⚖️ Our Verdict
No matter what business you’re in, Burst has a wide variety of photos that would fit your niche perfectly. All of the images on the website are completely royalty-free. So you know you can do whatever you want with each photo. You can use it for headers, blog posts, social media content, and more!
Pros
👍 Completely royalty-free photos
👍 High-quality images
👍 Open-source images
👍 User-friendly
👍 Beginner-friendly
Cons
👎Fairly limited images but the numbers are growing daily.
🌟 About Burst
With the ever-growing internet technology, it can prove difficult to find true, royalty-free images that you can use for your business. This is especially true in eCommerce. Thank goodness for Burst. It was founded by Sarah Pflug and Matthew Henry from Toronto.
It grows larger by the day thanks to the support from the global community of contributors. The photos come from contributors and generous creatives all over the world.
For photographers, uploading their photos to Burst gives them the chance to share their work with a global audience. It also makes it easier for them to get exposure and potential clients.
It’s powered by Shopify. Shopify is the leading cloud-based, multi-channel commerce platform. You don’t necessarily need to be a Shopify user if you want to use Burst.
🎁 What’s In It For You?
Whether you’re an independent brand, or a multinational global corporation, Burst is a great platform for free images. Even students and freelancers can use the images for free. The open source image library contains thousands of photographs from different creatives all over the world.
You can use the images for web design, social media photos, brand content, product design, school products, print ads, menus, and more! Thanks to its royalty-free license. Read more about Burst’s terms of service here.
If you’re not satisfied or can’t seem to fit the images to your aesthetics, don’t worry, you are welcome to edit and create changes to the images, too! Burst currently allows everyone to do what they wish with the images on their website.
You have the option to credit the creatives and/or photographers who own the product. This way, they will get recognition for the work they’ve done and possibly gain long-term clients along the way.
If you like a particular photo and wishes to work with the photographer for exclusive content, you also have the option to reach out to them.
In any case, these images from Burst can help entrepreneurs create better layouts, marketing campaigns, websites, and better product photos that will ultimately convert to better sales! Basically, the sky is the limit with this awesome platform! Can we just say, it’s Burst-ing with opportunities!
🖥️ How Does It Work?
To use Burst, all you have to do is the following steps:
- Visit Burst’s website through this link right here.
2. Enter the topic, niche, or any keyword you can think of that will be relevant to the project you are currently working on. Then click the search icon or hit ‘Enter’ on your keyboard.
3. You will be redirected to a search results page where you can see different image results for your search query. Pick one, or multiple images that you’re interested in.
4. To download the photo, click on high-resolution or low-resolution (depending on what resolution you want) then click the download button. You also have the option to create a Shopify website based on the image you selected.
5. On the lower left side of the photo, you can see the name of the photographer, as well as the license usage of the photo. You can also see a list of keywords and niches in which the photos are featured.
6. If you want to give the photographer a credit, simply click on their name.
7. You will be redirected to their Burst profile where you can see some more photos they have previously submitted. There’s also a link to their website, or sometimes their social media pages.
8. Burst also allows you to browse through different collections if you’re simply looking for inspiration.
9. They also have a section dedicated to tips and tricks for those entrepreneurs who are just starting out.
💲 Pricing Plans & Support
As previously stated, Burst is free for use for everyone. This means that you can use their services without needing a credit card or any type of payments.
📍 The Competition
Pros
👍 Royalty-free images
👍 Over 1.8 million stock photos available
👍 Stock vectors are also available
👍 Stock videos, music and illustrations are also available
👍 No attribution required
👍 Free for commercial use
👍 High-resolution images
Cons
👎Photo tagging is sometimes inaccurate
Pros
👍 Royalty-free images
👍 Millions of stock photos available
👍 Stock vectors are also available
👍 Stock videos, music and illustrations are also available
👍 No attribution required
👍 Free for commercial use
👍 High-resolution images
👍 Great customer support
Cons
👎Shutterstock is a bit pricier than other stock websites.
🙋♀️🙋♂️🙋 Testimonials
“I love the open Creative Commons licensing terms. We don’t have to pay a licensing fee, stick to editing restrictions, or provide photo credit to the photographers to use the photos for business purposes. I support acknowledging the creative works of photographers as much as possible, but there are usually times when crediting can adversely affect the presentation of the photos in our marketing media. There just isn’t always room for it to be shown in a professional way. Burst by Shopify has a humongous selection of photos from top quality photographers. I don’t really see a significant drop off in quality compared to higher-cost stock websites.”
– Kyle R, Account Executive. Review from G2.com
“That the company provides high-resolution free stock photos. They have a great image library that allows you to use photos with copyright infringement or taking someone else’s intellectual property.”
– NICCARRAH B, Assistant Finance and Contracts Administrator Review from G2.com
“I love how I can be creative and make my shopify store my own by using the photos that burst provides. Even though they are not my images, there are so many different choices that I feel like I am able to make my store unique- without worrying about copyrights etc. Burst by Shopify makes it possible for me to draw people in by the message I’m sending, emotion, and visual aspects I may be trying to achieve. Overall, I love the variety and being able to be creative along with having my quirkiness shine thru. Lol Oh yes and the ease of being able to change and pick different images whenever I get bored of the current ones I’m using.”
– Kasey C 1st year AART student. Review from G2.com
