We are living in a digital era and the need for digital media is massive. This could be media for websites, print, YouTube, videos, flyers, and more. Let’s take a look at the top 5 stock photography sites.
Shutterstock
Shutterstock is one of the largest and most popular provides of stock photography. The website has over 300 million images in its library and over 150,000 are added each day. The website operates on a subscription basis however there is also an on-demand package that you can pay for yearly.
The website is well designed and finding the right image for your project is quick and easy either using the search or the extensive filters. Along with the standard filter options you would expect to find you can also filter by the number of people, age range, and gender.
You can download various sizes and comp version to test out in your project. When browsing you can also find similar images to an image you have clicked on and add images to your favourites to review at a later time. There are two license types available which are Standard and Enhanced.
Shutterstock has over 1 billion contributors
The Standard License would be suitable for most basic project usage needs. The Enhanced License allows you to use images on merchandise, web templates, and print templates.
You can signup with Shutterstock to become a contributor and sell your artwork and photography.
| £29/month | £79/month | £149/month | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Images per Month | 10 | 50 | 750 |
| Photos | |||
| Vectors | |||
| Illustrations | |||
| Videos | |||
| Credit Rollover |
This example is based on a monthly commitment. You can also purchase the plan on a yearly commitment which will save you money.
Shutterstock is a worthy contender in our top stock photography sites list.
Adobe Stock
Adobe Stock has an impressive library of stock photography and videos as part of its Creative Cloud offering. Adobe acquire another stock company called Fotolia back in 2014 for $800 billion dollars. Fotolia at the time was one of the top 5 stock photography websites with over 34 billion images available for its customers to download.
The website is easy to navigate and finding a suitable image is straight forward and either using the search or the filters. Along with the standard filter options you would expect to find you can also filter by depth of field, images with copy space, and isolated assets.
You can download watermarked previews add images to a library stored in your Creative Cloud account. One of the key differences with Adobe Stock is that the assets are available to search from the Creative Cloud software making it easy to quickly search and add images straight from within for example Photoshop.
Preview watermarked images inside your designs first. Then license and access them directly within Photoshop
The two licenses available are Standard and Enhanced. The Enhanced license allows you to use images on large print run and anything you plan to sell.
You can signup with Adobe Stock and sell your artwork and photography. Adobe offer up to a 35% commission giving you the opportunity to get you content in front of millions of buyers.
| £29/month | £79/month | £149/month | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Images per Month | 10 | 40 | 750 |
| Photos | |||
| Vectors | |||
| Illustrations | |||
| Videos | |||
| Credit Rollover |
This example is based on a monthly commitment. You can also purchase the plan on a yearly commitment which will save you money. Abobe also offers different packs you can purchase depending on the usage required.
iStock
iStock is run by Getty Images a British-American media company, with headquarters in Seattle. iStock offers a range of different assets to download such as photos and videos. You can pay monthly or yearly and have the option of buying credits. The credits are then used as and when you what to purchase an asset and will stay in your account as long as you sign in at least once a year.
The website has a powerful search feature and collections of images are presented to you for inspiration. When you find assets you like you can save them to a board as you do with Pinterest. You can also browse categories and filter the library although the filtering option is not quite as extensive as some other stock websites.
| £25/month | £65/month | £129/month | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Images per Month | 10 | 50 | 750 |
| Photos | |||
| Vectors | - | - | - |
| Illustrations | |||
| Videos | |||
| Credit Rollover |
Based on access to essentials content only on a monthly commitment. You can also purchase the plan on a yearly commitment which will save you money.
Dreamtime
Dreamtime have been supplying stock images since 2000 has grown into a huge and active community-based site. The extensive stock image selection is updated by photographers from all over the world.
Over 30 million people use Dreamtime to source images for websites and other creative projects. Along with photos, illustration, and videos Dreamtime also include audio samples.
There are different monthly subscriptions depending on how many downloads are required or you can purchase credits.
Dreamtime has two license types available Standard RF and Extended. The Extended license would be required if you intend to use assets on print for distribution or digital distribution such as web templates and screen savers.
| £32/month | £65/month | £180/month | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Images per Month | 10 | 50 | 750 |
| Photos | |||
| Vectors | - | - | - |
| Illustrations | |||
| Videos | |||
| Credit Rollover |
123RF
Working with top companies such as Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon 123RF has over 12 million monthly users. To get started you can either search directly from the homepage or filter using the asset types available.
You are then presented by a number of subcategories to assist in finding the perfect photo, video or vector. The licensing options available are extensive and available are here. Photographers and artists also have the option of contributing and selling their creative works on the platform.
The website is well established and first started back in 2000 as Inmagine using producing content with in-house photographers and graphic designers. This was later changed in 2005 when the company rebranded to 123RF.
| £26/month | £59/month | £129/month | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Images per Month | 10 | 150 | 750 |
| Photos | |||
| Vectors | |||
| Illustrations | - | - | - |
| Videos | |||
| Credit Rollover |
Free Stock
If you are a light user or looking for photos, videos, and other types of media you can use for free with no attribution then check out our article here.
Prices and package information is correct as of the date of this review.
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