Image hosting sites are one of the best free services you’ll find on internet. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc. aren’t the only places suitable for sharing images. However, there are always other things that you can perform with the help of an image and in that case, you need some especial services.
Why use image hosting services
There are a number of reasons you may need them.
- Image stays forever. However, this service depends on the service provider.
- Numerous file type support (JPG, PNG, GIF, MP4 and more).
- Unlimited file size support.
- Share the link of the image and voila! No need to upload them on each and every site again and again and again.
Best image hosting services
Let’s have a look at some of the most popular FREE image hosting services that.
If you’re a Linux user, then you are already familiar with Imgur. Even if you’re not a Linux user, you may already have taken the advantage of Imgur without even knowing it.
That’s ok as it’s currently the most popular image hosting services of all. It allows numerous facilities for image hosting like easier sharing, custom organization (album) etc. The most powerful thing is, there’s no limit of file size along with file expiration! Yes, your images are bound to stay FOREVER if you choose to. It supports file formats like JPEG, PNG, PDF, TIFF, APNG, MOV and MP4 while the last 2 file types are only for desktop site of Imgur.
While there’s no necessity for making an account with Imgur, it’s better to do so as it will allow you have greater control over your images.
Flickr was originally a community-driven hosting service for sharing photos. Currently, it’s under Yahoo since 2013. Now, it serves even better!
You have the facility of a whopping 1TB storage for hosting your image files!!! That’s a big size to consider about. Flickr doesn’t put any restriction on bandwidth. However, your image size must be under 200MB. You can also upload videos with the restriction of 1GB size and 1080p resolution.
Flickr doesn’t support a variety of file formats, only the popular ones – JPEG, PNG and non-animated GIF files. However, Flickr preserves an EXIF data of all images that photographers and enthusiasts enjoy the most.
This one is also quite similar to Flickr. 500px is a photography community first, hosting site second. For pro photographers, this place is like the heaven if one is looking for showing off his skills.
As 500px is dependent on enthusiasts, it puts some limitations for free accounts. You’re allowed to upload 7 images per week with no file limitation. A nice trick would be merging all your favorite images into 1 LARGE image and upload it to 500px. Simple but not so simple. Confusing, right?
The paid plans are available on 500px.
Well, Google is also a great place to host your photos. Google has already earned its name in the field as a reliable hosting service. However, when we’re talking about their image hosting service, you have to keep a few things in mind.
First of all, your images are limited by 16 megapixels. That’s OK-ish for most of the people but personally, I don’t like that. If your target is to hold videos, then the limitation is 1080p. In the case of the storage capacity, all these usage will eat up your Google Drive storage. Free accounts get 15GB for free and higher capacity requires paying money.
All these awesome image hosting services should be more than enough to satisfy your needs. Feel free to share your experience with them. If we missed one of your favorites, don’t forget to mention it in the comment below!
Enjoy!
