The best stock photo sites are becoming increasingly pivotal in providing high-quality images for industries such as media, design and entertainment. In many cases, it's simply not cost-effective or practical to shoot specific scenes or subjects on one's own. And while AI image generators are coming on leaps and bounds, they're still full of errors and inconsistencies; which means for most professional uses, they're not yet ready for prime time.
In this article, we highlight the very best stock photo sites available today in terms of quality and price. Meanwhile, if you're specifically seeking moving images, check our separate guide to best stock video sites.
In this article, we'll provide the necessary facts and figures to help you make informed choices about who to buy from – and let you know which you can try completely for free.
The best stock photo sites online
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Best stock photo site overall
Adobe Stock is our pick as the best stock photo site overall, for a number of reasons. It has a great range of high-quality images. It’s pretty affordable. It offers a generous free trial period of a month, with 10 free images thrown in. And it offers thousands of free images too, with a handy search facility that narrows down your search to free-only assets. A new feature for 2024, is that you can now use Adobe's Firefly AI tool to manipulate any of the images in whatever you want, using text prompts to refine the style, or to extend or modify with generative edits.
Most uniquely, Adobe Stock is beautifully integrated into many of the most popular Creative Cloud apps, including Photoshop, After Effects and Premiere Pro. That means that if you’re working on a design or editing a video, you can drop in stock photos (or videos, or illustrations) to try them out first, before you decide to buy. Everything takes place within the app interface, which makes this operation quick and easy to do.
Also note that Adobe Stock images are divided into ‘Standard’ and ‘Premium’ categories. The latter are premium quality, but more expensive, while the former is cheaper but more basic.
Best stock photo site for WordPress users
Shutterstock is another popular stock library and very similar to both iStock and Adobe Stock. In fact, there’s not a lot to separate them. All three offer a huge range of good-quality photos that are competitively priced. So choosing between them really comes down to small differences.
For instance, like Adobe Stock, Shutterstock offers a generous one-month free trial, with 10 free images thrown in, while iStock doesn’t have a free trial at all. Like iStock, Shutterstock offers a free image per week, as well as a free vector illustration too.
Shutterstock also doesn’t divide its photos into premium and standard qualities, and on the whole, it’s not quite as cheap as iStock. Plus of course, you’re not getting the integration into the Creative Cloud that Adobe Stock offers. That said, if you run your own WordPress website, then we can certainly recommend the Shutterstock WP plugin, which will make your life a lot easier.
In short, Shutterstock is a great service, but there’s nothing fantastic that raises it above iStock or Adobe Stock. That said, it’s a close-run thing, and with a good free trial offer we’d still recommend giving it a go.
Best stock photo site for editorial
If you’re looking for editorial images, particularly those of celebrities or recent news stories, then Getty Images is the best place to head. Probably the world’s most prestigious and best-known stock photo libraries, it has an unmatched reputation in the media (we use Getty for many of the images used across this site).
Getty has long-standing relationships with some of the world’s top press photographers. So whether you’re looking for images of stars on the red carpet or action shots from the latest war zone, you’re most likely to find what you’re looking for here, and premium quality is pretty much guaranteed. If you're willing to pay, there are even options for obtaining exclusivity.
In broader terms, Getty also offers an excellent range of more general stock photos and other assets. However, they are on the pricier side of the spectrum. Also note that there are no free images on offer here, nor a free trial.
Best cheap stock photo site
iStock is owned by Getty Images, but it complements rather than competes with Getty’s main stock library. While the latter is aimed at high-end media buyers, iStock is more suitable for the average creative. Rather than premium, news-specific material, iStock offers a broad range of photos that’s much cheaper, and closer to the kind of assets you’ll find at, for example, Adobe Stock and Shutterstock.
These are divided into two main categories, Essentials and Signature. Photos in the Essentials collection are basic, cheap and may be found on other stock sites, while Signature images are exclusive to iStock, better quality and more expensive. There’s no free trial with iStock, but it does release one free image every week, which you can download for free for a limited time.
Best stock photo site for occasional use
Although Alamy is one of the world’s oldest stock photo libraries, its less well known than the ones we’ve covered this far. The interesting thing about Alamy is that it doesn’t operate a subscription model: you just pay for what you use.
If you’re buying a lot of images, that means it gets quite costly, although you can shave off some money by buying credit packs. However, if you only need a few stock photos, then it will may well save you money overall.
With over 380 million stock photos, 360° images, vectors and videos, you’ll stand a high chance of finding what you’re looking for. And the quality is pretty much excellent across the board. Alamy also offers a no-questions-asked, money-back guarantee within 30 days of purchasing any image.
Best stock photo site for cheap editorial
Looking for low-price images? Deposit Photos very much flies under the radar, but it does have a good selection of images at cheaper prices than most stock libraries. And with over 300 million files to choose from, and a good site search facility, there’s every chance you’ll find what you’re looking for.
There’s a seven-day free trial, with 10 free images. And if you sign up, you’ll get access to a library of 68,327 free photos. There are also some basic but nice tools for image edits, including a background remover and an image upscaler.
Best free trial from a stock photo site
BigStock is owned by Shutterstock, and runs a fairly similar service. Both offer good quality images and a range of payment options, including subscriptions and credit packs. The main difference between them is that Shutterstock’s library is larger - although BigStock does have over 125 million royalty-free photos, vectors and illustrations, so it is not small. On the plus side BigStock’s prices are cheaper. Also, its free trial offer comes with 35 free images, by far the most generous on our list.
FAQs
What are stock photo sites?
Stock photo sites are websites that offer a large collection of royalty-free or rights-managed images, videos and illustrations. Royalty-free licenses allow you to use an image for multiple projects with a one-time fee. Rights-managed licenses grant limited use for a specific project and require permission for further use. Stock photo sites allow you to browse, download, and use these resources for both personal and commercial projects by purchasing the appropriate license.
Do free stock photo sites exist?
Yes, both free and paid stock photo sites exists. Free sites offer a limited selection, using with attribution requirements (ie, giving credit to the artist). Paid stock photo sites, however, typically provide a much wider variety of high-quality images with more flexible licenses. Paid sites also usually offer some free stock images: for example, read our article on how to download Adobe Stock for free.
What can I use stock photos for?
The possibilities are vast! You can use stock photos for websites, blogs, presentations, marketing materials, social media posts, and more. Just be sure the license covers your intended use.
How to choose the best stock photo site
Choosing the best stock photo site depends on your budget and needs. Free sites like Unsplash offer a good starting point, but they have a limited number of images and the licences will often be restrictive. For wider variety and higher quality, consider paid stock photo sites including the ones in our list above. You may also find that niche sites will cater for specific needs, such as food photography.
How we test stock photo sites
Just like any other online platform, we put stock photo sites through their paces to test whether they deliver what our audience needs. We assess the library size, image quality, and variety of images on offer, and download and edit images to ensure the system functions smoothly and efficiency. We test the search functionality (ease of finding specific images) and filter options. We scrutinize pricing models and licensing agreements to check there are no hidden costs for the purchaser. Finally, we consider user experience – is the site intuitive and enjoyable to navigate?
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