Shutterstock Subscription-based Stock Photos and Illustration

Shutterstock’s Fee Structure

Unlike many stock sites that offer “pay per photo” service, Shutterstock operates on a monthly to yearly subscription basis, with savings given to longer plans. Each plan includes up to 25 downloads per day, which comes out to an average of 750 downloads per month, at the following costs:

• 1 Month - $199
• 3 Months - $559
• 6 Months - $1059
• 1 Year - $1999

This structure makes Shutterstock ideal for design firms with several employees purchasing stock for any number of projects, or for individuals using a great deal of stock photography in their everyday work. Designers who intend to purchase only a few images per day or month would be better suited using a service such as iStock Photo, which offers a collection of similar quality on a per-photo basis.

Shutterstock’s Photo and Illustration Collection

Shutterstock boasts an extremely large collection (over two million images) of photos, illustration and vector art. A great deal of the photos are not the same style of high-end stock sites that feature the “model shoot” look, often at several hundred dollars per photo. However, some searching will find great, comparable images all included in the monthly fee. The collection is also great for photographic elements, modern illustration work, and background imagery for graphic design projects. The clean interface of the Shutterstock website offers quick searching and easy browsing by category.