Where and how can you download images or photos for free? And what about the license?
20 Free Media Download Services
A large number of authors are interested in where they can find nice pictures or photos that they could use for their publications. Since we distinguish several types of visual elements (images, photographs, animations, icons, etc.), we will use the word "media" or "images" in the following text.
Almost every image is copyrighted, so it is important that you choose carefully what you use in your publication. In this article, we will introduce you to more than 20 services where you can download media safely and for free.
How do licenses work for free images?
License Terms
Most of the mentioned services have their own license terms. In some of them, you may come across familiar terms such as “Creative Commons” or “Public domain”, etc. We recommend that you read the following article to better understand the mentioned terms.
With all of the services mentioned, you can use downloaded media in your publication or edit it. The images used must not form the main content (value) of your publication. Simply put, providers have a problem with you wanting to use their media to create a competing service and resell it. If you use the images in the text, on the cover, in headers or as accompanying graphics, that's fine.
Some services want you to indicate where the media was downloaded from. You don't need to mention the source if you subscribe to a premium license with them. Don't want to pay for it? Read the article "How to credit an image or photo in the IVM editor?".
Always read the terms of each service you download media from so you know how to properly use and license them.
We want to help you find the best service, so we have prepared a list of them, a summary and a link to the license terms. We have used the same keyword "book" for example in the illustration images.
Freepik
Freepik is a powerful search engine that helps you find free and high-quality photos or other graphic resources such as vector images, illustrations for Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop. The search engine excels with good filters, thanks to which you can determine the source type, orientation, color, style, etc.
If you don't have a premium account here, check the "Free" license when searching and before by inserting using the IVM Editor, copy the source, which can be found for each media under the link "How to attribute?". If you are not logged in, you will only download three media per day, but thanks to a simple and free registration, you will download up to ten images per day absolutely free.
With a premium account, you don't need to provide a source. You will receive a license/certificate for each downloaded media to keep.
Tip: If you are creating a publication with FutureBooks, we will download the image for you, edit it and insert it into the publication together with the premium license.
https://www.freepik.com/pricing
Vecteezy 
Vecteezy has very similar conditions to Freepik (price, number of free downloads, need to mention the source if you don't have a premium license, etc.). After logging in, you can download up to ten files a day for free.
https://www.vecteezy.com/signups/join-pro
Unsplash
Unsplash has its own license that allows you to use the images for free and in any way you like. You may not use them only to create a competing website or to sell directly. There is no mention of the need to cite the source.
Pixabay
Images on Pixabay are licensed under Creative Commons Zero (CC0). This means you don't need to ask for permission or credit the author to use them (although that's always welcome).
https://pixabay.com/service/terms/
MorgueFile
The perfect service for downloading photos of random people doing normal daily activities. Cite the source in the format “Photo by at Morguefile.com”.
https://morguefile.com/license
Stockvault
Stockvault is another great source of free photos, wallpapers, and even textures. The collection is about half the size of Unsplash and new images are added daily. This site has a good search engine and you can easily find your way around by category.
https://www.stockvault.net/terms-of-use
Rawpixel
Rawpixel has one of the largest collections of media and public domain content under the CC0 license. When searching, don't forget to check the correct license in the filter.
https://www.rawpixel.com/services/licenses
Burst
Burst is a free photo search platform from Shopify. Images are free and royalty free.
https://burst.shopify.com/legal/terms
Pexels
Pexels is a self-licensing platform that clearly states how you can handle images. You do not need to credit the media for media. You are free to use the images for commercial and personal purposes.
https://www.pexels.com/license/
FreeImages
Free Images provides over 300,000 free images under its own license. This enables a wide range of applications. There are also a few limitations that are not quite common for most image platforms.
https://www.freeimages.com/license
Kaboompics
Kaboompics uses its own license, which is similar to the "Creative Commons Zero" license. The difference is that you cannot redistribute these photos for download. On Kaboompics you will appreciate the search by color and you will also find an additional palette of colors in the photo.
https://kaboompics.com/page/license-and-faq
Stocksnap.io
Stocksnap uses the “Creative Commons CC0” license, so you are free to download, edit and use the photos for both commercial and non-commercial purposes.
x-Canva
Canva is an online graphic design tool that also offers free stock photos. One of the benefits of using Canva is that you can quickly turn an image into a custom graphic that you can use on social media or on your blog.
Life of Pix
On Life of Pix, you can find free high-resolution photos with a Public domain license. He works with Adobe Stock, which offers additional (paid) photos here.
Gratisography
Gratisography has its own free photo license that lets you do almost anything with the media. Although they now have a fairly limited number of images, many of them are of high quality and easy to use.
https://gratisography.com/license/
Flickr
Flickr is an image hosting platform. Here you will find images that you can use and edit for commercial purposes. In the "Any license" filter, select "Commercial use and modifications allowed" to find these images. Be sure to check the license for each image.
PicJumbo
PicJumbo offers a variety of free images for any use for free and without registration. You can get new images by subscribing to their newsletter.
Depositphotos
Depositphotos offers a sample of free images, vectors, editorial content, and videos that are updated daily. Sign up to get free files every week. Images from the "Free Files" collection are at your disposal for any purpose.
To find only free images, narrow your search using the main search bar (select "Free" from the drop-down menu before the keyword field) or go directly to search for free files. Then use the advanced filters from the menu on the left to save time.
New Old Stock
New Old Stock is a collection of historic photographs from public archives with no known copyright restrictions.
Bonus - Google Advanced Image Search
Advanced Google Image Search is a method of searching for free images through Google's own search tools. It allows you to specify in detail some properties of the image, such as size, aspect ratio, type, area, usage rights and others.