Say you're an entrepreneur looking for free photos to build a website for your new company or business, or blog posts for your personal career promotion. You get to a free stock photo site and think, “Cool, free stock photos I can use legally without paying.” Well, not so fast.
Many image libraries –stock photo websites or stock image websites– claim their high-quality images are free to use, and they sure let you download them without paying, but you need to make sure you have the correct license to use these high-resolution images safely. Oftentimes, free stock image websites have public domain images or are under some form of Creative Commons license that is optimized for website usage, but you shouldn't trust them blindly: free image sites tend not properly to vet their content for legal validity, and it's very possible to end up in legal trouble with copyright owners and even models.
There are many much better alternatives out there! Namely, the pool of more than 335 million royalty-free images, vectors, and videos available across multiple sites only grows by the millions every week! They are professional, high-resolution, and legally verified for commercial use, including websites, with no attribution needed.
Below is a list of the best stock photo agencies to buy images for websites at really affordable prices. They all have content in niche topics and general categories, easily downloadable with a few clicks, and with a proper Royalty-free license to cover your intended use.
Dive in, and build a website with great stock photos!
A quick tip: Make sure your website images are mobile-friendly with our easy tips!
Where to Buy Images for Websites
Online! Where else? Stock photo agencies and stock photo services online are one of the best resources to buy images to use on your own sites. It's simple, quick, and in the best suppliers, also very cheap.
Here are the best places to buy images online!
If you have Wix as your CMS, then Bigstock is great, and if you know how to upload images in your CMS, you can use all the following stock agencies.
1. Stockphotos.com (All website builders)
Stockphotos.com is a great place to get images for websites, especially if you're working on a limited budget – that's their specialty. They have a catalog with over 8 million high-quality images that not only cover popular themes and styles but also meet web usage standards. And with a Royalty Free license that allows you to use any photo from this library on websites, including those with a commercial purpose. A great alternative if you want to buy images cheap!
All Stockphotos.com download plans are tailored for small to medium businesses, come at super affordable prices, and are annual deals with no monthly download cap. The star offer is Club Easy, with 200 images in one year for only $99. And with our exclusive Stockphotos.com coupon, you can unlock 10 free extra images with your Club subscription!
Moreover, they have convenient on-demand image packs and single-image purchases for those who only need one photo.
Ranging from $0.16 to $12 per download, depending on the purchasing model you choose, these images are very affordable!
Go to Stockphotos.com today and start downloading cool imagery for your websites!
2. Shutterstock (All website builders)
One of the pioneer stock photo agencies and the best stock photo sites, Shutterstock is also a great source for images for websites. While not specialized in this usage, their Royalty Free images are legally suitable for use on the web for most kinds of commercial purposes.
While not directly integrated into any CMS, Shutterstock hosts a library of over 100 million images on their site, with an advanced and simple-to-use search tool, and all their photos are easily downloaded into your local storage, from where you can import them to your website builder of choice.
Shutterstock images are of high quality, and they are very cheap. You can buy them in image packs or via subscriptions, and they range between $14,50 and $0.26 per download, depending on which system you use to buy.
With its impeccable reputation and powerful offer, Shutterstock is for sure a great source for images for websites. Sign up for free at Shutterstock now! And don't forget to grab our special Shutterstock Coupon Code to save on your purchase!
3. Photocase (All website builders)
Photocase is a very hip German stock photo agency with a characteristic library full of quirky, artsy photos that convey that unique Berlin style. It's the perfect place to buy images for websites if you're aiming to build a modern, young, and visually powerful concept. Their catalog is purposely small and tightly curated but still very varied and complete; you can find all kinds of imagery here, including styled stock photos and much more. More importantly, all the photos are high resolution and professionally shot, ready to download and use in your web design. Under Royalty-Free licensing, these images are legally safe for web usage and very flexible in additional commercial uses like social media promotion and more.
This company has a very simple pricing structure. They sell photos on demand, paying as you go. Their images are priced between $14 and $42 according to resolution, and you can save up considerable amounts in bulk purchases through their credit packs, too. This makes Photocase's fun-loving images to be not only beautiful and versatile but also very affordable in comparison to other premium-like, artistic stock photography collections out there.
Go ahead and explore Photocase, and start downloading cool photos for your website right away! To get them at the best rate, make sure to use our exclusive Photocase Coupon Code!
4. iStock (All website builders)
iStock is one of the pioneer stock photo agencies of the web and one of the most renowned too. Backed up by the prestigious Getty Images and dotted with a large library full of professional images, including millions of exclusive files, this site is ideal for finding cool stock images to use on your website. It's one of the very few places where you can buy photos by the unit, even just one at a time. And between credit packs and subscriptions, they have very convenient offers to fit every budget. Read our iStock review for further details, and don't forget to use our special iStock Promo Code to save on your purchase!
5. Adobe Stock (All website builders)
Adobe Stock is a stock photo service offered by Adobe that is deeply integrated with its Creative Cloud platform. They have a collection of over 60 million images under a Royalty-Free license, suitable for web usage.
The strong point of this service is the integration with Creative Cloud applications, which lets you complete your design process in less time and in a simple, seamless way. Their library is varied, and they have all high-quality photos and illustrations that meet standards for use in websites. Prices are also very affordable, starting at $9.99 and as low as $0.26 per download, depending on the subscription package you get.
If you want to use any of Creative Cloud's image editing tools to work on your website's images, then Adobe Stock is certainly a photo supplier worth considering. Get your Adobe Stock plan right here, and if you want, you can test the service for free with our Adobe Stock Free Trial!
6. Bigstock (Wix)
Bigstock is a reputable stock photo agency with years in the market and is owned by Shutterstock, one of the giants of the stock photo industry. With a collection of over 55 million royalty-free stock images, they are a good option to buy images for websites if you use Wix as your CMS: Bigstock and Wix have a partnership going on for a couple of years, which makes it much easier to add images from Bigstock into your Wix based sites.
This agency has high-quality images in various resolutions and offers them on-demand with credit packs and also under subscriptions. Their prices are very affordable, with no image costing more than $15 and as cheap as under $0.50 per download in the best deal.
If you are running a website in Wix and you want photos to use in it, Bigstock is worth giving a try. Their low prices, added to being integrated into the website builder platform, make it cheap and easy to get cool images in less time. Sign up for Bigstock here! And save more in your photos with our great Bigstock Coupon!
7. Getty Images (WordPress)
Getty Images is one of the most renowned stock photography agencies in the world, with decades in business since the early days of traditional, printed stock photo catalogs and all the way to their current online platform with millions of images available for licensing. They work with both Rights Managed and Royalty Free licenses, and they have a whole section of Editorial only content for publishing purposes. Their prices are higher than at other outlets, but it's reasonable given their premium imagery and service.
If you're a WordPress user, you would like to learn that this agency has a WordPress plugin with very cool benefits. For one, it lets you explore Getty Images content without leaving your WP layout. But here's what's interesting: you can use images from a selection of 66 million editorial-only content for free! As long as you use them in your publication for non-commercial purposes, you can use any of those photos via the embedding function free of charge.
If you are a paid customer of Getty Images, you will also access the libraries covered by your account, and you'll be allowed to license, download and apply photos from the collections to your website with a few simple clicks.
If you like premium imagery or you need a lot of editorial photos for your blog, Getty Images is a good alternative. And if you want to get your images cheaper, grab our special Getty Images Discount with Ultrapacks!
8. Canva (One-Page Websites in Minutes)
You may know Canva as the all-in-one, user-friendly design tool. But did you know you can design modern, beautiful, one-page websites on this platform? It's true: Canva Websites is a segment where you can find thousands of professional web design templates ready to customize, as well as create your own website page from scratch, all with great ease and without needing design skills. Furthermore, you can publish your website for free on a Canva-owned domain or use your own custom domain if you wish.
This service also comes with access to millions of professional stock photos, illustrations, videos, and more graphic elements to make your web page really catchy and high-quality, and the Canva license enables using the content in websites, too.
While the free version of Canva lets you use the website designer and gives you access to a selection of their stock imagery, Canva Pro unlocks a lot of premium features and comes with unlimited downloads for the entirety of the platform's catalog. The Canva Pro license also has better coverage for commercial use.
If you're looking to design a simple but stunning website, Canva Pro might be the solution for you. You have a Canva Pro free trial to test the waters before paying, and our guide to Canva Pro pricing will help you with the rest!
Enhance your Website with Awesome, Cheap Photos
Using any of the above services, you will surely get high-quality, beautiful imagery that will make your website look professional and attractive to your potential customers at the best possible prices and with the best functionality.
No matter what CMS you work with, there are stock photo options for all of them!
Which one will you use?
