Stock images sometimes offer a small percentage of images for free, however most will cost you. It is important to check the license of any image you purchase.
Rights managed licensed images place restrictions on how you can use an image. For example, an image may be restricted to what geographical location it can be used in or the length of time you are allowed to use the image may be limited.
Royalty-free is one of the most common licenses. Royalty-free does not mean an image is free to download. It means that an image can be used a defined number of times without additional fees. Additional usage rights can then be purchased after that.
Recommended Stock Image Services
As you will soon see, the list of stock image services online is immense. Below is a small list of some of the most popular services online.
 | Getty ImagesOne of the oldest and most popular stock image services online. |
 | iStock PhotoA stock image service that has millions of premium photos on offer. |
 | morgueFileFree high resolution stock images that can be used for illustrations or designs. They have a fantastic selection of original photos. |
 | PhotoRackThousands of free stock images, which are categorised into dozens of categories. |
 | ShutterstockA large stock image service that offers over 25 million stock photos, illustrations, vectors and videos. |
Other Stock Image Services
I was not joking when I noted above that there are many stock image services out there. Stock Images are big business; which is why there are so many companies trying to profit from it. Note that many of the stock image services listed on the page are owned by the same company. Some specialise in particular niches, whilst others offer the same range of images.
- 123rf
- Aarin
- Abstract Influence
- Alamy
- Amazing Textures
- CanStockPhoto
- Cepolina Photo
- Clipart
- Corbis Images
- Crestock
- CSA Images
- David Niblack ImageBase
- Depositphotos
- Dougit Design
- Dreamstime
- Epictura
- Everystockphoto
- FeaturePics
- Fotolia
- Fotosearch
- Free Artistic Photos
- Free Digital Photos
- Free Image Files
- Free Photos Bank
- Free Pixels
- FreeStockPhotos.com
- FreeStockPhotos.biz
- FreeFoto
- FreeRangeStock
- Geek Philosopher
- Glow Images
- Historical Stock Photos
- Image After
- IngImage
- Inmagine
- IzmoStock
- Jupiter Images
- Kave Wall
- Matton Images
- Mayang
- OceanStockImages
- OpenPhoto
- PD Photo
- Photo Laboratory
- Photo Vaco
- PhotoCase
- PhotoDune
- PhotoEverywhere
- Photogen
- PhotoRee
- Photos
- PhotoSpin
- PhotoXpress
- Pic Findr
- Pixel Perfect Digital
- PixMac
- PunchStock
- Reflex Stock
- RGB Stock
- Stock Free Images
- Stock Fresh
- Stock Fuel
- Stock Illustrations
- Stock.Xchng
- StockLib
- StockVault
- Sweet And Talented
- ThinkStock
- Toasto
- Trip Album
- TurboPhoto
- Unprofound
- Vecteezy
- Vectorious
- Veer
- Visco Images
- VivoZoom
- WeatherPix
- YAY Micro