20 Best Stock Photo Sites With Free Images for Churches

When you’re trying to find just the right image for your church website, a sermon illustration, or promotional materials, the budget can be an issue. There are plenty of royalty-free images out there, you just need to find them. Here, we've rounded up the best stock photo sites that we recommend for church and ministry purposes. 

Using photos, videos and illustrations can instantly level up your communication and storytelling. Industry standards recommend using visuals strategically during worship services and in your communication collateral because it will keep the attention of your visual followers and also optimize comprehension.

Also, when you have a steady stream of images to choose from and share on social media, you'll broaden your reach and connect with more followers. It's a win-win.

20 Best Stock Photo Sites With Free Images for Churches

#1 – Pexels

Pexels has free stock photos and videos. The site includes over 300 traditional church images as well

#2 – Pro Church Media & Unsplash

Pro Church Media has curated collections on Unsplash, making it easier to find high quality images on that free stock photo site.

#3 – Unsplash

Speaking of Unsplash, they have thousands of free images available for immediate download.

#4 – StockSnap.io

This site includes hundreds of high resolution photos with new images added each week.

#5 – Freely

Launched in 2014, Daniel from the UK curates free images with churches in-mind.

#6 – Life of Pix

The photos on this site are free. However, in addition to the free images you’ll see a few recommended pictures from Adobe Stock.

Be sure to check out: The 7 Design Mistakes You Might Be Making in Your Church Graphics

#7 –  Picjumbo

Picjumbo includes free stock photos plus backgrounds and HD wallpapers.

#8 – New Old Stock

This unique site includes vintage photos from public archives. There’s no search option built into the site, so you might need to scroll through a few pages to find something that works for your project. However, if you need a vintage photo this is a great option.

#9 – Free Images

The name is pretty self-explanatory. This site includes tons of free images to use for your latest project.

#10 – Negative Space

Search this site for free high-resolution stock photos.

#11 – CreationSwap

CreationSwap includes free graphics, photos, and videos geared towards the church.

#12 – Free Bible Images 

Here you can find photos and illustrations that depict scenes from Bible stories. The terms for downloads may vary, but the images are free to use.

#13 – PikWizard

With a library of over 1 million stock images and videos, there’s sure to be something here that will work for your latest graphic or website.

#14 – Canva

While Canva is mostly used for easy graphic design, it includes stock photography you can use in your designs as well.

#15 – Free Nature Stock

Looking for a great nature photo to use in a sermon illustration or as a beautiful background? Free Nature Stock includes royalty-free nature stock photos and videos.

#16 – Vintage Stock Photos

These images come from 35mm slides from around the world. You can search by keyword or browse various categories to find what you need.

Doing online church? 5 Genius Tools For Your Online Church Experience

#17 – Free Range Stock

Find free photos and illustrations licensed for commercial use.

#18 – Morguefile

Don’t worry, this site is not a collection of pictures from the morgue. Per their About page, the name comes from considering a morgue file as “a place to keep post production materials for use of reference.”

 #19 – Yellowstone’s Photo Collection

These pictures of Yellowstone National Park are in the public domain and are free to use.

#20 – The New York Public Library Digital Collections

Over 900,000 items including prints, photographs, maps, and more are available for use at no charge.

Whenever possible, keep the attention of your listeners and deepen your message with visual art. There are countless royalty-free images on these sites, and plenty for you to choose from to level up your graphics game in your ministry.

Which site is your favorite? Leave a comment and tell us your fav, or one we've missed.