Stock photos & licensing
How image licenses work, what the common types mean, and how to stay on the right side of copyright law.
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A license is permission. When you buy or download a stock image, you're not buying the image — you're buying a license to use it in specific ways. Understanding licenses protects you from unexpected copyright claims and legal fees.
Quick summary
Every image has a license that says what you can and can't do with it. Royalty-free does not mean free. Always read the license before using an image. Creative Commons licenses are widely used for free content, and CC0 — Creative Commons' tool for putting a work in the public domain — is the most permissive option of all.
The most common types of license
Royalty-free (RF)
Confusingly, "royalty-free" does not mean you pay nothing. It means you pay once (or use one subscription credit) and can then use the image without paying again each time you use it.
Royalty-free licenses usually allow:
- Use on your website
- Use in marketing materials
- Use across multiple projects
Royalty-free licenses usually do not allow:
- Reselling the image itself
- Using it on print-on-demand merchandise (mugs, t-shirts) without a special license
- Using it in a way that implies a person in the photo endorses your product or service
Rights-managed (RM)
You pay for a specific use: for example, which medium, how many copies, which countries and for how long. It's more restrictive than royalty-free. It doesn't automatically give you exclusive use, though: Getty Images, for example, licenses rights-managed images non-exclusively unless your order says otherwise, so other customers can license the same image.
Creative Commons (CC)
Creative Commons licenses are a set of standardized, free licenses used by creators who want to share their work openly. There are six licenses, which combine the conditions below (for example, CC BY-NC-SA), plus CC0, a tool for giving a work to the public domain:
| License | What it means |
|---|---|
| CC0 | No rights reserved — free to use for anything, no attribution needed |
| CC BY | Free to use, even commercially, if you credit the creator |
| CC BY-SA | Free to use if you credit the creator. If you change it, you must share your version under the same (or a compatible) license |
| CC BY-NC | Free for non-commercial use only, with credit to the creator |
| CC BY-ND | Free to use with credit, but only unchanged: you can't share a modified version |
For most business website uses, CC0 is the safest and easiest. Unsplash and Pexels use their own licenses rather than Creative Commons. Both let you use their free images commercially without attribution, but each has a few restrictions, such as not selling unaltered copies of an image.
Editorial use only
Some images — particularly news photos and celebrity images — are licensed for editorial use only. This means you can use them in news articles and commentary, but not in advertising or on a commercial website to promote your business.
Key rules to follow
- Always check the license before downloading. Don't assume.
- Save a record. When you download a stock image, note where it came from and the license type. A simple spreadsheet works fine.
- Don't modify images beyond what the license allows. Some licenses prohibit significant changes or require you to note that changes were made.
- Check if attribution is required. If it is, add a caption or footer note crediting the creator.
- Extended licenses. If you plan to use an image on merchandise or in a very high-circulation publication, check whether a standard or extended license applies. A logo is a separate question: some free sites ban using their images as part of a trademark or business name outright, and Getty Images allows an image to be the distinctive feature of a trademark or logo only if your invoice, sales order confirmation or license agreement explicitly says so.
What happens if you use an image without a license?
Image owners, including stock agencies, can enforce their copyright. If they find your site using one of their images without a license, you may receive a demand letter asking you to pay. In the US, an owner who has registered the work with the Copyright Office can also enforce those rights in court.
The safest approach is always to check the license before use.
Common questions
Is a screenshot of an image okay to use?
No. Taking a screenshot of an image doesn't change its copyright status. It's still someone else's work and still requires a license.
What if I credited the photographer — am I covered?
Every Creative Commons license (CC0 aside) requires you to credit the creator, but a credit doesn't substitute for an actual license. You can't use a rights-managed image just by adding a credit line. Always check what license applies, not just whether you credited them.
We used an unlicensed image by mistake. What should we do?
Remove it from your site immediately and replace it with a licensed alternative. If you've already received a notice, contact us and we can help you navigate the situation.
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