Free Image Hosts

Why would you want to host your images outside your existing host? Well, there are four reasons I can come up with at the moment and they are worth considering.

1. Hosting your images on free image hosts saves you bandwidth since you’ll be using theirs instead of yours. This also prevents bandwidth theft if ever someone decides to use your images and ”hotlink” to them.
2. Hosting your images on free image hosts saves you diskspace. If you go heavy on images and your allowed diskspace is limited, you should consider hosting them on free image hosts.
3. Free Image Hosts specialize on hosting images. This means, by hosting your images with them, you take advantage of the technology they’re using. Your images will download faster too.
4. When you host your images on free image hosts, you will not have to worry of broken codes if you decide to move your blog to a new domain name.

Having said that, here are the best and reliable free image hosts available for you.

ImageShack

ImageShack is the world’s leading free image host. It is an intuitive and easy-to-use free media hosting service that lets you upload images, flash files, and movies, and share them with friends using any imaginable means. With Imageshack, you can host an image even without registering for an account. But of course, it’s better to manage and organize your images hosted with them if you have an account.

There is no limit of how much files you can host with them as long as they adhere to ImageShack’s TOS. For more information about ImageShack’s free image hosting services, visit their FAQ.

PhotoBucket

PhotoBucket is the next most popular site that allows it’s users to upload their images and videos for free. It also offers free tools for making slideshows of photos and videos with background music. But before you host your images and videos for free, you need to register an account with them.

PhotoBucket however, sets a limitation on your bandwidth and storage space but you have the option of upgrading from a free to PRO account. With the Pro account, of course, you’ll have more priviledges.

PictureTrail

PictureTrail is another widely used free image host. It provides a stable image hosting that enables you to post your uploaded images to your blog or other websites.

Like PhotoBucket, PictureTrail provides you with free tools for making slideshows of photos. Its flash-based slideshows, called “Photo Flicks”, are customizable from dozens of unique designs, with options for captions, speed control and color selection. Its “Bling Maker” offers online stylizing of images. Its “Adopt a Pet” offers a custom, interactive “virtual pet” for member accounts.

To access their free image hosting services, you need to register for an account and comply with their TOS. To increase your storage space and bandwidth, you can upgrade to a premium account.

Flickr

Flickr, an online photo management and sharing application that has been acquired by Yahoo!, is another reliable free image host. You can pretty much do the same things you do with PictureTrail using Flickr. You can create slideshows of photos using their available themes and backgrounds.

If you already have a Yahoo account, you can use it to log-in to Flickr. If you don’t, you need to register for one because this is a requirement. And if you want more of Flickrs’ services (more storage space and tools), you can always upgrade to a premium account.

A Few Reminders

There are tons of Free Image Hosts that you can find online but most of them come and go (now you see it, now you don’t kind of thing). This is exactly the reason why you should go for the more established and highly recommended free image hosts. The list of Free Image Hosts I provided above are not just big and popular but are actually established and passed the test of time.

Any Free Image Host you’d recommend? Do share them through the comment. Thanks for your time.

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