Shutterstock Review: The Best Asset Library for Creatives?

If you’re creative, visuals are crucial in capturing attention and conveying messages. Whether it’s marketing your own work as I did as a graphic designer with a 365-day poster project or as a small business owner trying to stand out, having access to a wide range of high-quality visuals is essential.

Shutterstock has rightfully earned its reputation as one of the go-to platforms for creatives seeking assets for their projects. With over 475 million images, videos, music tracks, and counting, it boasts an impressive library that caters to every creative need imaginable.

This Shutterstock review will explore Shutterstock’s features, pros, cons, and how it can benefit creatives. Let’s dive in and discover why Shutterstock is the best asset library!

Verdict

Shutterstock presents a robust platform with 475 million high-quality assets, a user-friendly interface, and an AI image generator catering to diverse creative needs. Despite occasional concerns about cost, its extensive library and features make it a top choice for designers and businesses seeking rich visual content.

Pros

475 million high-quality assets, including photos, vectors, illustrations, music, and videos for designers and creatives.
It comes with an AI image generator based on DALL-E 2.
Built-in AI image editor and design tools.
Images showcase diversity.
Earn money by being a contributor.
User-friendly interface makes it easy to search for and license content.
Shutterstock’s mobile app, available on iOS and Android, allows users to access the entire library on the go.
7-day free trial with full access to assets.
A phone number, email, and support chat to contact customer service.
Choose between a monthly plan, annual subscription, or credit packs.
No cancellation fee when canceling the plan at the end of the term.

Cons

It may be expensive for some users.
Occasional issues with image theft and copyright infringement have been reported.

What is Shutterstock?

Shutterstock is a one-stop destination for stock images, video clips, illustrations, vectors, and more. It offers the biggest collection of creative assets, with 475 million and counting, carefully curated to meet the needs of designers, advertisers, content creators, and businesses.

Since its establishment in 2003 in New York City in the United States, Shutterstock has emerged as a prominent entity in the stock media industry. The company’s initial public offering of 18 million royalty-free stock images in 2012 marked a significant milestone, showcasing its global provision of stock images.

By 2013, Shutterstock has diversified its offerings to encompass vectors and illustrations, aligning with the evolving needs of designers, advertisers, and content creators. Today, Shutterstock is a premier resource for stock photography, music, and many other creative assets, solidifying its position as a go-to platform for digital content.

With its user-friendly interface, Shutterstock enables users to search, preview, and download content seamlessly. Whether you are a graphic designer, web or app developer, marketer, or content creator, Shutterstock provides a valuable resource to enhance your creative endeavors.

Who is Shutterstock Best For?

Shutterstock is an incredible resource for royalty-free images, videos, music, and more. However, certain types of people benefit the most from using Shutterstock:

Designers & Creatives: Shutterstock offers a wide range of creative content and stock images for design professionals. It provides vectors, illustrations, and stock photography for various design needs, including web design, branding, and advertising. With an extensive library, designers can easily find the perfect assets to bring their artistic vision to life.
Agencies & Businesses: Shutterstock offers high-quality stock images and videos for marketing, including tailored content for commercial use. It helps businesses align their branding with their industry and creative vision, strengthening marketing strategies for agencies.
Individuals: Shutterstock is a great platform for finding stock images and creative content for personal projects, social media, or blogs. It offers illustrations, vectors, and stock photography. Individuals can access free and premium content that suits their needs for personal blogs, social media posts, or creative hobbies.

Shutterstock Key Features

Here are Shutterstock’s key features:

Wide Variety of Assets
Quality Content
Clean User Interface
Design Tools
AI Image Generator
AI Image Editor
Creative Flow

1. Wide Variety of Assets

Shutterstock homepage highlighting the variety of assets on the platform.

In addition to offering one of the most assets compared to any other stock website, Shutterstock’s library encompasses a wide array of multimedia content, such as images, video clips, illustrations, and vectors. This extensive collection provides diverse and creative resources suitable for many projects and industries.

In addition, Shutterstock offers content curated for specific themes and moods to cater to the varied demands of creatives. You can easily discover trendy, authentic, unique creative assets that elevate your projects.

2. Quality Content

Shutterstock maintains stringent quality standards to offer a wide range of top-tier images, videos, and illustrations. The platform’s professionally curated content guarantees premium, authentic visuals, instilling confidence regarding its professional standards.

With high-resolution assets suitable for both digital and print use, Shutterstock caters to diverse creative needs. Its content, crafted by talented contributors, offers an exceptional and varied selection, enhancing the overall user experience. This dedication to quality sets Shutterstock apart as a reliable source for high-caliber creative assets.

Learn more about becoming a Shutterstock contributor!

3. Clean User Interface

Shutterstock’s platform offers an intuitive user interface, simplifying the process of searching, previewing, and downloading assets. Navigating categories, filters, and search results is seamless.

The simple interface enables easy refinement of searches and exploring related assets, optimizing workflow and productivity. For example, when you select an image, Shutterstock suggests related keywords to help you find similar assets.

In addition, you can conveniently access and organize downloads. With an efficient and hassle-free experience, Shutterstock enhances user productivity and workflow.

4. Design Tools

Recognizing the importance of design tools in the creative process, Shutterstock provides a range of innovative features to assist users:

Photo Editor
Background remover
Collage maker
Crop image
Resize image
Color palettes
Color palette generator
Image converter

5. AI Image Generator

With its AI Image Generator, Shutterstock stays ahead of the curve, leveraging cutting-edge technology to simplify and speed up the creative process. This innovative tool uses artificial intelligence to generate unique images based on descriptive text prompts. So, if you don’t want to find a specific photo in Shutterstock’s vast library, get the AI image generator to create it for you!

Whether you need a quick placeholder image or want to experiment with different styles and concepts, the AI Image Generator provides endless possibilities. You can effortlessly generate stunning visuals tailored to your needs by entering keywords.

Read more on the best AI image generators!

6. AI Image Editor

Shutterstock’s AI image editor lets you easily take your creative vision to new heights. It has an extremely simple interface for user-friendly image editing.

It comes with a couple of unique AI tools:

Magic Brush to replace, add, or remove elements.
Expand to extend the image background in a single click.
Variations to create similar versions of an image in seconds.
Background Remover to remove the background in a single click.
Filter to change the style of the image in a single click.
Crop to change the image size, ratio, or focal point.

These built-in image editing tools with Shutterstock make the platform a one-stop shop for all your creative needs. Whether you’re a professional photographer who needs to make quick edits, Shutterstock’s AI image editor has what you need.

7. Creative Flow

Creative Flow offers Shutterstock users even more design tools. It’s a suite of apps powered by artificial intelligence. With these powerful design tools, you can easily create stunning visuals, whether it’s for social media posts or website banners.

One of the standout features is the customizable templates. These pre-designed templates offer a starting point for your design and can be easily customized to match your brand’s style and message.

Simply choose a template that fits your needs, then personalize it with your text, images, and colors. They’re compatible with popular social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

You can also add text, swap colors, remove backgrounds, and more without hiring or training yourself to be a designer.

Once you’re happy with your designs, you can directly schedule the content on the same platform. You’ll even get custom content recommendations for future content!

With Creative Flow, you’ll get a seamless and efficient design experience!

How to Use Shutterstock

Shutterstock provides a user-friendly interface that makes searching for and downloading assets easy. I didn’t have to create an account or use a credit card!

Here’s how to use Shutterstock:

Search Keywords
Use the Filters
Select & Download!

Step 1: Search Keywords

To use Shutterstock, enter your desired keywords in the search bar and browse the results. Shutterstock provides a robust search engine to find the perfect content efficiently.

Step 2: Use the Filters

Once searched, use advanced search filters, such as color, orientation, and image type, to refine your results. The platform also offers relevant content suggestions, making discovering images, videos, and illustrations easier.

Step 3: Select & Download!

Downloading an image for free from Shutterstock.

Once you find the asset you want, click it to preview it, check its details, and download it. Ensure you choose the appropriate license type for your needs! Optionally, you can hit the “Edit” button to use Shutterstock’s AI image editing and design tools to edit the photo right on Shutterstock!

Top 3 Shutterstock Alternatives

Here are the best Shutterstock alternatives that I’ve tried.

Adobe Stock

Adobe Stock provides a vast collection of high-quality assets, including photos, illustrations, vectors, video, audio, 3D, fonts, and more, with a user-friendly interface for easy navigation. It even has an AI image generator like Shutterstock!

The seamless integration with Adobe Creative Cloud streamlines the workflow for professionals, ensuring a convenient and efficient experience. Adobe Stock simplifies the search, licensing, and downloading processes.

Adobe Stock and Shutterstock offer many creative assets for various uses. For the most assets altogether, choose Shutterstock. If you’re an Adobe Creative Cloud user, choose Adobe Stock for seamless integration with your creative applications.

Read my Adobe Stock review!

Getty Images

With a library of over 477 million assets, Getty Images is up there with Shutterstock in quantity! They offer extensive high-quality visuals catering to creative and editorial requirements.

With a diverse range of stock images, video clips, and music spanning various genres, Getty Images ensures a wide selection. Getty Images is also an excellent resource for exclusive content, such as celebrity photos and editorial images. The high-quality content is sourced from a global network of professional photographers and videographers for the best value.

Plus, you can license content for commercial and editorial purposes, guaranteeing legal compliance and creative freedom. This makes Getty Images a go-to choice for premium visual content.

Getty Images and Shutterstock carry hundreds of millions of creative assets. Getty Images is the best resource if you’re looking for editorial images and more recent photos of celebrities. Choose Shutterstock for more asset variety and more affordable pricing!

iStock

iStock, owned by Getty Images, offers many assets, including high-quality images, videos, illustrations, vectors, and music. It provides exclusive content that sets it apart from other stock photo websites.

iStock’s user-friendly interface and intuitive search options make it easy to navigate. Plus, iStock offers flexible pricing options, such as credit packs and monthly or annual payment plans, catering to various user preferences.

Choose iStock for a diverse collection with flexible pricing options. Otherwise, choose Shutterstock for a wide variety of endless assets!

Shutterstock Review: Is It the Right Choice for Your Creative Needs?

Shutterstock is a comprehensive asset library that offers a wide range of 475 million high-quality assets for creatives. Its extensive collection and easy-to-use interface make it a valuable resource for designers, agencies, businesses, and individual users.

Shutterstock provides many assets like images, videos, music, sound effects, and more, ensuring you can find the perfect assets for your creative projects. While there are alternatives to Shutterstock, such as Adobe Stock and Getty Images, Shutterstock continues to be a popular choice due to its vast selection and competitive pricing.

Thanks for reading my Shutterstock review! I hope you found it helpful. If you need excellent visual content, don’t hesitate to explore what Shutterstock offers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it safe to use Shutterstock?

Shutterstock is safe to use. Shutterstock does not distribute your personal data or information to any third party. They use third-party advertising services to oversee the advertisements displayed on other sites.

Does Shutterstock really pay?

Yes, contributors at Shutterstock are paid for their licensed content. Contributors are compensated by Shutterstock for each image or video downloaded from the site. They receive a base rate of $0.25 per download and have the potential to earn up to $120 per image based on factors such as image price, portfolio size, and performance level.

Is it worth it to sell images on Shutterstock?

Selling images on Shutterstock can be a lucrative source of passive income for photographers and artists. However, it’s important to note that competition is high, and building a substantial portfolio takes time. Image quality, relevance, and keywording also play a role in sales. Consider the effort required before deciding if selling on Shutterstock is worth it.

What are the disadvantages of Shutterstock?

While Shutterstock offers a vast library of assets, a few downsides exist. For individual users or small businesses, the cost can be expensive. Additionally, if you are a Shutterstock contributor, the platform is highly competitive, making it difficult to stand out.

How do you make money with Shutterstock?

Start by capturing high-quality videos and images you think Shutterstock users would download to make money with Shutterstock. Upload your content to Shutterstock and earn money every time someone licenses it. You can earn even more money with Shutterstock by referring new contributors and customers.

Is Shutterstock free to use?

Shutterstock has a 7-day free trial to download up to 10 monthly assets. They also have flexible subscription plans and credit plans to suit your budget.

What is Shutterstock used for?

Shutterstock is a popular stock image and video platform used by creatives like photographers, designers, illustrators, videographers, and musicians. Its vast collection of 475 million high-quality, royalty-free assets and counting caters to various needs like advertising, marketing, social media, and website design. Advanced search filters and tools assist users in finding the perfect asset for their projects.

Does it cost money to sell on Shutterstock?

Submitting images to Shutterstock costs nothing; you make money whenever your content is licensed. For more information on becoming a contributor or to begin, visit the contributor website.