Pixabay

Pixabay.com is a free stock photography and royalty-free stock media website. It is used for sharing photos, illustrations, vector graphics, film footage, stock music and sound effects, exclusively under the custom Pixabay license, which generally allows the free use of the material with some restrictions. You can use the site's content for free without attribution, and modify or adapt it into new works. You cannot sell or distribute the content as is, use it commercially if it contains recognizable trademarks, or use it in immoral, illegal, misleading, or deceptive ways.

The overall quality of the photos on the service has been described as "mediocre for the most part" and "variable", but covering a "wide range of subjects." The number of images and other creative assets is around 2 million in 2024.

History
The site was founded in November 2010 in Ulm, Germany, by Hans Braxmeier and Simon Steinberger.

Prior to 9th January 2019, Pixabay images were released under the CC0 declaration, which deeds content into the public domain. On that day, it imposed a custom, more restrictive license on all of its content, and changed its license to the "Pixabay License", which prohibits the sale of unaltered copies of the licensed works, or distribution as stock images or wallpapers. As the terms of CC0 explicitly indicate that the surrender into the public domain is "irrevocable" once completed, images that had already been released under CC0 prior to the change in license remain available through various mirrors distributing under the original CC0 declaration.

In November 2018, Pixabay, along with Pexels, was acquired by the Australian design and publishing platform Canva.

On April 17th, 2023, significant changes to Pixabay’s terms of service came into effect. This included the modification of the “Pixabay License” to the “Content License”, as well as the reinstatement of the CC0 license, for content uploaded to Pixabay prior to January 9th, 2019.