Stock photo subscription reviews
6 Best Stock Image Subscriptions (2022): According to Experts
After extensively testing over 30 stock photo websites for over 3 years for our own business and talking with readers and other stock photo experts, we chose Shutterstock as the overall best stock image subscription. With a library of 410 million stock images available at $25+/month and broad royalty-free licensing terms, Shutterstock offers unmatched value and convenience.
We have selected Envato Elements as our second choice for a stock photo subscription service. Envato Elements offers unlimited downloads of over 10 million creative assets, such as photos, videos, graphics, and templates, for $16.50 per month, coupled with a 7-day free trial. Envato Elements is a popular choice among entrepreneurs, web developers, and other creative professionals.
6 Best Stock Image Subscriptions of 2022
- Best Subscriptions Overall: Shutterstock
- Best Subscription for Unlimited Downloads: Envato Elements
- Best Subscriptions for Graphic Designers: Adobe Stock
- Best Premium Image Subscriptions: iStock
- Best Low-Budget Subscriptions: Depositphotos
- Best Subscription for Amateur Designers: Canva
Best Subscriptions Overall
Best Subscriptions Overall
Shutterstock
Shutterstock
Photutorial Score
Photutorial Score = 4.
Photutorial scores are objectively determined by our editorial team. Our scoring formula weighs several factors consumers should consider when choosing creative products and services.
- Images: 410+ million
- Price: $0.22–$4.50/image
- Free trial: 10 images (30 days)
- Buying options: subscriptions, on-demand
Why We Picked It
With over 396 million images in the database, another 200 thousand added weekly, and strict technical standards, you’re guaranteed an endless supply of beautiful and professional photos, vector graphics, videos, and music of the highest quality. This, combined with affordable pricing, makes Shutterstock our number one choice among stock photo sites. Having launched as a subscription-only site in 2003 (adding on-demand options in 2008), subscriptions remain the most popular buying option, providing affordable prices and reasonable licensing terms.
You can choose between different purchase options, from image and video package subscriptions to unlimited music downloads, mixed downloads, and editorial content packages. Images cost $0.22–$4.90 with subscriptions, but they get more expensive ($9.16–$14.50) if you buy them on demand. There’s also a 30-day trial period to download 10 free images worth $29.
All Shutterstock licensing is royalty-free, with two types of RF licenses: Standard and Enhanced (extended). While both licenses have decently broad terms, we expected higher indemnity for both, especially the Standard License, which has $10,000.
Shutterstock also has a pretty good support team you can reach via live chat, email, or phone. Live chat is our favorite because it responds within minutes, but email is also pretty fast, as you’ll usually get a response within 24 hours.
Who it’s for: Because of its versatility and because it is one of the best stock websites, Shutterstock is suitable for almost everyone.
However, we recommend it specifically for medium-to-large businesses, corporations, graphic designers (Adobe Stock may be better), and individuals and bloggers who can afford to spend at least $29/month on images.
Learn more: Read our full Shutterstock review.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- 410+ million images.
- Ten free images during a 30-day trial.
- Great image quality.
- Affordable and versatile subscriptions.
Cons
- Limited on-demand options.
- Not the best for videos.
Best Subscription for Unlimited Downloads
Best Subscription for Unlimited Downloads
Envato Elements
Envato Elements
Photutorial Score
Photutorial Score = 4.5/5
Photutorial scores are objectively determined by our editorial team.
Our scoring formula weighs several factors consumers should consider when choosing creative products and services.
- Images: 6.8 million
- Price: $16.50–$39.00/month
- Free trial: 7-days (full access)
- Buying options: subscription
Learn More
Why We Picked It
Envato Elements charges a surprisingly low monthly fee of $16.50 for unlimited downloads of its 3.1 million stock videos. That subscription also includes 6.1 stock images, templates, fonts, 3D models, and audio tracks, which nicely complement video projects. Individuals pay between $16.50 per month for yearly plans and $39.00 per month for monthly plans. Students can get an additional 35% discount and pay only $11.00 per month. There is also a free trial that gives you full access and unlimited downloads for 7 days.
Commercial use is allowed under the Envato Elements license, but you must license the creative assets separately for each user, even if you use the same asset twice.
This means that once you cancel the subscription, you can not use the downloaded assets in new projects, but you can continue to use them in existing projects.
Who it’s for: We recommend Envato Elements to anyone looking for a large collection of videos, images, music, and other creative content at a great price. It’s also ideal for freelancers looking for an inexpensive, straightforward source of creative content. Mockup generators are available for an additional $7.47 per month.
Learn more: Read our full Envato Elements review.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Unlimited downloads with no daily limits.
- 7-day free trial with full access to all creative assets.
- Assets can be used commercially.
- Simple licensing.
- Plans for individuals, teams, and enterprises.
Cons
- One of the lowest indemnities in the industry.
- Can’t use creative assets for new projects after unsubscribing.
- A small collection of photos and videos compared to other stock agencies.
- No refunds.
Best Subscriptions for Graphic Designers
Best Subscriptions for Graphic Designers
Adobe Stock
Adobe Stock
Photutorial Score
Photutorial Score = 4.6/5
Photutorial scores are objectively determined by our editorial team. Our scoring formula weighs several factors consumers should consider when choosing creative products and services.
- Images: 290 million
- Price: $0.26–$9.99/image
- Free trial: 10, 25, or 40 images (30 days)
- Buying options: subscriptions, on-demand
Why We Picked It
Adobe Stock is Adobe’s stock agency, which leverages its customer base using Lightroom, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere to deliver high-quality and unique stock assets.
While it’s a relatively new agency (founded in 2015), Adobe Stock has a long tradition since it’s the successor of Fotolia (founded in 2005), which Adobe acquired in 2015. Since then, Adobe Stock has become one of the stronger Shutterstock alternatives and is our top choice for graphic designers.
Adobe Stock is the best stock photo site for graphic designers, thanks to its excellent integration into the Creative Cloud. It works well with Adobe applications and allows users to try out the photos in their designs without buying them. This way, you only pay for the photos you use in your project’s final version. With this feature alone, you can save much of your budget and time.
You can buy stock photos, videos, and other assets with cheap subscriptions or more flexible credits. With monthly or annual subscriptions, you can buy images for $0.26 to $9.99, slightly more expensive than Shutterstock. However, the on-demand options aren’t only cheaper ($8.00-$9.99) than Shutterstock but also more flexible.
Of particular note is Adobe’s generous free trial, which lets you download 10, 25, or 40 images for free. The number of free images you can download depends on your subscription.
We also recommend Adobe Stock for its versatility and excellent licensing terms—it’s one of the two agencies (the other is Getty Images) that offer unlimited indemnity, which we deem one of the most important trust signals.
Who it’s for: Adobe Stock can be used solely as a source of stock images, videos, and other assets, but it’s particularly for designers and everyone using Adobe Creative Cloud. It’s also great for students and teachers, who can get a 60% discount on Creative Cloud (but not Adobe Stock).
Learn more: Read our full Adobe Stock review.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Superb image and video quality.
- Offers templates, 3D objects, and fonts.
- More than 1 million free images.
- Creative Cloud integration.
- Works with Photoshop, Illustrator, & others.
Cons
- More costly than some alternatives.
- No promo codes or coupons.
- Expensive premium content.
Best Premium Image Subscriptions
Best Premium Image Subscriptions
iStock
iStock
Photutorial Score
Photutorial Score = 4.6/5
Photutorial scores are objectively determined by our editorial team. Our scoring formula weighs several factors consumers should consider when choosing creative products and services.
- Images: 148 million
- Price: $0.22–$9.90/image
- Free trial: 10 images (30 days)
- Buying options: subscriptions, on-demand
Why We Picked It
iStock, formerly iStockphoto, offers diverse subscription plans so everyone can find an option for themselves.
You can select between subscriptions for the Essential images only, which are generally more generic and less valuable. They are most commonly used by those on a small budget or for social media and blogs.
You can get the more expensive subscriptions for Essential and Signature images, where the latter are very high-quality and more impactful. Finally, there’s a plan for premium images, videos, and music tracks that costs slightly more, but offers high flexibility. Each subscription plan comes in several sizes (10, 25, 50, and 750 downloads per month) and has two durations—annual and monthly.
On top of the affordable subscriptions, you can also get credits, which you can use to buy any asset on iStock, including photos, videos, extended licenses, and music.
Who it’s for: iStock is ideal for anyone who needs affordable premium images, versatile subscriptions, or flexible on-demand buying options. It’s also a good choice for new customers, who can get a 20% discount.
Learn more: Read our full iStock review.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- 148+ million images.
- The Signature collection is of superb quality.
- Competitive prices.
- 10 images with the free trial.
Cons
- Signature images are a lot more expensive.
- Very expensive extended license.
- Very poor customer support.
Best Low-Budget Subscriptions
Best Low-Budget Subscriptions
Depositphotos
Depositphotos
Photutorial Score
Photutorial Score = 4.4/5
Photutorial scores are objectively determined by our editorial team. Our scoring formula weighs several factors consumers should consider when choosing creative products and services.
- Images: 224 million
- Price: $0.
22–$14.00/image - Free trial: 10 images (7 days)
- Buying options: subscriptions, on-demand
Why We Picked It
Depositphotos offers 224 million photos, vectors, videos, and illustrations at very affordable prices when bought in small packs compared to its competitors. It’s particularly inexpensive for small subscription plans, which cost only $1.50 per image, roughly half the price of Shutterstock. However, the large subscriptions are no cheaper than at other stock photo websites. You can also get a free trial for 10 free stock images that lasts only 7 days.
Overall, Depositphotos’ images are very good, but the diversity and the quality are noticeably lower compared to Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, and iStock.
Who it’s for: We recommend Depositphotos to anyone who needs royalty-free and quality images at very low prices. Therefore, it’s a great option for bloggers and small businesses.
Learn more: Read our full Depositphotos review.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- 224+ million images
- Good image quality
- No daily limit
- Reverse image search
- Great customer support (phone, live chat, and email)
- A collection of free images
Cons
- No custom packs (only available for enterprises).
- Limited flexibility of on-demand options.
Best Subscription for Amateur Designers
Best Subscription for Amateur Designers
Canva
Canva
Photutorial Score
Photutorial Score = 4.1/5
Photutorial scores are objectively determined by our editorial team. Our scoring formula weighs several factors consumers should consider when choosing creative products and services.
- Images: 110+ million
- Price: $9.99–$12.99/month
- Free trial: 30 days free
- Buying options: subscriptions
Why We Picked It
As an all-in-one stock image website and a graphic design platform available at surprisingly low prices, Canva is our go-to recommendation for beginners on a budget or those looking for a simple workflow solution. For $9.99 per month, you get access to the entire platform, including a simple drag-and-drop editor, over 500K templates for pretty much any graphic, and over 110 million stock images. If that’s too much for you, there’s a 30-day free trial and a permanent free account that limits lots of Canva’s functionality.
Who it’s for: Canva is best for beginner graphic designers and those on a low budget, who need a cheap source of stock photos and a simple graphic design platform all-in-one. Thanks to the collaboration tools, it’s also a good solution for teams of any size.
Learn more: Read our full Canva review.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- 30 day free trial
- Inexpensive subscription
- Intuitive and super easy-to-use
- Huge built-in stock photo library
- Prompts team-work
Cons
- Bad at photo editing
- No one-time purchase option
- Can’t use it offline
- Lacks advanced design options
Summary: Best Stock Image Subscriptions
| Stock photo site | Number of photos | Rating | Subscription price | Free trial | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| iStock Best for Commercial Use | 140 million | 4.8/5.0 | $29–$199/month ($0.22–$4.00/image) | Yes (10 images) | Learn more |
| Depositphotos Best for Bloggers | 186 million | 4.8/5.0 | $25–$199/month ($0.22–$1.  44/image) | No | Learn more |
| Adobe Stock Best for Designers | 295 million | 5.0/5.0 | $29–$249/month ($0.26–$9.99/image) | Yes (10, 25, or 40 images) | Learn more |
| Shutterstock Best Overall | 384 million | 5.0/5.0 | $25–$249/month ($0.22–$4.90/image) | Yes (10 images) | Learn more |
| Canva Best for Unlimited Downloads | 100+ million | 4.0/5.0 | $9.99-$30/month | Yes (30 days) | Learn more |
| Dreamstime Cheapest Extended License | 185 million | 3.9/5.0 | $25–$219/month ($0.22–$5.00/image) | Yes (15 watermarked images) | Learn more |
Methodology
We reviewed 31 stock photo sites based on 14 data points in the categories of image quality and variety, pricing, licensing, image number, customer support, and additional features.
We chose the 6 best stock photo subscriptions on the weighting assigned to each category:
- Image quality & variety: 20%
- Pricing: 20%
- Licensing: 20%
- Image number: 15%
- Additional features: 15%
- Customer support: 10%
Within each category, we also considered several characteristics, the number of images per most popular searches, technical quality, and added value. We also looked at the variety of pricing plans, minimum, median, and maximum image prices, and free trial terms. Finally, we evaluated stock photo sites’ customer support, licensing, and additional features that would enhance customers’ workflow.
A Beginner’s Guide to Stock Image Subscriptions
How do subscriptions work?
A stock photo subscription can be used to get a certain number of images each month. When you sign up for a subscription plan, you’re given a fixed number of downloads each month.
The advantage of using subscriptions over on-demand or single purchases is that subscriptions guarantee the lowest price per image. By using subscriptions, you’ll benefit the most if you need images regularly. If you don’t use all your downloads in a month, certain stock photo sites roll them over to the next month, while others discard them. Conversely, if you use all your downloads, you can wait until the next month to get more or you can buy additional. Some stock photo sites give you additional downloads at a reduced price while others require to you purchase more images on-demand.
How are subscription images licensed?
Most of the time, images downloaded with subscriptions are licensed under the Standard license. This is a type of royalty-free license, which allows you to use the image on the web, for social media, and even up to 500,000 prints. However, you may not use the image for resale, such as T-shirts, product packaging, merch, and online resale.
If you need the resale rights, you need to buy the so-called Extended or Enhanced license.
This is a type of a royalty-free license similar to the Standard license, but it allows unlimited reproduction. In addition, it comes with higher legal coverage than the Standard license. The only option to get Extended license in bulk si at Dreamstime for as low as $20.
Annual vs Monthly subscriptions
Most stock photo site give you the option of monthly and yearly subscription plans. The main difference is that you may cancel the monthly plans at any time, while yearly plans last for 12 months. While the yearly plans bind you to a 12-month commitment, you get, on average, 20-30% discount on the subscription price.
Therefore, we recommend annual subscriptions for those who are going to need for images for at least a year, while the monthly plans are better for those who need regular image downloads for a shorter time. Let’s compare the prices of the monthly and annual subscriptions:
| Stock photo agency | Monthly | Yearly |
|---|---|---|
| iStock | $40–$199/month ($0.  27–$4.00/image) | $29–$169/month ($0.22–$2.90/image) |
| Depositphotos | $36–$199/month ($0.27–$1.44/image) | $25–$166/month ($0.22–$0.83/image) |
| Adobe Stock | $29–$249/month ($0.33–$9.99/image) | $29–$199/month ($0.26–$2.99/image) |
| Shutterstock | $49–$249/month ($0.33–$4.90/image) | $25–$167/month ($0.22–$2.50/image) |
| Canva | $12.99/month | $9.99/month |
| Dreamstime | $25–$219/month ($0.24–$5.00/image) | $169 ($0.187/image) |
Subscription trials
A few stock photo sites offer free trials with their subscriptions. Generally, the free trials are available only with the annual plans as a reward for a longer commitment. The way they work is that you sign up for the free trial by creating an account and providing your payment information, but you won’t get billed just yet.
Then you can download a number of stock images for free (usually 10) and use them even for commercial projects.
You can safely the cancel the trial before it ends and you won’t get billed. What is more, you get to keep the images you downloaded. Here are the best free trial currently available:
- Adobe Stock – 10, 25, or 40 free images
- Shutterstock – 10 free images
- iStock – 10 free images
- Canva – 1st month free, you can get unlimited downloads
- Bigstock – 35 free images or videos.
- Dreamstime – 15 watermarked images
The Verdict
Stock assets directly in Adobe apps. For example, if you create a design in Illustrator, you can open the library in the program and import any watermarked asset for free. This way, you can try dozens of images for free before you find the right one. You only pay for the images you use upon export. Likewise, iStock also supports integration into the Creative Cloud, as well as DropBox and Sketch, but at lower prices.
Unlike Adobe Stock and iStock, Shutterstock doesn’t offer any useful integrations, except for its “in-house” tools like Shutterstock Editor, File Converted, and Image Resizer.
About your guide
Matic Broz
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Matic Broz is a photographer, graphic designer, and stock photographer. For over ten years he's been helping photographers improve their photos and graphic designers find the best images for their designs. His work has been featured by Lifewire, Skylum, and PetaPixel. In his free time, he enjoys photography, hiking, and petting random dogs. Read more
Information provided on Photutorial is for educational purposes only. Your situation is unique and the products and services we review may not be right for your circumstances. We do not offer financial advice, nor do we recommend or advise individuals to buy or sell particular stocks or services.
Performance information may have changed since the time of publication. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Photutorial adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. To the best of our knowledge, all content is accurate as of the date posted, though offers contained herein may no longer be available. The opinions expressed are the author’s alone and have not been provided, approved, or otherwise endorsed by our partners.
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Adobe Stock Pricing
by Matic Broz
Adobe Stock pricing is simple and versatile, so it suits every customer and purpose. Still, you should know a few tricks that can save you a lot of money and
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Getty Images Goes Public (Again)
by Matic Broz
Valued at an enterprise value of US$4.
8 billion, Getty Images, a well-known stock photography agency, will go public on July 25, 2022, as announced on December 10, 2021, and reconfirmed
8 good paid photo stocks that you might find useful
September 24, 2020 Purchases
Millions of files for cool content.
1. Depositphotos
Cost
- From $9.99 per month for 10 images.
- From $99/year for 10 images/month.
- Standard License Photo Download Bundle starting at $4.9 per image.
- Extended License Photo Download Pack - from 89dollars per picture.
- Video download packages starting at $69 per 1080p video.
With over 180 million files in the Depositphotos library, new content is added to the virtual shelves every day. Editorial Images, Backgrounds, and HD Videos - here you can find any image for marketing or advertising. Illustrations and vector images are easily scaled to any size without loss of quality.
With the subscription, the user receives perpetual rights to use the images, and all unused downloads are carried over to the next month. 9Canva Pro
Canva is a powerful and versatile graphic design tool. The site contains catalogs of stock videos and music, a library of premium images, templates, logos, fonts and graphics. Designs created in the designer can be exported to PDF, JPG, PNG, MP4, and saved as GIF animations. In a few minutes, you can make covers for posts, invitations, collages or flyers.
Canva Pro subscription includes over 60 million premium images, photos, videos and graphics plus 100 GB of cloud storage. And with a Canva for Enterprise subscription for organizations and companies, the opportunities for the work of the whole team are not limited, however, as well as the place in the cloud. A bonus is round-the-clock corporate support: if you have any questions or problems with the software, our specialists will quickly solve them.
Canva →
3. Getty Images
Cost
- Small size photo and low resolution video - $175 per download.
- Medium Format Photo & SD Video - $375 per download.
- High resolution photos and 4K video - $499 per download.
More than 200 million images have been collected in the archive of one of the largest photo banks in the world. Hundreds of collections of various subjects have found shelter in it: from entertainment and celebrity photos to snapshots from the world of sports and news. Getty Images is also several million hours of video, including videos in slow mo and unique materials from the BBC Motion Gallery, filmed back in 1922nd.
Detailed collection search includes convenient sorting by tags, locations, events, image orientation and maximum resolution, authors and date. And a Premium Access subscription gives you access to 30,000 music tracks and 60,000 sound effects from the Epidemic Sound library.
Getty Images →
4. Shutterstock
Cost
- From $49 per month (no contract) for 10 images.
- Annual subscription with monthly payments of 29dollars for 10 images.
- Standard License On Demand Pack starting at $49 for 5 images.
- Extended License On-Demand Pack starting at $199 for 2 images.
Shutterstock has over 300 million high-resolution photos, vectors and illustrations. Every day the collection grows by 200,000 new pictures. There is a choice even in the case of complex requests: exclusive materials from international agencies and current editorial photos are available.
The Shutterstock Premier enterprise platform provides enhanced access to 50 million news, sports, entertainment and archived files. In addition to stock videos and music, the platform also provides editing and teamwork tools.
Shutterstock →
5. Bigstock
- charges $79 per month (5 images per day) or $69 for 25 photos per month.
- $199 for three months (5 images per day).
- $639 per year (5 images per day).
- $79 per month (5 videos per day).
In 2009, Shutterstock bought out BigStockPhoto, but the resource did not lose its autonomy from the deal, but simply continued to work under the more concise Bigstock name. The updated site offers 27 popular categories, including business, food, people, animals, architecture, places, editorial photos, art illustrations, and more. In addition to a flexible pricing system, the site allows free re-downloads of images for which licenses have already been purchased.
Bigstock →
6. Adobe Stock
Cost
- From $29.99 per month for 3 images.
- From $359.88/year to $29.99 for 10 images/month.
Photobank from a famous American software developer sells a lot of quality content. High-resolution photos, vector graphics, illustrations, templates and editorial content are decent collections and categories are succinctly written.
The Adobe Stock archive also contains music, and it is presented in a wide genre palette: from relaxing jazz compositions to dynamic tracks for cinematic projects and intense exciting scenes.
You can buy photo, video and audio files not only by subscription: the site also offers credit packages (from 5 to 500). This universal currency is used to pay for any Adobe Stock content, including premium content.
Adobe Stock →
7. 123RF
Cost
- From $29 per month for 10 images.
- From $259/year (10 images/month).
Photostock stores more than 110 million works from 300 thousand authors. Through their efforts, the archive is replenished daily - up to 90 thousand fresh photos, videos, vectors and audio per day. The content here is quite easy to search for: there is sorting by categories, keywords, authors, and existing images.
The subscription system is also complemented by credits, which can be used to purchase extended licenses that are not included in subscription plans.
They are allowed to be used within a year from the date of purchase.
123RF →
8. CanStockPhoto
Cost
- From 39dollars per week for 70 downloads (up to 10 downloads per day).
- From $99 per month for 300 downloads (up to 10 downloads per day).
- From $499 for 6 months for 1,830 downloads (up to 10 downloads per day).
The CanStockPhoto agency began its work in 2004 and to this day collects the works of talented authors under its roof. Every day, up to 25,000 new files fall into more than a hundred categories. The volume of uploaded photos without being tied to a subscription can be chosen by yourself - the credit system will help.
The marketplace is ideal for a quick one-time purchase. It is enough to select the desired photo, indicate its resolution and, bypassing registration, pay for the purchase by card or via PayPal. The image is yours - you can use it.
CanStockPhoto →
See also 🧐
- 75 most useful resources for photographers0013 20 useful products from AliExpress for lovers of mobile photography
- Where to find good and legal free pictures
4 legal ways to find images
By law, any picture is subject to copyright.
The author's rights arise automatically, without any registration, as soon as the photographer takes a picture or the designer draws a picture in Photoshop.
Only the author himself has the right to use the image in any way - this is called the exclusive right to the work. If you take other people's pictures without permission, the author can sue - and the violator will have to pay compensation from 10,000 to 5,000,000 ₽.
Even if you specify the author and link to the original, the author can still sue - a violation will remain a violation. We tell you where to take pictures legally and how to understand that all rights are respected.
Buy or download from photostock
Photostocks are sites that store images of any subject and genre. There are stocks with only photos or only graphics, and there are universal stocks. It's easy to find a picture by searching there. It's faster and cheaper than hiring a photographer or designer.
There are paid and free photo stocks.
On paid stocks, in order to get the right to use an image on the site, you need to register and pay for a subscription or a separate purchase. You don’t need it on free ones, but there is also less choice of pictures.
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Shutterstock is a popular paid photo stock. After registration, you can see the prices for pictures thereRead the stock license carefully. License - these are the rules and restrictions on the use of photographs. For example, under the Shutterstock Standard License, photos can be used on the website and in ads, but not printed on products.
Shutterstock License Agreements
To legally post photos on the site, the license must include permission for commercial use. Of the free stocks, this permission is definitely in the Unsplash license.
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Unsplash's photo stock license states that photos can be used for anything except resaleStock photos make companies lose credibility
A stock image is a high-quality photo or graphic that is checked before posting.
There is no littered horizon or debris on them. But such a photo does not tell the site visitor anything about the real product or service and does not help make a purchase decision. This is just a picture for beauty.
Stock photos are easy to distinguish from real ones: people often stand in unnatural poses or deliberately smile. In addition, the same stock photo character can be found on different sites. Customers see a character on a station poster, in an advertisement for a construction company and baby food, and unconsciously lose confidence in the company.
Stock photos do not inspire confidence: the man in the photo seems to be working and at the same time communicating with the baby. Cleanliness and order on the table and floor. The photo looks unnatural. Depositphotos.com
Repeat someone else's idea, but do it yourself
Real product photos are more credible than just a pretty picture of a theme. If you have the opportunity and skills, you can take photos or draw pictures yourself.
Someone else's idea can be repeated. You can't just copy a picture, but you can repeat the idea on your photo. The fact is that copyright applies only to works, and not to ideas, so you can try to embody someone else's idea, for example, a good angle or location in a picture.
| You can’t | |
|---|---|
| Download the picture you like and download to the site | SEND to do this by a professional | 9028
Because of this, sometimes bad things happen. For example, a production director ordered photos of his product, filled the site with them, and then found the same photos on a photo stock and on a competitor’s website. 
Even if the author died a very long time ago, the rights to the photo may be limited if they were once bought by collectors or they belong to state archives. For example, the Vintage Med Stock website hosts a private collection of vintage anatomical photographs. The rights to them belong to the designer Mark Strozier. 
