Whatre the Best Alternatives to Pexels, In 2024

Morgan Lv12

2024-05-19 05:11:55 2024-05-19 05:11:55 Created 2024-05-20 05:11:55 2024-05-20 05:11:55 Updated

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What’re the Best Alternatives to Pexels?

Sites like Pexels provide you with royalty-free images to include in your messages to further their impact. Although Pexels is a great resource for royalty-free photos and animations, it is not without its limitations. Here is a list of Pexels alternatives for you to consider when creating content. It includes reasons why the sites are suitable alternatives and brief guides on how to get started on them.

Part1: What are the best alternatives to Pexels?

There are several factors to consider when selecting a suitable image resource for your messaging. For example, you may consider a site favorable to another because of its intuitive user interface, or you may consider another because it has no pesky advertisements. Taking this into consideration, here is a list of the three best Pexels alternatives worth checking out for your next project.

No.1 Unsplash

Unsplash is a stock photo-sharing website run by Getty Images. According to recent reports, the site hosts over 265,000 photographers contributing to a library of over 3.5 million photos. Initially, all photos were under a creative commons license zero, meaning you could distribute the photos without restriction. However, following lobbying from some creators, all photos are now under the Unsplash license.

This means you can still copy, modify, share, and download images for free. However, under the new licensing terms, you cannot use unedited copies of the images for commercial purposes such as T-Shirt printing or branding and using the photos on a similar or competing service.

Most Unsplash users praise it for the following features:

The library contains tons of high-resolution photos.
You can access the site through your web browser or the app available on Android and iOS devices.
There are no download limits to the photos, and everything is free.
Unsplash is a plugin for various content editing software such as Filmora 11, Adobe XD, and Figma.

Despite all the positives, here are a few improvements to make Unsplash even better.

The website lacks a free HD video library, which would be a great addition for aspiring content creators.
In addition, the search algorithm is not as accurate, and you may struggle to find suitable images for your subject matter.

No.2 Shutterstock

Another Pexels alternative to consider is Shutterstock. It is an online resource where individuals and businesses can access high-quality, licensed photos, videos, illustrations, vectors, and music for their content creation.

Unlike Unsplash above, you need to create an account to access Shutterstock services. In addition, the website offers different pricing models for each user, depending on your unique requirements. For example, you can subscribe to an image-only subscription that allows you ten image downloads monthly for $29. Alternatively, you can purchase the Mix and Match subscription that offers you 25 credits monthly to download different media from the site.

Currently, the website boasts a collection of over 200 million royalty-free images and over 10 million video clips. In addition, the company also offers a percentage-based compensation model to contributors, with first-timers earning up to 15% of content sales. Furthermore, the site continues to populate its library through the acquisition of different companies in a similar space. Some of its notable acquisitions include Turbosquid, Bigstock, Rex Features, and BEImages.

No.3 Filmstock [Editor’s Choices]

Filmstock is an online library of different editing resources for filmmakers. Some of the resources you can obtain are effects, elements, titles, and audio. In addition, Filmstock is the most recent version of the formerly known Filmora Effects Store. Regardless of the close association with Filmora Video Editing Software, you can still use these resources in your creations on other programs.

Filmstock currently offers its services in three categories. They are:

A Free package that allows you unlimited downloads of media effects and resources under a royalty-free license. However, any resource you download from the site comes with a Filmora tag.
The Standard subscription will cost you $9.99 per month and includes free technical support as an additional feature to those available in the free package.
Finally, the Premium subscription gives you access to the premium library that contains an exclusive selection of the contributors’ commercial work. The package will cost you $32.99 monthly and also includes all the features in the previous subscription models.

Kindly note that you must register for a Filmstock or Wondershare account to use the service. In addition, you will need to purchase a separate license to use the service with Filmora Video Editing software.

No.4 Getty Images

Getty Images is an online supplier of media resources for media, creative, and corporate clients. It boasts a resource library of over 477 million entries. Access to the site requires you to create a user account. In addition, some of the prints you will find on the site will require you to make a purchase, depending on the size and quality.

No.5 iStock

iStock is an online library of creative resources, including music, videos, illustrations, and images. In addition, the site offers access to its exclusive stock-image library through different subscription models. Some of the platforms appealing features include the following:

An AI-powered search engine that provides more accurate results than Pexels.
Preset templates for easier creation of videos and social media posts.

No.6 Flickr

Flickr is another alternative to Pexels worth considering. This is because it offers you free and paid access to one of the internet’s largest creative libraries. In addition, you can select from several licenses, including creative commons and U.S. Government works licenses for your assets, something other similar sites lack in their offering.

No.7 Pixabay

Pixabay gives you access to over 1 million creative assets in different categories, including videos, music, and sound effects. In addition, the site offers its content under the creative commons zero licenses, meaning you can use all stock photos without fear of backlash. Although the site’s search function requires work on its accuracy, the numerous categories make it easier to pinpoint your desired image.

No.8 Adobe Stock

Another site like Pexels is Adobe Stock, where you can access millions of creative assets for your content. Depending on your licensing options, the site offers free and paid access to its services. For example, you can increase your creativity by subscribing to the different Adobe design assets, including Adobe Stock Vector and Adobe Stock Illustrations.

No.9 Vista Create

Vista Create is an online free photo and image website like Pexels that also includes design tools to alter the images to your liking. In addition, you have plenty of templates to suit different platform requirements, including social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram. Furthermore, Vista Creare also boasts a wide collection of vectors, which you can customize in three easy steps.

No.10 LibreStock

Unlike the ones above, LIbreStock is an aggregator site that combines stock photo databases in a single platform. As such, it is arguably the largest provider of royalty-free images on the web. In addition, it automatically filters out poor-quality images, guaranteeing you excellence each time.

Most LibreStock users name the website’s search function as its best feature. This is because it also utilizes search tags when scanning through different databases. As such, you can easily find unique stock photos for your creation, regardless of how outrageous the search tag is. Finally, LibreStock provides its content under the creative commons zero licenses, meaning you can use the assets for personal and commercial work.

No.11 StockSnap

StockSnap operates similarly to Pexels, as it also offers a variety of free stock photos and images. However, a few tweaks to how you receive these creative assets make it slightly better. For example, StockSnap allows you to download ten free images from Shutterstock if what you need is unavailable in their library.

In addition, the platform also displays the most recent additions to their library in the top search results. As such, you are guaranteed to receive unique pictures without significant overuse.

Part2: FAQs

What is better than Pexels?

From the above information, Unsplash ranks as the best alternative to Pexels. This is because of its user-friendly interface, availability across web-based and smartphones, and compatibility with different video editing software such as Adobe XD and Filmora . As such, its versatility allows you to always create on the go.

Can I use Pexels on YouTube?

Yes, you can use Pexels on YouTube, provided you apply the creative assets to your material. In addition, you will need to make alterations to Pexels images and videos before using them to avoid violating your license agreement.

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The Only Guide You’ll Ever Need to Learn GIF Design That Get Shared Like Crazy

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The Only Guide You’ll Ever Need to Learn GIF Design That Get Shared Like Crazy

Part 1 Principles for Great GIF Design

Creating GIFs for infotainment or casual information sharing is the current talk of the trend. You might have visibly landed across a heap of tantalizing GIFs in blogs, social media posts, product promotion websites and almost every other domain you can possibly think of. Using GIFs for any type of content promotion is bound to captivate the target audience in impressive multiplicities. Ever wondered what’s the cue behind the mass appeal that GIFs create? Well, an obvious answer is the stunning GIF design.

When going for GIF creation and selection, design plays the key role in creating considerable buzz about the information being transmitted. To add impact to your creation, you need to pay considerable attention to its design implications, thus ensuring that the right things get presented in the right way. Outlined below are some amazing principles you can use to enhance your GIF design to the next level:

01Ensure Accuracy and Preciseness

The primary concern you need to be attentive about while designing a GIF is its preciseness. Ensure ban exactness of information and confine your creation to the theme and requirement of your creation, like, the message you want to deliver or the impact you want to create through the GIF. Balance your creativity within specific content parameters and avoid getting carried away or overdoing on the beautifying aspect.

As an example, it is visibly not appealing to add a wholesome mix of 15 shades and 20 different elements in a nature-based GIF. You will end up getting too harsh on the viewers’ eyes, confusing them with a hoard of speeding elements and banging colors. You can instead stick to 2 or 3 frames with an intelligent mix of 2 complementary shades.

02Maintain Visual Identity

An important aspect to keep in mind while attempting to design GIF is, it should visually relate to the underlying content. For instance, if you are intending a brand promotion through your GIF, lay stress on adding elements like, brand definition, product specifications, know-how of your work patterns, etc. ensure that your content flows naturally and has exactness.

Other alternatives are, using your product logo as the GIF background, character representation of your brand or using some explicit product oriented themes. While, you are free to pick anything that suits your preferences and needs, just make sure that using it in your GIF adds value to your brand instead of giving an out of the box feel.

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03Cut Down on Unnecessary Frames

Have you ever encountered a halt in the natural loop of your GIF out of nowhere? While pondering over the underlying cause, it is a common assumption to take this as an animation fallacy, but that’s evidently not the case. The actual culprits behind this glitch are those extra frames that contribute towards nothing but adding weight to an already heavy file.

To set this straight, you should switch to removing any extra frames, while saving a particular one which you may stretch to a desired duration according to the break point of your contents in the GIF. However, take caution to maintain the visual quality of your GIF while you remove those extra frames.

04Make Your GIF Accessible

You should always adhere to the concern of accessibility while creating a GIF. The reason being, your content is visibly going to get mass attention across the web and you cannot filter out visitors, make sure your GIF is easily accessible to all kind of users, particularly those with vision limitations, like, epileptic patients or the ones using screen readers.

Focus on describing your GIF content with alt text and using a limited blinking and flashing rate. In case your GIF content is primarily text based, take care to limit the effective color and image movement and adjust the frames rates to avoid constant and quick movement of image frames when adding many clips on a single page.

Pay additional heed to the auto play feature of your GIFs. It can be visibly annoying to be welcomed on a site homepage with GIFs enjoying an auto play session of their own. You can alternatively, incorporate a ‘Click to Play’ option or grant your site visitors the liberty to decide on what is to be played when.

05Use Storyboards

When aiming to create visibly appealing GIFs, you need to lay considerable stress on choosing an apt background story. Don’t get misled by the wrong assumption of using any random background, owing to the short play duration of GIFs. An impressive solution to this concern is taking the help of a storyboard to keep track of your GIF’s content flow.

Using a storyboard is quite effective means of being in line with the direction of content movement, rescuing you from the hustle of going off the track. This comes explicitly handy when you are working with a team of creators. The storyboard is there to keep everything at the exact place, thus improving member communications and boosting up the design process.

06Focus on Creating Loops

Consider creating an animated motion loop for your GIF allowing a repeated and comprehensive view of your content. Looping projects a deeper observation of the clip and its contents in a seamless transition. However, creating an infinite motion loop in GIFs is quite tricky, as you need to pay utmost concern to ensure a smooth content flow and chances of even the slightest errors are not entertained.

Any loopholes in placement of your GIF elements will get noticed within a blink and lead to an unsatisfactory user experience. Hence, you need to check each of your content frames separately to eliminate chances of possible errors. If you are a beginner, try working with geometrical animations to get the initial pickup. This will be advantageous in deciding the exact element positions at the start and end of the GIF.

07Make Use of Motion Blur

Using the concept of motion blur is pivotal in providing a natural flow and feel to your GIF, which, in an otherwise case would ordinarily appear as a mere collection of static images clubbed together. This would give a wobbling feel with unsteady frame movements to your viewers. The motion blur effect potentially ensures a smooth content flow, and your GIF looks like a short video captured from a camera.

08Stick to a Reduced File Size

Creating GIF of within a standard size range is quite difficult, owing to the fact that these are shared across a variety of media platforms, each having a different file size constraint. It is, however, recommended to stick to a file size as low as possible to escape the notch of modifying the same, ener5y time you need to work with the GIF on a different platform.

Listed below are a few ways to limit your GIF to a lower file size:

● Restrict your GIF to a frame count under 150, exceeding which, it will get difficult to export the GIF to most of the commonly visited social media and content sharing platforms.

● When your GIF is ready to export, adjust its lossy parameter between 5 and 10 to boost the file compression rate. Look for a setting that decreases the effective file size without compromising with the overall GIF design.

● Restrict to a minimum possible color usage. This will not only intensify the GIF design, but also contribute in maintaining a decreased file size. You can instead, focus on playing with animations or adjusting your image frames to longer play durations.

● Don’t experiment with multiple background gradients in your GIF. You can select from either a completely opaque, or a totally transparent background. Adding unnecessary gradients will end up giving your GIF a hazy look, along with a visibly large file that will be difficult to export non any platform.

Part 2 Amazing Examples of Animated Gifs in Web Design

GIFs are an effective means of adding appeal to brand promotions and achieving improved market buildup by delivering just the right content in the most captivating and interesting ways. You can use them as creative web design tools to add spark to your product sites, which can potentially boost the market value and reach of your product by multiplying the number of visitors to your site.

Discussed below are some stunning examples of using animated GIFs to enhance commercial web design, which you can use to create a significant buzz about your product among a target audience:

01Marie Weber

This is a shoe designer company in France, famous for its classy, handmade shoes. On visiting the company’s site, you are welcomed by a simple and subtle, animated product logo on each page. This animated logo is a masterpiece in itself, telling you the about the lavishness of the associated product.

On navigating further, you will find animated elements, like; shoe images and collection names, which appear on the screen before a zoom out. There are underlined links that pop up to animate beneath the name, indicating the link you are going to visit.

02Wonderful Weekends Festival

This is an absolute animation delight, where the welcome page of the site greets you with vibrant pieces in motion, and a pop up box informs you of the festival’s arrival time and asks you to select one from the options of ‘Play Now’ or ‘Show Me the Festival’.

As you click to make a choice, the Google brand shines with associated colors. As you continue to browse through the site, pages open up with brand color animations, along with colored active links flashing on the pages.

03Google

This is a brand name that needs no introduction. Google has launched its ‘Your Plan, Your Planet’ site to infuse awareness about environment conservation and eco friendly lifestyles, guiding visitors on ways and means of introducing related changes. The site greets you with a simple layout, with a short text moving in and getting still. Click on ‘Let’s Get Started’ and you will see 4 amazingly animated icons that open up to more vibrant animations.

Tap any one of the swinging refrigerator door, the illuminated light bulb, the running faucet or the teddy bear waving at you, to land on a schema that informs you about effective means of improving on conservation in within your selected section. This is a perfect example of using animations as a marketing strategy to captivate people’s attention on a subject that evidently turns them off.

04Pete Nottage

Designed explicitly as a hiring site for voice presenter Pete Nottage, this website tells you everything about the actor and the credibility of hiring him. The site lands among the best examples of web animation usage. The welcome page of the site greets you with the brand logo. Tap on the red swipe and you will get to know that the brand infuses vibrancy to something that’s originally dull.

Next, you will find a plethora of dynamic and elegant animations in a plying plane, cityscape, flowing sea and sailing boats, moving cars and excusive motion graphics on each building. Visiting the animated site links provides you an insight of the actor’s personality. In the ‘About’ section, you can find a headshot animation, that disappears on clicking, and is followed by a more dynamic motion snippet.

05Zamzar

This one is an online file conversion site and lives up to its tagline ‘File Conversion Made Easy’ through a concrete animation on the welcome page. The file conversion on this site is quick, 3-step process, with a blinking animation indicating the current conversion stage.

For instance, when you are at the first step of selecting a file to convert, the animation shoes a blinking glow on number 1. This continues for the rest of the steps, till your file is finally converted into the desired file format.

06Blizzard: Warcraft III Reforged

Warcraft was one complete heaven of adventure and thrill for console gamers. While the enticing cutscenes with stunning motion graphics were an absolute favorite, the game had a plenty of other exciting elements.

The relaunched game (Warcraft III Reforged) website has a mix of gaming adventures and cutscenes running in the site’s background with the game title and pitch appearing as an overlaid animation. On navigating through the site, you will find classy animated elements that take you on a nostalgic trip of the original game.

Part 3 Learn How to Create and Add Gifs to Interactive Layouts in Filmora

Now that you are quite familiar with the utility of GIFs in almost every market field, and have seen stunning examples of GIF design and usage for an impressive brand promotion, let’s take a dive into creating and using these motion clips to make interactive graphic layouts for websites, social media blogs and posts, and a variety of other applications that require some brilliant imagery for market promotion.

When looking for the perfect GIF designer software, Wondershare Filmora Video Editor is the most affordable pick. This is a free and an enhanced GIF design tool, packed with world class and premium quality features that are most suitable for giving the much appreciated professional touch to your graphic artwork. Here’s how you can work with Filmora to make alluring graphic layouts:

Step 1: Launch Filmora

The software is readily compatible to your Windows and MacOS devices and you don’t even require a signup to use the application. Just download and install the software in your preferred device and launch the same to reach the software’s welcome interface.

Filmora Free Download Link:

Step 2: Upload Media Files

Select and import the desired media files from your device to upload them to the Filmora timeline. You can either pick a video or choose a series of static images.

Step 3: Add to Timeline

Once imported, you need to add the selected files to the software’s editor timeline. You can use the ‘Drag and Drop’ method to get this done.

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Build unique custom animations without breaking a sweat.

Focus on creating epic stories and leave the details to Filmora’s auto features.

Start a creative adventure with drag & drop effects and endless possibilities.

Filmora simplifies advanced features to save you time and effort.

Filmora cuts out repetition so you can move on to your next creative breakthrough.

Step 4: Explore Your Editing Skills

As already stated, the Filmora effects library is an extensive inventory of stunning features to compliment your artwork with matchless class. You are free to choose from tons of image and video editing effects and filters suited to your GIF content to create excellent pieces of graphic art.

When starting to customize your GIF in Filmora, you can begin with cropping and trimming your images or video to the perfect part, or even cut and split them to ward off unwanted portions, or rotate and flip the images to set them in the perfect orientation.

You can further add elements like, graphic transitions, overlays, animations and texts, and etc., to customize your artwork to your heart’s content. The software’s audio-visual library facilitates you with around 300 audio-visual effects and music choices to supplement your creation with a conducive sound feel. You can also make adjustments in frame speed and play durations to get the best most snippet ever!

You are granted the liberty to choose almost any common file format to create and customize GIFs in Filmora. A more convincing feature is, the software does not leave a watermark on your artwork and you can easily share your creation across media platforms.

Step 5: Save and Export

Once your creation satisfies you, save it to your device with a .gif extension, from where it can be exported to various media sharing platforms with ease.

● Key Takeaways from This Episode →

● When planning a perfect and appealing product marketing strategy, you can consider using GIFs to enhance the feel. Complement your product site with suitable GIF design and graphic transitions can prove pivotal to target and hold your related audience.

● Looking for the best GIF creator and customization software, you can rely on Filmora to create and customize professional quality GIFs with utmost convenience.

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The Only Guide You’ll Ever Need to Learn GIF Design That Get Shared Like Crazy