Unsplash and Pexels are the free mainstays of the stock image industry. With one search, you can find what you need! However, some businesses with a budget can purchase royalty-free stock images on Shutterstock and iStock. What if you’re looking for new stock images to add to your blogs, collaterals, and more? Well, AI sites are providing an opportunity for businesses looking for stock images. And if you want to try what they’re offering, here are the best places to find AI stock images!
1. Stockimg.AI
Instead of searching for a stock image on popular stock image sites, why not generate one with Stockimg.AI? This site lets you generate stock images for free. However, you get one image credit monthly. Additionally, you can get wallpapers, book covers, and illustrations! You can get the following styles:
- Stockimg real
- Realistic
- Polarioid photo
- Knolling photo
- Silhouette
- Analog
- Cinematic
- Photographic
- Cinematic 2
- HDR photo
- Long exposure
- Tilt-shift
2. Lummi
If you don’t want the hassle of a search, Lummi has a database of AI stock images. You can search for food, drink, nature, art, animals, and family. Additionally, you can filter your search with the following parameters:
- Color
- Orientation
- Amount of people
- Focal point
- Luminance
Here’s the license and what’s permitted (and not!) when using Lummi.
3. koala.sh
koala.sh is an AI content creation tool for small businesses. Like other AI stock image generators on this list, you can prompt their generator to make a stock image. The stock image generator lists the best use cases for their stock image, like for website content, design projects, and social media posts.
This stock image generator uses the GPT 3.5 model, but you can choose the GPT 4.0 and Claude models, too!
It takes a while for the image to generate. Plus, if it’s on the 3.5 model, it seems unrealistic compared to the stock images we’re used to seeing.
You can use the tool for free using the GPT 3.5 and Claude 3 Haiku models. You need to pay with credits for the other GPT and Claude models.
4. Adobe Stock
Even Adobe lets you generate stock images from their vast collection of stock photos. It’s necessary to sign up before using their text-to-image stock image creator. The text-to-image stock feature will generate images, but it will suggest images from their gallery.
I submitted a prompt to Adobe Stock and was pleasantly surprised by the result. It looked more realistic than the other AI images I’ve seen!
5. Impossible Images
Here’s another site to search and submit a prompt to generate AI stock images! Impossible Images has a huge selection of AI-generated stock images. You can search for categories like animals and nature, architecture, sci-fi, food and drink, lifestyle, and so much more!
Some of the images do look like stock photos, while some are definitely AI generated. Additionally, some images are unrealistic, ranging from funny to bizarre.
If you don’t like the images provided by Impossible Images, you can also generate images. They use three models:
- DiffusionXL
- PhotoReal
- AbsoluteReality
Plus, you can customize the number of images and aspect ratio.
You need to sign up for an account and even add a credit card or billing details to begin.
6. AllImages.AI
AllImage is similar to most AI stock image generators on this list. You can find an AI image on its site. In fact, it has over 2 million stock images available for download to use on blogs and social media posts. Additionally, you can customize a stock image by generating one. However, you need to sign up and subscribe, even if it’s the free plan.
7. Hotpot
Hotpot is a well-known AI image generator. Unfortunately, you won’t find stock images here. However, you can generate AI stock images. You don’t need to sign up to use Hotpot immediately. However, you need credits to generate your AI stock images. Here’s how to customize your AI stock image with this generator:
- What to draw and what not to draw
- Image style
- Seed image
- Images to make
- Aspect ratio
8. LucidPic
If you want AI-generated stock images of people, LucidPic should be your go-to AI stock image generator. You can generate somewhat realistic images of people for your design projects or collaterals. Unfortunately, they don’t have a free plan. However, you can customize the images with the following filters:
- Avatar mode
- Sex
- Ethnicity
- Age
- Hair color and length
- Clothing
- Body type
- Place
- Settings
- Custom prompt
9. Freepik
Freepik is another place to get your AI stock images. The site has actual stock images, but Freepik lets you generate your creative stock image prompts for business or brand use.
You can submit a prompt on their AI image generator and customize the following:
- Style
- Color
- Camera
- Lighting
Plus, you can personalize settings with the mode (how fast it should generate images), size, and number of images.
Fortunately, Freepik has a free plan for individual users but limited credits daily. It’s one of the more generous AI image generators.
10. Canva
Our final pick on the list is Canva. Canva uses two models to generate AI stock images. The first is the Dall-E model. One benefit of using Canva is for Dall-E so that you can try it for free even without a ChatGPT model. I tried this, and it didn’t seem stock image-like.
On the free account, you get one credit for AI to generate an image. However, you can try Canva’s AI image generator. It’s actually much better than the Dall-E version.
Final Thoughts
AI stock images can be a hit or miss. Most AI stock images have that hint of the AI flair that it looks unrealistic and cartoonish. However, in some cases, with the right model, you can generate a stock image that looks realistic, which you could use on your collaterals.
Whichever image you use, AI, stock, photographed, or illustrated, and want to use them on your assets, make sure that you have the right design partner by your side. Penji will help you every step of the way in creating consistent graphics to strengthen your brand. Plus, you can rely on Penji for any graphic design or image editing work.
Know how Penji can help you here by viewing a video demo!
