Photobucket updated its terms of use. They now charge 3rd party image hosting or hotlinking. That is bad news for those of you who were using Photobucket to display images in your forum posts or elsewhere. Now instead of the images, you will see this image.
This unannounced change in the terms has caused several forums, message boards, social sites, etc., to display images like this, as members who register to post, usually use image hosting sites like Photobucket to embed images. It would have been nice instead if users were asked to pay for any future 3rd party hosting or hotlinking as this sudden policy change has left several useful threads looking ugly and useless! Plus the fact that they are asking $$$ now is going to make many looks for alternatives. Had it been something reasonable like say $100, many might have chosen to stick around.
Best Free Image Hosting sites
Here are some of the best free Image Hosting sites to upload and share Pictures:
- Imgur
- Flickr
- 500px
- Tinypic
- Google Photos
- Wix
- Dropbox
- OneDrive
- Postimage
We will discuss some of them below.
Free image hosting sites
1] Imgur
When it comes to image hotlinking without leaving a footprint, Imgur.com can top the list. The specialty of Imgur is you can upload images anonymously, share them with anybody and without any restriction. You can upload as many images as you want and embed them on any other websites such as a blog, product listing, etc. Just copy the image address/URL, and paste that inside the <img> tag to show the image on any web page.
2] Flickr
Flickr is very strict about the usage, but you can still utilize this photo hosting platform as third-party hosting. However, if you think that your embedded image is about to receive a huge amount of hits, do not use this website as your content delivery network. Apart from that restriction, you will get 1000GB of free storage with the free Flickr account.
3] 500px
You can upload many photos to 500px.com, but you need to know the limitation. According to the rules, you can upload only seven images every seven days. That means, if you want to upload ten images to 500px account, you need to wait for the 8th day. The site allows you to hotlink your images on other websites – but this is quite tricky to get the image URL, though.
4] Tinypic
If you do not want any signup process to opt for Tinypic.com. It allows users to upload videos as well as images and embed them on any other website. You can get the whole <img> tag with a proper image URL that you can use to embed that image in your desired website. However, if you create an account, you can save all your uploaded images on this website and use them later.
5] Google Photos
When you need top-notch account security with high-end performance, you should check out Google Photos, which is being used by thousands of people from across the globe. You can get free 15GB of storage to store images captured by DSLR. If you have a camera or smartphone, 16mp or less, you can store unlimited pictures and videos on Google Photos. The best part is that there is no limitation on hotlinking. You can directly upload images from mobile devices as well as your computer, get the personalized image link, and embed it on your website, blog, forum, social site or message board.
6] Wix
Wix helps you create your own website. However, you can use the same utility to host your images and share pictures with anybody. At times, it might be better to show all the pictures in one place and allow people to download them as per their requirements. If so, Wix is one of the best options.
7] Dropbox
Although Dropbox is a cloud storage service, you can use Dropbox to store your images as well. Because of being cloud storage, it is very easy to share images with anybody by uploading them to your account. Whether you have one or one hundred images, you can share all of them with friends with the help of Dropbox.
8] OneDrive
When you need to have a Google Photos-like user interface but with better upload speed, you can opt for OneDrive. OneDrive is one of the best options to host images and share them with anybody. It offers a simple UI to display all the uploaded images in one place so that you can select the desired one and share them with people.
9] Postimage
Postimage is yet another online website that lets you upload and share pictures with friends. The best thing about this tool is that you can share the image at the original resolution. Talking about the resolution, it is possible to share the picture in various resolutions if you like. On the other hand, you can also set an expiry date so that it gets removed at the predefined time.
What is the best image hosting site for you and why?
Some of the best image hosting sites are mentioned in this article, and you can follow them as per your requirements. It is highly recommended to use at least three or four of them to check all the features, options, etc. Following that, you can opt for one of them according to your wish. Talking about features and options, you can check out Imgur, Google Photos, OneDrive, etc. All of them are pretty good, reliable, easy to use, and feature-rich. Whether you want to share one or multiple images, you can use these tools.
Where can I upload my images for free?
As on today, there is no such option that offers unlimited storage to store your pictures at the original resolution. However, there are some online tools such as Google Photos, OneDrive, Dropbox, Imgur, etc. These tools allow users to upload pictures for free and share them with anybody. Whether you want to share the picture via email, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, or anything else, you can use these tools to get the job done.
There are several other free image hosting sites. However, if you need a reliable platform to store and share images, you can rely on these five Photobucket alternatives.
What do you think? Any suggestions or comments to make?
Tip: This post lists some free web hosting sites.
