Where to find free images for a website legally, and how to prove you can use them
Use images you made, images you've paid to licence, or images from sources whose licence plainly allows commercial use on a website, such as Unsplash, Pexels or public-domain collections. Read the few licence terms that matter (credit, commercial use, changes, people and brands), and keep a note of where each image came from. Finding an image through a search engine doesn't make it free to use.
Why "I found it online" isn't permission
Photos are protected by copyright from the moment they're taken, whether or not they carry a notice. Using one on a business website without a licence can lead to a takedown request, an invoice from an image agency or a legal claim. Search engines show images from everywhere; they don't grant rights to them. Google's own help on finding images you can use points to the Usage rights filter and says to confirm each image's licence before reusing it. This page is practical guidance, not legal advice.
Sources and their terms
| Source | Commercial use | Credit | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unsplash | Allowed | Optional | Not selling unmodified copies, not compiling a competing service |
| Pexels | Allowed | Optional | Identifiable people, brands, implied endorsement, using an image as a trademark |
| CC0 works | Allowed | Not required | Other rights, such as a recognisable person's |
| Creative Commons BY and variants | Allowed unless NC | Required | NC (non-commercial), ND (no changes), SA (share alike) |
| Wikimedia Commons | Depends on each file | Usually required | Each file has its own licence on its page |
The licence terms that matter
- Commercial use
- A business website is commercial use. Under Creative Commons, anything marked NC is off limits for it.
- Attribution
- If the licence requires credit, give the creator's name, the source and the licence, near the image or in a credits section, as the licence asks.
- Changes
- Cropping and colour adjustments are changes. ND licences don't allow them; SA licences require you to share your version on the same terms.
- People
- A model release covers the photographer's rights to use someone's likeness. Free sites' licences generally don't let you suggest a person endorses your business, or show them in a bad light.
- Brands and property
- Logos, products and some buildings in a photo can carry their own rights. Avoid images where a brand is the subject.
Find and record an image, step by step
- Start with your own photos where you can. They're free, specific to you, and nobody else has them.
- Search a source with a clear licence page, such as one of those above, rather than a general image search.
- Open the image's own page and read its licence there. On collections like Wikimedia Commons, each file can differ.
- Check the content: identifiable people, logos, artworks, private property. If in doubt, pick another image.
- Download from the source, not from a site that has reposted it.
- Record it in a simple sheet: file name, page on your site, source URL, creator, licence, date downloaded and any credit required. Save a screenshot of the licence page as it was.
- Add the credit if one is required, in the form the licence asks for.
AI-generated images
Generated images avoid some licence questions but raise others: the rules on who owns them, and on generating something close to a real artist's work or a real brand, differ by country and by tool. Read your generator's terms for commercial use, avoid prompts that name living artists or brands, and don't present a generated picture as a real photo of your premises, products or staff.
Images on an Anticode site
Pages laid out by Anticode's design engine can use a curated photo library from images.unsplash.com, with written alt text, so those images come under the Unsplash licence. Your own photos and videos can be uploaded to an app build (the kind the model writes), where they're checked by their first bytes and stored under your account; on design-engine pages, a CMS image field can hold the https address of an image you host, which shows with that collection's entries in its own section and pages (the hero, About and Team pictures stay library photos or initials). Either way, you remain responsible for having the right to use them. Anticode doesn't check the licence of images you upload. Using your own photos covers preparing them, and stock photos on websites covers when stock helps and when it hurts.
Questions people ask
Can I use Google Images on my website?
Only if the image's own licence allows it. Google Images is a search tool, not a licence; use its Usage rights filter as a start and confirm the licence at the source.
Do I need to credit free stock photos?
Not under the Unsplash or Pexels licences, though photographers appreciate it. Creative Commons BY licences do require credit.
What if I've already used an image without permission?
Replace it with one you're allowed to use. If you receive a claim, don't ignore it; get advice before paying or replying.
Sources
- Google Search Help: Find images you can use and share, checked
- Unsplash License, checked
- Pexels License, checked
- Creative Commons: CC0, checked
- Creative Commons: About CC licenses, checked
- Wikimedia Commons: Reusing content outside Wikimedia, checked