Placeholder Image Services in 2026: What Still Works

Quick answer: Lorem Picsum is the placeholder image service to use for real photos: picsum.photos/600/400 returned a random 600×400 JPEG when we requested it on 5 November 2026, and its code is public on GitHub. For a plain box with its size printed on it, use placehold.co or DummyImage. Four older services did not return an image.

Placeholder images are lorem ipsum for pictures: a URL that returns an image of the size you ask for, so a layout, a test fixture or a demo has something in every image slot before the real assets exist. The catch is that these are free side projects, and a service that worked in a 2019 tutorial may now return an error page. Everything below comes from one GET request per service, made on 5 November 2026 from a single machine with a browser user agent, following redirects.

Which placeholder image services still work?

Six of the ten services we requested returned HTTP 200 with an image. The table is the raw probe, one 600×400 request each.

| Service | URL requested | Status | Content type | Bytes | Cache max-age | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | Lorem Picsum | https://picsum.photos/600/400 | 200 (1 redirect) | image/jpeg | 41,795 | 2,592,000 s (30 days) | | placehold.co | https://placehold.co/600x400 | 200 | image/svg+xml | 2,310 | 1,209,600 s (14 days) | | DummyImage | https://dummyimage.com/600x400 | 200 | image/png | 1,824 | 7,776,000 s (90 days) | | DummyJSON | https://dummyjson.com/image/600x400 | 200 | image/png | 11,161 | 31,536,000 s (365 days) | | via.placeholder.com | https://via.placeholder.com/600x400 | 200 | image/png | 2,328 | 31,536,000 s (365 days) | | PlaceBear | https://placebear.com/600/400 | 200 | image/jpeg | 43,126 | 2,592,000 s (30 days) |

All six answered over HTTPS. The ranking weighs what each one returns, whether a public repository stands behind it, and how much a single response tells you about the service.

1. Lorem Picsum

Width and height go in the path: picsum.photos/600/400. Our request redirected to a fixed image on Fastly (fastly.picsum.photos/id/526/600/400.jpg), so the base URL is random and the redirected URL is stable, which matters if a screenshot test needs the same picture every run. The server is nginx and the response is marked immutable. The project's repository, DMarby/picsum-photos, had 2,492 stars, a last commit on 30 January 2026, 1 open issue and no published releases (GitHub, read 5 November 2026). Lorem Picsum's listing has the project links, and the Lorem Picsum entry on Public APIs covers it as an API.

Verdict: the default for realistic photos, with a public repository you can self-host from.

2. placehold.co

The size uses an x: placehold.co/600x400. The default response was an SVG of 2,310 bytes served through Cloudflare, small enough to inline and sharp at any zoom. If your pipeline expects a raster image, check the format before you rely on it.

Verdict: the best plain box with dimensions, as long as SVG suits your use.

3. DummyImage

Same 600x400 syntax as placehold.co, but the default answer is a PNG of 1,824 bytes with a 90-day cache header. It is the old reliable of the group: the domain ranked 11th for lorem ipsum image when we read that search on 22 October 2026.

Verdict: pick it when you need a PNG box rather than an SVG.

4. DummyJSON

DummyJSON is a fake REST API for test data, and its image route follows the same pattern: dummyjson.com/image/600x400. It returned an 11,161-byte PNG. If your tests already call DummyJSON for users or products, the images come from the same host.

Verdict: the sensible pick when DummyJSON already feeds your fixtures.

5. via.placeholder.com

Many tutorials still use this one, and it is widely reported as shut down. Our request still got a 200 and a 2,328-byte PNG through Cloudflare on 5 November 2026. One successful request does not tell you who runs it or for how long.

Verdict: answering on our probe date, but move old code to placehold.co or DummyImage rather than start new work on it.

6. PlaceBear

Path syntax like Lorem Picsum (placebear.com/600/400), with a 43,126-byte JPEG of a bear from an Apache server.

Verdict: a novelty that works; fine for a demo, not a test suite.

More image tooling is collected in our image category.

Which services no longer answer?

Four services did not return an image on 5 November 2026:

• placekitten.com returned 521, a Cloudflare HTML error page instead of a kitten. Replace it with Lorem Picsum for photos.
• placeimg.com did not resolve at all: the request failed with "Could not resolve host". Replace it with Lorem Picsum.
• loremflickr.com returned 500 with an empty body from Apache. Replace it with Lorem Picsum.
• fakeimg.pl returned 403 with an HTML page through Cloudflare. A 403 to a scripted request can be bot protection rather than a dead service, so open it in a browser before you remove it. If your code fetches it server-side, it fails the same way; use DummyImage instead.

How do you get a random photo versus a solid box with text?

There are two families. Photo services return a real picture at your size: https://picsum.photos/600/400 gives a different photo per request until the redirect pins it. Box services return a flat colour with the dimensions written on it: https://placehold.co/600x400. Use photos when you are judging how a layout feels with real content; use boxes when you are checking sizes, crops and breakpoints, since the printed dimensions show at a glance which slot got which image.

Should you self-host placeholders?

Self-host when a third-party URL sits in a test suite, a CI run or a client demo. Four of ten services in this probe failed, and a dead placeholder host turns into a broken screenshot test or a blank hero image in front of a client. The low-effort fix is to download the few images you need into your fixtures folder. If you want the URL behaviour on your own infrastructure, Lorem Picsum's code is public in the DMarby/picsum-photos repository. For one-off prototypes, the hosted services are enough.

Can you use placeholder images in production or in Figma?

Not in production: a placeholder in a shipped page means a missing asset, and a third-party host can change what it serves. In design tools the job is different. A Figma plugin page ranked first for lorem ipsum image when we read that search on 22 October 2026, which says many people want filler inside the canvas, not in code. Our ranking of Figma plugins covers the content and dummy-data plugins, and for hand-drawn placeholders our SVG editor comparison helps. Pair them with a set from our icon libraries ranking and a mockup fills up fast; design assets live in our design category.

What does our own data show?

The demand is generic, and our directory only served the brand. In Search Console for the 28 days to 22 October 2026, the lorem ipsum image family of queries earned about 200 impressions and 1 click at positions 8 to 11, while lorem picsum showed our listing 1,369 times at an average position of 5.8. People search for the job, not the name, and until this page nothing on Dev Resources, a directory of developer tools, answered which service to use.

FAQ

How do you make a dummy photo?

Request a URL with the size you need, such as https://picsum.photos/600/400, and use it as the image source. You get a random real photo at that size. Save the file locally if the same image must appear every time.

What is an image placeholder?

A temporary image that holds an image's place in a layout until the final asset exists. It is usually a grey box with its dimensions or a random photo, returned by a service from a URL.

Why do designers use lorem ipsum?

Filler text keeps attention on the layout instead of the words. Placeholder images do the same for pictures, so reviewers judge spacing and crops rather than the content.

Is via.placeholder.com still working?

It returned a 200 and a PNG on our request of 5 November 2026, despite reports that it shut down. Treat that as a reason to migrate on your schedule rather than proof that it is maintained.

Before you merge, search your codebase for placekitten, placeimg and loremflickr: those URLs were not returning images on 5 November 2026.