Images play a big part in both online and offline marketing, from pop up banners at exhibitions to website images and social media photos, they add a new edge to your business, and help it to stand out from the crowd.
Sourcing your own images isn’t something that is available to everyone – the amateur photographer with limited use of camera equipment might struggle to upkeep their constant need for images, whereas hiring a photographer to take pictures on your behalf has the potential to rack up huge costs, depending on how much you need.
For most people, the happy medium lies in the realm of stock image platforms, but which ones can you trust, and who should you use? Here’s out top 5 stock image platforms, from quality to price and quantity
Shutterstock
Shutterstock is one of the most popular stock image platforms, and offers a huge array of images, as well as branching out into vectors, footage and even music. Boasting over 40 million items available for download and crisp quality, for heavy photo users, Shutterstock is often the go-to site.
Quality: 9/10
Choice: 9/10
Cost: 6/10
The cheapest standard license is a £165 a month 25-a-day subscription.
iStock
iStock is Getty Images’ baby brother, offering the same standard of quality and choice at a more affordable price for businesses wanting to download and use a lot of images. Much like Shutterstock and Getty Images itself, iStock also has illustrations, videos and music available to download. iStock allows Getty to play a part in the cheaper end of the stock photo market, whilst still maintaining it’s place as one of the most reputable big hitters.
Quality: 10/10
Choice: 9/10
Cost: 8/10
The best recommended subscription plan is £99 a month for 750 downloads!
Dollar Photo Club
Dollar Photo Club is the photogenic partner of Dollar Shave club, offering very much the same deal, only with a different product; stock images. Selling high quality images for $1 each, it offers one of the cheapest alternatives for small amounts of stock images – when it comes to buying in bulk, Dollar Photo Club are far from the cheapest.
Quality: 8/10
Choice: 7/10
Cost: 9/10
There is a flat rate of $10 a month, plus $1 for every image downloaded.
Getty Images
Getty Images is one of the biggest players in the stock image world, with over 80 million images and illustrations as well as over 50,000 hours of video footage and a reputation to match. Getty is often reserved for the more high end media outlets, rather than small businesses looking to quickly populate a blog post.
Quality: 10/10
Choice: 10/10
Cost: 5/10
Each image brings up a price calculator, which takes into account your publication type, the amount of time the image will be on the site as well as intended usage and website positioning.
Bigstock
Bigstock are relatively unknown in the stock photo world but a certainly making a name for themselves – with a large array of choice, high quality images and affordable prices, they sit nicely in the middle ground of value for money, yet amble choice and good quality.
Quality: 9/10
Choice: 9/10
Cost: 9/10
A good deal is the 5 images a day plan, from only £59/mo.
Which platform do you use, and can recommend, and what matters most to you in a stock image provider? Cost, quality, or amount of choice available?
How to Take Great Office Photos – 10 Dos and Don’ts