Best Sites to Download Free Website Backgrounds for Commercial Use

Free website backgrounds are idea for use in web design projects. Graphic designers will also find them handy for Twitter, Wordpress and Blogger backgrounds, Photoshop fills and texture tiles, mobile wallpapers and as a background for buttons, icons and other website graphics. They often are available as a pattern or texture. Below is an explanation of some types of website backgrounds.

Repeating Background – This is often a minimal, small image which is set to repeat horizontally and vertically on the background of a website. Most of the time they are seamless, and you cannot see that it is a repeating image. The main advantage of using them is a substantial decrease in load time of a website.

Seamless Background – Seamless backgrounds are those which can be placed side by side with identical ones, without any noticeable line between them. These are often used as repeating backgrounds.

Full Backgrounds – These often come in various sizes, dependant on the screen size. Web designers often include these in a container in the header or content area, with repeating background for the outside area.

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I have listed below some useful websites to download free website backgrounds for commercial use.

Pattern Cooler – Free Seamless Backgrounds

PatternCooler.com has thousands of free website backgrounds, and is one of the best resources of its kind. Use the Seamless Pattern Background Editor to edit patterns, adding effects such as color, texture and resizing. This allows for literally thousands of combinations.
GRSites – Background Textures Library

GRSites has over 5700 free website backgrounds, which are available for use in any commercial project. All are neatly categorized according to color and pattern. Get a useful preview of a pattern by hovering over it. The website even includes a link to download all at once. Also find handy website background makers – pattern background maker, procedural background maker, text background maker and gradient background maker.
Subtle Patterns - Subtle Textures and Patterned Backgrounds

Subtle Patterns has hundreds of free tilable and textured patterns for website backgrounds, shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. This means the backgrounds can be shared, remixed and used for commercial purposes, as long as attribution is provided. The site also offers a handy Photoshop plugin, with over 300 patterns. These were mostly created by Atle Mo, especially for web designers and developers for use on their websites. Most have a very subtle texture or pattern.

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Background Labs – Free Backgrounds and Patterns

At Background Labs, find free website backgrounds, design resources, textures, patterns and vector graphics. Find them categorized into tags, such as cute, polka dot, stripes, subtle, seamless, fabric, grunge and more. These are free for commercial use, but pay attention to the special case restrictions.
Elegantthemes – Free Wordpress Backgrounds

Elegant Themes has made this collection of 20 Wordpress backgrounds completely free. (but these can be used in any web design project without worry) Each image is very large, and measures 1920 px by 1080 px. The set includes 12 different textures, with an additional 8 color variations.
All Free Download – Vector Backgrounds

All-Free-Download.com currently has over 7700 files in the vector background category. These are ideal in all kinds of projects by web designers and website developers, including site backgrounds, themes, templates, wallpapers, business cards and other graphics.
BGRepeat – Seamless Repeating Backgrounds

Looking for a cool seamless repeating background for a website? Then, look no further – BGRepeat has plenty of them. These can be used in any web design project and are provided free for print, applications, commercially - provided you do not sell them as they are.