Everyday situations for content managers: You’ve written a great blog post, but still need the right cover image. Maybe you’re looking for the right visual for a social media post, but can’t create the photo yourself. Or you want to quickly spruce up a new landing page with an image. It’s not always worth buying an extra image. In many cases, there is also no budget for it. However, the internet is full of image databases where you can download free images. Here is an overview of such free image databases.
Note: Nevertheless, make sure you know exactly which rights of use you receive for the individual images when you download them!
Info: Creative Commons usage license: Creative Commons is a movement that tries to make content, knowledge and creativity available. When platforms offer this Creative Commons usage license, it means that you can use content from it without any financial consideration. Still, it’s a good idea to take another close look at the terms of use for each site. To be on the safe side, you should also always acknowledge the source.
Pexels – Good place to go for free images
We at marketingandtech.com like to use Pexels ourselves. Pexels offers free images for most keywords. Most of them are of high quality and attractively staged. For many keywords, however, there is only a limited selection of images. If you are planning several articles on the same topic, you will often reach your limits. Also, the results can no longer be filtered in detail. The site is therefore often only worth a first look, and the path then often leads to other image databases.
Pixabay- Wide range
The special thing about Pixabay is that you can also find other elements, such as vector graphics or drawings. However, you often have to sift through them. For example, clipart graphics are often found in the search results, which may have been used in the 90s.
Rawpixel – Freemium model
Rawpixel relies on a freemium model that requires previous registration. In the free version, you can download five images per day. In return you get a variety of Photoshop mockups and vector graphics in addition to images. The variety of images is also quite convincing. So, if you know that you have to image content on a regular basis, you can think about registering.
Flickr – also free variant useful
One of the best known and oldest image databases. Flickr gives photographers and designers the opportunity to make their work known to a wider public. With Flickr, the use of photos is free, a Pro variant provides features such as unlimited storage space, ad-free browsing and advanced statistics. So if you only want to download pictures, you’re well served by the free version. The image quality is variable, because the uploads are not curated. But additional filter methods, such as the option to search for colors, depth of field or minimalist photos, give the user many options to find a suitable image after all.
Unsplash – High quality free images
Unsplash started as a photo blog and is now a wide-ranging free image database. You can find inspiration for your images directly in topics like “Business & Work” or “Nature”. In addition, Unsplash is well curated, under the “Collections” you can look directly at several images on a particular topic. A special highlight is the category “Current Events”. Here you can also download free images of current events – otherwise you would need expensive access to press agencies.
Conclusion
So you have a wide selection of sources at your disposal if you are looking for free images. If you still haven’t found exactly the right motif in the end, it’s also worth taking a look at paid image databases.
