Good images make a blog easier to read, a product page easier to buy from and a service business look established. Finding them is easy; finding ones you are allowed to use, that look right and that don't slow your site down takes a little more care. This guide covers where to get free and paid stock images, how to generate images with AI, which editors to use, and how to prepare every image for the web.
Check the licence before you download anything: free libraries such as Unsplash, Pexels and Pixabay allow commercial use under their own terms, others require attribution, and images found through a search engine are not free to use. Use paid stock when you need exclusive or very specific images, and use AI generators for illustrations and backgrounds, not for pictures of your real products. Before uploading, resize images to the width they are shown at, save them as WebP (or JPEG), compress them and add alt text.
1. Licences first: what you are allowed to do
Every image has an owner. A "stock" image is one whose owner has given you a licence to use it on certain terms. The common ones:
| Licence type | What it usually allows | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Library licence (Unsplash, Pexels, Pixabay) | Free commercial use, no attribution required | Selling the image unchanged, or implying the people shown endorse you, is not allowed |
| Creative Commons with attribution (CC BY) | Free use if you credit the author as specified | Missing credit breaks the licence |
| Public domain (CC0) | Any use, no credit needed | Check that the uploader really owned it |
| Standard stock licence (paid) | Web, social and marketing use | Print-run limits and use in products for resale may need an extended licence |
| Editorial use only | News and commentary | Not for ads, product pages or your brand |
A few rules keep you out of trouble:
- Never take images from a search engine's image results. Most are copyrighted, and "I found it on Google" is not a licence.
- Keep a record. Save the page link or licence receipt for every image you use, in case anyone asks.
- People and logos. Photos of recognisable people need a model release for commercial use; reputable stock sites mark which images have one. Avoid images where another company's logo or product is prominent.
2. Free stock image libraries
3. Paid stock images
Paid libraries have larger collections, better search, and clearer licences for commercial and print use. Well-known ones include Shutterstock, Adobe Stock (built into Adobe's apps), iStock by Getty Images, Depositphotos and 123RF. Most sell subscriptions or credit packs. Pay for stock when you need a specific scene, a consistent set in one style, or print use.
4. Generating images with AI
AI image generators create an image from a text description. Current options include the image generation built into ChatGPT and Google Gemini, Adobe Firefly, Midjourney, and the AI tools inside Canva. They work well for:
- illustrations and backgrounds for blog posts;
- concept images for services that are hard to photograph;
- quick variations of a banner or social graphic.
Don't use an AI image to show a product, a completed project or a team that doesn't look like that in real life; customers notice, and it undermines trust. Don't ask a generator to copy a living artist's style, a brand's logo or a real person. Read each tool's terms for commercial use, and check the image closely for mangled text, extra fingers and distorted objects before you publish.
For product pages, real photos of your real products almost always sell better. A phone camera, daylight from a window and a plain background get you most of the way.
5. Tools for editing images
| Tool | Cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Canva | Free, with a paid Pro plan | Banners, social graphics and quick layouts from templates |
| GIMP | Free, open source | Photo retouching, layers and colour correction on your computer |
| Photopea | Free in the browser, with ads | Photoshop-style editing without installing anything; opens PSD files |
| Krita | Free, open source | Digital painting and illustration |
| Pixlr | Free, with paid plans | Quick online crops, filters and background removal |
| Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom | Subscription | Professional retouching and batch-editing large photo sets |
Whatever tool you use:
- Work non-destructively. Keep the original file and edit a copy or use layers.
- Crop with purpose. Crop to the aspect ratio of the space on your page, for example 16:9 for a banner or 1:1 for product grids, instead of letting the website squash the image.
- Stay consistent. Similar colours, lighting and crop across a page look professional; a mix of styles looks thrown together.
6. Prepare every image for the web
Large images are the most common reason a website is slow. Before you upload:
- Resize to the display size.A full-width banner rarely needs to be more than about 2,000 pixels wide, and an image in a blog post about 1,200. A 6,000-pixel photo straight from a camera is many times larger than it needs to be.
- Choose the format.Use WebP for photos and graphics; all current browsers support it. AVIF can be smaller still. Keep JPEG as a fallback for photos, PNG only for images that need sharp transparency, and SVG for logos and icons.
- Compress.Tools such as Squoosh or TinyPNG cut file size a great deal without visible loss. Aim for a few hundred kilobytes at most for large images, much less for small ones.
- Name the file clearly.
blue-cotton-kurta-front.webptells search engines more thanIMG_4032.webp. - Write alt text.Describe what the image shows in a short sentence. It helps visually impaired visitors and image search.
- Set the size and lazy-load.Give each image its width and height, so the page doesn't jump while loading, and lazy-load images below the first screen. WordPress and most site builders do both for you.
WordPress also creates smaller copies of each upload and serves the right size to each device, so upload one well-sized image and let it do the rest. For the wider picture, see My website is slow and Core Web Vitals explained.
7. What to use for each kind of site
8. Images on Domain India hosting
On Domain India cPanel hosting, PHP's GD library supports WebP, so WordPress can create WebP copies of your uploads. The PHP upload limit is 256 MB on cPanel and 64 MB on DirectAdmin, well above what a web-ready image needs. Weekly JetBackup backups include your uploaded images.
If you'd rather not source images at all, the AI Website Builder writes your pages and picks images for you, and the Pro plan adds real stock photos. The card shows the live price, excluding 18% GST.
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Can I use images from Google Images on my website?
Not without permission. Most images found through a search engine are copyrighted. Use a stock library with a clear licence, an openly licensed image with the credit it requires, or your own photos.
Do I need to credit Unsplash or Pexels photos?
Their licences allow free commercial use without attribution, though a credit is appreciated. You may not sell the photos unchanged or suggest that the people shown endorse your business. Always read the current licence on the site.
Can I use AI-generated images on a business website?
Generally yes, subject to the tool's terms for commercial use. Don't use them to show products or work that don't look like that in reality, and avoid copying real people, logos or a living artist's style.
What is the best image format for a website in 2026?
WebP for most photos and graphics, since every current browser supports it. AVIF can be smaller. Use SVG for logos and icons, and PNG only when you need sharp transparency.
How large should images be for a website?
Resize to the width the image is shown at: about 2,000 pixels for a full-width banner and about 1,200 for images inside an article. Compress them so large images are at most a few hundred kilobytes.
What is a free alternative to Photoshop?
GIMP is a full-featured free editor for your computer, and Photopea runs in the browser and opens Photoshop files. Canva is quicker for banners and social graphics.
Ready to put your images to work? Build a site with the AI Website Builder, start a WordPress site on WordPress hosting, or read My website is slow if heavy images are dragging your pages down.
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