If you are looking for creative pictures that will attract more readers to your blog or website, then you should check some of these 10 best stock photo sites for bloggers to find the pictures that will make your words alive.
Blogging is the best way to share your experience, thoughts, lifestyle, business and personal ideas and creations with people worldwide, which is why the number of active blogs increases every day. According to the Technorati, every 7.4 seconds a new blog pops up, which means that there are approximately 11,600 new active blogs every day created, and if each active blogger creates at least one post per a day, that means that, on the annual basis, there are 745,000 posts every year.
Stock Rocket/Shutterstock.com
It is not hard to start the blog on your own, but it takes a lot of effort for your post to remain on the top as the competition is obviously too strong. Just like you have to use gestures in face-to-face communication so that you can keep someone’s attention, you have to use pictures in your blogs to make your words more appealing, especially if your text is too long, like ours. As a matter of fact, we are aware of the fact that, without all the images and videos uploaded with our texts, you would be bored by now and probably skipped our site the next time some article comes in your way. Until now, in our articles you could find photos from Adobe Stock, 123rf, and the Shutterstock, and, for now, Adobe Stock didn’t reach our criteria right. Its selection wasn’t any better than Shutterstock’s, yet its price per image was much higher. On the other hand, we are frequently renewing the license for Shutterstock, and most of the pictures you will find in our articles are from there or the 123rf. But, as we were not completely satisfied with AdobeStock, there are many people complaining on Shutterstock, as you will see later on.
If you’re interested in taking your own photos, you might want to check out 3 free online photography courses with certificates. It is the same thing with your blog. But unlike starting a blog, finding the right stock photo site is not that easy. Many of them are charging big money for downloading images, and there is a big chance that you end up sued for using their photos without previously paying. When choosing the right photo for your blog, there are several things you should keep in mind. The first thing you need to know is that you don’t have to subscribe and be monthly billed as web or graphic designers are. They usually have to spend the bigger amount of money because they are using special templates and high-resolution pictures, so they can work properly with them and play with every single pixel. But for you, a clear and appealing photo should be enough. On the other hand, your job requires more pictures, which is why you will invest far more money that is questionable to be returned ever. This is why you should look for stock photo sites that allow you to download more pictures, even if they don’t have that high resolution, for the lower price.
On the other hand, there are several sites that offer you an unlimited number of downloads without any charges. This is something you should be very careful, as there are many terms you can break if you don’t read those tiny, barely seen letters at the end. Note this: only sites that have CC0 license are the ones you can legally download the unlimited number of pictures from!
For helping you out with this, we consulted several resources starting with Medium and TrustPilot, to find the 10 best stock photo site for bloggers. Our list of best stock photo sites for bloggers is split into two individual lists: the first list is ranking the top 5 best paid stock photo sites, and in the other, we are going to focus on the ones with the CC0 license, or completely free ones. The first thing we took into consideration is the overall number of photos available on the sites, and to pick the top 5 paid sites, we had to add one more criterion and that was the monthly billing for more than 500 pictures.
So sit back and relax, because here c0me 10 best stock photo sites for bloggers as the solution to your problem.
Top 5 paid stock photo sites
10. StockPhotoSecrets
Monthly subscription: $105 per 500 downloads
Available photos: 4.4 million
TrustPilot review:/
On this site, you can get the unlimited access for every image change you want to make. There is no additional fee you should pay for the particular site, and the best thing is that every download that remains to you at the end of the month will be added to the new month’s limit. As there are approximately 100,000 new files added every day, there will always be something new and improved for you.
To save up more money, you can take the year subscription, which will save you 33%. On the other hand, you can buy 100 images in the start for $39 and download some of them whenever you want until the last download remains, as there is no expiry date for this package.
Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com
9. Shutterstock
Monthly subscription: $249 per 750 downloads
Available photos: 134 million
TrustPilot review: 4.1
As we already mentioned, if we were compiling this list of 10 best stock photo sites for bloggers based on our personal impression and experience, Shutterstock will definitely be placed at the top of our list. But there are many people out there who weren’t satisfied with the whole service, and their reviews on TrustPilot placed this stock photo site this low.
Although you can find here basically anything you can think of, previous users advise you to read every single word in the Terms and Policy section. This is something that you will normally do, but since there are more than 3,000 words, there is a possibility that you will soon lose the concentration and miss some big parts of the contract. It is said that their support team is not that effective, as you need to wait more than a week for their answer, and that even after your cancellation, Shutterstock doesn’t always stop your contract, and continue billing you for the subscription.
Still, for the users that don’t even think about cancellation, this site offers the wide range of photos, vectors, and videos for your every need, whether is the blog, web or graphic design, or publishing material.
360b/Shutterstock.com
8. DepositPhotos
Monthly subscription: $199 per 750 downloads
Available photos: 60 million
TrustPilot reviews: 8.3
DepositPhotos is offering the wide range of high-quality pictures, vectors, and videos. For your monthly subscription, you will get the access to pictures from all 36 categories and there is no way you will need to browse for additional stock photo site to complete your blog post.
Besides the variety of photos and the easy navigation, most users said that the pricing plan was something that actually got them because there are two more pricing plans offered by the site owners. If your blog is still not worked out completely, there is no need for you to give even the $69 you would be charged with for 75 images per a month. If you need less than that, you can apply for a flexible plan, that, on a monthly basis are charged $9,99 per 10 images. The best thing is that you don’t need to pay the double price if you decide that you need additional 2 images. For each image downloaded after the 10th will be charged $1. And maybe the better solution for you is to take the yearly plan, which will cost you $99, and this way you will save 20%.
Gergely Zsolnai/Shutterstock.com
7. 123rf
Monthly subscription: $229 per 780 downloads
Available photos: 76 million
TrustPilot reviews: 8,6
Although users require more subscription options for lower prices, 123rf that ranks 7th in our list of best stock photo sites for bloggers still gets hundreds of new users on a daily basis. After subscribing, you can download anything from their wide offer that includes photos, vectors, footage, infographic, icons, and audio content. If you can’t decide which photo you need, there are 24 categories to browse at the beginning to help you to narrow down your choice. You can choose orientation, collection, freshness, the number of people in the picture, color, whether the photo includes words and choose only the ones without nudity.
bogdandimages/Shutterstock.com
6. AdobeStock
Monthly subscription: $199 per 750 downloads
Available photos: 75 million
TrustPilot reviews: /
Although we were not completely satisfied with their service, AdobeStock has found its way up to the top of our list of top 5 best paid stock photo sites.
AdobeStock ranks 6th in our list of best stock photo sites for bloggers. It was launched by Adobe Inc and it offers the wide range of images, videos, templates, and 3D art, that you can directly download and manage with Photoshop CC, Illustrator CC, and InDesign CC. All of the offered categories can be immediately used for web, print, and download.
Stefano Garau/Shutterstock.com
Top 5 free stock photo sites
5. Pexels
This photo stock site is created in order to both sites get the benefits. While bloggers and website owners have the opportunity to download high-quality and creative photos and other content for their personal needs, photographers who submit their artwork are given the chance to gain the right audience and attribution to their work. But because neither the photographers nor the site owners don’t have any earnings, the only thing they ask for is the support through donations, but this fee is optional.
Since Pexels is working hands to hands with Shutterstock, you can find sponsored photos as well. But don’t worry, you won’t be charged for them on Pexels, and it is pretty easy to find the difference as for sponsored photos you are automatically redirected to Shutterstock. You can browse photos by category or a photographer, and after you pick the right photo, you will be provided with all the needed information: the size on site, the required disk size, license confirmation, aspect ratio, and other photos provided by the photographer.
Masson/Shutterstock.com
4. StockSnap
Just like Pexels, StockSnap’s goal is to promote freelance photographers and give them the opportunity to publish their artwork on the platform. While they are gaining the audience, you are able to download any picture you want under the CC0 license and use it for your own purposes. You can browse based on the filters and categories, or just by the date for the new photos, as every week there are hundreds of photos more on this free platform submitted. As browsing and downloading is free of charges, there is no reason you shouldn’t check their gallery out, as you will probably find something that suits you. And now, let’s see the top three entries in our list of best stock photo sites for bloggers.
Stefano Garau/Shutterstock.com
3. Pixabay
We are continuing our list of best stock photo sites for bloggers with the number 3 – with browsing some of the 20 offered categories, you definitely have to run into some photo you find attractive enough to use for your blog, as there are over 920,000 photos available for you by now. You can filter your search by choosing media type, image orientation, category, size, and dominant color. And if you decide you want to be a bit bold, you can also download some available vector or video from the Pixabay’s list.
2. VisualHunt
Last year VisualHunt that ranks second in our list of best stock photo sites for bloggers caught the attention of InspireMag that made a pretty good article about them, and this doesn’t come as a surprise since with VisualHunt there is no way you will run out of photos for your blog. With the offer of over 354 million completely free photos on the site, your site has to look appealing to every reader without even looking at the subject you were writing about.
Besides overloaded homepage, your browsing can be narrowed down with choosing the wanted category, and color, as well as many other pictures. The best thing is, you can use all of these photos even for the commercial use without breaking any law at all.
REDPIXEL.PL/Shutterstock.com
1. Albumarium
We are rounding up our list of 10 best stock photo sites for bloggers with the site that found its place on every list of best stock photo sites online. The site gives you the ability to look through the categories section or the recommended photographer focused on the subject you’re looking for.
Stefano Garau/Shutterstock.com
We hope this article helps you to find the best way to improve your blog!
