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Pexels Review

Worth it

Should I use Pexels?

Free stock photos and videos - pexels.com

· 1 month ago

Use it if you need free, high-quality stock photos or videos — there is no purchase decision or paid tier at all. Skip it if you need legal indemnification, exclusive imagery, or plan to resell photos as-is.

Confidence

Medium. Based on 20+ public sources; several quotes and snippets were truncated in source data.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

$0

Everything

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes

Best for

  • Bloggers and marketers needing free images
  • Video editors sourcing B-roll
  • Developers wanting a free stock API
  • Small businesses with zero content budget

Not for

  • Anyone reselling stock images as-is
  • Guess: Brands needing indemnified, model-released imagery
  • Guess: Agencies wanting exclusive or editorial photos
  • Guess: Teams needing paid support or SLAs

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

WordPress plugin users must patch: SSRF CVE-2024-25915 (CVSS 8.8) and RCE CVE-2024-6132

medium

Cannot resell unaltered images or redistribute them as stock

medium

Copyright questions recur on Reddit; no releases provided, so vet identifiable people

low

Guess: free API is rate-limited per key (details truncated in source)

Pros and cons

Pros

  • All photos and videos free, including commercial use
  • Free API for developers
  • 4.6/5 on G2; praised for quality and ease
  • Thousands of new images added daily
  • Backed by Canva since 2019

Cons

  • Selling photos or videos as-is is prohibited
  • App Store reviewer claims the company 'DO NOT care'
  • Video editors ask 'What happened to???'
  • Its WordPress plugin shipped serious CVEs

Sources & method

- 15 sources - No vulnerabilities found for pexels.com itself; severe CVEs affect its third-party WordPress plugin, and no security page was found.

official x3review x7security x3news x2
  • CVE-2024-25915: SSRF in Pexels WordPress plugin, Server-Side Request Forgery rated CVSS 8.8 in the 'Pexels: Free Stock Photos' WordPress plugin — not the site.
  • CVE-2024-6132: RCE in Pexels WordPress plugin, Remote code execution vulnerability in the WordPress plugin, per NVD.
  • Stored XSS in plugin versions <= 1.2.2, Authenticated contributor stored cross-site scripting in the WordPress plugin, per Wordfence.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 15

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Everything free, commercial use included
  • Ease of use: 5/5. Users repeatedly call it easy
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Photos, videos, free API
  • Support quality: 2/5. App Store reviewer says company doesn't care
  • Security posture: 3/5. Site clean; plugin CVEs; no security page
  • 4.6/5 G2 rating 44 product reviews
  • $0 Price Photos, videos and API are free
  • Yes Free tier No paid plans found
  • Canva Ownership Acquired in 2019

Pricing

Everything

$0

  • Unlimited free photos and videos
  • Commercial use allowed
  • Free API access

Security

No vulnerabilities found for pexels.com itself; severe CVEs affect its third-party WordPress plugin, and no security page was found.

  • CVE-2024-25915: SSRF in Pexels WordPress pluginServer-Side Request Forgery rated CVSS 8.8 in the 'Pexels: Free Stock Photos' WordPress plugin — not the site.12
  • CVE-2024-6132: RCE in Pexels WordPress pluginRemote code execution vulnerability in the WordPress plugin, per NVD.13
  • Stored XSS in plugin versions <= 1.2.2Authenticated contributor stored cross-site scripting in the WordPress plugin, per Wordfence.14

What users say

Reviewers largely praise Pexels as a dependable, easy, high-quality free stock source, with occasional complaints about curation and support.

“Pexels is excellent! I can't say enough”
Trustpilot
“I like that Pexels is easy to use, ha”
G2 review
“DO NOT download pexels because they DO NOT care about”
App Store review
Full analysis

Based on 20+ public sources; several quotes and snippets were truncated in source data.

Totally free stock photos, videos and API, owned by Canva. Great default; avoid if you need exclusivity or indemnity.

Methodology

Based on 20+ public sources; several quotes and snippets were truncated in source data.

Read how a report is made.

Sources

  1. Pexels Free Stock Photo & Video Licensepexels.com
    official
  2. Is the Pexels API free to use?help.pexels.com
    official
  3. Pexels Reviews on G2g2.com
    review
  4. Pexels Products — 113 Reviews on G2g2.com
    review
  5. Pexels Trustpilot reviewstrustpilot.com
    review
  6. Pexels Review: Free Stock Photos, What's the Catch?experte.com
    review
  7. Pexels App Store reviewsapps.apple.com
    review
  8. What happened to Pexels.com??? — Reddit r/editorsreddit.com
    review
  9. YSK about Pexels — Reddit r/YouShouldKnowreddit.com
    review
  10. Canva acquires Pexels, Pixabaycanva.com
    news
  11. Pexels — Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
    news
  12. CVE-2024-25915: Pexels WordPress plugin SSRFsentinelone.com
    security
  13. CVE-2024-6132: Pexels WordPress plugin RCEnvd.nist.gov
    security
  14. Pexels plugin stored XSS — Wordfencewordfence.com
    security
  15. Pexels security pagepexels.com
    official

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