How to Find the Perfect GIF: 10 Must-Try Websites

Serving as a snack – and often as ridiculous – visual content, GIFs help us accurately convey our thoughts and feelings when we restrict ourselves to virtual communication.

The problem is finding the perfect GIF by searching your favorites using Google Image Search or the desktop folder path more time than it’s worth.

Finding the right GIF doesn’t have to be a tedious process, you just need to know where to look. To help you, we’ve rounded up 10 great websites below that will help you quickly find what you’re looking for without forcing you to lower your GIF standards.

(Or do you want to make your own GIF? This tutorial will show you how to make an animated GIF in Photoshop.)

Note: Some of these websites may contain GIFs that are NSFW.

1. GIPHY

This is my go-to place for the GIF hunt. GIPHY was founded by Alex Chung and Jace Cooke and started as a search engine for GIFs. They have grown GIPHY significantly by working with brands, introducing integrations, creating browser extensions, and more. (To catch up on any expansion efforts, visit GIPHY Labs.)

The best part? Navigating the GIF database couldn’t be easier: users can browse categories – adjectives, music, nature, science, etc. – or search for a specific word or phrase using the search function.

2. Reddit

Reddit is like the mothership for GIFs: the community has not just one, but several impressive GIF-related subreddits. Here are some notable ones:

While all of the different, categorized options make it easy for you to find what you need, many of these subreddits commit to a number of guidelines to further refine their listings. For example, while “reaction gifs” and “analogy gifs” sound quite similar, there is actually a difference according to the wiki page of the / r / reaction gif. Allow me to demonstrate …

Reaction GIF

I don’t know about you but when I find out payday is coming up I like to respond::

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Analogy GIF

When I try to answer emails before my coffee I feel like::

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As explained on / r / responsegif’s wiki page, “a reaction gif is a physical or emotional reaction captured in a .gif that you can link to in response to someone or something on the Internet. A gif which is metaphorically reacted. ” Something doesn’t qualify as a reaction GIF. In general, most of the posts that use the phrase “How I Feel When” are analogy gifs.

3. Tumblr

Tumblr is a huge blogging platform that creates and shares GIFs like crazy. Bloggers on this platform can perfectly combine relevant GIFs with assignable scenarios. There are many blogs devoted to sharing fun GIFs on a daily basis, but my favorite blogs on a Monday are hashtags like # work-memes #workfromhome and more.

For example:

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We all know this feeling – right? (If not then I have to ask you What is it like to be perfect?)

All you have to do is use the search bar at the top to look up hashtags of the content you are looking for, or follow some blog pages dedicated to uploading GIFs on a daily basis. GIFs featured on Tumblr are either handcrafted by the creators in Photoshop or obtained from various websites, and they are pretty good at lending where loans are due.

4. Gfycat

Gfycat is another gallery with millions of GIFs to immerse yourself in. Not only is it one of the most popular GIF sites, but it also has a simple video-to-gif creation tool that you can use to turn your favorite Twitter, Vimeo, and Twitch streams into your meme library.

Navigate through the selection of GIFs in the search bar or in the left menu and select “Trending” or “Explore” in the newest section to find various popular categories of GIFs or stickers.

And who would I be to share a site called “Gfycat” without a mandatory cat gif?

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5th tenor

Tenor is a great way to incorporate a mappable GIF into any conversation, whether it’s on your PC or iPhone.

Having fun GIFs on hand is a quick laugh with your friends and family. All you have to do is type in how you feel on your phone’s keyboard and Tenor will automatically start filling up tons of GIFs. Perfect for a chat with cousin Katy, who still enjoys watching America’s funniest home videos.

6. Reaction GIFs

This page has a matching GIF for almost anything you think of. Depending on what you’re looking for, there are several ways you can find a perfect match.

One option is to use the drop-down menus on the right side of the site. These menus allow users to view GIFs that correspond to a certain feeling (tired, confused, proud, etc.) or respond (yes, no, undecided, etc.). For example, a search for “excited” might come up with something like this:

Users also have the option to search for galleries or tags. Galleries are divided into categories like “OMG”, “Dance Party”, and “LOL”, but there are many more tags to explore.

7. GIFbin

Here’s another great resource for uncovering GIFs.

In GIFbin, users can filter thumbnails by Recent, Top Rated, and Most Viewed, or by tags. The interesting thing about GIFbin’s tag system is that they are categorized by both name and number.

While names are pretty common search terms – animals, babies, sports, etc. – the counting feature makes it easy to uncover terms with the highest volume of GIFs available. Listen:

Or if, like me, you’ve got too much free time, hit the rabbit hole – I mean – the Random GIF button for endless fun.

8. Imgur

Oh, Imgur, the Reddit of the GIF sites without any text threads.

Imgur is an image hosting site that shares a variety of fun or cool GIFs. The library is a mix of new uploads and even some of my favorites from the 2010s.

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Via Imgur, search for tags for any fun movie edits or whatever else interests you.

9. Imgflip

Imgflip is another extensive library of GIFs. There are a few ways to browse Imgflip content as detailed on the website:

• Hot / Newest pics on the homepage
• Use Previous / Next / Random navigation on image pages
• Use the hotkeys as described on the picture pages
• Tag pages (like cats)
• You can find meme sites like Grumpy Cat on the meme templates page

If you like a small contest, you can make your own GIFs and earn a spot in the leaderboard. If your GIF gets sufficiently positive reviews, you can bask in the glory of making strangers laugh on the internet.

10. Gyazo

Last but not least, we have Gyazo. This website is a little different from the others, but this tool allows you to capture your PC screen (like a clip instead of a screenshot) and create GIFs from it. It is designed to quickly convert footage to GIFs. It saves your library in your account so you can link or download your favorite GIFs whenever you want.

Gyazo is a different way to make your own GIFs and makes it easy to create, save, and share your favorite GIFs with your favorite people.

For your viewing pleasure, enjoy a GIF viewing as I used Gyazo myself to create a GIF from a video of someone using Gyazo to create a GIF.

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Why you should use GIFs in a business setting

Seriously, GIFs are another form of visual content that can be used for fun as well as strategic marketing. For companies, they can be a tool to demonstrate corporate culture and encourage more engagement by targeting customers who are looking for authenticity.

Internal use

At the internal level, exchanging GIFs in conversations or including them in presentations can help break up the monotony of day-to-day business.

By adding a certain amount of quirk to meetings or seminars, employees can stay more engaged and happier than usual. Plus, it never hurts to have a quick laugh in the office, as long as you don’t get too carried away.

External use

55% of B2C content creators say that creating or sharing visual content is a huge priority for them right now. Similar to video or live recording, using GIFs to convey ideas in a business setting provides viewers with images that are more engaging than plain text.

For example, when people hear information, three days later they will likely only remember 10% of that information. However, when a relevant image is paired with the same information, users will retain 65% of the information three days later.

Using GIFs on social media accounts is also a great way to attract potential customers. Whether it’s Instagram, Twitter, or a blogging platform, adding a visual GIF to your post can come in handy for a business.

The world is your picture library

There are plenty of websites to choose from when it comes to finding some pretty cool GIFs. Whether you need to send one to your coworker’s birthday email chain or make your brother Trevor laugh at the dining room table, we hope this list narrows down your search for the perfect GIF.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in January 2016 and has been updated for completeness.