Are you an online content creator? If yes, there is no doubt that you would need the photos for your content. Irrespective of your purse, stock photos are something that you need on a regular basis. This is where stock image websites come into place.
Stock image sites are the best ways to get high-end pictures. These pictures are available either for free or at a small price, which you can use for a range of purposes. These photos can be the best option for video creation, commercial creative projects, and other promotional work. Not only can you use stock photos for your video content, infographics, and brochure but also for your websites.
What are the best stock photo websites? Here are my top picks for the best stock photo websites in 2024.
What is Stock Photos?
Stock photos are free or paid ready-made visual assets for creators that are already captured by the photographer and edited by the designer.
Stock photos are mostly the general scene that is used for illustrating a concept, idea, or any other thing. Irrespective of what you need, technology, architecture, and other lifestyle scenes, when you choose the best stock photo sites, you will be able to get the best photo assets.
So, you have to carefully choose a stock image website before moving ahead. To help you get better knowledge, here we will find out the stock image websites.
9 Stock Photo Websites for Video Creators and Beyond
Now I am going to review the best stock photo websites one by one. Let’s get started…
Envato Elements
Envato Elements is the next choice that we wish to include in the list; with millions of digital assets, this stock image platform has become a massive need for people in the market. For any kind of creative work, this platform probably has everything that you can think of.
This is one of the best-paid stock photo sites where you have to pay once and keep using it for a lifetime. You don’t have to worry about facing licensing issues.
This online library boasts more than a million digital assets, which include audio clips, b-roll video footage, graphics design templates, and a lot more.
This has millions of high-end assets, and they keep adding. Something that differentiates them from other stock image platforms is that they do not have any download limits.
You will be able to download as many files as you need. As long as you are in their subscription, you will be able to download the items available in their library.
Adobe Stock
As the name sounds, Adobe Stock is the stock photo website that is developed by Adobe. They have created a Creative cloud platform for all creative heads. Thus, choosing this website for stock photos can be highly valuable for video creators and designers like you to make a choice as per your needs.
From monthly to annual pricing models, they have everything that you require. You can choose as per your budget and stay assured about the quality. They have more than 100 million stock images. One can also choose to extend the license.
Whether you want templates, stock footage, 3D files, or vector files, you can purchase anything. The best thing about them is that you can sign up for Adobe Stock free trial for a month and then decide whether or not to choose them.
Lastly, their constant updates make them the best choice to enjoy a better result.
Depositphotos
Depositphotos is the next most amazing stock image platform that can help you in your video creation. They have a range of videos, images, and audio sold at a reasonable price. However, it does not offer any free trial like the competitors.
If you are someone who does not need a lot of images on a regular basis, you can choose the stock image websites and their small subscription.
They have a collection of 70K files which you can use for free. Compared to its competitors like Shutterstock, it offers fairly reasonable and cheap pricing for you to choose from.
They can be searched by the categories and other details like size, color, filters, and orientation. The best thing about the website is that you can pay for your needs and not more than that.
iStockPhoto
iStock is another site for stock photos that can be used by companies or photo agencies. They sell some stunning royalty-free photos at the lowest prices. With their curation level and huge catalog, they have become the first choice for promotional needs.
Making a minimum investment, you will be able to use their photos. They have included different plans so that everyone coming to them can make a choice.
Whether you are looking for free vectors, illustrations, stock photos, audio files, and others, this website makes sure to encompass your requirements.
Apart from this, they also make sure about the quality of the pictures. They ensure that they add value to their entire collection.
This stock media agency can help you to acquire high-quality, affordable stock images.
Shutterstock
Download the best Stock Photos, Images, Vectors, Videos, and Music from Shutterstock
We all know about Shutterstock. It is a leading stock image website that provides users with high-end licensed images or photos. Here you can get stock photos, illustrations, vectors, music, and videos to marketing agencies, businesses, and media people.
It works with the community with more than 1 million contributors. If you keep an eye on their assets, you will be able to find thousands of amazing assets every week.
If you currently check, they have more than 330 million photos, 18 million video clips, and 50 million editorial images.
You will not find it hard to get the options for your needs. They have a huge number of categories that they have listed to make sure that you find everything easily.
Some of the categories are abstract, animals, arts, backgrounds, business, education, editorial, healthcare, food and drink, and the list would keep continuing.
Shutterstock was founded back in 2003 by Jon Oringer. The company has now become one of the prime choices for getting high-quality images.
This is one of the sites with free stock photos, but the watermark might become disturbing. In order to get rid of the Shutterstock watermark, you might need to choose their pricing model.
Freepik
Freepik is a search engine that can help users to get high-quality vector images, illustrations, stock photos, and PSD files. They can use them for their creative project and give them a better look.
They keep adding 80 000 free resources every month, which are designed by top-notch designers and contributors.
This stock media website was founded back in 2010. It has now more than 32 million users that have been serving professionals from over 200 markets.
With over 13 million vectors, icons, templates, and photos, this stock image website can prove beneficial for every creative person.
Stocksnap
Stocksnap is the best website where you can find the best image which can give success to your creative project. Whether it is about the print brochure or business website, anything that you need to create a digital website can be done with the stock photos available on this website.
You will be able to find a large number of free stock images on this platform. The free stock images are available in high quality, which makes them a good choice.
You have to go down to the page to find the categories that you are looking for. You can check their menu and find out the categories. So for quality images, you can choose Stocksnap.
Pexels
For promoting a product or service, pictures play a vital role. Thus, if you need the best stock image website, you will find everything in Pexels. Whether it is for personal purposes or professional reasons, now it becomes easy to create custom videos using royalty-free photos.
This is one of the free stock photo websites that offer high-quality stock images. Pexels becomes your answer for the best free stock photo website.
They have more than 500K free stock photos. Every month over 50K images are added to the platform. Making use of a robust search algorithm, it becomes easier for anyone to make a choice.
The integrated API ensures seamless image and video integration. Curated images and pictures can be the best solution for photographers and artists.
Pixabay
Are you looking for high-quality images that you want to include in your promotion? Pixabay is the best choice to find the best quality stock photos. They have a vibrant community of creative minds and copyright-free images and videos.
This stock photo website is able to offer millions of free videos, images, and pictures. You can use the videos and images without attribution. It includes use for commercial purposes as well. They prefer quality over offering quantity.
The SafeSearch feature makes this platform a great source for people to get the right images of the best quality.
So these are the best names of the stock image platforms where you can acquire high-quality images, videos, and even music. But there are some guidelines that you must know. Keep reading the next section…
Free Stock Photo Using Guidelines
While anyone can use stock photos and images, there are some things you need to know to enjoy the ultimate advantage. Copyright laws vary from one nation to another, along with exceptions and limitations.
Fair use is the primary limitation of copyright. The simple meaning of Fair Use is that you can use someone else’s work without seeking permission.
So when you are choosing paid or free image sites, you need to be sure about their terms and conditions. Make sure that you will be able to abide by their rules and regulations.
Final Verdict: Now that you have acquired the knowledge about the best stock photo sites, hopefully, you will find it easy to choose one. Even when you are choosing video creation software, you can use these stock image platforms for the best results.
So make sure that you choose as per your needs and requirements for the best use.
In summary, if you need premium stock assets then sign up for Shutterstock which is a premium stock photo website. For free stock image websites, visit Pexels and Pixabay.
My favorite CreateStudio and PhotoVibrance software come with Pexels and Pixabay integration.
