Adobe Stock is a stock search engine used by designers, creators, and other professionals. The major highlight of Adobe stock is just what its name implies: it provides access to a large variety of stock graphic and video libraries.
These libraries include millions of images, vectors, illustrations, videos, 3D models, etc. It also allows multi-asset subscriptions. Even though Adobe has many features, some professionals are curious to know about the adobe stock alternatives.
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- Download 10 free images with a free trial of Adobe Stock
- You can also visit our blog on Ultimate guide of Adobe Stock.
Why choose an Adobe Stock Alternative? People always want tools based on their priorities and needs. Even though Adobe is a powerful tool for images, some limitations affect its usage.
Due to these reasons, people are searching for Adobe stock alternatives.
What are the best alternatives to Adobe Stock?
- Shutterstock – The best Adobe Stock alternative overall
- iStock – The best platform with exclusive photography
- Pixabay – The best platform for commercial purpose
- Unsplash – The best platform with free services
- Pexels – The best alternative with a good video library
- Dreamstime – The best platform for stock photos
- 123RF – The best platform for reliable service
- Depositphotos – The best platform with a thematic collection
- Storyblocks – The best video subscription platform.
- Freepik – The best platforms for vectors
- Vecteezy– The best platform for value-packed bundles
We recommend you, check our Adobe software list and explore your creative skills.
How to choose the best Adobe Stock alternative?
These are a few features to be considered while choosing alternatives to Adobe Stock.
Basic features
People rely on these tools for needs such as quality images, photographs, vectors, etc. A good alternative should have an exclusive collection of images and other assets of presentation that are highly accessible and offer enough variance that materials are not repeated.
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Advanced features
3D models, uncluttered interfaces, and AI-powered search are just a few examples of advanced features. These features can be considered while searching for an adobe alternative.
User-friendly
People including beginners and professionals should find it easy in searching for images in the software with the help of efficient navigation and other user-friendly features.
Pricing and free services
Adobe stock provides 10 free stock images and a free trial but there are some tools providing completely free services. Examples of such tools are Unsplash, Pixabay, etc. So if you are searching for an alternative to adobe stock, you should consider the budget and pricing as important factors.
Performance
The application should not run through any lag. It will affect the performance of the tools. You should ensure the performance of the app by checking its minimum requirements.
Get a 30-days free trial version of Adobe stock.
10 Best Adobe Stock Alternatives
1. Shutterstock
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The best alternatives for creators
Pricing: Best value- $29/month (10 images)
Platform: iOS/Android/ Mac/ Windows
Shutterstock can be considered as one of the best creative platforms providing visuals and images. This creative platform provides high-quality collections of photographs and royalty-free images. It also gives access to animated 3D models and readymade vectors. These features make it one of the best alternatives.
This tool provides fresh content which will help in marketing campaigns. The photo descriptions, Unclusterred interface, and advanced filters are some of the additional features of Shutterstock. It also has a powerful search feature that saves time and resources.
Shutterstock is mostly used by advertisers, marketers, and business owners. It allows access with budget-friendly pricing. For example, In a plan of $249 per month, one can have an approx of 750 downloads.
Pros |
Cons |
| ➕Advanced filters | ➖ Some packages are costly |
| ➕User-friendly | ➖ Slow downloading process |
| ➕Animated 3-D models |
2. iStock
The best platform with exclusive photography
Pricing: ₹1,700/ month
Platforms: Windows/ Mac
iStock is best known for its collections of photographs, royalty-free images, and vectors. It is suitable for graphic designing and advertising. It has features such as built-in editors and focused theme content. It has a unique collection of images that is only available in iStock. The platform has two groups such as Essentials and Signature. Essentials involve all budget-friendly images and the Signature set involves premium and high-stock images.
It has a user-friendly subscription because it gives the choice of subscription to the whole catalog or the group Essentials. It also provides a flexible pricing structure with monthly and annual plans.
Pros |
Cons |
| ➕AI-supported search | ➖ Limited free options |
| ➕Provides millions of photos and videos | |
| ➕Built-in editor |
3. Pixabay
The best platform for commercial purpose
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Pricing: Free
Platforms: Windows/iOS/Android
Pixabay is one of the best platforms with more than one million stock materials. It is mostly beneficial for personal or business purposes. Even though the biggest highlight is photos, it also provides high-quality videos, audio, vectors, etc. It is an easy-to-use site that helps users to search for the needed stocks.
It is a free alternative to Adobe Stock which allows users to download the materials for free. It is a vibrant space that provides copyright-free pictures. Pixabay gives access to modify or edit the images as per your convenience.
The tool is legit to use because all the stock materials are released under the Pixabay license. It also allows sharing your media by registering as a Pixabay user.
Visit and Explore the free videos on Pixabay.
Pros |
Cons |
| ➕Free services | ➖ Pop-up ads |
| ➕Provides many search options | ➖ The limited supply of editorial style images |
| ➕High-quality music and videos |
4. Unsplash
The best platform with free images
Pricing: Free
Platforms: Mac/Windows/iOS
Unsplash is a standalone platform that gives access to completely free services. The images found here are contributed by the worldwide photographer’s community. The images available here are of high resolution.
This software provides images or stocks for all types of niches and themes. Unsplash provides images, assets and themes according to trends like festivals or events. It also has a straightforward navigation feature. As it provides royalty-free pictures, Unsplash is good for commercial purposes. It also provides a wide collection suitable for freelancers.
Pros |
Cons |
| ➕Unlimited themes of images | ➖ Uncertain future |
| ➕HD images | ➖ Less traditional image stocks |
| ➕Show related tags |
5. Pexels
The best alternative with a good video library
Pricing: Free
Platforms: Windows/ Mac/ iOS
Pexels are one of the popular alternatives to Adobe Stock. It is not only best in image collections, but also known for free stock videos. It has user-friendly features which help to search for preferred materials easily. Pexels has a navigation feature for different categories of images or videos. In addition to the stock collections, the site also provides sponsored content.
The tool doesn’t need any attribution, so it’s copyright-free. It also allows users to modify or edit the images as per the user interest. These tools are accessible in Windows, Mac, and iOS.
Pexels is also one of the best places to build a portfolio for photographers or other artists. The stocks are licensed under Pexels license. It gives a list of creative specialists and their works. So you can easily search for images of a specific photographer.
Download the best background images for your projects via Pexels
Pros |
Cons |
| ➕More than one million photos | ➖ Limited abstract images |
| ➕CCO license | ➖ Paid sponsored content |
| ➕Impressive content presentation |
6. Dreamstime
The best platform for stock photos
Pricing: Rs. 1 783 INR/month (5 images)
Platforms: Windows/Mac/Android
Dreamstime is one of the largest communities of stock photographs. It is an impressive alternative to Adobe Stock with 140+ million image and video collections. People mostly use Dreamstime for personal and commercial uses. The platform also allows purchasing picture copyrights. It provides free materials weekly. It allows finding geographical locations through the photo map options.
Dreamstime is accessible in iOS and Android mobile versions. If you are a registered member, it gives access to images without watermarks. It has flexible and multiple subscription plans from small 5 pictures to annual packages of 9000 files.
Get 15 images for a free trial
Pros |
Cons |
| ➕Flexible plans of subscriptions | ➖ Watermarks on files |
| ➕Wide variety of images and videos | ➖ Paid sponsored content |
7. 123RF
The best platform for reliable service
Pricing: $30/month; $269/annual (10 image/ month)
Platform: Windows/ Mac/ iOS
123RF is one of the best tools for stock photos with affordable plans. It provides around 10 million image collections. It provides a wide range of image collections as ready-to-download images. Even though it is known for images, 123RF also provides vectors, illustrations, music files, etc.
As the website allows easy navigation, it can be considered a user-friendly tool. It has a Google Add-on feature, allowing to find images in google docs. It also allows free photo editing. It also has a search engine tool with advanced functions. These features of 123RF make the tool impressive to the designers and creators.
Visit our site and explore the collections
Pros |
Cons |
| ➕100% money-back guarantee | ➖ Limited filters |
| ➕Low subscription price | |
| ➕Easy navigation |
8. Depositphotos
The best platform with a thematic collection
Pricing: Flexible- $9.99/month (10 images/ month)
Platforms: Windows/ Mac
Depositphotos have a great thematic collection of stock photography which helps people to find consistent themes and images. The collection of 60 million images is one of the highlight features of Depositphotos. It has advanced search filters to find exactly what you need for your high-quality projects. Depositphotos allows searching through pictures that are being added weekly.
Depositphotos is a tool that provides high-quality vectors, illustrations, music, and royalty-free images. All contents are divided into various categories which help in searching the materials. Depositphotos allows easy navigation to the trending media.
Try our New Flexible Plan for $9.99/monthly
Pros |
Cons |
| ➕High-quality images | ➖ Lacks image uniqueness |
| ➕Multiple subscription plans |
9. Storyblocks
The best video subscription platform
Pricing: $15 per user per month
Platform: Windows
Storyblocks is the best platform for providing videos with subscriptions. Along with the videos, you can also easily edit these videos with a video editor. It is mostly preferred for commercial uses. It allows access to unlimited assets such as videos, audio, royalty-free images, animated backgrounds, and aftereffects.
Storyblocks has a library of music, HD and 4K stock footage, vectors, loops, and sound effects which enables the creators to create professional video projects. It provides a great image and video quality with good customer support.
Have a look at the fresh library of music in Storyblocks.
Pros |
Cons |
| ➕Easy license | ➖ Affordable pricing |
| ➕ Unlimited downloads | ➖ Low quality in free images |
10. Freepik
The best platform for vectors
Pricing: $14.99/month (Free version available)
Platforms: Windows/ Mac
Freepik is one of the best platforms for designers who are in search of good collections of vectors, featuring a plethora of choices. It is a search engine that has a bank of images helping the users to find the best one for their purpose. It has a wide range of designs for illustrations, PSD files, and great images. Overall it gives access to 21 million free graphic resources.
The tool is efficient in creating flyers, business cards, and social media posts for marketing campaigns. Not only for designers, but Freepik is a cool site for contributors to explore their creative skills.
Download free resources to design images through Freepik.
Pros |
Cons |
| ➕Great image quality | ➖ App permission issues |
| ➕Beneficial free version | ➖ Limitations for non-registered users |
11. Vecteezy
The best platform for value-packed bundles
Are you in search of a platform providing both vectors and images? If yes, then Vecteezy is also a great pick for you. It is a platform beneficial for designers, creators, bloggers, and other professionals providing high-quality resources.
You will get both free and premium resources including stock photos, vectors, and video footage. Since the platform supports the work in multiple formats, you can easily edit and use it anywhere. In the case of pro subscribers, Vecteezy will provide great bundles of content that you may download each week.
Pros |
Cons |
| ➕ Lots of free contents | ➖ Requires attribution for free resources |
| ➕Allows unlimited downloads for pro subscribers |
Frequently Asked Questions
Which tools are best for high-resolution images?
Shutterstock, iStock, and Pixabay are some of the tools with high-resolution images.
What are the factors to be considered while searching for an adobe stock alternative?
The basic to advanced features such as HD images, videos, vectors, illustrations, and editing options are the factors to be considered. The chosen tool should be user-friendly at an affordable price.
Why should I choose Pixabay?
Pixabay can be considered a good alternative for adobe. It provides high-quality videos, audio, vectors, etc. It also allows to edit and modify images as per the user’s interest.
Which adobe alternative is best in vectors?
Freepik, Shutterstock, and iStock are the alternatives for Adobe Stock which is best for vectors.
Best Adobe Stock Alternatives Summary
Visuals often convey the expression of the creative context. So it’s necessary to have tools or software which will help add life to your projects. As an alternative, every tool is unique and different from the other. These 10 alternatives can replace Adobe Stock in various features such as HD images, vectors, illustrations, etc.
I hope this blog helped you to find the best Adobe Stock alternative for your creative work. So take your time and find the best alternative which suits you.
You can also visit and explore our blog on alternatives to Adobe Creative Cloud.