Images can make or break your social media post. It’s already difficult to get your business noticed online, but having a poor quality photo can sink your chances even further.

We’ve all seen them: the blurry, off-centered images. The screenshot of a screenshot of a grainy infographic. It’s more than bland– it’s unprofessional.

When creating a social media post, images tend to become an afterthought. After all, the words tell your audience all they need to know, don’t they?

Maybe so, but we all understand that the first thing a potential customer will see when scrolling through Facebook is the photo attached to your message. And if that photo is low-resolution and generally unappealing, then the viewer might associate your business’ quality with the quality of the image.

If they can’t trust you to put effort in appealing to them, how can they trust your product or service?

Smaller online businesses often feel between a rock and a hard place when it comes to acquiring quality images for their posts: they don’t have the budget for a graphic designer, and they don’t have the time to dedicate to creating or editing their own photos.

If only there were websites that gave you access to millions of free images, ready to download in seconds…

Oh, wait. There are! And that’s probably why you’re here. So let’s get a snapshot of 5 sites that give you free stock images:

1. Pixabay

Pixabay boasts having “over 1.8 million+ high quality stock images and videos.”

Mainly community-driven, Pixabay collects images from professional photographers from around the world. They have photos for almost any topic or need.

You can search for images by category, style, format, or just use the search bar to generate thousands of photos instantly.

Though they primarily post photography, they also have sections for illustrations and vectors.

The best part: you don’t even need an account to use the photos. Simply download and select your image size.

Crediting the photographer isn’t required, but giving them a like or a follow can go a long way!

2. Unsplash

Much like Pixabay, Unsplash provides free images which are usually produced by users.

Unsplash typically has images more on the artistic side– but don’t let that deter you if you are more business-minded. They still have plenty of professional-looking images to choose from.

Unsplash is unique in that when you search a topic, along with images, other related topics are suggested. So, if you search “business,” you might be suggested the topic “strategy,” which has its own set of thousands of images.

No signup is required for Unsplash.

3. Pexels

Pexels most resembles Pixabay on this list in its design and functionality. No signup, community-focused, doesn’t require crediting the source.

What sets Pexel apart, then? It has a focus on stock videos. Pixabay has this too, but Pexel seems to have a lot more variety and focus in the image category.

Video, if done properly, can be a great way to draw in customers on online posts.

4. Canva

We have to clarify: Canva isn’t like these other platforms in the sense of only providing free stock images (though they do that as well).

Canvas is a platform for designing… well, anything.

Users can design anything from instagram stories to business proposals.

This platform is a wonderful tool for people in need of graphic design work with a limited budget.

A free account grants you access to 8,000+ templates and 100+ social media post designs. The best part is that it’s so intuitive that you can produce a Facebook post for your business in minutes.

5. GIPHY

Our last website is probably the least businesslike and most fun. GIPHY curates millions of GIFs from around the internet and places them into general categories for our use and enjoyment.

GIPHY is kind of a mixed bag, and it can be hard to find content that relates to your specific post. But GIFs are alluring, usually funny, and generally increase engagement on posts.

We recommend using GIFs on more casual websites (Facebook and Twitter), and going for more formal images on more professional sites (LinkedIn).

Bonus – Photopea

Photopea is a free-to-use photo editing site. It’s mainly for instances when you already have a photo that just needs some text, effects, or cropping.

Photopea has dozens of features to redesign and optimize you photo. They also have lots of templates for thumbnails and other social media images.

If nothing else, Photopea is great for converting image files into different formats. Virtually any image file you know of (and some you probably don’t) can be converted in Photopea.

That’s it for our list of 5 free image sites. We hope this can help simplify finding photos that can attract more traffic to your posts.

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