Website | elements.envato.com |
Templates | 66,000 |
Audio | 740,000 |
Videos | 3.5 million |
Photos | 6.2 million |
3D Templates | 150,000 |
Licensing | Royalty-free |
Price | $16.50/month |
Free Trial | Yes |
Alternatives | Motion Array |
Pros | ✔ Big collection of assets ✔ Simple pricing ✔ Easy to use website ✔ Unlimited downloads ✔ One license |
Cons | ✘ You can’t use assets for new projects after unsubscribing ✘ No free trial |
As a video editor, I’m used to spending time sourcing stock video, music, and motion graphics from different sources. Obviously, the main problem is this not only takes a lot of time but can also be costly and a bit of a pain.
Envato Elements is a stock media platform with one simple license all under one roof. It has digital assets for all kinds of creators, from filmmakers to graphic designers.
In this review, I’ll test out Envato Elements by looking at stock media quality, pricing, features, and website ease of use to see if it’s the right choice for you.
Get Envato Elements today for only $16.50/month. Choose from 11+ million creative assets and spice up your edit. 🙌
What is Envato Elements?
Envato Elements started with Envato, which was formed in Melbourne in 2006. It’s one of the biggest marketplaces for digital assets in the world.
They own a variety of popular websites like VideoHive, PhotoDune, AudioJungle, and GraphicRiver. All these sites come together to form the Envato Market, where you individually pay for every asset.
It’s a powerhouse of stock media content with 11+ million creative assets. Choose from a wide range of high-quality stock videos, video templates, music, and sound effects. You can get all this for a single monthly subscription fee.
Who is Envato Elements for?
Pretty much anyone, from filmmakers and editors like me to graphic designers and animators. It’s a marketplace for creators, helping you create professional work within a small budget and tight timeframe.
Also, the media is supplied by a global community of independent creators. Whenever assets are downloaded from Envato Elements, the original authors earn money from those downloads.
So you can feel good knowing you’re supporting fellow creators.
What’s Included?
Envato Elements has a wide range of assets, from stock video and sound effects to graphics templates and fonts. But for now, we’ll focus on what’s most useful for editors.
Stock Video
Need an establishing drone shot for your opener? No worries. Choose from over 3.5 million stock videos. Narrow down your searches with the easy-to-use filters and dropdown menus. Search by keywords, duration, frame rate, and resolution to find the clip you need in no time.
Also, there are overlays and transitions available with alpha channels and even lopped versions.
Video Templates
Motion graphics can take a lot of time to create from scratch (trust me, I know). Even after a ton of effort, you still might not be satisfied. With Envato Elements, you can experiment with 66,000 editable video templates to add that professional look to your project in no time.
Choose from a range of editable video templates, from openers and logos stings to infographics. Then, you can Import them directly into Premiere Pro, After Effects, Davinci, Final Cut Pro, and Apple Motion.
Music
As all editors know, quality music is important. For this reason, you just can’t rest until you find the right track for your project. Luckily, Envato Elements makes this super easy.
The music section allows you to search by genre, mood, length, tempo, and instrument. Also, they have a similar track feature, which is super helpful.
So, with over 139,000 tracks available, including logo and ident intros, you’ll be able to find something for your edit. Plus a lot of the tracks are loopable which is always handy.
Sound Effects
As an editor, I can tell you that sound is 50% of the experience when it comes to storytelling. Need footsteps walking up a wooden staircase for a short film? No worries; with over 609,000 royalty-free sound effects, you’ll find something.
The sound effects section has everything from basic foley and transitions to futuristic or cartoony sounds. You name it, and it’s all there, and they are all loopable.
How Does It Work?
It’s clear that Envato Elements is designed to be as easy and user-friendly as possible.
Here are a few quick steps to get started:
- Click on the link at the top and go to the Envato Elements pricing page.
- Select a subscription plan and click on the button at the bottom that says “Start Now”
- Fill in your Name, Email Username, and Password
- Fill in your Billing Information
- You will be sent an email to verify the account
- Sign in with your username and password. That’s it; you’re ready to get started.
- Choose from the main menu, e.g., Stock Video, Video Templates, Music, or Sound Effects.
- Use the filters to find exactly what you want.
- Download and drop them straight into your project!
Features
Let’s now take a look at some of the best and most interesting features of Envato Elements. These will help you better understand what’s included and how to get the most out of the site.
How-To Tutorials
Envato Elements not only provides ready-to-go assets, but they also show you new ways to create. It’s called envatotuts+. Here, they offer simple step-by-step instructions with videos on how to make effects yourself.
High-Quality Stock Media
No matter what type of project you’re working on, Envato has you covered with a whole ecosystem of quality, hand-picked assets by creative professionals.
Unlimited Downloads
With unlimited downloads and access to 11+ million assets, it makes things super easy if you’re a video editor or content creator.
Ease of Use
The site is designed to get you what you need quickly and easily, thanks to the filter menus. You can also select from Popular options or even see what’s Trending, which can speed up the search process even more.
Simple Licensing
As every editor knows, there’s nothing like peace of mind when using royalty-free media. Luckily, Envato Elements has a global license that covers every project worldwide. It’s designed to make it as easy as possible so you can focus on creating.
Social Media Packages
Another nice feature worth mentioning is their social media template packages. Editing Story and Post templates has never been this simple. You can really make your content stand out with so many themes to choose from.
Workflow
In this section, we’ll quickly show you how to get started adding effects to your edit. Let’s say you wanted to add a cool film burn transition to a car drifting shot in the night. Here’s an example of the workflow:
- Go to the Stock Video section using the top menu and search ‘Car Drifting’. Find a clip and click download.
- Envato asks you which project you’re using the asset for.
- Click Add to Project & Download and save the video clip to your computer (you are now licensed to use this asset in that project).
- Go back to the Stock Video section and search ‘Film burn’.
- ‘Add to Project & Download’, then save the video clip to your computer
- Bring both clips into a video editing program of your choice. For this example, we’re using Premiere Pro.
7. Layer the film burn video on top of your car drifting clip.
8. Make sure the Film Burn video layer is selected, and under Effect Controls, choose Overlay in your Blend Mode options. This will allow the flares to reveal your shot underneath.
9. Playback video and tweak the top layer until the timing looks right. That’s it!
Want to step it up a bit? Try adding some screeching tires or dessert wind for professional sound design. Just go to the Sound Effects section from the top menu and search “screeching tires”. Download the audio clip and drop it into your timeline.
Pricing
Luckily, Envato Elements keeps pricing nice and easy. The options are either a monthly or annual subscription (all-inclusive). What’s great is that you have the freedom to cancel at any time with all of them.
Here is a quick breakdown of what’s included to help you make a decision on which is the most suitable for you.
Student (30% off) | Individual Monthly Plan | Individual Annual Plan | Teams (save up to 34%) | Enterprise | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Price | $11.50/month | $16.50/month | $138/year ($11.50/month) | $10.75/month (per member) | Custom |
Access to all assets | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Unlimited downloads | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Simple commercial licensing | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Cancel any time | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Scale & change members at any time | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ |
Licensing
Great news. As an Envato subscriber, you can download anything on the site and use it for personal or commercial use. It’s under one simple license.
The only thing you have to remember is that the use of assets is licensed on a project-to-project basis. So basically, that asset can only be used for the project folder you created and not multiple ones.
Also, if you unsubscribe, you can no longer use items from Envato Elements. However, any existing uses that you registered are still covered.
When using music for YouTube, you might receive a copyright notice. But don’t worry, as the license Envato Elements gives you is sufficient to clear the claim.
Is Envato Elements Worth it or Not?
In short, Yes. It’s easy to navigate, has a no-risk monthly subscription, and offers unlimited downloads. So, if you’re trying to make money off video content, then this is a great investment.
The only drawbacks are, as mentioned, that you can’t use an asset for multiple projects, and you have to license them individually. Also, it would be great if there was a free trial.
FAQ
Yes, it’s completely safe. The site is used by top companies and filmmakers around the world.
No limits apply to downloads! How amazing is that? Envato Elements is an unlimited download subscription, meaning that you are free to download as many items as you like.
No. Although Envato Elements and Envato Market stock similar content, some items are unique to either platform. So, some items are on both, some are only available on Envato Elements, and others are only available on Envato Market.
Yes, you can cancel or upgrade your Envato Elements subscription at any time. If you cancel your subscription, you will have access to Envato Elements until the day your next subscription payment was due to be billed.