption. A collective credit in the legal notice is less safe: the Cologne ruling shows that a credit in one place is not enough if the image also appears elsewhere without it. If no credit is required, it is still a nice gesture towards the photographer.

Optimise the images
Scale the image to the size at which it is displayed, save it compressed (for example as WebP) and give it alternative text that describes what can be seen. Alt text helps Google and people using screen readers. Where to enter it in WordPress is explained in my guide making WordPress accessible.

How do you identify an image’s licence?

For an image you found somewhere on the web, proceed like this:

Check the source
If the image comes from a stock photo platform, the licence is stated on the download page or in the terms of use.

Read the metadata
Some image files contain information about the author and rights in their embedded metadata (EXIF, IPTC, XMP). You can read it with tools such as ExifTool.

Use a reverse image search
Google image search or TinEye show where else an image appears and where it originally comes from. Then check the licence at the original source.

Look up the Creative Commons abbreviation
If the image carries a CC licence such as CC BY or CC BY-NC, you will find the conditions in the Creative Commons licence overview.

Ask the creator
If you know who created the image, ask them directly and get the permission in writing.

Look for watermarks
A watermark or logo in the image often reveals the agency. An image with a watermark is almost always a preview for purchase, not a free file.

Never assume an image is free just because it is on the internet. Even sites that offer images as “free” sometimes state the wrong licence.

More sources with licence information

• Wikimedia Commons: almost all files are under free licences, but many require attribution. The conditions are stated for each file.
• Google image search with the usage rights filter (“Creative Commons licenses” or “Commercial & other licenses”). Google’s help page itself says you have to check the licence of every image.

Frequently asked questions

When is an image royalty-free?

Royalty-free usually means you pay once, or nothing at all, and can then use the image without further fees. There is still a licence, and it sets out what is allowed. Only public domain works whose protection has expired are free of rights altogether.

Which images can I use commercially?

Images from Pexels, Unsplash, Burst, StockSnap and Pixabay can also be used for business, for example on your company website. The limits are the prohibitions in each licence, at Pixabay for instance images showing recognisable brands. Creative Commons images marked NC exclude commercial use.

Do I have to credit the photographer on Pixabay, Pexels or Unsplash?

No, none of the three requires attribution, although a voluntary credit is appreciated. Magnific (formerly Freepik) is different: free content may only be used with attribution.

Can I use images from Google search?

Not without checking. Google shows images from other websites, and most of them are protected by copyright. The usage rights filter finds images with licence information, but you still have to check the licence at the source.

Do I need consent for photos showing people?

Yes. Under German law (Section 22 of the Art Copyright Act, KUG) pictures of people may only be published with their consent. Free platforms often do not guarantee this; Canva, for example, generally does not obtain releases for free content. For advertising and your home page, images without recognisable people are the safer choice.

My recommendation

For a company website, Pexels, Unsplash and Burst are a good start: no attribution, clear licences, a large selection. Keep a record of the source and licence of every image, and for advertising prefer images without recognisable people or brands. If you are planning a new website, here is my offer for the design of your website.