Article

Copyright Free Images For Commercial Use

High-quality images, no royalties or attributions required, totally free for personal and commercial use. No sign-up necessary!

Pixabay offers thousands of professional photos for your website or blog, as well as for your product creations on Zazzle, Cafepress, etc. (Think t-shirts, mugs, mouse pads, posters, or whatever you'd like to sell.) Nobody should take the risk of using copyrighted images in their articles or on their mugs. Use Pixabay's free pictures instead.

Royalty Free, Copyright Free, No Attribution...

where's the catch behind "free"?

Sure, there are plenty of sites advertising free pictures, but usually there's some form of action required: sign up and give 'em your email address, make sure you link back to the site, and what have you.

Not so on Pixabay.com. Just pick, download, and use!

You see, this professional image-sharing site was founded by Simon and Hans, the tech-team of Wizzley.com, a revenue-sharing online platform for quality authors. We all know how important it is to show pictures in your articles, and how difficult it can be to get high-quality images for free. So it made a lot of sense to provide such a convenient image resource along with the article portal.

On Pixabay all images (except for a small percentage of "sponsored" Shutterstock suggestions) are in the public domain, so to speak. They're published under the Creative Commons CC0 license. It's not really a license but rather a release statement of the original photographers.

You may use these images any way you want except for truly stupid, illegal stuff. For instance, if you place a NASA image next to your crochet hat and then declare: "All astronauts must wear my great hats because NASA says so!", you're in big doo-doo. And rightly so. No fake endorsements!

free NASA image On the other hand, create a Valentines card with <--- this image, then write underneath:

"This is how I feel when I look into your eyes",

and sell thousands of cards through your Zazzle account - NASA won't even care.

(Except for a bunch of orders from astronauts. Maybe.)

So, use common sense and you will be fine.

Free Images And Graphics For All Occasions

More Fun Facts About Pixabay.com

(As if free images weren't fun enough, already...)

You may sign up on Pixabay, though. Then you can upload your own pics, get and give feedback, exchange tips, participate in contests....the whole shebang.

Free animal pictures

The forum is brand-new, but the site gets already thousands of visitors every day (no lion!). So, before long, the party shall begin.

One last thing: All submissions will be hand-reviewed. Some of them may be rejected for quality reasons or copyright issues.

That way, you're always sure that on Pixabay.com you'll get clean and totally free images of the highest quality. Nice, eh?

Slide Show Video With Free Images From Pixabay

The music is an excerpt of one of my own pieces

Pixabay.com - totally free images for blogs and websites

Now THAT Was Exciting!

Updated August 29, 2015

Where will you get your copyright free pictures from now on? (Hint: pixabay.com)

DerdriuMarrinerOct 18, 2018

chefkeem, Thank you for the examples and explanations. The music video really gives an exciting touch regardless of the baby's yawn. Where is the rest of the piece?

LTAug 29, 2015

Thank you very much! these are great. btw exciting is spelled with a c.

CarolanApr 25, 2013

Thanks for this tip about Pixabay. I did not find a way to search by category there for images. Did I miss it?

chefkeemOct 26, 2012

Thank you, Cheryl and Scott. :)

scottOct 25, 2012

Great article. That's useful for me. :)

cheryloneOct 4, 2012

I love pixabay, I use it all the time and am grateful that I read this article some time back and learned about it.

Sheri_OzOct 4, 2012

Simon - I will definitely link to that piece as it compliments well what I am working on.

chefkeemOct 3, 2012

Thanks for the link, Sheri. :)

Sheri_OzOct 3, 2012

I just started using pixabay and I am thrilled with it. I am linking this article to my still-in-progress article on clearing up misunderstandings regarding free and copyright images. Hope that's okay with you.

lobobrandonJun 5, 2012

Moreover, I did give zazzle a try and created one cool hat never published it to the market place though. With pixabay I guess I could try using pictures to make some really interesting stuff.

lobobrandonJun 5, 2012

Wow! I use flickr and morguefiles usually. But, just went through pixabay while creating my first wizz (Which I'm doing at present). It would be about a week or more before I publish it though as my finals are going on at present. However, pixabay had quality photos and I'm surely going to be using them in addition to flickr at present. Because, it's new and growing, but till then I do need a wide range of pics :)

MarkoApr 20, 2012

Thanks for the info below. Although I use mostly my own photos for articles (photographing is one of my hobbies, too), there are sometimes issues when own sources are not enough.

terrilorahMar 31, 2012

Thanks, this will be awesome to use!

vocal_penMar 28, 2012

absolutely great. Thanks

bhthanksMar 26, 2012

P.S. as of 3/26/12, the current profile image that you see next to my comment, is a picture from pixabay! However, if you look at this comment in the future, you might see a real picture that is not in public domain, if i choose to switch my profile image. I have also used pictures from pixabay on a number of sites, products, and articles. It is definitely convenient that there is no need for attribution.

bhthanksMar 26, 2012

Thank you Simon, Chef Keem and Sharon for your responses. So, it looks like I can use all the images freely, with no need for attribution. That's great. I am not doing "redistribution" in the sense that Simon described anyway, because I have no plans to create a site like Pixabay, but rather I use their pictures on my articles and in zazzle products. According to all of you, this is fine, so Thank you for explaining!
P.S. It definitely takes less time to post a query here, then to go to all the articles and places where I have posted pictures, to put in attribution. Thanks again!

SharonMar 26, 2012

Hi Simon. And bhthanks. I'm sorry if I made things more confusing. My pain point I wanted to make was that I did think that they are in the public domain.

chefkeemMar 26, 2012

Thanks for your input, Sharon. I'll notify the owners of Pixabay about this issue.

SharonMar 26, 2012

First...I'm not a lawyer and what I say should not be construed as legal advice. :P

If they make the claim that something is in the public domain than that is their legal responsibility. If they are putting things up that are not in the public domain, but saying that that they are...basically I would think that they are putting themselves in legal hot water. And they would be stupid to do that. I'm assuming that they really are in the public domain.

However...ultimately it is up to the individual using an image to determine whether an image is truly in the public domain.
You could try contacting publicdomainpictures.net and ask them if the images are truly in the public domain...and decide whether you trust that response more than the claim that they have already made.
You could also try contacting the person who it says took the picture on the publicdomainpictures.net site and ask them if they gave up the rights to it and placed it in public domain if you wanted to be more sure and take their word for it. (However, people can upload an image to a site and claim it is in the public domain when it is not really.) I personally am inclined to trust that in this case they truly are in the public domain, but prepared to remove the images if someone comes along saying that they are the true owner and didn't put the image into public domain.

chefkeemMar 26, 2012

It appears to be a solid public domain image. When in doubt about "attribution or not", I would simply add an attribution. It's a nice thing to do, and it costs much less time than writing a query here. (I guess, photographers sometimes add special requests to their license notes. No big deal, right?)

bhthanksMar 26, 2012

Hi Sharon, thanks for explaining... so if they are contradicting themselves, by writing contradictory statements in the very same paragraph, then how do we know which statement is true- whether the images are truly in public domain, or whether a hyperlink is mandatory, meaning it's not truly in the public domain??

SharonMar 26, 2012

bhthanks while the site http://www.publicdomainpictures.net says this.
"License: This image is public domain. You may use this picture for any purpose, including commercial. If you do use it, please consider linking back to us. If you are going to redistribute this image online, a hyperlink to this particular page is mandatory." However that statement is contradictory.
If an image is truly in the public domain, then they have no rights to it whatsoever...therefore they can't legally make it mandatory to link back to it.

bhthanksMar 26, 2012

I have been using pictures from pixabay, and I love that it can be used without requiring attributions. However, recently when I was looking at some of the pictures on Pixabay, I clicked on the source:website, which led me to a site that said, among other things "If you are going to redistribute this image online, a hyperlink to this particular page is mandatory." So, if we use these pictures on wizzley or on zazzle, do we need to include a hyperlink? if so, then perhaps it is misleading to say "no attribution necessary"? here is an example: http://pixabay.com/en/button-buttons-computer-design-key-2076/ which leads to http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=1819 , and many other pictures which say "If you are going to redistribute this image online, a hyperlink to this particular page is mandatory.
HTML: <a href="http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=1819&picture=help-key">Help Key</a> by Petr Kratochvil "
Please advise, because I would love to continue using pictures from Pixabay, but I want to make sure that I'm doing it the correct and legal way. do these pictures require attribution?

Jerrico_UsherMar 24, 2012

Wow, that looks sweet! I was going to say "no don't move them, as that's more likely to get your clks (misspelled on purpose) thus pay for the site, but when I went to look at what you did I have to say that is much cleaner (and nobody will get upset or frustrated) that actually looks amazing like that and makes it cleaner for us here to use :)

Thing is with the integration before, I don't know about most people but personally I refuse to buy something if I feel I was "tricked" into clicking into it, and I know that wasn't your goal at all, (but we feel what we feel on a first impression don't we?) but with so much of that going around online these days some honest sites get dinged for dishonest sites pushing peoples buttons and when you get frustrated for any reason- who get's the blam? Wherever you are- weather or not it's their fault or intension.

This will actually likely make more "salz" or "clks" because people will have a choice not a random what the hell just happened? you know what I mean?

The same thing happens in popups that annoy you while your reading something (unrelated to any of your sites, just an example) why would you purchase anything if they annoyed you? just sayin :)

Much appreciated. Once again, you rock!

p.s.

I hope I'm not using up my suggestion vouchers, I tend to point out things I see that can improve both the customer/author/reader/patron's experience, or what I may think would help the site.

I'm very attentive to things and only make suggestions, but I can be overzealous pointing out too many things :) if I go overboard (anywhere on your sites) just smack me around and tell me to get back to work haha.

Jerrico

Jerrico_UsherMar 24, 2012

Hi Simon, I completely get it, I didn't mean to elude that the site wasn't set up correctly or that the shutterstock/ads etc... weren't ethical, shouldn't be there, or the like- my only point was really that for us wizzards/wizzies reading an article talking about getting said images from there this hub just should have mentioned or changed the wording from "all pictures are public domain/free" to "MOST pictures are free" or "The "lion's" share are free so if they run into what I did (which ironically I just happened to pick a search term that brought back ONLY shutterstock and this being my first experience with the site thinking there were free images there, I didn't see them and bounced out just as fast as I bounced in- just confusing, likely most don't run into that problem...

I'm totally on board with how it's set up (and the site is beautiful by the way), I just got frustrated (not too frustrated though) with not being able to find what I needed right out the gate. :) Thanks for your response, sorry for the confusion- you guys rock.

Jerrico_UsherMar 24, 2012

Thanks ChefKeem, once I figured out the shutterstock ones tend to, on hover, pup up a small "shutterstock" name (before clicking in) it's easy to figure out which ones are free (and most are)... temporary insanity ensued when my first "search" phrase brought me nothing but shutterstock images... a few minutes today (that was a few days ago) on the site and I got it squared away- my comment was essentially saying you should mention the fact that some are not free and how to figure that out without clicking into it (hovering over, if no name pops up it's free) in your article here as not to frustrate the newbs like me hehe.

I'm squared away now. Thanks!

Jerrico

chefkeemMar 23, 2012

There's a small percentage of images for sale from Shutterstock. Those will have a watermark. However, the vast majority of pictures are in the public domain. Try to explore "Most popular" or "Most wanted" from the pull-down menu on top, or try different tags in the search fields. There are thousands of high-quality, public domain pics on the site.

Jerrico_UsherMar 23, 2012

ok I was confused at first but I think I figured it out. What you should mention is that although many are public domain there are many that are NOT free/public domain use from shutterstock- you have to make the distinction of hovering over before you click in to see if it's an ad, er, ehum I mean a paid for image....

To quote your article above "On Pixabay all images are in the public domain, so to speak." this is a misleading phrase as NOT ALL pictures are free, in fact I'm seeing at least 30% or more that are shutterstock and not free (or is there something I'm missing?)...

Thing is I started looking and picked pictures I liked and all of them were shutterstock and landed me on another site it seems to sell me the image... after some frustration it dawned on me that theres a mix of paid and free here.

You probably should clue people into that fact (again unless there is something I'm missing)... There does seem to be some great PD images here none the less.

dustytoesMar 23, 2012

Back to say that Pixabay also offers wonderful photos of people - and the cutest babies!! If you make photo templates at Zazzle and need good photo holders for the templates, you will love Pixabay!! They also have a request area, so you can tell them what you are looking for... love it. Thanks Simon and all..

terrilorahMar 21, 2012

Wow, thank you! I always have such a hard time finding legal photos. Great article!

SusanZutautasMar 21, 2012

Thanks for this information. This is great as I'm always looking for pictures to use legally.

JeannieinabottleMar 21, 2012

Thanks for sharing this information. I always struggle to find good free images. I am definitely checking out the site.

RhondaMar 18, 2012

Thanks for sharing this link.I am off to check it out and get a few photos.

SamMar 18, 2012

Thanks Simon, that puts my mind at ease - for Pixabay's sake and for the sake of all that use these images ;-)

cheryloneMar 18, 2012

I've been using Pixabay since I joined Wizzley, but I didn't know they created it, what a great idea!

PasticheMar 17, 2012

I am so excited to learn about Pixabay, as a photographer and as a freelance writer looking for quality, legal images. Thank you so much for creating this service and this page.

petuniaMar 17, 2012

Great information for all of us who write on line. We love to find super pics!

SamMar 17, 2012

@Simon
Check them always! Especially as you are advertising that the images can be used for print on demand products like on Zazzle! If not you have law suits waiting to happen!

SharonMar 17, 2012

@Simon. Thank you. Glad you are open to feedback and responding to questions and the like.

SharonMar 17, 2012

Hmm. There are pics from Shutterstock shown along with the free pics in the search results...but they are marked only with the tiniest icon of a dollar sign. So it's really confusing. Not really liking that. I think the pics that you have to pay for should be more clearly indicated like I've seen on other sites that offer free pics, but also have "sponsored" photos to help pay for the site. It does look like a good site other than that though.

AlleyCatLaneMar 17, 2012

Wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing this site. It is a real chore trying to find appropriate, free images for my Squidoo articles.

marie AKA poutineMar 17, 2012

Thanks for the tip. On my way to check it.

SamMar 17, 2012

One question: Does check Pixaby the model / property releases or do they just trust that the photographer has obtained one?

BarbRadMar 17, 2012

Guess I'm out of luck. When I signed in, I was told my information wasn't valid and they'd send another activation link. When it came and I clicked it, it said it wasn't a valid activation link and maybe I already have an account. I'm between a rock and a hard place.

BarbRadMar 17, 2012

I did sign up, but haven't been there for ages. Time to take another look.

nightbearMar 17, 2012

this is so exciting. I haven't even heard of them. And to know they are connected to trusted names is amazing. I am sharing this one for sure. thank you.

ronpassMar 16, 2012

I have used Pixabay frequently on my blogs and I really value the quality of the images that Simon provides. It's great to have ready access to quality free images that are available for commercial use. It also makes it easier that they do not require attribution.

ohcarolineMar 16, 2012

Thanks Chef. I'll be checking them out for sure. The right images are sometimes hard to find.

mandeesearsMar 16, 2012

There is always a need for good quality pictures when you write articles. I have used Pixabay before but will be sure to check it more often. Thanks for the heads up Chef!

humagaiaMar 16, 2012

Can I give this an Chazyboy's Choice?

dustytoesMar 16, 2012

I love Pixabay and I can vouch for them being picky with choosing photos as I have tried to add some and been rejected for a few! When I get on the Pixabay site I find myself getting stuck there for an hour moving from one gorgeous photo to the next. (ooohhh those mountains!) The images are mostly quite amazing.
I also have used photos of people as "photo holders" for my Zazzle templates and I'm in the process of using some of the flower photos for my work as well. Keep up the great work Pixabay photographers... please!

MarieMar 16, 2012

I didn't know that the submissions are hand-reviewed - that definitely makes me feel better about using these copyright free images. Thank you.

saraMar 16, 2012

thanks for sharing this. I know I used this when I first wrote on Wizzley but haven't used it since.

AngelMar 16, 2012

I love me some Pixabay! I had no idea the same folks run it as Wizzley. Interesting. I am all about some free pictures and Pixabay takes care of that.

Royalty Free, Copyright Free, No Attribution...

where's the catch behind "free"?

Not so on Pixabay.com. Just pick, download, and use!

free NASA image On the other hand, create a Valentines card with <--- this image, then write underneath:

"This is how I feel when I look into your eyes",

and sell thousands of cards through your Zazzle account - NASA won't even care.

(Except for a bunch of orders from astronauts. Maybe.)

So, use common sense and you will be fine.

More Fun Facts About Pixabay.com

(As if free images weren't fun enough, already...)

You may sign up on Pixabay, though. Then you can upload your own pics, get and give feedback, exchange tips, participate in contests....the whole shebang.

Free animal pictures

The forum is brand-new, but the site gets already thousands of visitors every day (no lion!). So, before long, the party shall begin.

One last thing: All submissions will be hand-reviewed. Some of them may be rejected for quality reasons or copyright issues.

That way, you're always sure that on Pixabay.com you'll get clean and totally free images of the highest quality. Nice, eh?

Where will you get your copyright free pictures from now on? (Hint: pixabay.com)

DerdriuMarrinerOct 18, 2018

chefkeem, Thank you for the examples and explanations. The music video really gives an exciting touch regardless of the baby's yawn. Where is the rest of the piece?

LTAug 29, 2015

Thank you very much! these are great. btw exciting is spelled with a c.

CarolanApr 25, 2013

Thanks for this tip about Pixabay. I did not find a way to search by category there for images. Did I miss it?

chefkeemOct 26, 2012

Thank you, Cheryl and Scott. :)

scottOct 25, 2012

Great article. That's useful for me. :)

cheryloneOct 4, 2012

I love pixabay, I use it all the time and am grateful that I read this article some time back and learned about it.

Sheri_OzOct 4, 2012

Simon - I will definitely link to that piece as it compliments well what I am working on.

chefkeemOct 3, 2012

Thanks for the link, Sheri. :)

Sheri_OzOct 3, 2012

lobobrandonJun 5, 2012

Moreover, I did give zazzle a try and created one cool hat never published it to the market place though. With pixabay I guess I could try using pictures to make some really interesting stuff.

lobobrandonJun 5, 2012

MarkoApr 20, 2012

Thanks for the info below. Although I use mostly my own photos for articles (photographing is one of my hobbies, too), there are sometimes issues when own sources are not enough.

terrilorahMar 31, 2012

Thanks, this will be awesome to use!

vocal_penMar 28, 2012

absolutely great. Thanks

bhthanksMar 26, 2012

SharonMar 26, 2012

Hi Simon. And bhthanks. I'm sorry if I made things more confusing. My pain point I wanted to make was that I did think that they are in the public domain.

chefkeemMar 26, 2012

Thanks for your input, Sharon. I'll notify the owners of Pixabay about this issue.

SharonMar 26, 2012

chefkeemMar 26, 2012

bhthanksMar 26, 2012

SharonMar 26, 2012

bhthanksMar 26, 2012

Jerrico_UsherMar 24, 2012

chefkeemMar 23, 2012

Jerrico_UsherMar 23, 2012

dustytoesMar 23, 2012

terrilorahMar 21, 2012

Wow, thank you! I always have such a hard time finding legal photos. Great article!

SusanZutautasMar 21, 2012

Thanks for this information. This is great as I'm always looking for pictures to use legally.

JeannieinabottleMar 21, 2012

Thanks for sharing this information. I always struggle to find good free images. I am definitely checking out the site.

RhondaMar 18, 2012

Thanks for sharing this link.I am off to check it out and get a few photos.

SamMar 18, 2012

Thanks Simon, that puts my mind at ease - for Pixabay's sake and for the sake of all that use these images ;-)

cheryloneMar 18, 2012

I've been using Pixabay since I joined Wizzley, but I didn't know they created it, what a great idea!

PasticheMar 17, 2012

I am so excited to learn about Pixabay, as a photographer and as a freelance writer looking for quality, legal images. Thank you so much for creating this service and this page.

petuniaMar 17, 2012

Great information for all of us who write on line. We love to find super pics!

SamMar 17, 2012

@Simon
Check them always! Especially as you are advertising that the images can be used for print on demand products like on Zazzle! If not you have law suits waiting to happen!

SharonMar 17, 2012

@Simon. Thank you. Glad you are open to feedback and responding to questions and the like.

SharonMar 17, 2012

AlleyCatLaneMar 17, 2012

Wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing this site. It is a real chore trying to find appropriate, free images for my Squidoo articles.

marie AKA poutineMar 17, 2012

Thanks for the tip. On my way to check it.

SamMar 17, 2012

One question: Does check Pixaby the model / property releases or do they just trust that the photographer has obtained one?

BarbRadMar 17, 2012

I did sign up, but haven't been there for ages. Time to take another look.

nightbearMar 17, 2012

this is so exciting. I haven't even heard of them. And to know they are connected to trusted names is amazing. I am sharing this one for sure. thank you.

ronpassMar 16, 2012

ohcarolineMar 16, 2012

Thanks Chef. I'll be checking them out for sure. The right images are sometimes hard to find.

mandeesearsMar 16, 2012

There is always a need for good quality pictures when you write articles. I have used Pixabay before but will be sure to check it more often. Thanks for the heads up Chef!

humagaiaMar 16, 2012

Can I give this an Chazyboy's Choice?

dustytoesMar 16, 2012

MarieMar 16, 2012

I didn't know that the submissions are hand-reviewed - that definitely makes me feel better about using these copyright free images. Thank you.

saraMar 16, 2012

thanks for sharing this. I know I used this when I first wrote on Wizzley but haven't used it since.

AngelMar 16, 2012

I love me some Pixabay! I had no idea the same folks run it as Wizzley. Interesting. I am all about some free pictures and Pixabay takes care of that.