Pixabay often displays photos incorrectly, that’s why many users switch to other stock image websites. So if you are looking for more useful unlimited libraries of stock images, you should consider one of these Pixabay alternatives. They offer thousands of paid and free images that might be useful for both photographers and designers.
Pixabay is popular because offers a great number of licensed pictures and a convenient sorting system. However, there are more than ten websites like Pixabay that offer better picture quality and a wider variety of images. Plus, some of them are free of charge.
Using sites similar to Pixabay, you can find any image in a few seconds. On these platforms, you can find photographs, graphic images, GIFs for various purposes. Although users should pay for most of the content, some images are free of charge.
All websites reviewed in the article are great Pixabay alternatives suitable for beginners and experienced shooters alike. You can find a suitable platform for your particular needs. Some of them also allow you to order images.
Adobe Stock is one of the most popular libraries of stock images for today. It offers more than 80 million images. At the same time, all these photographs may be used for commercial purposes so it is an ideal solution for designers managing business projects. Moreover, this Pixabay alternative allows selling your own photos.
Main Adobe Stock Features:
The main advantage of Adobe Stock is its integration with Lightroom, Photoshop and other photo editing software. Thanks to this, you can instantly import a photograph to the chosen program.
Unsplash is a stock photo platform with convenient search options. Moreover, all the categories of images are regularly updated. In general, it is a decent Pixabay alternative that allows you to access more than a million free pictures.
Main Unsplash Features:
All photos published on this platform are covered by the Creative Commons Zero license. Thus, you can use images for commercial and personal purposes. Moreover, you may share, copy, and edit photos without indicating the photographer or the website itself.
Getty Images is one of the best stock photography sites as it has a great variety of images for various purposes. Here, you can also find pictures that can be used for commercial purposes.
Main Getty Images Features:
Getty Images has many advantages that attract more and more people. Thanks to the convenient sorting system, a user can easily find the latest or the most popular pictures. If necessary, you can buy the copyright to an image and use it exclusively for your purposes. Besides, all images on the platform are ready for printing.
Picjumbo, like Pixabay, offers an impressive collection of photos that are free to use for both personal and commercial needs. I liked that the categories are easy to access. However, it’s impossible to use it to search for different formats, such as illustrations, music, and videos.
Main Features of Picjumbo:
The platform has several picture categories (abstract, fashion, nature, technology, and others). They add new images to each section daily. Here you will find eye-catching photos and other design content, including wallpapers for your smartphone or even backgrounds for your YouTube channel. Plus, you can visit their website and find out a lot of useful stuff and tips in the dedicated section. If you want more unique images for your emails, templates, landing pages, or other assets, you can buy a premium plan.
Shutterstock is a Pixabay alternative with a great collection of premium stock images. It has a library of graphic images, illustrations, and stock pictures without licensing fees. The biggest advantage of this platform is that you can download several images at once.
Main Shutterstock Features:
The website has an in-built photo editor that allows you to adjust grain, add text, and apply brushes. After buying an image, you can change its size and edit it without leaving the platform. Prices depend on subscription plans that allow you to download a certain number of images.
Like Pixabay, Flickr provides a great variety of stock images. The platform has the Free Use Photos section. When you use a photo downloaded from Flickr, you don’t need to indicate its author. Thus, this service allows you not only to download images for your creative needs but also to share your content with others, on a free or paid basis.
Main Flickr Features:
The website allows creating photo sets, and edit image names and tags. For instance, if you plan to use a photograph on the Internet, you can change its size if necessary. It also allows you to use third-party tools to process photos.
iStock is a popular website where you can download photos for any budget that you can use in professional projects. Its main benefit is the search by image option. Thanks to image recognition technology, you can find the necessary content in a blink of an eye.
Main iStock Features:
Most websites like Pixabay have convenient sorting options, and iStock is not an exception. There are three categories of images, which allows you to easily find the cheapest or the most expensive options. Plus, you can search photos by tags. The only drawback is that photos are quite expensive if you don’t pay for a subscription.
Icons8 is a professional stock photo service for clothes designers and people involved in the fashion industry. It is a young platform with a big library of high-quality images for personal and commercial use.
Main Icons8 Features:
This Pixabay alternative allows you to download studio shots. It has an in-built photo editor that enables you to improve images, change the background, and add various objects without violating the copyright. At the same time, you can place an order to have a photo taken for you. You just need to indicate your requirements.
Pexels has a collection of free high-quality images with the CC0 license. You can use various tags to search for stock pictures. Unlike other Pixabay alternatives focused solely on images, Pexels has a collection of videos.
Main Pexels Features:
The platform has a collection of more than 100,000 stock images and adds 10 new pictures to its database every day. These pics are chosen by the Pexels team from free image sites and selected from images uploaded by users.
Burst is a stock photo platform that is quite different from other websites like Pixabay as it has sections about technologies and business ideas created for e-commerce entrepreneurs. You can use the images from these sections for e-commerce stores that sell sport or yoga equipment.
Main Burst Features:
Burst allows artists to create and add images to their database. Photos approved by the Burst team are published online. The categories are regularly updated. You can find all recently uploaded images in the New Photos section.
Freestocks.org is a platform that allows you to search for high-quality images published under the Creative Commons CC0 license. The main advantage is that you can search photos by tags, locations, names of objects. Most photos are available for free.
Main Freestocks.org features:
This Pixabay alternative allows you to choose the size of the image you want to download (from 450x300 to 5760x3840 pixels). The platform has a great collection of pictures ready for printing. Moreover, Freestocks.org regularly updates its database using images from similar websites.
LibreStock is an index website that searches for free images on sites like Pixabay. This way, users don’t have to visit several platforms to find a necessary image. LibreStock will show all images on its main page.
Main LibreStock Features:
This site allows you to download photos from other stock image sites, like Flickr, Pexels, and Shutterstock. The search accuracy is around 70%. The main drawback is that you have to visit other sites to download images. Moreover, if a photo is unavailable, the website will redirect you to Shutterstock so that you could pay for it.
