PixaBay

Stunning free images & royalty free stock

Over 2.7 million+ high quality stock images, videos and music shared by our talented community.

Over one million royalty free photos, illustrations and vector graphics – and thousands of free video clips. All images and footage on Pixabay are released under Creative Commons CC0: Free for commercial use, no attribution required.

Pixabay is the most valuable free alternative to commercial stock photo sites. The Pixabay mobile app includes the following features:

* Fast search and a user-friendly interface
* Swipe through search results
* One-click image viewer – optimized with zooming and panning for smaller screens
* Directly download and share images, videos and music
* Messages and comments allow you to connect with others
* Content can be liked, favorited, and easily managed within the app

Planned features for the next app version:

* Direct image uploads from your device
* Show tags and camera info for all images
* Manage your own uploads

Pixabay – A Quick Overview

• Pixabay offers more than a million free pictures, images, and videos
• All photographs, images, and videos on Pixabay can be used without attribution, including for commercial purposes
• Pixabay adheres to a quality over quantity standard for their contributors
• Pixabay employs a submissions metric that allows for a certain number of submissions by artists based on quality
• Content acquired from Pixabay’s library can be used, modified, and distributed without additional permissions
• Pixabayoffers a SafeSearch feature, making their platform a safe resource for images to be used in school projects or artistic endeavors by young creatives
• Images can be uploaded to your website with no hotlinking required
• Pixabay’s catalog of curated images and videos spans practically every topic, making them a top resource for a variety of stock needs
• With nearly a decade in the stock image business, Pixabay has adapted to modern trends and understands exactly the type of content that today’s creatives are looking for

Pixabay – An Expansive Resource for Free Stock Images and Videos

Pixabay is a company with a long history in the stock photography business. Founded in 2010, by Hans Braxmeier and Simon Steinberger, both of Germany, who saw the need for a platform where various creatives could share and access works. A couple years later, in 2012, Pixabay underwent a transformation, leading to the development of the massive, free stock image platform that it is today.

Currently, Pixabay is an interactive community that supports creatives in 20 languages and features free content that has been uploaded by more than 100,000 photographers and artists from all around the world.  The worldwide platform offers one of the most extensive catalogs of stock photography and videos that you will find anywhere on the internet – all free of charge to public, with no special membership or subscription fees required.

Earlier in 2019, Pixabay was acquired by Canva – one of the world’s leading digital design and publishing platforms. For those who are wondering if this acquisition is going to affect the quality and quantity of free stock images available on Pixabay, the answer is yes – but in the most positive way.

Part of Canva’s core mission is to ensure that high quality, artistic works are available and accessible for those who need them, whether it’s for business, artistic, or personal uses. Pixabay is positioned to remain one of the top platforms for artists to showcase their works, and for other creatives to access those works to enhance their own endeavors, all free of charge.

How Does Pixabay Compare to Other Free Stock Photo Sites?

There are a handful of other free stock photo sites out there, the question being which one is going to be worth your time. Sometimes, the word “free” can be an indicator of the quality of images and videos a site offers, but this isn’t always the case.

Whether a free stock photo site is the right choice for you depends on the type of visual content you need. Free stock image sites are typically ideal for businesses and marketing purposes, with expansive libraries to choose from. As already mentioned, Pixabay offers one of the largest curated collections of free stock images and videos, but you might still be wondering how they stack up against some of the other sites out there.

For comparison, Pexels (which was also recently acquired by Canva) promotes hundreds of thousands of images on their site. The size of their collection is nothing to sneeze at, yet it still pales in comparison to Pixabay’s offerings.

From a “competition” standpoint, Pixabay really does stand alone. There are few other resources out there that offer such a large, diverse collection of stock photography – however, there are a couple other sites that come close, like Pexels and Unsplash, for example.

When compared to platforms like Pexels and Unsplash, Pixabay’s catalog is larger and more diverse, but their focus is somewhat different. Smaller free stock image platforms tend to be more “artistic”, whereas Pixabay’simages are more straightforward and less interpretive. If you search for medical images on Pixabay, your results with include physicians, medications, and medical settings. This can be both a pro and a con, depending on the situation.

Pixabay images are ideal for professional creatives who might not necessarily be looking to strike an emotional chord with their audience or are willing to modify the images to produce the desired emotional response. In contrast, smaller sites like Unsplash tend to favor more artistic images thatfeel emotionally inspired.

Of the advantages that Pixabay has over other free sites is how intuitively easy it is to use. The simple search bar and drop-down menu of filters makes it easy to find the exact image you’re looking for without too much sifting. Images are also tagged, so once you find a style or themethat interests you, Pixabay simplifies the process of finding similar images or videos. The Pixabay platform is designed to encourage browsing from the very second you land on their site. There’s no shifting through categories or featured pages to get to the type of visual content you’re after.

What Type of Free Stock Visual Content Does Pixabay Offer?

Photos

While Pixabay is an incredible resource for all types of visual stock content, photography is really what they do best. With millions of images to choose from, the only downside is that it can take a long time to filter through their collection if you’re not specific enough with your search.

The photos on Pixabay are free to download, with no attribution required. Images can be downloaded in various sizes, ranging from 640×426 to 6240×4160.

Vector Graphics

Pixabay offers up a collection of thousands of vector graphics, which are perfect for marketing purposes, as well as artistic pursuits when you need images that can be easily modified to fit your project. As with all the other types of content on their site, the vector graphics provided by Pixabay are free to use, with no attribution required.

Finding vector images on Pixabay is simple. Rather than needed to click through a filter menu to find vectors, there’s a one clicknavigation option for vectors at the top of the page. Once you are directed to the vector page, you can then filter content by category or theme. The sidebar of each vector provides key details, including image type, resolution, the date it was uploaded, and the number of downloads.

Illustrations

Pixabay offers thousands of unique illustrations for professional creatives to use in their work and modify to suit the needs of their project. Pixabay’s collection of illustrations includes both hand drawings and digital illustrations. As with their collection of stock photography, illustrations on Pixabay are free to download and use without attribution.

When you select an image to view on Pixabay, they provide key information, such as size and number of previous downloads. They also provide a selection of similar images that can be found on their platform. Additionally, there is a sponsored area at the bottom with clickable links to similar images and photographs on paid stock images sites, like Shutterstock.

Videos

Pixabay offers thousands of free stock videos for commercial purposes, inclusion on your website, or use on your social media pages. Their current collection includes over 8,000 videos, with new ones being added daily.Like with their stock images, Pixabay makes it easy to search for themed videos with an intuitive search bar function.

The free stock videos on Pixabay’s platform are mostly MP4, 1920 x 1080 high resolution, and come in under a minute in length. Many of the videos in their catalog are perfect as background settings that can be modified and personalized with your own content.

Another added benefit of downloading free videos from Pixabay is that they tell you how many times each video has been viewed and downloaded from their site. This can help narrow down your choices and help you choose video content that hasn’t been overshared on the internet.

Who Are the Images on Pixabay Best Suited For?

While Pixabay’s catalog is expansive, and covers practically every theme imaginable, many of their images lean on the side of being generic. This means they might not pack the emotional punch of smaller collections and paid stock image sites;however their catalog is ideal for those looking for complimentary or modifiable images.

Pixabay, as a free stock image platform, is well suited for professional creatives, like digital marketers, promotion specialists, branding firms, and for teachers/students.

What Type of Licensing Options are Available on Pixabay?

Pixabay likes to keep things simple and straightforward, which is something that carries through into their licensing policy. Pixabay adheres to a simple license structure which allows for all content on Pixabay to be used for both commercial and non-commercial purposes, completely free. Their images are all no attribution required, and modifications can be made without the need to notify or get consent from Pixabay, or the original creator of the image.

That said, there are a few exclusions to the free use of Pixabay images. According to their site, the following is prohibited.

• Sale or distribution of Images or Videos as digital stock photos or as digital wallpapers
• Sale or distribution of Images or Videos e.g. as a posters, digital prints or physical products, without adding any additional elements or otherwise adding value;
• Depiction of identifiable persons in an offensive, pornographic, obscene, immoral, defamatory or libelous way
• Any suggestion that there is an endorsement of products and services by depicted persons, brands, and organizations, unless permission was granted

Does Pixabay Offer a Membership or Subscription Option?

Currently, Pixabay is a completely free stock image site, with no paid subscriptions or exclusions for premium members only. You can create a free account with Pixabay, where you can keep track of your downloads, favorites, receive private messages, and receive donations if you’re a contributing artists.

Is Pixabay Easy to Use?

Of all the free stock photo sites, Pixabay offers a platform that is one of the easiest to use. If you were to ask those who use Pixabay if there are any downsides, some might mention that the catalog is simply too vast. If something negative needs to be said, this really isn’t such a bad thing.

The size of Pixabay’s catalog can easily be overcome with their simple search functions. There are options at the top of the page for image type – for example, photos, illustrations, vectors, and videos. Simply click on the option your looking for, and then type a keyword or two into the search bar.

If you’re not sure what type of image you want, the navigation options can be ignored, and using the keyword search bar function will provide you with every type of image available for the keywords entered.

Downloading images from Pixabay is simple also. Once you click on an image to inspect it, you’ll find a download button to the right of the screen. Simply click on the download button and select a size. The file will immediately be downloaded and will be ready for use.

What About Uploading or Selling on Pixabay?

Anyone can upload images to Pixabay, as long as they follow the terms of service guidelines. By uploading an image to Pixabay, you are giving permission for the site’s users to use, download, copy, and modify your images as they see fit, without permission or attribution.

Creators who submit images to Pixabay also agree that the images they supply do not infringe upon any copyright laws, property rights, or trademarks, and adhere to a royalty free model.

To upload content, create a free account and use the “upload” navigational option. Images can be uploaded immediately, and Pixabay provides a suggested list of tags they currently need content for. Because quality is a high priority for Pixabay, it’s important to read over their quality guidelines for both images and videos.

Pixabay – Your One Stop Location for High Quality, Completely Free Stock Images

For completely free, no attribution required, stock images, Pixabay is a platform that rises above the rest. With a curated collection that is massive, a site that’s intuitive to use, and years of experience in the stock image industry, the masterminds behind Pixabay have a keen understanding of what their users want and need.

Pixabay is a worthy option to explore for any professional creative who is looking to enhance their work with top quality, professional looking stock images and videos. No matter how specific your niche, or how diverse your theme, trust that Pixabay has the options you’re looking for that won’t break the budget or compromise on quality.

Pros

• The word search engine is very fast. It allows you to search for different terms at the same time and in addition to offering you pixabay’s own free solution, they give you payment quality options. That’s really good.
• You can incorporate images and graphics without restrictions of use and with a royalty-free license for both commercial use and personal projects. It is ideal to accompany texts in articles of a blog or web page.
• Pixabay is a great site for IT and Graphic Design. The content is top notch and the design is clean and modern. The site is easy to use and navigate, and the search function is great. Overall, Pixabay is a great resource for IT and Graphic Design.The most appealing thing about Pixabay for me is the clean and user-friendly interface. I also love the vast selection of high-quality photos, illustrations, and videos.Pixabay is a great resource for high quality, royalty-free images. As a graphic designer, I appreciate being able to find images that I can use in my designs without having to worry about copyright infringement.

Cons

• It needs to expand the catalog of videos, which at the moment is somewhat scarce but little by little they are going to expand said catalog.

• There are few things that I don’t like about free software, but it is a bit annoying sometimes that it asks you to identify yourself as a human several times in a row to download a single photo. But it is acceptable for the free use it offers of the material.
• I liked everything about Pixabay! But maybe, the least thing I liked about was that it was a little difficult to find specific types of images, specially royalty free.