Creative commons stock images sites
Whether we are writing a blog, designing a poster or doing some college project, we all have needed good quality images to complement our work. Although sites like https://alternativeto.net/software/shutterstock/, https://alternativeto.net/software/123rf-com/ or https://alternativeto.net/software/istockphoto/ have an almost infinite catalog of good options, our budget might doesn't always fit to them, so here there are some of the best alternatives with creative commons licenses without losing or a hint of quality!
Unsplash is well known for its huge catalog of impressive quality and breathtaking photos, donated by a large community of photographers willing to help you with your projects when making use of their images. So much so, that they aren't just used for digital projects, but also have a huge range of third-party applications that offers their images as wallpapers for smartphone or desktop, like The Wall! for Windows or Irvue for macOS.
All photos published on Unsplash can be used for free. You can use them for commercial and noncommercial purposes. You do not need to ask permission from or provide credit to the photographer or Unsplash, although it is appreciated when possible.
Pixabay is undoubtedly one of my favorite sites, because it not only has images worthy of the best stock sites, but also more simple and "natural". It uses Creative Commons Zero (CC0), which means their are safe to use without asking permission or giving the artist compensation - even for commercial purposes. They also provides you with an official Android and iOS app, so you can search, download and use the images from the comfort of your smartphone.
Pexels is one of the best mainstream sites when it comes to CC Images. All photos on Pexels are licensed under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license (Same as Pixabay). In addition, they give you the possibility of donating throught PayPal to the photographer of the image that is something that you want (and should) to do.
Also, they have a good video site with a CC0 license too, if that's what you're looking for: Pexels Videos
This website was initially created by a photographer to show his work because stock photo sites such as Shutterstock rejected his photographs, and now it host around 600 free images from different categories at high resolution, all available just for you (and well, for anyone really)
Like the previous one, this webpage was created by a photographer with the initial intention of sharing his work for free and in full resolution. You can find different categories, from animals, objects, nature and others. The catalog is updated every week!
Zoomy is not a site as such, but an essential tool for Windows and macOS. It'll provides you with images under license CC0 from more than 40 different sites, such as Unsplash, Startup Stock Photos, SplitShire, Magdeleine, Skitterphoto, FoodiesFeed, Visual Hunt and many more (a bunch of sites of private professional photographers with free license).
Great and very practical tool to search at the same time in different sites what we need, and download it directly from the desktop even without having to open the browser.
This site has a good selection of photos, PSD files, and icons. However, its strongest point is definitely the vector stock images. Freepik is probably the largest free vector download site in the world, and its huge catalog that increases rapidly every day makes it the first choice of many designers looking for a decent alternative to other payment sites like VectorStock.
The site has millions of items with free license (with attribution), and a few exclusives for premium users, who don't need to attribute authorship to the site/author. If you're also looking for a large selection of icons, check out Flaticon, which also belongs to the Freepik family, and it's excellent as well.
The next site is a little different because it doesn't provide photographs, but 3D modeling instead. A bit like Sketchfab, the site has a catalog of 3D objects, which can go from people, buildings, animals, characters or any other item. Although it's not completely free, it offers you a small selection of free items, and the others have a Royalty-free license, which means that you only need to buy the half eleven, and no further payments are needed.
The interesting thing about PixelSquid is not just its catalog, but its integration with Photoshop, through a plugin with which we can directly insert 3D objects into our design. In addition, it also has an application for Facebook and iOS.
