Content is a key part of any good digital marketing strategy. You have to have a mix of original, curated, and user-generated content. So, where do you go when you need high quality, on-brand photography when you don’t have an in-house photographer?

I, like many others, use stock photography to supplement my photo needs. Yes, it’s true that stock photos have gotten a bad reputation. (Think of forced poses and unoriginal flat lays of mismatched products—the kind of content that makes marketers cringe.) For the most part, stock photos can give you the quality and diversity you seek, all while staying in budget.

If you’re looking for more content ideas or need additional images, here are 8 of the best stock photo sites for Instagram, blog posts, and all your digital marketing needs, regardless of your budget!

Free Sites

If you want to save some money, these 4 free stock photography sites could be exactly what you need.

Reminder - Pinterest is not a credible source for images and should not be used for asset curation. Most images are re-pinned without the original author’s attribution. Although it’s great for mood boards and inspiration projects, I don’t recommend using those images on your social media or website.

Unsplash

Probably one of the most well-known free stock photography sites. Unsplash has been one of my favorite stock photography sites for a while now. With its large library of high-quality photos, it’s a great option to boost your content library. The only downside is, with its widespread use, the images often pop up in many other places.

Burst

Burst is a free stock photography platform, powered by Shopify, that believes in “making commerce better for everyone.” Thanks to this mission, Burst is the perfect place to find collections of images that are great for commerce and digital products.

Kaboompics

Kaboompics might be one of my favorite lesser-known stock photography sites. Like many other sites, you can search for images in different categories or themes. But, where Kaboompics stands alone is the ability to sort by color! That’s right each photo has its own built-in color palette (which is amazing for designing original assets using the photos or matching your brand colors to the photos you use)!

Pexels

Last, but not least, Pexels is another great option when looking for free stock photography sites. Unlike many of the other sites, Pexels also offers video! The site also has some of the most diverse photos of any free site and is perfect for unique and original images.

Paid Sites

If you need more custom and unique stock photography and have a budget to work with, one of these 4 paid stock photography sites could be better suited for you.

Haute Stock (starts at $29/month)

This subscription-based site offers beautiful, well-styled stock photos. It’s a great option for clean, crisp imagery and social media templates. The photos can easily fit in with your branding or provide a great starting place for creating your own. Plus, get 21 free photos by signing up for their newsletter!

Social Squares (starts at $25/month)

Social Squares is the least expensive of the subscription options. My top reason for loving the site is, similar to KaboomPics, there’s a color sorting feature! The site features similar templates and graphic options like Haute Stock, as well. Overall, Social Squares is the perfect option if you want to maintain a certain color-based brand aesthetic.

iStock (starts at $29/month)

When working with a larger budget, iStock is my go-to for stock photography. It’s a large, well-known brand that has tons of amazing photos, illustrations, and videos from which to choose. Depending on your budget, you can buy individual credits (typically starting at about $11/credit) or, you can pay monthly for 10-750 images/month.

Adobe Stock (starts at $29/month)

Adobe Stock is only of my favorite places for illustrations and vectors. Although Adobe Stock also has tons of great images and videos, I’ve primarily used it for its vector and graphic collections. They even offer a free month trial with 10 images to start!