So, you’re writing a blog or creating a social media graphic and need the perfect stock photo to go with it. You’re in a pinch and don’t have a subscription to an overpriced stock website, so you’re feeling a little defeated. The deadline for your task is approaching - what do you do? Well, you look for a stock photo website - such as Pexels. The Greyphin team is no stranger to needing to find a perfect image - and fast - which is why we decided to throw together this Pexels review to help other content creators in need.

What is Pexels?

You may have already guessed, but Pexels is a website that offers stock photos as well as royalty-free images and videos that are uploaded by creators. The best part? It’s totally free! And that’s it - that’s what Pexels is. Nothing crazy; no bells and whistles. Just a free resource for images and videos that can be used on your website or in social media content.

Pros of Using Pexels

As one may imagine, there are plenty of benefits of using this tool. These include:

Free Photos

Free things aren’t always good…but free stock photos are definitely one of the best. That’s because websites that offer stock images can often be quite pricey. As a content creator, sometimes you don’t always have the biggest budget, and that’s okay. The tool allows users to search for photos, download them, and use them however they’d like with absolutely no hidden cost.

Free Videos

Finding free videos to use freely on the internet is a lot harder than one may imagine. But this issue may possibly be solved by using Pexels! If you need a video to use in a project, try searching for one on the website. Once you find one you like, simply download it and use it however you need to. It’s as simple as that.

No Attribution Required

As part of our Pexels review, we thought it’d be pretty important to mention this. This website makes it easy to use downloaded images and videos without worrying about receiving a copyright claim, and that’s because the website doesn’t require any type of attribution when using their materials. Of course, you may choose to give credit to the photographer or creator if you’d like, but it’s not necessary by any means.

Modification is Allowed

Want to make the stock photos and videos you download into something that’s more, well, your brand or style? The website's rules says go for it. In fact, on their license page here, the company states to “be creative and edit them as you like.” It doesn’t get much better than that.

Cons of Using Pexels

There aren’t many cons to a free stock photo and video website, but here’s one that’s worth mentioning: 

Free Doesn’t Always Mean Relevant or High-Quality

Now, don’t get us wrong here - we’ve found plenty of awesome images and videos on the good ol’ Pexels website to use for our projects here at Greyphin. But hear us out. Just because the website offers free images and videos, doesn’t mean every single one is going to be, well, usable. We’ve also found that sometimes when we’re searching for a topic that isn’t that popular, we’ll be greeted with results that are irrelevant to what we’re looking for. But if that’s the biggest issue we’ve found with this website, then we’d say this resource is lookin’ pretty good.

Need help with content creation for your website or social media strategy? We offer inbound marketing and SEO services that are designed with your brand in mind. Contact Greyphin today to see how our team can help take some of that hard work off of your plate.