15 Best Websites for Free Design Resources
If you're a designer on a budget, you know the struggle.
Investing in premium assets, such as stock photos, fonts, templates, and more, can quickly boost your profits. However, creating outstanding designs doesn't have to break the bank. You can level up your design skills with the right free resources without spending a dime.
In this post, I'll share my go-to websites for finding high-quality, free design assets.
You'll find everything you need, from stock photos to UI kits, to create stunning graphics, branding, presentations, and more. Ready to save some cash while taking your projects to the next level? Read on!
- Free design resources help save money, allowing designers to invest in their business.
- Experimenting with diverse assets fosters creativity without financial risk.
- Accessing free libraries speeds up design workflows, enhancing productivity.
- High-quality free assets provide inspiration and assist skill development.
- Curated sites like Pixabay, Unsplash, and Freepik offer reliable resources for designers.
Why Free Design Assets Matter
Before we dive into the sites, let's chat about why free resources are so valuable for designers:
Save Money
This one's obvious but worth stating. Premium assets can become expensive, particularly if you use them frequently. Free options allow you to invest those savings in growing your business in other areas.
Experiment with New Styles
Trying new styles and assets is risky when you're paying per download. But with free resources, you can grab various assets and play around to see what works best.
Speed Up Workflow
Hunting down the perfect paid asset can be time-consuming. Free libraries let you quickly browse and download hassle-free, so you can spend more time designing.
Find Inspiration
What sparks your creativity more than a stunning free stock photo or brilliantly designed template? Let high-quality free assets get your creative juices flowing.
Expand Your Skills
You can expand your design skills by experimenting with new assets. Use a fancy font for a stylish logo. Create a brochure template to improve your layout abilities. The options are endless!
Now, let's take a look at those free resources, shall we? I've dug through hundreds of sites to cherry-pick the very best options.
1 – Pixabay – Free Stock Photos and Videos
Let's kick things off with the granddaddy of free image sites, Pixabay. With over 4.2 million stock photos, illustrations, and videos, you'll always have project options.
Key Features:
- Completely free commercial and noncommercial use
- No attribution required
- Striking nature, travel, food, and other images
- Helpful categories and search filters
- User rankings help surface quality picks
Pixabay is my go-to for lifestyle photos for blogs, cookbook imagery, nature backgrounds, and more. And the library expands by over 1,000 new assets daily! With Pixabay in your toolbox, you'll never have to pay for stock photography again.
2 – Unsplash – Beautiful Free Stock Photos
If striking photography is your thing, Unsplash should be your second stop. This curated stock photo site offers over 5 million (and counting!) ultra-high-quality images.
Key Features:
- All photos are free to use for any purpose
- Ten new images are added every 10 minutes
- Clean, modern photographic styles
- Handy search bar to find the perfect shot
- Beautiful user collections for themed assets
From product photography to inspiring nature shots, Unsplash has the photographic talents of over 290,000 contributors at your fingertips. And the intuitive UI makes hunting down the ideal image a breeze. Level up your blogs, websites, flyers, ads, and everything with Unsplash's stunning imagery.
3 – Iconfinder – Free Icons and Stock Illustrations
If you need icons, illustrations, or other graphic elements, Iconfinder should be your go-to resource. With over 1 million assets, it's one of the largest free libraries.
Key Features:
- An enormous library of stylish icons and illustrations
- Great for website elements, infographics, presentations, etc.
- Handy editor to customise colours and sizes
- Advanced search filters, including style and file type
- New icons and illustrations are added daily
Infographics, websites, mobile designs, you name it. With Iconfinder's massive cache, you'll find vector icons, illustrations, and stylish graphics for any purpose.
4 – Freepik – Free Vectors, Stock Photos, PSDs, and Icons
Freepik offers a fantastic assortment of free resources, ranging from photos to icons. If you need a one-stop shop for design assets, this is it.
Key Features:
- Massive library of over 5 million free resources
- Icons, vectors, PSDs, patterns, mockups, and more
- New uploads daily from talented contributors
- Handy search bar and category browsing
- Resources with unique styles you won't find elsewhere
Freepik offers a wide range of options, from floral frames to space scene PSDs and hand-drawn illustrations. If you can dream it up, you'll probably find it (for free!) on Freepik.
5 – Pexels – Best Free Stock Photos and Videos
Another fantastic free stock photo site, Pexels, offers over 1 million photographs, illustrations, and videos. All are free for personal or commercial use, with no attribution needed.
Key Features:
- Library of over 1 million stock photos and videos
- Gorgeous nature, travel, food, and fitness images
- Handy categories, collections, and search to find the perfect asset
- New pics and vids added daily by talented creators
- Features like Popular and Trending help surface standout assets
Pexels offers a clean, ad-free interface that lets the striking images take centre stage. If you need gorgeous lifestyle photography for your marketing materials and more, Pexels is an essential bookmark.
6 – Burst – Free Stock Photos for Commercial Use
For a grab bag of diverse, dynamic stock photos, check out Burst. This site offers thousands of high-quality images covering all the bases.
Key Features:
- Free stock photos for any use
- No attribution required
- A diverse selection of lifestyle, business, food, and nature photos
- Handy category browsing to find what you need
- New pics are added daily for fresh inspiration
Shopify runs burst and is perfect for ecommerce images. But with categories like Office, Diverse, Technology, Hobbies, Concepts and more, every designer can find great stock shots here.
7 – Kaboompics – Free Stock Photos
If you love Unsplash, Kaboompics is another phenomenal photo library to add to your bookmark arsenal. Offering diverse, dynamic stock photos, it's a must-try.
Key Features:
- Free commercial use stock photos
- No attribution required
- Hand-picked, high-quality lifestyle photography
- Intuitive search and category browsing
- New pics are added daily for endless inspiration
Kaboompics offers over 9,000 photos spanning categories like Abstract, Technology, Nature, Emotions, Holidays and more. It's a fantastic one-click resource for striking project imagery with full commercial rights and new additions uploaded daily.
8 – Gratisography – Free High-Res Stock Photos
As another excellent source for commercial-use stock photography, Gratisography is a must-bookmark. With nearly 400 photos uploaded weekly, it offers a regularly refreshed trove of inspiration.
Key Features:
- 100% free high-resolution stock photos
- Commercial and editorial use allowed
- No attribution required
- New pics added weekly in diverse categories
- Photos feature unique colour grading and editing
Gratisography's photos have a distinctive style, characterised by desaturated, gloomy tones and intriguing edits. It's perfect for nail salons, boutiques, restaurants, and anyone seeking an edgy vibe. The unique aesthetic makes it stand out from other free stock sites.
9 – Death to Stock – Photos for Creatives
If quirky, offbeat photography is more your style, check out Death to Stock. As the name suggests, this site offers a hip alternative to generic stock photos.
Key Features:
- Free monthly photo packs in different themes
- Past photos are available individually for free
- Quirky, edited photography with personality
- Perfect for creatives, startups, or fun brands
- Join the newsletter for access to new monthly packs
From camper vans to office dogs, Death to Stock's photography packs profound originality. This is a goldmine if you're looking for stock images that brim with life for a creative project.
10 – StockSnap – Free Stock Photos
With hundreds of thousands of free stock photos, StockSnap is another fantastic image resource for creatives. The site curates stellar shots covering all themes.
Key Features:
- Hundreds of thousands of free stock photos
- Diverse selection spanning all topics
- Hand-picked, high-quality photography
- Advanced search filters to find the perfect images
- Download individual images or in bulk
For gorgeous lifestyle photography to use anywhere, StockSnap is an excellent bookmark. And with robust search tools, you can quickly isolate the perfect pic for any project.
11 – Vecteezy – Free Vectors, Illustrations & More
If you need illustrations, vectors, or graphics, Vecteezy boasts over 1 million free options. It's a goldmine of illustrations and vectors, from logos and icons to backgrounds.
Key Features:
- Massive collection of over 1 million free vectors, illustrations, and graphics
- Also includes photos, video footage, fonts, templates, and more
- Handy category browsing and advanced search filters
- There is a vast variety of styles, from minimalist to retro
- Highest quality assets from pro designers around the world
Whatever your illustration needs – website assets, logos, infographics, posters, social media posts, and beyond – Vecteezy offers endless options. Bookmark it for easy access to a wealth of on-trend graphic elements.
12 – Free Vectors – Download Free Vector Art
As another go-to for illustrations, Free Vectors offers over 310,000 options. Easily find crisp, clean graphics for any design project.
Key Features:
- 310,000 (and growing!) free vector illustrations
- Also includes free icons, templates, backgrounds, and more
- Handy categories and search filters to browse
- New uploads daily from a global community
- Easy, instant downloads for fast workflows
Free Vectors makes it simple to isolate exquisitely crafted graphics for websites, merchandise, flyers, packaging, clothing, digital ads, and everything in between.
13 – Vector Stock – Vectors & Graphics
Vector Stock is a true gem if you need retro or vintage-inspired designs. Offering over 36 million public domain vectors, it's filled with groovy graphics.
Key Features:
- Massive collection of 38,000 retro and vintage vectors
- Logos, badges, labels, borders, backgrounds, illustrations and more
- 100% public domain and royalty-free
- Themed galleries for easy browsing
- Handy search bar to find specific graphics
For throwback graphics packed with nostalgia, Retro Vectors is a must-have. Pop those vectors into your tee shirt designs, business cards, packaging, or anywhere you want an old-school aesthetic. Far out!
14 – Free Design Resources – Free Photoshop Materials
If it's PSD templates, mockups, or other Photoshop materials you're after, Free Design Resources delivers. It's a true gem for Photoshop pros, offering everything from logo templates to mobile mockups.
Key Features:
- PSD templates, mockups, shapes, brushes, styles, and other Photoshop assets
- Handy categories and search to browse effortlessly
- New files are uploaded regularly
- Free for commercial and personal use
- A diverse selection of modern resources
Finding high-quality, flexible Photoshop materials can take ages. Free Design Resources lets you grab them instantly to spend more time designing.
15 – Canva Graphic Design Templates
Last but not least, Canva offers a stellar lineup of free design templates. From social media posts to presentations, flyers, posters and more, these templates are a quick way to create polished graphics with no learning curve.
Key Features:
- Thousands of free design templates for different formats and uses
- Just swap in your text and images
- Template categories, including Instagram posts, YouTube banners, resumes, invitations, posters, infographics, and more
- Available on the Canva website or their app
- New templates are added regularly
Canvas-ready-made templates help non-designers quickly create professional visuals. But they can also assist professional designers by helping you skip repetitive grunt work. Whatever your profession, don't miss this fantastic library of time-saving templates.
16 – Google Fonts – Top-Tier Free Fonts
Right, let's have a word about fonts. Look, if you're trying to build a proper brand, your typography can't be an afterthought. It’s absolutely massive in terms of how people perceive your business.
That's where Google Fonts is an absolute lifesaver. Forget paying through the nose for font licenses. This is my number one spot for grabbing brilliant, open-source fonts, and you won’t pay a single penny.
Key Features:
- Over 1,500 font families, all completely free for commercial use.
- Dead simple to stick on your website. Just copy a bit of code, job's a good'un.
- Smart filters to track down exactly what you're after – serif, sans-serif, whatever.
- Handy pairing suggestions to help you avoid guesswork about which fonts work well together.
- Download any font to use in your offline design software. Easy.
The thing is, a dodgy font choice can ruin a great design quickly. It just looks amateur. Google Fonts stops that from happening. You get access to a library that pros use, for free. Whether you’re designing a new logo, laying out a brochure, or just want your website to look the business, you need this in your toolkit. End of story. It's a no-brainer.
17 – Figma Community – Free UI Kits & Design Files
Okay, this one's for anyone building websites, apps, or any other digital project. If you're not using the Figma Community yet, you're just making life harder for yourself. Simple as that.
It's a massive hub where top designers share their working files. We're talking complete templates, complex UI kits, and even entire design systems that big companies use. It's absolutely brilliant.
Key Features:
- Thousands of free files from the community. Just hit ‘duplicate' and it's yours.
- Get your hands on proper design systems from actual companies.
- A huge library of free plugins that add superpowers to your Figma workflow.
- Find icons, wireframes, illustrations – pretty much anything you can think of.
- New stuff is added every single day, so it never gets stale.
Look, there's no prize for doing things the hard way or reinventing the wheel. The Figma Community allows you to skip the tedious, repetitive setup work and get straight to the creative part. Additionally, you can peek under the hood and see how professionals structure their files. It’ll speed you up no end and improve the quality of your work. Get on it.
18 – Coolors – Super Fast Colour Palettes
Let's be honest, picking colours that work together can sometimes feel like black magic. You can spend hours trying different shades and still end up with something that looks a bit tacky. It's a real time-sink.
Well, Coolors is the fix. It's a lightning-fast tool for creating and finding professional colour palettes that just work, straight out of the box.
Key Features:
- Generate amazing colour schemes just by hammering the spacebar.
- Found a colour you love? Lock it in, and the tool finds others to go with it.
- Can pull a full palette straight from any picture you upload. Witchcraft.
- Browse through thousands of popular palettes made by other users. Instant ideas.
- Checks your colours for contrast and accessibility. A proper professional touch.
Honestly, this tool is a proper godsend. No more guesswork, no more staring at a colour wheel until your eyes hurt. You get professional-looking, harmonious colour schemes in seconds flat. If you're doing any kind of branding, web design, or social media graphics, Coolors will make your life ten times easier and your work look a hundred times better. It’s that simple.
FAQs About Free Design Resources
You may have some questions if you're diving into free design resources for the first time. Here are answers to my most commonly received FAQs:
Are free design resources 100% free to use?
Most free resources are available for both personal and commercial use with full rights. However, always check an asset's license before using it. A small number require attribution, but the vast majority do not.
Will I get in trouble for using free design resources without attribution?
You will not get in trouble if you follow the resource's license. Avoid copyright claims by only using assets released under Creative Commons Zero (CC0) or Public Domain licenses. These let you use resources completely attribution-free and payment-free.
How do free resources make money if they don't charge?
Many free resources are passion projects of solo creatives who enjoy sharing their work at no cost. Others make money by selling licenses for extended use or running ads. Some take supporter donations. Many creative, win-win models allow designers to offer assets for free.
Do free resources mean lower quality?
Not at all! Many talented designers generously offer their work for free public use. And curated libraries like Pexels and Unsplash feature incredible work by top pros. The free marketplace is highly competitive, resulting in relatively high quality.
Can I resell or redistribute free design resources?
Usually not. Always carefully read licenses. While you can use free resources in monetised projects, you cannot make money directly by reselling or redistributing the assets.
Are free resources safe to use? What about viruses and malware?
The curated libraries featured in this post are safe, so no need to stress! Only download from reputable sites, and never pirate or torrent assets. Most have protections to prevent malware-ridden files, too.
Conclusion and Next Steps
I hope this post helped you discover fantastic new sources for spectacular free design resources! From photos to icons to templates and beyond, these hand-picked sites offer everything today's designer needs to create visual magic.
Bookmark your favourites so you can grab high-quality assets whenever inspiration strikes. Ditch those steep premium subscriptions and opt for these generous free alternatives instead.
Now, over to you! Which of these sites do you find most helpful? Did I leave any stellar free resources off my list? Let me know in the comments below!
