Despite what many would think, the term web designer does not always imply an artist. There are many very capable web developers and designers that are lucky to pull off a quality stick figure on most days. For those that are able to create complicated artwork, there are plenty of times when you’re up against a deadline need something generic.
For either of these situations, you can’t beat free vectors. Though the quality varies dramatically depending on the source, there’s no shortage of great work out there that you can download and use in your projects immediately. Below we’ll take a look at a collection of websites offering free vectors of various types.
Freepik
Freepik is one of the biggest and most popular platforms for finding free vectors online. The site offers a massive collection of over 250,000 free and premium vectors. Unlike most other websites, the quality of Freepik vectors is incredibly amazing as well.
You can download and use the vectors in Freepik for free with your personal and commercial projects. However, attribution is required.
Humaaans
Humaaans is a brand new website that offers a library of modern and beautiful vector illustrations. The collection includes lots of characters, elements for customizing the characters, objects, and lots more elements you can use to create your own unique scenes for various projects. You can use the illustrations with your personal and commercial projects as long as you properly give credits to the authors.
Ouch!
Ouch! is another site that features a collection of free vector illustrations. It offers illustrations and vector elements in a wide variety of categories, including education, eCommerce, finance, and even graphics for making website designs. When using the free illustrations, you’ll have to link back to the website to credit the author.
Free Vector
Free Vector is a site full of various vector graphics, illustrations, and icons. It includes a massive collection of graphic elements in different categories such as fashion, buildings, business, backgrounds, icons, and more. You can download the graphics for free to use with your personal projects with proper attribution.
unDraw
UnDraw features a collection of creative vector illustrations you can use with your creative projects. The images in this collection are available in SVG format and it allows you to easily change the colors and scale without affecting its quality. On top of all that, you also get to use the images without having to include an attribution.
Vector Portal
Vector Portal is another popular site that offers a large collection of vector files free of charge. The site features free stock vectors such as icons, graphics, backgrounds, patterns, and much more. All of which are free to download and use with personal and commercial projects.
Flaticon
With a collection of over 450,000 vector icons, Flaticon is known as one of the largest databases of free vector icons on the web. It allows you to download free vector icons in PNG, SVG, EPS, PSD and BASE 64 formats.
Subtle Patterns
Subtle Pattern is every web designer’s go-to site for downloading free vector patterns. The site comes with a collection of over 400 patterns, all free to download and use with your personal and commercial projects with proper attribution.
Vector Me
Vector Me is yet another popular site for finding free vectors, logos, patterns, and clipart. The site features a collection of over 280,000 vectors. You can use these files with your projects for free with attribution to Vector Me website.
1001 Free Downloads
1001 Free Downloads is a smashing collection of graphic resources. Organised into free vectors, photos, icons, wallpapers, brushes, styles, patterns, textures, and clipart. There are thousands of items to browse through, all with high quality previews. Some are produced exclusively for the site, and some link elsewhere. But it’s a great starting point for your search.
IconScout
IconScout is a well-known platform for finding various types of vector graphics, including icons, illustrations, and Lottie animations. Most of these items are exclusive to IconScout.
You can download and use these graphics and icons for free after creating a free account. The only requirement is to add an attribution wherever you use these graphics.
ReShot
ReShot is one of the most valuable free resources you’ll find on our list. It includes a massive collection of beautiful illustrations and icons in vector format. There are over 40K icons and more than 1500 illustrations on the site.
What’s great about this site is that everything is free to download and use in your personal and commercial projects. You don’t even have to attribute or signup for an account.
Openclipart
Openclipart is a platform that has a very unusual collection of vector graphics. This site has designs submitted by people around the world. And everything on the site is public domain, which means you can do whatever you want with the graphics. The only downside is that most of the graphics are not that great but you’ll find some hidden gems from time to time.
Ouch by Icons8
Ouch! Is a cool project made by Icons8. It features a collection of unique illustrations that you can download and use in your design projects. These graphics are available in multiple styles, including 3D and animated styles.
You can download the graphics in low-resolution PNG format for free. And yes, attribution is required. You can also buy the graphics individually or subscribe to skip the attribution.
PNGitem
PNGitem boasts a massive collection of vector graphics with missions of HD-quality PNG images to choose from. Of course, most of these items are just low-quality PNGs uploaded by users. Downloading graphics from this site is free and easy but it only allows you to use them in personal projects.
Vecteezy
Vecteezy is always my first stop when I’m looking for a quick vector fix. Their collection is quite large and easily searchable and you’re likely to find lots of content from other providers here as well.
123FreeVectors
123FreeVectors has more annoying ads than anyone cares to see but they do provide quite a large number of free vector downloads. Be sure to browse through their “Ornament” section for some particularly nice flourishes and abstract art.
VectorStock
As the name implies, VectorStock sells stock vector artwork. However, they also have a sizable collection of free downloads.
Where Do You Go for Vectors?
The collection above represents the collection of sites that I turn to first when I’m looking for a free vector. Leave a comment below and tell us about your favorite sites in this category.