Best free stock photography?

March 19, 2025 2:52 PM

I need to build a library of stock photos. I work at a nonprofit that helps predominately low-income Hispanic families in Chicago. We have very little money. What are the best sites for free, legal-to-use stock photos?

I mostly need photos of Hispanic people and other people of color. Families (moms and or dads) with infants and/or kids, shots of toddlers, kids ages 9-12... and I also need shots of elderly people, with or without caregivers and/or family.

I currently license free stuff through Adobe Stock (we have a Creative Cloud license), and I have been using Pexels. Can you recommend more sites I can search for free shots that I can use legally?

Also: I may be able to get money for a short trial period to subscribe to a site (maybe a month), where I could then download as many free stock photos that I can to help fill our needs... which would you recommend? (if such a thing exists)

Please point me to the best resources. These photos will be used for a great cause, a nonprofit that has been around for 71 years. I take as many photos as I possibly can (and use them!) but we need release forms for the people we photograph, and in some cases it's impossible for me to photograph some of the people we help (such as families experiencing homelessness, or families recovering from or dealing with abuse, elderly people and children receiving care in their private homes, etc).

I worked as an advertising art director for 20+ years and I know how tough it is to get decent stock photography (even when paying for it!) and free stock is often... not great. I would hire and pay photographers in a second if it were any way possible with our budget.

I know finding good stock photos is like finding needles in haystacks, but I figured I would ask you good people for ideas. Thank you.

posted by SoberHighland to Media & Arts (8 answers total)

Unsplash
posted by terretu at 2:59 PM on March 19 [2 favorites]

Unsplash has made an effort to show more diversity in the photos they offer. However, they've added a paid tier, and I think most of the better stuff is not free now. (And I believe photographers should be paid, but you're looking for free.) In my recent experience, Pexels has more free images, returns more accurate images for one's search terms, and hosts more images overall (so you get many more returned on search).
posted by cocoagirl at 3:16 PM on March 19 [1 favorite]

Nappy.co has "beautiful photos of Black and Brown people, for free." All their photos are available under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.
posted by bones to dark emeralds at 4:36 PM on March 19 [6 favorites]

If you can do attribution, Women of Color in Tech is licensed CC-BY.
posted by humbug at 4:57 PM on March 19 [4 favorites]

From my bookmarks. Some of these haystacks may be defunct and/or have a low percentage of the types of needles you'd be looking for in them.

https://ancestryimages.com/
https://bigfoto.com/
https://burningwell.org/
https://burst.shopify.com/
https://canweimage.com/
https://clker.com/
https://collections.lacma.org/search/site?page=1&f[]=bm_field_has_unrestricted_image%3Atrue
https://commons.flickr.org/#
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
https://compfight.com/
https://converticacommerce.com/ux-ui-frontend-design/5-cool-sites-for-wordpress-header-images/
https://createmytherapistwebsite.com/free-stock-photography-resources-for-your-therapy-website/
https://digitalcommonwealth.org/
https://dotspin.com/the-commons/
https://europeana.eu/portal/en/collections/photography
https://everystockphoto.com/
https://fancycrave.com/45-websites-to-download-free-stock-photos-for-your-projects/
https://fancycrave.com/category/collections/free/
https://flickr.com/commons
https://flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/albums/
https://freedigitalphotos.net/
https://freeimages.co.uk/
https://freeimages.com/
https://freemediagoo.com/
https://freerangestock.com/
https://getrefe.tumblr.com/
https://gratisography.com/
https://gratisography.com/
https://imageafter.com/
https://imagefinder.co/
https://images.nasa.gov/
https://images.nimh.nih.gov/public_il/
https://jaymantri.com/
https://jeshoots.com/
https://lifeofpix.com/
https://littlevisuals.co/
https://magdeleine.co/
https://metmuseum.org/art/collection/search
https://morguefile.com/archive
https://morguefile.com/photos
https://mymodernmet.com/free-online-art-resources/
https://navigatecreate.com/2014/09/where-to-find-free-and-legal-content-online/
https://nos.twnsnd.co/
https://openclipart.org/
https://openculture.com/2015/03/download-422-free-art-books-from-the-metropolitan-museum-of-art.html
https://parismuseescollections.paris.fr/en/recherche/image-libre/true?solrsort=ds_created%20desc
https://pdimagearchive.org/galleries/all/random/desc
https://pdimagearchive.org/shuffle-view/
https://pdphoto.org/
https://pexels.com/
https://photocollections.io/page/1/
https://photopin.com/
https://picjumbo.com/
https://pickupimage.com/
https://picography.co/
https://pixabay.com/
https://publicdomainarchive.com/
https://publicdomainpictures.net/
https://rgbstock.com/categories
https://rijksmuseum.nl/en
https://search.creativecommons.org/
https://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2289302/how-to-find-free-images-with-googles-advanced-image-search
https://stockphotos.io/
https://streetwill.co/
https://tineye.com/
https://unprofound.com/
https://unsplash.com/
https://unsplash.com/archive#_=_
https://vangoghmuseum.nl/en/search/collection
posted by concinnity at 7:12 PM on March 19 [4 favorites]

Not the best selection, but still free: Pixabay.com
posted by hydra77 at 7:01 AM on March 20

It's almost certainly not relevant to this project, but I can't help but plug it: Canadian Internet Registration Authority Stock Images. (They also have a specific gallery of Indigenous Stock Images.)

They're the most fun free stock photos I've come across and I use any excuse to sneak one into a project.
posted by fader at 9:28 AM on March 20 [1 favorite]

Lots of these photos are free with attribution and feature diverse subjects:

https://thenounproject.com/
https://affecttheverb.com/collection/
posted by LKWorking at 9:53 AM on March 20