If you’re a writer, blogger, or otherwise, finding a FREE photo to use commercially and any ol’ way you please is very difficult. I’m gonna start this list so that others can benefit from it. I usually save the info in my email or I bookmark it. That way I can find them easily. Making this list will also help me get my own bootum organized. If a link quits working, or they change their policies and are no longer free, I’ll update this. If you notice something wrong that I haven’t gotten to, let me know.
Note: always double check the photos but these sites I list are available to use commerically. That means that you don’t have to credit the author (I usually credit the site I get them from in my books), don’t have to link to the site, and you can alter them as you wish. You can use them in websites, books (print and ebook), blog posts, and whatever else you may have in mind. Always read their licensing agreement as well. Usually found under the About page, Licensing page, or How to Use page. Somewhere on their site will have the information. It may get updated and I won’t notice.
You can also add your own sites to get photos from, but they have to be sites a person can use them completely free. Royalty free, for commercial purposes (allows you to use them in print books or however you please). 100% or public domain (means the same as above).
I will also include a list of sites that I get fonts from or any other product I find that meets the criteria I listed. And again you can also include a site, but it must be 100% free to use. If they have a CCO license (Creative Commons) that’s also good.
If you wish to contact me to check out your site and add it here, it MUST be FREE or free with credit. Not 10% of the site. The entire site.
Photo Sites
This site has a nice wide variety of styles. Nature, people, things. Good assortment of photos. Well taken too.
Another wide range of photography. This was the original site I used a lot.
This is my absolute favorite photo site. There are also illustrations, artistry portraits, fantasy images, and more.
Great photo site. Lots of beautiful images.
- http://cupcake.nilssonlee.se
– License is at top
This site I haven’t used, but it’s got a fair assortment of what looks like mostly nature. There may be some other shots. They look good though.
- http://freeforcommercialuse.net/
– License is at top
Another one I haven’t used, but that looks pretty good. More like shots you’d take yourself.
Fairly abstract shots mostly, but a good assortment.
This site I’ve used a few times for random internet picture projects. Nice assortment of well done shots. Little hard to browse, but forgiveable.
Offered up to me by Ariele Sieling (thanks, girl!), this site has a few options. There is the completely free option, but it also looks like you can upgrade to a premium membership to get even more photos as well. That’s up to you, but to me it looks like the free photos are pretty dang nice.
- https://www.splitshire.com/ – License
(read their limits that come with the free terms)
This site has a decent amount of photos, including video. Just make sure to read what their limits are to using the free images. They don’t want them used in products that are discriminatory for one which is understandable so things of that nature. Double-check that license, but they are free.
Just like what the link says. These are realistic shots of every day people, nature, etc.
(I’ll add more later and there is more, promise.)
Videos
Really great quality video to use in a website.
Same as the site above for photos, but I thought I’d include it here for the ease to find the videos.
Fonts
I have used this site a lot. The trick to getting the completely free font is a little search fun. Look at the categories, then in the search options area, choose “more options,” and tick the box for “100% free” and then “public domain.” That’ll ensure you’re only seeing the correct fonts that you can use. They have some great ones. Some of the donationware fonts are really good too, but you’ll have to donate to the creator to use them. Usually it’s just a few bucks so there is that option as well, but when you’re struggling, free is the best option. Again, I like to credit the sites I get the fonts from so there is that option.
Another one of my fav sites for fonts. BUT, pay close attention to the link, and to the fonts when you browse. Not all of them are free. Google fonts are free. There are icons on the fonts that you can hover over and will tell you if they are free, but sticking with that link and simply scrolling through the pages will keep you in the free range.
Any font you find on this site is open license. That means that you can use it freely in your projects. I like to download the fonts to my computer too. That way if I’ve used it on my site, I can use it in adverts for my site. Cohesiveness and all.
Book Mockups, Templates
Ever see those cool 3D images of the books that people share? This is a site where you can grab some for free to work on. Some are free, some are $5, just as he states in the sidebar, BUT read through each image when you click on it to double-check, the above link will keep you in the free range. 🙂
Sound/Music
By using the link above, you’ll go to the search results that will display public domain music. If you want to search it yourself, ensure when you do the search that the boxes for “public domain,” “allows for commercial use,” are checked. If you use it in on a project that is online and don’t mind crediting the author (still can do it even without searching with this method) then you can also check the box for “attribution” under the CC license area. You’ll get even more music choices then.
There are a lot of different sounds on this page. I was referred to it by a user on Youtube who uses this as his background music. This requires a credit, but that’s about it. On the licensing page, there is information on how to credit if you use it. I may use this one for book trailers. I’m eventually going to do those, but as of this moment when I list, I haven’t used the site so I can’t say how varied the music is. Seems like a good mix.
I was contacted by Marwan Nimra to check out this site. I’ve been contacted before, but the rule on this page is free to use. Or, give credit. Others didn’t have those options at all, it was simply low cost. My goal on this page is to help others who don’t have the funds to spend, but also love to help others with word-of-mouth. I like that natentine.com actually has a few different options, and a completely free option with just credit. It’ll be a standard quality music, but even those are usually high quality to the majority of the world so for me that doesn’t matter. A lot of variety on this site, and good quality sounds. I like it.
Kimberly Sue Iverson - Author 