In this listicle, we ranked and reviewed the 7 best reputable stock image services to get your royalty-free image. Along with the top 3 choices, so that you can pick the best one for you.
Best overall
Depositphotos
Large thematic collection of stock photography, stock video, and music.. at an affordable price. They have perfect plans for both personal and enterprise needs.
Best popular Stock
Shutterstock
One of the top players in the industry, a very extensive library.. with over 400M images, videos, and audio files.
Best cheap Stock
Envato Elements
Starting from $16.50/month only you can have unlimited downloads of 58+ million creative assets. Graphic templates, pictures & videos, music, and more.
Remember: Always check and look through the images before you sign up, to make sure they offer the type of images you need.
What’s stock images? Where to buy royalty-free images?
Stock images, stock imagery, or stock photography are generic photos, vectors, illustrations, and graphics that anyone can use for creative or commercial use.. by paying a license fee to both the artist who produced the image and the stock agency.
Top 7 best stock images
1. Depositphotos
Deposit photos has become one of the best stock images in the market. With 233+ million files on Depositphotos, including images, videos, vectors, illustrations, and music.. you can find exactly what you need for your projects.
11 reasons to get your image from Depositphotos:
- Excellent service.
- Affordable prices, starting from $9.99/month.
- Free 10 images trial.
- Unused downloads are added to the next month.
- Life-long rights to use images.
- High-quality content.
- You can get your single image for $1 only, no subscription is needed.
- Custom plans for enterprises.
- Use for marketing and advertising.
- Easy-to-use website.
- Money-back guarantee.
You can even save more by choosing an annual billing cycle.. as low as $0.22 for a single image.
2. Shutterstock
Shutterstock is one of the most successful/famous premium stock images on the market. With 1 million+ contributor, Shutterstock adds 200,000+ new images every day, which means there is a rare chance you won’t find what you are looking for.
Why choose Shutterstock? 9 reasons:
- The biggest stock images library so far.
- High-quality content.
- $29/month.
- 1-month trial.
- Cancel your subscription anytime.
- Mixed subscription (images, videos, and music tracks..).
- Multiple users option (for teams and enterprises).
- Offering promo codes.
- Built-in photo editing tool (you can edit your pic before downloading it).
Does Shutterstock have a discount/promo code?
Yes, Shutterstock does have a promo code, you can use the code PICK10**** at checkout, where you can try your first 10 images/month plan for free. Also, if you cancel the subscription within the first month, you pay nothing.
3. Envato Elements
Envato Elements is a good service provided by Envato, that offers exceptional value for money. Their primary purpose is to give creators access to an extensive wide library of high-quality digital assets with unlimited downloads.. including graphic templates, product mockups, infographics, video templates stock photos, audio files, web templates & more.
Why buy from Envato Elements? 10 reasons:
- Unlimited downloads subscription.
- $33/month only (or $16.50/month billed yearly).
- Simple commercial licensing.
- 30% off for students.
- 7-day free trial.
- Teams save up to 35%.
- 58+ million assets.
- Custom plans for enterprises.
- Subscribed users can also benefit from their WordPress themes, plugins, and templates.
- Cancel any time.
4. 123RF
123rf is also a very popular stock company, whenever I search for a particular image on Google, they often show up within the first search results. They have an endless variety of beautiful images, illustrations, videos, and more.
10 reasons to buy your image from 123RF:
- Starting from $0.36/image (yearly subscription plan)
- Save up to 25%
- No daily download limit
- 1 Month Free Trial
- Unlimited commercial print runs
- Each customer is backed by a $25,000 legal guarantee
- 100% Money-Back Guarantee
- Custom plans for both professional and personal use
- 90k+ new creative work added each day
- On-demand credits are available
5. iStock
iStock or iStockphoto (acquired by Getty images) is well-known stock imagery that has been around since 2000, during which iStock has gained a worldwide reputation. iStock also offers a large selection of photos, vectors & illustrations, videos, and music.
Why get your image from iStock? 11 reasons:
- Exclusive images
- AI-powered search (to find exactly what you are looking for)
- Affordable prices
- For as low as 0.18€ /image (subscription)
- iStock editor (Crop, resize, apply filters, or add text and logos).
- Rollover unused downloads (up to 250 unused downloads)
- Images in any size
- Custom plans for professional use (even the 750 downloads/month plan is great for small enterprises)
- On-demand images
- Legal protection
- Authentic content
6. Canva
Canva is an online graphical tool that combines design, photo-editing, templates (resumes, presentations, flyers, posters, thumbnails, social media posts, etc..), and stock images with millions of high-quality free and premium photos (Canva pro). Allowing you to edit photos easily without any editing knowledge or experience.
Great for designers, freelancers, content creators, and editors.. who want to add a special unique touch to their photo before downloading it.
Why use Canva Pro? 9 reasons:
- Cheap price (starting from $9.99/month)
- Unlimited Content
- Up to 50+ users (perfect for teams and enterprises)
- Free trial
- Real-time editing/commenting (teams feature)
- Available on desktop, iOS, and Android
- Branded Templates
- 100GB of cloud storage
- Animations Pro
7. Dreamstime
Dreamstime is another stock images company of high-quality digital images (180+ million photos) at affordable prices. They cover an extensive range of subjects.
Why buy from Dreamstime? 9 reasons:
- High-quality service
- As low as $0.20USD/image
- Starting from $25 USD/month
- Free 7 days trial
- Available on App Store and Play Store
- Multiple accounts management (for teams)
- WordPress plugin
- Credits packages (pay per download)
- Powered by AI
We hope you’ve enjoyed the list. If you have any questions related to stock image websites, just add your question below, we’ll answer you as soon as possible.
