Over the past 5-6 years I bookmarked hundreds of design resources. Going through the list again for this article, I noticed something: a lot of these small free libraries turned into paid Design-as-a-Service platforms since then. I don’t really know what to think about it. Good for the creators, but it says something about how the “free forever” web works.
Below are the resources I still use myself, or check for inspiration. Grouped by category so they are easier to find.
Two things before the list:
Check the license yourself!
I verified pricing and licensing for everything below at the time of publishing. Terms change, sites get sold, free tiers disappear. Always check the license page again before you use something commercially.
Inspiration is not copying!
Looking at these sites for reference is fine. Reselling or repackaging another designer’s or illustrator’s work as your own is not okay, ever. Use these to learn and get ideas, not to copy.
All these bookmarks were saved somewhere random, and every time I needed one I had to dig through browser folders to find it. I hope this article helps someone keep them in one place too, otherwise it would have been 30+ bookmarks forgotten somewhere. Cheers.
PS. I’ll keep updating this list every time I find something worth adding. If you know a resource that’s not here, leave a comment, it might make the list.
Illustrations
On Fire, Craftwork
Free. SVG and PNG, commercial license included.
I found this one about four years ago. The quality isn’t amazing, but the concepts are unique, a little rough, exactly how I like it. The whole pack is free and covers commercial use.
SketchValley
Free. SVG and PNG. Commercial use, no attribution required. Small library, similar style to On Fire. Free for personal and commercial use, no attribution, no paywall, no account needed. They started adding free online design tools too. I haven’t tried those yet.
Blush.design
Free tier: small PNG. Pro, $12/month billed annually: medium and large PNG, plus SVG.
My favorite one on this list, not just a library but a tool. You build your own illustrations from components, recolor them, or use something ready-made. Behind it there are more than 30 illustrators, which is why every style inside it feels different instead of generic. $12/month isn’t much if you want to support those illustrators and get full access. There’s also a Figma and Sketch plugin for quick imports, sold separately as an in-app purchase. License: free for commercial and non-commercial use.
Worth knowing: Blush’s illustrator Pablo Stanley is also co-founder of Lummi.ai, further down this list. I could not confirm an official link between the two companies, but the people behind them clearly overlap.
Bonus: a lot of illustrators who publish on Blush also run their own site, like opendoodles.com. Worth bookmarking too.
unDraw
Free. SVG and PNG. No resale of the illustrations.
Larger library, more basic visually than the others here, but useful. Made by Katerina Limpitsouni. Free but you can’t resell the illustrations.
GetIllustrations
Mostly paid, with a filtered free section.
Most of the library is paid, but the free filter is worth checking if you’re not ready to spend money.
StorySet
Free, by Freepik.
Good when you want illustrations that already fit a specific scene or story, not just single characters or objects.
Photos & Effects
Duotone by ShapeFactory
Free. License follows Lummi.ai’s terms.
Does exactly what the name says: applies a duotone effect over a library of free photos, nothing more. Useful because it saves you from guessing how a photo looks under a duotone filter. You pick your two colors and apply them across the library, or upload your own photo. The photo library comes from Lummi.ai, there’s a small “Photo by … on Lummi” credit on the page. ShapeFactory doesn’t publish its own license, so Lummi’s terms apply: free for personal and commercial use, no attribution required, no reselling the images or bundling them into a competing stock service.
Mshr.app
Free.
Large library of mesh gradients, plus a good in-browser editor to build your own: gradient, lines, grid or polka dot styles, and now animated border gradients too. You can export the code straight from the editor.
Shapes Gallery
Free, check per-asset terms.
Good source if you like abstract shapes instead of, or combined with, traditional illustrations. Personal favorite, I’d pick shapes over illustrations most of the time.
Color Tools & Palettes
Happy Hues
Free.
Nothing groundbreaking, but 17 nicely put together palettes, shown on a mock UI instead of just flat swatches. One click to copy each color.
Coolors
Free tier plus Pro.
I use it in every branding project. Pair it with the Coolors Contrast Checker, coolors.co/contrast-checker. Not optional in my opinion, contrast matters a lot in both print and UI, and it’s easy to get wrong.
Huemint
Free.
AI-based palette generator, useful when you need combinations you wouldn’t have thought of yourself.
Colors Visualizer
Free.
Simple tool to see how a color combination actually looks in different real contexts, not just as swatches on a screen.
Fonts & Typography
Fontshare
I love this site, both the design and the font library. I wrote here a separate piece about moving on from Roboto to better Google Fonts in 2026. Fontshare is proof there are good, modern alternatives.
Other font resources worth checking:
- Google Fonts
- Fontspace
- Urban Fonts
- Dirty Line Studio Freebies (this one is really good)
- Free Faces Gallery
Mockups
The Mockup Club
Free.
Generous, free mockup library. They say clearly that checking the license is your own responsibility, per file: “look for licensing information on the actual download page or inside the downloaded file.” So check it, every time.
UI Components & Freebies
UI8 Freebies
Free. UI8’s main library is paid.
I check UI8 sometimes for inspiration. They also give away freebies, from font families to full UI component sets.
Mobile App UI Inspiration
Mobbin
Free account required, Pro tiers available.
Large library of real mobile and web app screens for reference. A free account already gives access to most of it.
Appshots
Free and paid tiers.
Same idea as Mobbin, a library of real app screens. It has its own separate founders, not the same team behind Mobbin.
Web & Landing Page Inspiration
SaaS Landing Page
Free to browse.
Gallery of landing pages sorted by page type: pricing, features, about, blog, testimonials, FAQ, contact. Every example can be viewed live, including how it behaves on different devices. Made by Davide Pacilio. The pages link to real, live company sites, not templates for sale. A lot of them are built in Framer, and the site also has a separate templates section if you want something ready-made.
Other resources for the same kind of inspiration:
- Landingfolio
- Land-book
- Lapa Ninja
- Saaspo (mix of mobile and general UI inspiration)
- Refero
- One Page Love
- Layers
Award & Curated Galleries
CSS Design Awards
Free to browse.
Good alternative to Awwwards.
Httpster
Free to browse.
Feels like a personal, manually curated selection rather than a big platform, and I like it for that.
Frontend Dev Tools
Neumorphism.io
Free.
Build a neumorphic shadow or element visually, then copy the CSS.
CSS Buttons
Free.
Same idea for buttons. Build one visually, take the code.
Specialty Galleries
Footer Design
Free.
A large collection of footer designs. If you always get stuck on footers, like I do, this helps.
Dark Design
Free.
Personal favorite, dark and moody UI inspiration. Useful if you’re designing a dark mode site and don’t know where to start, or aren’t used to that style yet.
Handy Extras
Shortcuts.design
Free.
Even after years in design, I still forget keyboard shortcuts. This has them all in one place.
UI verse
Free.
Similar to CodePen, but design oriented. Browse ready-made UI elements with the code included.
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