When comparing Unsplash vs Pexels, the Slant community recommends Pexels for most people. In the question“What are the best resources for free stock photos?” Pexels is ranked 1st while Unsplash is ranked 2nd. The most important reason people chose Pexels is:
Find more info here: pexels.com/license
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro All pictures are free for use
Pro High creative quality
The community is full of professional photographers.
Pro Free API
JSON API for developers to find and get images, or list new images.
Pro Big open comunity
Pro Easy to use
Pro The pictures are curated by Unsplash
Pro Moderated by Unsplash
Nice one.
Pro Fresh vibes
Pro Integrated in tools
Integrated in tools like Sketch, Framer, and Codepen.
Pro All photos are completely free even for commercial projects
Find more info here: pexels.com/license
Pro 2 million free photos
Pro Quality of images is great
Pro "Photos by color"
You can choose to browse through photos by their color. This is helpful when you are trying out a color motif on your IG and want to stick the same colors for creating typography posters.
Pro Create collections to save and organize your favorite photos
Collections can be public or private.
Pro Filter photos by color, orientation, or size
Ability to fine-tune your search to find exactly what you're looking for.
Pro Free API
Integrate thousands of world-class free photos and videos directly into your product (pexels.com/api).
Pro Download history
Never lose track of who the photographer is or that one photo you downloaded a while back and can't seem to find in your files. Download history is not public, so only you can view it when logged into your account (under collections).
Pro Free videos
Thousands of free HD videos to use in your projects (pexels.com/videos).
Pro Donation button
If you provide your PayPal email address, a "Donate" button will appear on your profile for users to be able to support you with a tip.
Pro Photo challenges
Recurring photo challenges with awesome rewards like cameras, drones, trips, and large cash prizes (pexels.com/challenges).
Pro Social links
Standalone social account links free you up to use your portfolio link in whatever way you want (link to your personal website, your print shop, etc.)
Pro View the top places photos are being used
Under the "Featured In" section of profiles, you can see the top websites that are using photos from that photographer along with links to the articles/pages.
Pro Integrated in tools
Integrated in tools like Sketch, Canva, and Photoshop.
Cons
Con Photographers dont get much credit
Photographers dont get much credit, not crediting seems to be more encouraged.
Con They make money off your free photos
They make money off your free photos by partnering up with all these other companies that charge you to use their services
Con Approval can take time
The approval process for uploaded photo's can take some time.
Con Photos don't get uploaded.
Con No interest in contributions
Photo's can be refused, apparently without any human intervention or review and get a computer generated reply stating that "the quality of the pictures did not meet the guidelines".