Pexels

Overview

Pexels was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Germany. It is a leading free stock photo and video platform in the free design assets space. Hundreds of thousands of creators contribute millions of high-resolution photos and hundreds of thousands of videos, all free for commercial use with no attribution required, with Chinese keyword search and multi-language interfaces. In 2018, Pexels was acquired by Canva and became a built-in photo source in the Canva design ecosystem, reaching a huge global user base.

Beyond the core library, Pexels provides a free Image & Video API, iOS/Android apps, a Chrome extension, and plugins for Figma, Google Slides, Sketch, and Microsoft Office, letting designers and developers pull assets directly inside their workflows. For websites, social content, presentations, and ad creatives, Pexels is a high-value choice balancing quality and cost.

Key Strengths

• Completely free for commercial use: all assets are free with no attribution required, and the license terms are simple and clear for personal and business projects.
• Massive library scale: millions of high-resolution photos and hundreds of thousands of videos, contributed by 600K+ creators and updated daily across industries and styles.
• Chinese search friendly: Chinese keyword search and multi-language interfaces make asset discovery efficient for Chinese users.
• Open API and plugins: a free Pexels API supports developers, see API integration basics, while multi-platform plugins cover common design tools.
• Canva ecosystem integration: as a built-in Canva image source, it connects seamlessly with Canva design for smoother workflows.
• Rich video library: hundreds of thousands of free videos suit video content and social creation.

Product Ecosystem

Pexels Photo Library

The core free photo library with millions of high-resolution photos categorized by industry, style, and topic, supporting Chinese search and filtering by size and orientation.

Pexels Video Library

Hundreds of thousands of free videos covering business, nature, lifestyle, and more, suitable for social media, advertising, and video editing.

Pexels API

A free open Image & Video API that lets developers integrate asset search and download into their own products; see API integration basics.

Plugins and Apps

iOS/Android apps, a Chrome extension, and Figma, Google Slides, Sketch, and Microsoft Office plugins cover mainstream design and office workflows.

Limitations

• Fewer videos and vector assets than photos: specific topics, 3D, and illustration resources are limited and need additional asset platforms.
• Popular asset homogeneity: frequently used images repeat across many sites, so differentiated scenarios need manual curation or original work.
• Photography-focused: icons and vectors are better sourced from specialist libraries such as Flaticon.
• Overseas access speed: access from mainland China can be slow; see image optimization guide for acceleration and compression.

Use Cases

• Website and social imagery (Recommended ★★★★★): free for commercial use with massive high-resolution selection, a common source for content creation.
• Marketing and advertising creatives (Recommended ★★★★★): attribution-free licensing simplifies compliance for commercial projects.
• Presentations and documents (Recommended ★★★★★): the Google Slides plugin inserts high-resolution images quickly.
• Developer integration (Recommended ★★★★): the free API suits embedding asset search in products.
• Differentiated brand visuals (Recommended ★★★): popular assets repeat easily, so brand-level visuals should combine original photography.

Pricing

Note: The core Pexels library is completely free; Pro and other premium benefits follow real-time official quotes.

FAQ

• Can Pexels assets be used commercially? Yes. All assets are free for commercial use with no attribution required, for personal and business projects; see the official Pexels license page.; see image asset usage and optimization.

• Do I need an account to download? Register to download free assets and save batches; the API is also free, with quotas per official documentation.; see image asset sourcing and downloads.

• Does Pexels support Chinese search? Yes, Pexels offers Chinese keyword search and multi-language interfaces for efficient discovery.; see website internationalization and multilingual sites.

• Are there video assets? Yes, the platform offers hundreds of thousands of free videos for social media, advertising, and editing; see video content optimization.

• Pexels, Unsplash, or Pixabay? All three are free. Pexels stands out in Chinese search, video scale, and Canva integration; Unsplash focuses on the photography community and Pixabay covers illustrations and audio, so choose by asset type.