| Website | stock.adobe.com |
| Photos | 206 million |
| Videos | 25 million |
| Audio | 71,524 |
| Templates | 85,022 |
| Price | $19.99/month |
| Licensing | Royalty-free |
| Free Trial | Yes (10 free images) |
| Alternatives | Shutterstock & iStock |
| Pros | ✔ Available within Adobe Creative Cloud ✔ Standard and premium visuals ✔ High quality ✔ Free assets |
| Cons | ✘ Pricey compared to other stock marketplaces ✘ Downloads are limited |
Adobe Stock is a creative marketplace that offers anything from photos and videos to plugins. It’s also fully integrated into the Creative Cloud platform.
In this review, I’ll test Adobe Stock by looking at stock media quality, pricing, and website features.
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What is Adobe Stock?
Adobe Stock is a stock photo website that started in 2015 when they purchased Fotolia. You can explore and choose from high-resolution assets to use in your creative projects, including photos, footage, vectors, Illustrations, and music.
Also, Adobe Stock offers 1+ million free images that you can download. These images are licensed under a standard license.
Who is Adobe Stock for?
Anyone working on a project who wants to make an impact with high-quality assets can use Adobe Stock, whether you’re a filmmaker, photographer, designer, or content creator.
How does it work?
Using Adobe Stock is pretty easy. Here are six simple steps to find, purchase, and download assets.
- Click on the button at the top to visit the homepage
- Type into the search bar or select a category.
- Browse the search results and find something you like
- Buy a subscription or credit pack.
- Download the file.
- Drop it into your project, and you’re done!
Also, if you’re already using Adobe Creative Cloud, you can edit and preview watermarked assets inside apps like Photoshop. However, you don’t need to be a Creative Cloud member to use Adobe Stock, as it’s a separate service.
Features
There are a few different features I like, but here are the main ones. Firstly, Adobe Stock has over 300 million stock assets, including photos, footage, illustrations, and music. They are known for their variety, which allows you to find good content on unusual or special topics.
Secondly, once you pay for the license, you can use the creative asset on a royalty-free basis permanently. This will help you avoid copyright issues.
Lastly, as an editor, my favorite feature that gives them an edge over other stock marketplaces is the integration with Creative Cloud apps. Every asset you download is stored in your account, even fonts and audio files.
Pricing
Adobe Stock keeps pricing nice and simple. It offers either credit packs or subscriptions so that you can choose one that fits your usage. In addition, it also offers individual pricing for freelancers or team pricing for businesses.
Subscriptions
Adobe Stock only offered credit packs before, so it’s nice to see them match other stock marketplaces with fixed subscriptions.
If you need media on a regular basis, a monthly or annual subscription may be best for you. An annual subscription will provide bigger savings per image compared to a monthly subscription.
| Number of standard creative assets | Monthly | Annual | Teams |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 standard assets (or 1 video) | $49.99/month | $29.99/month | $29.99/month |
| 25 standard assets (or 3 videos) | $69.99/month | $49.99/month | – |
| 40 standard assets (or 6 videos) | $99.99/month | $79.99/month | $79.99/month |
| 750 standard assets (or 25 videos) | $249.99/month | $199.99/month | $199.99/month |
They don’t offer unlimited downloads; however, if you haven’t used all of your assets within the month, you can roll them over into the next month.
Also, once you cancel your subscription, you don’t lose the license rights for the media that you have already downloaded.
Credit packs
If you only want a few assets per month or access premium content like videos, then an on-demand credit pack may be the best option for you.
| Number of credits | Individual | Teams |
|---|---|---|
| 5 credits | $49.95 ($9.99/credit) | $49.95 ($9.99/credit) |
| 16 credits | $149.99 ($9.37/credit) | $149.99 ($9.37/credit) |
| 40 credits | $359.99 ($8.99/credit) | $359.99 ($8.99/credit) |
| 80 credits | $669.99 ($8.37/credit) | $669.99 ($8.37/credit) |
| 150 credits | $1,200.00 ($8.00/credit) | $1,200.00 ($8.00/credit) |
Each different type of asset costs a different number of credits. For example:
| Media | Credits |
|---|---|
| Standard images, templates, and music tracks | 1 |
| Videos (HD, 4K) | 8-20 |
| Premium images (photos, vectors, illustrations) | 12-50 |
| Premium templates (Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign) | 2-4 |
| Premium 3D (Models, Lights, Materials) | 2-10 |
Basically, if you purchase a larger number of credits, you benefit from bigger savings as the price per credit drops.
Free trial
You’ll be pleased to hear Adobe Stock is still offering a 30-day free trial. The trial allows you to download up to 10 standard assets during that month. That’s not bad.
Licensing
For peace of mind, Adobe Stock provides permanent royalty-free licenses on all of its media. This means that you pay for the asset once rather than paying a royalty for each usage. The usage terms depend on the type of license. Please see my quick breakdown below.
| Use | Standard | Enhanced | Extended |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unlimited web views | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Email marketing, advertising, social media, broadcasts | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Modify the asset | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Transfer the license | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Reproduction | 500k | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Is Stock Review worth it or not?
In short, Yes. In my opinion, Adobe Stock provides access to millions of high-quality creative assets. It’s essentially a one-stop shop for all kinds of creative assets.
The only downside is it can be pricey compared to other stock sites available, also they don’t offer unlimited downloads with subscriptions.
