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Royalty-free (or stock-free) media is an affordable way to get high-quality, professional photos or videos without a big budget for a shoot. Compelling images make your marketing and business stand out from your competitors.
There are dozens of stock photo sites to choose from, but all have slightly different pricing and features. The best stock media website for you depends on the type of media you seek (photos, illustrations, vector art, audio, or video) and the type of license you require (where you plan to use it: print, digital, commercial, etc.). You can also do a stock photo subscription to save money.
Article Overview
- Stock Photos 101
- Best Stock Photo Sites For Digital Media
- Best Traditional Media Sites
- Comparison Table
- Other Photo Sites
- Basic Terminology
- Stock Photo Clichés (Video)
- How To Choose
Everything You Need To Know About Stock Photos
Before getting started, you’ll want to know the basics of stock photography, so you’re purchasing the right type of media and licensing for your project. We’ll also cover the two options you have when downloading media.
5 Types Of Stock Media
Stock sites offer several types of media, depending on what you need.
- Photos: Companies that offer photography for use on websites, print, or other purposes. These include photos that are taken by others for resale or reuse by others.
- Illustrations (or Vector Images): Illustrations are computer-generated or artist-drawn images rather than photographed.
- Illustrations can cost more than regular photographs due to the amount of work that goes into creating them. Vector images are generally utilized for printed projects because you can resize them without distortion. These images are costly to use but often the best choice for printed media or promotional use.
- Video: Not all stock photography companies offer video clips as part of their services. However, the idea is becoming increasingly popular. Video clips can vary in size and quality and generally cost the most of all media forms available on stock photo websites.
- Audio: As with video clips, audio clips are not available on all stock photo websites. Unlike video clips, audio needs are often particular to the intended use, which is why some of the stock photo providers are not pursuing it.
6 Different Licenses For Usage Rights
It’s critical to understand the license type offered for each media to avoid the potential of a legal case against you or your business. Most large stock photography companies have detailed information available on their websites.
If a company does not offer this information, it is always prudent to contact them directly to find out about usage regulation. We recommend you familiarize yourself with the most common stock photo usage types:
- Public Domain: Free to use without a license for commercial or personal use
- Royalty-Free: A copyright license to use a photo or illustration without restrictions after paying a one-time fee (in some cases, royalty-free photos can be free).
- Rights-Managed: A copyright license to purchase a photo for a specific, one-time use. You will need to buy additional licenses if you intend to use it for multiple applications (can be exclusive, meaning no one else can use the photo).
- Creative License: Photos that will be used for selling things. Usually, these photos are staged by a photographer, art director and often involve people or talent.
- Editorial License: A photo that may be used for anything non-commercial, like a blog post or presentation.
- Media Usage Licenses: Defines what a particular photo may or may not be used for (see creative licenses or editorial licenses).
Credits vs. Subscription Plan
Most companies allow two different ways to pay for your media.
- Subscription Services allow users to pay a set fee per month or year to receive a designated number of credits, daily downloads, or a total number of downloads. Subscription services are generally the best option for big companies, advertising agencies, designers, or other individuals looking to download large amounts of content. Note that different companies offer different download options (# of images per week, month, etc.), which you should consider along with the purchaser’s needs.
- Many stock photo sites also give you the option to buy credits to purchase a set number of images instead. Depending on the type of photo and license, it will vary. The price per image usually goes down the more credits you get. Also, note the expiration date when you purchase the credits to ensure you will be using the credits in time.
Best Stock Photography Sites For Digital Media
Digital media is any type of media that you use on computers, websites, blogs, etc. The images you see on websites are considered digital media, as well as any audio or video tracks.
Digital media files do not need to be as high-resolution since they will be optimized for the web. You might find yourself needing a lot more digital media files to use throughout your site. In this case, a subscription plan might be best.
Here are our top picks for the best digital media sites. We based our rankings on the following:
- Price and value
- Size of inventory
- Customer service and reputation
- Searchability
Winner: Bigstock Review
Bigstock is an affordable stock image service that specializes in images and illustrations. Their straightforward, inexpensive pricing model paired with a wide range of images to meet most digital marketing needs makes it the go-to location for the best stock photos for online use.
Our experience with their customer service department has been top-notch. However, if you are looking for vector images, you will likely pay more here.
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Price
Bigstock offers a 7-day free trial that allows you to download up to 35 royalty-free images or stock video clips.
- Image credits start at $35 for 10 images (up to $495 for 500 images).
- Subscriptions start at $79 per month for 5 images per day and go up depending on the number of photos and how frequently you download.
Read Our Full Review of Bigstock
Runner-Up: Depositphotos Review
Depositphotos has an affordable pricing structure. Their excellent selection of media is available for one of the lowest per-image costs around.
However, we don’t find their current library robust or easy to search, so it may be challenging to find what you’re seeking. But, if you can find the ideal image, the price will be lower than most other sites. They also have a helpful user-feedback option that allows you to learn more about others’ experiences with a particular artist/photographer before buying. This feature can also guide your image search further.
They offer images and video but no audio. They have a good selection at very competitive prices.
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Price
- Subscriptions start at $29/month for 30 photos ($0.96 per image) or $299/year (30 photos a month)
- On-demand images start at $4.90 per image (10 images for $49)
Read Our Full Review of Depositphotos
3rd Place: iStock Review
iStock is run by the highly reputable Getty Images (our #1 pick for traditional stock photography, see below). Graphic designers and small advertising agencies find iStock to be a great resource due to their fair prices for the quality, affordable subscription plan, image variety, and versatility.
iStock is one of the better choices for those in need of lots of online, royalty-free, low-resolution images for websites or e-newsletters. The iStock website can be a bit challenging for users who prefer to browse without a keyword in mind.
Overall the search function via keywords is easy and intuitive for the reader. This is a good service that offers great images at a reasonable price. iStock is one of the most commonly utilized online stock image companies these days for graphic designers and small advertising agencies due to their low prices, affordable subscription plan, and versatility.
With millions of pieces for sale, iStock is ideal for those who need large quantities of online royalty-free content, especially if low-resolution is acceptable.
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- Starts at $12 for 1 image/credit
- Subscriptions start at $40/month or $348/year for 10 “Essentials” (low cost) images
Read Our Full Review of iStock
Best Stock Photography Sites For Traditional Media
Traditional media is media that is printed in publications, used outdoors, or on television. You see them every day, from magazine ads to TV commercials.
You must purchase or have the rights to anything that uses visuals or audio in a commercial form. Depending on if people or places are involved, there might be a time limit or renewal fees, so the models, artists, and creators can continue to get fairly compensated.
You might require higher resolution photos for traditional media, which is why they might cost you more, but the quality is much better.
Here are our top picks for the best traditional media sites. Much like the digital image services, we based our rankings on the following:
- Price and value
- Size of inventory
- Customer service and reputation
- Searchability
Winner: Getty Images Review
From historical photos to celebrity photobombs, Getty Images offers one of the biggest stock media databases, especially for premium, conceptual, high-resolution, and editorial images.
Suppose you are working in traditional media such as print, TV, billboard, or radio. In that case, high-resolution creatives will be mandatory in designing high impact campaigns, and no one offers more exclusively licensed, high-res art than Getty. Getty offers a wide array of royalty-free media with millions of different high-design, conceptual pieces for sale.
It is also a nice option for multinational companies and global advertising campaigns. They have websites in many different languages that will help you navigate usage laws across country borders. The site is easy to search and browse for high-concept imagery, videography, and sound.
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- Starts at $175 for 1 image/credit (low-resolution)
Read Our Full Review Of Getty Images
Runner-Up: 123RF Review
123RF offers one of the most affordable subscription programs, with low-resolution photos starting as low as $0.85 per photo.
It’s a great alternative to many of the big stock photo services, and they have a wide selection of millions of images, video, audio, and vector files. You can expect high-quality photos for the price too. 123RF has beautiful lifestyle, editorial, and non-cheesy photos, making them an even better value. They have a live chat and phone support should you need it and an easy-to-use checkout process.
The one downside we found with 123RF is that the search results didn’t have many filtering options, which isn’t ideal if you have something specific in mind, but their photos are all so great you might not need them.
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- Per-credit pricing starts at $47 for 40 credits ($1.18 per credit)
- Subscriptions start at $30/month for 10 images per month (save if you pay annually)
3rd Place: Shutterstock Review
Shutterstock is a good resource for high-resolution images, especially for large-format designs (billboards and other print media).
They offer various subscription plans to meet different user needs, making their pricing model more flexible than most other high-res photo options. With Shutterstock’s huge library of images and files, you won’t be disappointed in the selection.
They carry stock photos, videos, illustrations, vector, and audio files. Shutterstock is a great choice for agencies, publications, and companies with the frequent need to use high-quality photos and illustrations.
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Prepaid Image Packs
- $29 for 2 images
- $49 for 5 images
- $229 for 25 images
Subscription Plans For Individuals
All subscription plans start at $29/month for 10 images (with an annual commitment)— but you’ll incur a cancellation fee if you cancel before the year is up. Subscriptions start at $49/month for 10 images for a month to month plan.
Enterprise
Must contact Shutterstock for pricing.
Read Our Full Review of Shutterstock
Comparison Table
This table is a resource that compares the most popular stock photo websites. Use it to help you make an informed decision when deciding on a stock photography resource.
| Name | Winner Digital Media: Bigstock | 2nd Place Digital Media: Depositphotos | 3rd Place Digital Media: iStock | Winner Traditional Media: Getty Images | 2nd Place Traditional Media: 123RF | 3rd Place Traditional Media: Shutterstock | Adobe Stock | Alamy | Can Stock Photo | DreamsTime | Foap | PhotoSpin | Yay Images |
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| Name | Winner Digital Media: Bigstock | 2nd Place Digital Media: Depositphotos | 3rd Place Digital Media: iStock | Winner Traditional Media: Getty Images | 2nd Place Traditional Media: 123RF | 3rd Place Traditional Media: Shutterstock | Adobe Stock | Alamy | Can Stock Photo | DreamsTime | Foap | PhotoSpin | Yay Images |
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| Lowest Price Per Single Image | $3.50 | $4.90 | $12 | $175 | $1.18 (for 1 credit) | $29 for 2 | $49.95 (for 5 images) | $19.99 | $9 (for 12 credits) | $14.99 for 11 credits | $10 | $2-30 | N/A |
| Subscription Plan Starting Price | $79/month (for 5 images per day) | $29/month (for 30 photos per month) | $40/month (for 10 essential images per month) | Must contact | $30 (10 images per month) | $49 (10 images per month) | $29.99 (for 10 images per month) | N/A (Individual Image Only) | $39.00 (for 10 images per day) | $39.00 (for 10 images per day) | None | $429 (500/Month) | N/A |
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| Total Number of Stock Items | 88 Million+ | 130 Million+ | 88 Million+ | 80 Million+ | 110 Million+ | 302 Million+ | 50+ million | 180 Million+ | 20 Million+ | 42 Million+ | Millions | Millions | 11 Million+ |
What About Adobe Stock, Alamy, Can Stock Photo, Dreamstime, Foap, PhotoSpin, & Yay Images?
These are all popular stock photography sites that may meet your unique business needs better than our top picks, so we suggest you check them out. Learn more about what each of these services offers as well as their pros and cons in our reviews below.
Adobe Stock | Alamy | Can Stock Photo | Dreamstime | Foap | PhotoSpin | Yay Images
Adobe Stock Review
Adobe Stock was previously known as Fotolia by Adobe. In 2015 Adobe, the popular graphic design software company, released its own stock photography library with millions of photos, illustrations, and vector images.
You can also submit your images to sell, which makes sense and is convenient since they cater to the creative community and have a built-in network of graphic design and photographer customers.
They recently added video files to their library but still don’t offer audio files. Adobe Stock is still in the early stages, so we will have to give them more time to see where they fit in our rankings.
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Price
- Credit packs start at $49.95 for 5 credits (good for 1 image)
- Subscriptions start at $29 for 10 assets a month (and the first month free with an annual plan)
Alamy Review
Alamy has one of the largest selections of images, with more than 80,000 new stock images added daily and sourced from around the world from 173 countries.
The result is a wide range of culturally diverse photos from all geographic landscapes and areas, giving you millions of high-quality images from which to choose.
Alamy only sells per image, so no subscription plans are available, and the price varies depending on the size and the rights of the photo. You can choose to have it licensed, which can get expensive depending on what you are using it for. Or, you can select the rights-managed option, which allows for limited-use and limited-time for a photo.
Much like other online shopping sites, it’s easy to check out without an account, but the number of options can be a bit overwhelming if you are new to stock photography.
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- $19.99 per image (for personal use). Don’t offer subscription plans.
Can Stock Photo Review
Can Stock Photo adds 25,000 stock media pieces to their site every day and offers a good value for low-resolution photos. They also have videos.
However, they do not have audio files, and their library is much smaller than many of their competitors. But if you can find what you’re looking for, this could be a great option.
With one-click downloading and easy checkout without creating an account, it’s a great choice for quick and easy purchases.
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Pricing
- Photo credits start at $9 for 12 credits
- Subscriptions start at $39/week for 10 images per day
Dreamstime Review
Since 2000, Dreamstime has provided a vast selection of high-quality digital images at affordable prices to connect image sellers with buyers.
Their community-based site gives more than 13,000,000+ registered members access to photos submitted by 200,000+ photographers from around the world. All images are reviewed and approved by experienced editors to ensure quality control.
In addition to photos, they have a library of free images, clip art, and vectors and have multiple incentives for photographers and users alike. They also offer monthly plans or pay-per-photo credit packages.
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Pricing
- Photo credit packages start at $14.99 for 11 credits
- Subscriptions start at $39 a month for 10 images
Foap Review
Foap is a relatively new service (and concept) that allows anyone to sell photos taken from their iPhone. Users can download the app, take a picture, upload it to the Foap market, and list it for sale.
New to Foap is a Brand Brief that allows marketers to submit their needs for lifestyle and product photos, then task the Foap community to create content for them based on the guidelines. Then you get to pick your favorites and use them for your business.
Before listing your photo in the marketplace, it must receive an average rating of 2.6 or higher from 5 other users. Photographers earn $5 per sold photo. For users looking to purchase photos, they start at $10 per photo.
This is a photo-only site with no vector, audio, or video. The company’s pricing is very straightforward: $10 per image (or down to $7.50 each if you buy in bulk).
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- $10 per photo
- Credit packages start at $180 for 20 photos up to $750 for 100 photos
- Pricing varies for custom services for briefs and photo or video missions
Yay Images Review
“Created for and by online people,” Yay Images is a relatively newer company and provides unlimited streaming of online images. Streaming, meaning you can use them on your site, but you can’t download them to save for offline use (or to make modifications to).
There is no downloading or uploading for Yay Images. Instead, you receive a link that you put wherever you want the image to appear. However, they do allow you to make simple edits to photos within their site and will even host them for you forever (even if you cancel).
Their visual search allows you to drag and drop a photo you are looking for, and it will search for something similar (like Google image search). We tested it but did not find it all that accurate.
One of the other downsides to Yay is that they only offer subscriptions (no single image purchases are available, unfortunately). Doublesix LLC acquired Yay Images in February 2019.
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Pricing
- Mini: $19/month for 20 images/month
- More: $29/month for 35 images/month
- Mighty: $49/month for 70 images/month
Terminology
As you are shopping around, you might come across some new jargon. Here are some basic definitions to help you gain a better understanding of this world.
- Pixel: A commonly used unit of measurement for digital photos.
- DPI (Dots Per Inch): The number of pixels per square inch for a file or graphic. It helps determine the resolution.
- Resolution: How many DPI a photo has. (Usually, 72dpi for web and 300dpi for print is standard).
Video: Stock Photo Clichés
From time to time, you might stumble upon the silly stock photo that makes you laugh (at least we do). Here’s a compilation of some stock photo clichés along with a song (almost as cheesy as the photos).
Which Stock Photo Company Is Right For You?
Finding a stock photography company to suit your needs can be difficult, depending on what use you have in mind for your downloaded media. Aside from ensuring that you find a company that will fit within your budget, it is also essential to find a legitimate company that detailed licensing requirements for each image or piece of media they provide.
Learn more about stock photos in our royalty-free images article. And if you need help editing your photos, check out our photo editing software comparison.
Which stock media provider are you leaning towards? Let us know in the comments!
Tagged With: Comparison, Stock Photos
