Although Freepik is widely used for graphics, several creators look for a strong Freepik alternative for fresher visuals and more flexible features. This article discusses the benefits and the top 7 alternatives to Freepik, such as CapCut, Adobe Express, Shutterstock, and more. We will finish off the article with a comparison table that highlights the 7 tools across different factors and addresses some common issues users face when using Freepik alternatives. Compare and find which is the Freepik free alternative.
Freepik - A brief introduction
Freepik is one of the most popular tools for downloading high-quality graphic resources, such as photos, vectors, and illustrations, making it ideal for beginners and professionals. It also provides an extensive library and simple tools, so that creators can find what they need. However, the best assets are locked behind a subscription. The content is also widely used, making it difficult to find original images.
Benefits of using free Freepik alternatives
- Enhanced customization options: Many alternatives contain built-in editors or integration with design tools for easy editing. This helps you to personalize your visuals and match your brand style, without requiring extra software.
- Extensive variety of images: Free Freepik alternatives typically offer access to large, diverse libraries contributed by creators worldwide. This helps you find unique, fresh visuals instead of relying on commonly used Freepik graphics.
- Flexible licensing: Several options offer simple, creator-friendly licenses, letting you use the photos easily without strict attribution requirements. This reduces copyright confusion, giving you more freedom in your design projects.
- Better search and filtering tools: Some Freepik alternatives offer smarter filters, categories, and AI-powered search, allowing you to find better visuals. This saves plenty of time, ensuring that you find the most relevant graphics without scrolling endlessly.
- Regularly updated libraries: Alternative platforms frequently add new photos, vectors, and templates, keeping the collections up to date. This ensures you have access to fresh, trending resources.
Thus, there are plenty of benefits of using Freepik alternatives. There are many alternative tools available, such as CapCut, Canva, and Evanto Elements, which are discussed in detail below.
Top 7 Freepik alternatives to try in 2025
Shutterstock
Shutterstock is one of the most popular stock media platforms, providing millions of high-quality images, illustrations, vectors, and videos. It offers advanced search filters, curated collections, and smooth integration with creative tools, making it the perfect option for users seeking premium visuals. Shutterstock also provides AI-powered tools, such as an image upscaler and a background remover, to enhance editing.
- Shutterstock offers an extensive library of high-resolution photos, vectors, and videos for professional use.
- AI-powered editing tools, like background remover and image upscaler.
- The platform offers royalty-free licensing, allowing safe personal and commercial usage of images.
- High subscription costs make it restrictive for small creators and casual users.
CapCut
CapCut is a versatile and powerful desktop video editor, renowned for its advanced editing and AI-powered features. It is also an excellent tool for creating attractive photos with AI, offering features such as "AI design," which lets you generate appealing images from text prompts. You can further enhance the AI-generated image with a variety of editing and AI-powered tools, like inpaint, expand, remove, and upscale. So, download CapCut today and utilize its advanced editing features to create compelling photos with ease.
- Use CapCut's "AI design" feature to transform your text prompts into attractive photos. It is powered by AI models such as Nano Banana and Seedream 4.0.
- CapCut contains a variety of image templates, allowing you to create polished visuals by customizing your desired layouts.
- Enhance your photos with a variety of editing tools, like filters, effects, stickers, shapes, frames, and designs to make them visually appealing.
- Elevate your photos with CapCut's AI-powered tools, such as inpaint, expand, remove, and upscale, to make them more attractive.
- Some advanced features require an active internet connection.
Steps to use CapCut for creating images using AI
- STEP 1
- Access the AI design feature
To begin with, open CapCut and click on the "AI design" tool from the left-hand panel. Next, write a clear and detailed text prompt in the provided dialogue box.
Once satisfied, click the "Send" button to generate the image.
- STEP 2
- Edit the photo
Once the AI image has been created, you can click the left-hand panel to enhance it with a variety of stickers, filters, effects, frames, and designs.
You can also click the "AI tools" option to enhance photos with various AI-powered tools, such as inpaint, expand, remove, and upscale.
- STEP 3
- Export the photo
Once satisfied with the AI photo, click the "Download" button at the top of the screen. Next, click the "Download" button to download the photo or "Copy as PNG" to copy it.
Adobe Express
Adobe Express is a web-based platform from Adobe that simplifies creating social media graphics, web visuals, and flyers. Similar to Canva, it includes a text-to-image feature that lets you generate images from text prompts. It also has a rich photo and template library, making it a great alternative to Freepik. Its integration with Adobe Creative Cloud enables seamless collaboration with tools like Photoshop and Illustrator.
- Adobe Express provides AI text-to-image generation, enabling unique visuals from ordinary text prompts.
- It features an extensive library of fonts, templates, and stock assets for versatile designs.
- The tool includes built-in animation features, allowing dynamic content.
- There is occasional lag with complex projects, especially on low-end devices.
Canva
Canva is an online, powerful design platform that enables users to create graphics, presentations, social media posts, and more. Some of its unique features include a text-to-image generator, a vast library of templates, and stock photos, making it a great Freepik alternative for users of all skill levels. Its intuitive interface, along with team collaboration features, makes teamwork smooth and seamless.
- Canva's text-to-image feature lets you create visually appealing images directly from text prompts.
- It offers an extensive library of photos, templates, and vectors to suit different projects.
- Real-time collaboration features are beneficial for teamwork-based workflows.
- Some premium templates, stock assets, and AI features require a Canva Pro subscription.
Adobe Stock
Adobe Stock is a premium stock media platform, providing millions of high-quality photos, illustrations, vectors, and templates. It integrates easily with Adobe Creative Cloud apps, such as Photoshop, Premiere Pro, and Illustrator, enabling users to import and edit assets directly within their projects. The platform also supports AI-generated text-to-image content via Adobe Firefly, making it an excellent Freepik alternative.
- Adobe Stock provides AI-powered text-to-image generation via Adobe Firefly for custom visuals.
- It contains a rich library of professional-quality images, vectors, and templates.
- The tool offers smooth collaboration with Adobe Creative Cloud for an effective workflow.
- Adobe Stock's huge library size makes it challenging to find niche-specific content.
Evanto Elements
Evanto Elements is a versatile creative platform that offers millions of digital assets, including stock photos, graphics, templates, fonts, and video assets. It offers an unlimited download model, enabling creators to download diverse resources without worrying about individual licensing costs. It also provides tools for easy customization and design, making it a perfect platform for creators and designers.
- Evanto Elements offers high-quality assets, making it ideal for frequent content creation.
- It provides customizable templates and design assets to make content creation effortless.
- Flexible licensing options allow use for personal and commercial projects.
- Evanto Elements requires a subscription, as free content is limited.
Pexels
Pexels is a popular free stock and video platform that offers high-quality visuals contributed by a global community of creators and photographers. Its extensive library covers a variety of themes, making it ideal for blogs, social media, and marketing materials. Pexels integrates with editing tools, enabling users to enhance visuals effortlessly.
- Pexels is entirely free and offers royalty-free images and videos.
- It provides an extensive, diverse library covering multiple themes and categories.
- The platform is frequently updated with fresh content, uploaded by creators globally.
- Search filters can be basic, making it harder to find very niche or specific visuals.
Freepik alternatives - Which tool is the best
Which tool is the best Freepik alternative for you? Compare them and find the answer here:
Freepik alternative tools - Addressing common user problems
- Problem 1: Limited customization options
Solution: Some Freepik alternatives limit editing features, preventing users from tweaking images to their needs. CapCut offers a variety of customization options, such as filters, effects, stickers, frames, and designs.
- Problem 2: Inconsistent image quality
Solution: Not all the Freepik alternatives maintain consistently high-resolution images, which can affect professional projects. CapCut's "AI design" tool generates high-quality images and allows export up to 8K resolution.
- Problem 3: Difficulty finding unique content
Solution: Free alternatives mainly rely on repetitive stock images, which limit originality. This makes it difficult for creators to stand out in competitive niches. Using CapCut, you can generate unique images from text prompts.
- Problem 4: Lack of AI-powered tools
Solution: Some tools provide assets, but lack AI-powered editing tools, so you need an external tool for editing. This wastes time as you have to switch between tools. Meanwhile, CapCut allows you to generate attractive images and enhance them with AI tools, like inpaint, expand, remove, and upscale.
- Problem 5: Platform restrictions
Solution: Several free Freepik alternatives are web-only or support limited devices, which can be inconsistent for creators working on different systems. This reduces flexibility for multi-device workflows. CapCut is an excellent choice in this regard, as it supports Windows, Web, Mac, Android, and iPhone, making it accessible from anywhere.
Exploring the right platform can make a massive difference in the quality and originality of your work, particularly when seeking Freepik alternatives that provide flexibility and unique visuals. This article discussed the benefits and the top 7 free Freepik alternatives, such as CapCut, Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, and so on, each offering its unique advantages and disadvantages. Among the 7 tools discussed here, CapCut stands out as the best due to its unique features, including AI design, image templates, editing tools, and a variety of AI-powered features, such as inpaint, expand, remove, and upscale. Get CapCut now and utilize its advanced editing features to create compelling visuals with AI.
FAQs
- 1
- Is there a limit on downloads per day or month on Freepik?
Yes, Freepik has a download limit, depending on your subscription. Free users typically get fewer daily downloads, which can be restrictive for large-scale projects. Premium users get higher limits. However, these still reset daily or monthly based on the account type. If you are looking for a tool that avoids restrictions, exploring Freepik alternatives is quite helpful. CapCut is an excellent option in this regard as it lets you generate unlimited attractive photos for free, using its "AI design" tool.
- 2
- How do I find the best Freepik alternative Reddit threads for free images?
You can find useful threads in Reddit communities, such as r/Design, r/graphic_design, and r/Freepik, for user-recommended alternatives. Filter the posts by "Top" or "This Month" to see the most helpful discussions. Several users share sources for unlimited free image libraries, AI tools, and copyright-safe visuals. While browsing recommendations, you will also find suggestions for modern AI tools. CapCut also appears in these discussions because it offers AI image generation alongside editing and AI tools, all in one place.
- 3
- Can I use the images from Freepik alternative sites without attribution?
No, not always. Some Freepik alternatives offer attribution-free downloads; however, many require credit unless you get a premium license. You should always check the licensing terms before using any photo to avoid copyright issues. The rules vary for each site, so careful review is mandatory. CapCut simplifies this process, letting you create original, royalty-free images with AI.