The two top stock picture companies for images, vectors, and illustrations are Shutterstock and Adobe Stock. They have one of the greatest selections of stock photos as well as many high-quality films. Shutterstock and Adobe Stock primarily differ in the price for subscription plans, with Shutterstock being preferable for on-demand purchasing. Shutterstock is better for business purposes due to reduced prices, however, Adobe Stock is better for graphic creators due to Creative Cloud integration. The leading two companies in this field, Shutterstock vs Adobe Stock, should be compared if you’re a designer looking for the greatest stock photography for your project.
Quick overview, comparing Shutterstock vs Adobe Stock
Shutterstock is ideal for freelancers and those looking for low-cost images to use as a cutout or base for a more heavily edited image.
Adobe Stock is ideal for designers and agencies seeking high-quality, complete images that require little additional editing, or for high-end concepts created in Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop.
Why is Shutterstock better
Subscriptions cost less money. Due to the annual prepaid plan’s additional 20% discount, Shutterstock memberships are less expensive than Adobe Stock. Annual and monthly subscriptions are similarly priced when compared to one another. It’s also important to keep in mind that Shutterstock offers 10 downloads for the same price as Adobe Stock’s cheapest monthly plan, which only allows for 3 downloads for $29 per month.
More content. Shutterstock is the greatest collection of stock photos, with 396 million images available right now. Since Shutterstock uploads more than 700,000 assets each week, there is less possibility of running out of new content when there are more images available.
Outstanding customer service. Fast and friendly customer assistance is a significant benefit, whether you’re having problems with your payment, can’t download photographs, or want a refund. The same customer service options are provided by Shutterstock and Adobe Stock (live chat, phone, email), however, Shutterstock is much more accommodating and quick to answer.
Promo codes and coupons. Shutterstock regularly provides promotional codes that provide at least a 10% discount on all orders (except the Enhanced License). The already affordable rate of $0.22 per image can be lowered to $0.198 by using these codes. However, you can get seasonal discounts or a student discount from Adobe Stock, which never provides coupons or promo codes.
Downloads of music are limitless. Recently, Shutterstock unveiled a $16.58–$69 per month unlimited music download membership. This membership is significantly less expensive if you download a lot of soundtracks than purchasing each one separately from Shutterstock for $49 or using subscriptions from Adobe Stock.
Why is Adobe Stock better
Integration with the Creative Cloud. For those who are not familiar, Creative Cloud is a collection of Adobe apps that you may use with subscriptions. You have the option of subscribing to all apps at once or just one. You may browse all assets (images, movies, music, 3D, templates, etc.) from the majority of apps, including Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere, thanks to Adobe Stock, which is a component of Creative Cloud. You don’t have to browse Adobe Stock in your browser and then import downloads, which saves time and money. Instead, you access Adobe Stock via a window in one of your apps.
Premium images. Generic stock images aren’t always sufficient, especially when superior quality and value are needed. For this use, Adobe Stock provides a selection of high-quality pictures with an Enhanced License and a price tag of up to $120. While premium photographs are unavailable at Shutterstock, you can purchase them with credit. You must visit Offset, Shutterstock’s other stock picture site that exclusively sells premium images, to purchase them. Compared to Adobe Stock, where you may use credits to download any item under any license, this is incredibly impractical.
Subscriptions with more options. While Adobe Stock allows users to download all standard assets, including standard pictures, vectors, drawings, templates, 3D, and music tracks, Shutterstock has different subscriptions for each type of content. Due to the fact that you only need to purchase one membership rather than multiple ones like at Shutterstock, this alone provides flexibility.
Better trial offer. The most generous free trial term of any stock agency is offered by Adobe Stock; at that time, you can obtain 10, 25, or even 40 royalty-free standard assets (Standard License). You also get to keep the assets even if you cancel the trial. Other stock agencies, on the other hand, permit you to download 10 stock photos during a 7–30 day window.
More adaptable on demand. The more adaptable on-demand purchasing options offered by Adobe Stock over Shutterstock are one of its main advantages. With Adobe Stock, you may purchase each asset with credits as opposed to having to purchase a new package for each type of material (there are 18 video packages, for example) with Shutterstock. Credit Packs, which you may purchase in bulk for an additional 20% off, are necessary to purchase credits in advance.
Shutterstock vs Adobe Stock: Pricing Comparison
Both Adobe Stock and Shutterstock provide two primary methods for licensing photos: monthly subscriptions that permit a predetermined amount of downloads each month or on-demand, adaptable packs, both of which are available for standard photos with a royalty-free license.
Additionally, there are extended or improved licenses that can be combined in various ways. See the licensing section after this one for more information.
Subscription Plans
The subscription options only permit downloads of common images. You’ll need to purchase an on-demand pack if you want to be enhanced or extended licensing.
Annual Subscriptions
The least expensive option to license an image is through an annual subscription, which binds you to a contract for one year and allows for a certain amount of monthly image downloads.
When comparing a Shutterstock annual subscription to a monthly plan, the annual plan offers roughly two months of the year for free. This is comparable to the yearly and monthly options for Adobe Stock.
When comparing a Shutterstock subscription to an Adobe Stock subscription, it’s important to note that Adobe Stock permits 36, 120, and 480 image credit rollovers per month for the 3, 10, and 40 image subscriptions, respectively, while Shutterstock does not allow any unused credits to be carried over from month to month.
Additionally, Adobe Stock enables you to buy extra photographs above the monthly cap of your plan for the same price per image that you would typically pay on your plan.
On an annual plan, the price per image for Adobe Stock ranges from $0.26 to $2.99.
On an annual plan, Shutterstock’s price per image ranges from $0.22 to $2.90.
Monthly Subscriptions
Monthly subscriptions provide the advantage of a reduced cost per image but also allow you to cancel your subscription at any time and without incurring any further obligations.
If there is no interruption in your membership, you can roll over any unused picture downloads from month to month, just like with annual subscriptions, up to a specific maximum. Additionally, Adobe enables you to purchase extra photographs at your per-image plan cost.
The monthly cost of an Adobe Stock plan ranges from $0.33 to $9.99 per image.
The monthly plan price for Shutterstock ranges from $0.33 to $4.90 per image.
On-Demand Plans
The on-demand options are ideal for people who just occasionally need stock photographs since they provide more flexibility than a monthly subscription, even though they cost more per image.
They also provide you access to music and videos that aren’t included in subscription plans, along with upgraded and extended image licenses.
On-demand packs from Shutterstock let you download a predetermined quantity of pictures, whereas FLEX 25 bundles let you download a variety of pictures, songs, and movies.
Adobe’s on-demand packs allow you credits that can be exchanged for different media; for example, regular photos cost one credit while 4K films cost between eight and twenty credits. You have more flexibility in this way, but the process is more challenging.
FAQ
For the majority of clients, particularly those who require stock photographs with subscriptions, Shutterstock is superior to Adobe Stock. Shutterstock, unlike Adobe Stock, provides annual prepaid subscriptions for an additional 20% savings. For editorial photos, Shutterstock is also superior to Adobe Stock.
When using Adobe’s products, graphic designers will prefer Adobe Stock to Shutterstock. Popular programs including Photoshop, Premiere, and Illustrator, as well as Adobe Stock, are fully integrated into Creative Cloud. Creatives can now easily and affordably access all resources thanks to this.
Shutterstock vs Adobe Stock: Final thoughts
The crucial difference between Shutterstock and Adobe Stock is that while Adobe Stock is great for graphic artists, Shutterstock is better for users who merely need stock photographs. Nevertheless, they are the top two stock photo sites, and if you want to get high-quality and reasonably priced stock photos, you can’t go wrong with either one.
For the majority of customers, especially those who require stock pictures with subscriptions, Shutterstock is better suited. For graphic designers and individuals who require on-demand downloads, Adobe Stock is preferable.
