Pexels is a stock media library, a website where photographers and videographers share photos and videos that anyone can download and use for free. The content comes from contributors in about 170 countries, and a curation team selects and tags it.
People search the library by keyword, in 28 languages, and download images and videos. The Pexels license allows free use and modification, for example on websites, in ads and in print, and attribution is not required. It forbids, among other things, selling unaltered copies and redistributing the files on other stock platforms. Developers can use the Pexels API, a web interface that returns curated content, photo and video search results with filters such as vertical video or horizontal photos, and collections. API users are asked to credit Pexels and the photographers. On 28 October 2026 the API page said that issuing new API keys was paused.
Pexels is free to use: downloads and the API cost nothing, and higher API limits are granted free of charge to applications that show attribution. Pexels also has apps for iOS and Android.