Who wouldn’t want to earn money by selling their photos online? Let’s take a look at how and where you can start to sell stock photos.
Over 48% of the world’s population owns a smartphone, which means that essentially the same number of people now have access to the Internet.
The Internet has made communication easier than ever before, united the whole world, and created the archetype of the information exchange.
The Internet has also made it easier than ever for photographers all over the world to not only share but also make money from selling photos online. Thanks to tools like WordPress, which now powers 37.8% of all websites, you can easily create your own photography website and start selling your photos online.
In the table below you can find a summary of the places that allow you to sell your photos online, alongside their respective commission payouts!
| Website | Commission Payout % | Review | Source |
| 🏆 Editor’s Choice: Modula + WooCommerce | 100% | Read review | |
| Adobe Stock | 33% | Read review | See source |
| Shutterstock | 15-40% | Read review | See source |
| 500PX | 60% | Read review | See source |
| Foap | 50% | Read review | See source |
| Alamy | 40-50% | Read review | See source |
| iStock Photo | 15-45% | Read review | See source |
| Stocksy | 50-75% | Read review | See source |
| Getty Images | 15-20% | Read review | See source |
| Can Stock Photo | 50% | Read review | See source |
| FreeDigitalPhotos.net | 70% | Read review | See source |
| PhotoDune | varies | Read review | See source |
| Twenty20 | varies | Read review | See source |
| DepositPhotos | 34-42% | Read review | See source |
| Dreamstime | 25-60% | Read review | See source |
| GL Stock Images | 40% | Read review | See source |
| Image Vortex | 70% | Read review | See source |
| EyeEm | 50% | Read review | See source |
| 123RF | 30-60% | Read review | See source |
| 🏆 Our winner in a nutshell | |||
| 🔖 Summary of the article |
Best Places to Sell Your Photos Online
Without further ado, let’s jump straight to it, starting with a top of the paying commissions!
1. Selling photos on your own website with WP Modula
I think it’s best to start with our personal favorite – WordPress (the self-hosted version). WordPress is a great option for photographers that are confident that they want to retain control over their own images and brand.
With the repository housing around 55,500 plugins, it’s easier than ever to set up a store to sell stock photos without sacrificing the prestige of your brand by selling on other websites.
Although some might argue that it takes far too long to set a website up with WordPress, most will find that it is really easy and quick to get started, and even for those who do find it difficult, it’s definitely worth it in the end.
Selling photos online, on your own website, might be more difficult unless you are already fairly well-known and have built up a community around your work.
Most big businesses and individuals will prefer to purchase images on stock photography websites which they know is 100% reliable and secure.
But the advantages of selling your work on your own website are:
- You can set your own competitive prices.
- Nobody else takes a cut from the sale of your work.
- You have full control over how your work is displayed.
- You can define your own terms and conditions.
- And, once again – you’re in full, total control.
The great news is that this can be easily done with Modula. Here’s how:
Step 1: Install Modula plugin and Create a Gallery
First, you need to navigate to Plugins > Add New and search for WP Modula Gallery in the WordPress repository.
Once you install the Modula gallery plugin, make sure that you also activated it by clicking on the blue button highlighted below!
Once Modula is both installed and activated, you can hover over the Modula WordPress Admin menu item and click Add New to create your first gallery in WordPress!
On the following screen, you can immediately start uploading images to your WordPress gallery and modifying the settings of your gallery.
Using descriptive names will help you make modifications to this gallery even when you have multiple galleries in your freelance photography portfolio.
Be sure to use a descriptive title that will help you find the gallery later – in this case, we opted to go with something factually accurate 😉
After choosing the images that you want to add to your Modula WordPress gallery, do not forget to click Add to gallery as this is surprisingly easy to do when you get caught up having fun using Modula 😀
After clicking Add to gallery you will notice your images in the gallery edit area, as shown below:
We’ve designed this area to be extremely user-friendly and easy-to-use regardless of your experience with WordPress. Particularly, thanks to our drag-and-drop interface, rearranging images is as easy as clicking and dragging them around!
Publishing and inserting your gallery
Now that you have what you have some eye-catching images in your galleries (and we do too!) – go ahead and click Save gallery.
Once you have published your gallery, the gallery shortcode will be placed in the gallery edit area as shown below. You also have the option to copy the Gallery link if you wish to publish a link to the WP Modula Gallery.
The next step is to actually insert your gallery into the WordPress posts and pages where you want them to appear. This is really as easy as copying and pasting the shortcode wherever you’d like it to appear.
However, you can alternatively also use Modula’s Gutenberg block to insert galleries – which is also very easy to do.
Inserting Modula Galleries into Posts using the Gutenberg Block
Simply type /modula to insert the Gutenberg block and then select your gallery from the dropdown.
Or, alternatively, click the Modula icon (shown below) and then also proceed to select the gallery you wish to insert using the dropdown shown above.
Customising your gallery!
We did our best to make Modula the most user-friendly gallery plugin available. It is extremely easy for both beginners and intermediate users to take advantage of advanced functionality which was previously unthinkable.
If you crave even more functionality juice out of Modula for your WordPress.org website builder, can find more about the Elementor Widget in our dedicated article.
After purchasing a license of Modula, all of our users receive a series of emails that take you through how to take full advantage of Modula’s settings – to get started, click here.
Step 2: Install WooCommerce and Create a Product
Once you’ve created the gallery, install the WooCommerce plugin and activate it. You’ll need to go through the setup process and configure your store’s address, currency, payment gateway, and allow the plugin to create the necessary pages.
After WooCommerce has been configured, click on Products > Add New. Enter the name for your product and then tick the boxes next to Virtual and Downloadable.
The next step is to click on Add File. You’ll then be able to enter the name and the URL for your Modula gallery that you’ve created earlier.
Be sure to fill out the product description and add the photos so visitors can see which photos are included in the bundle.
Otherwise – if you’d like all of your photos to be sold separately you can create multiple products for each image (by clicking Add File).
Then, when editing your Modula gallery in WordPress, you can hide the edit button on any of the images, scroll down to the URL section and paste in the URL to the specific product that you’ve just created with WooCommerce.
When you’re done entering all the product details, click on Publish and your visitors will now be able to buy your photos from your website.
2. Adobe Stock
Adobe Stock has the credibility of being the makers of the most popular photo editing software on the market, and also any photos that are uploaded to the marketplace are easily accessible in other Adobe products.
This increases the visibility of your work as it can become easily accessible from within their Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop or Illustrator software.
The freedom you are given when you start selling stock photos on Adobe Stock is incredible.
You can even sell your photos elsewhere since Adobe Stock does not require that you give them exclusive selling rights. And above all, profits are usually 33%.
If you think what you have as it takes as a photographer, don’t hold back. It’s time to turn your passion into profit.
Just as you’d hope, setting up an account as an Adobe Stock contributor is just as easy as logging in with your existing Adobe ID or creating a new one.
The only disadvantage of joining the Adobe Stock network as a contributor is that you will be competing with some of the world’s most talented photographers. This means it’s going to require a lot of hard work to get people to pay attention to your creative work.
Adobe Stock Advantages
– Adobe has a great reputation in the media industry so you know you’re in good hands.
– Great support from their team when you need it.
– Trusted & used by professionals.
Adobe Stock Disadvantages
– Lots of competition which makes it hard to get attention.
– No audio-only submissions allowed.
3. Shutterstock
Shutterstock is the most popular stock photography website and has been for over 15 years. They not only have millions of images but also have videos, music tracks that and most importantly millions of purchasing customers.
According to their website over $500 million in payouts to their contributors have been fulfilled. This means, as a creator, you can earn a significant amount of money by selling your images on the Shutterstock marketplace in the long run.
On top of that, Shutterstock allows you to retain the copyright of your images which means you do still get some control. Furthermore, they also provide credit to the image’s owners, which is a huge benefit if you’re trying to build a brand around your creative work.
Contributors can earn anywhere between 15-40% based on how many times your content has been downloaded by their customers at the end of each month.
The fact that Shutterstock is quite well known in the industry might not necessarily be a good thing. Stock photography sites that are quite popular are notorious for making it more difficult for new, aspiring photographers to actually make some money.
Publishing and selling your work on the Shutterstock marketplace does not limit you to exclusively selling through their network – so it’s definitely still worth giving it a try…
Shutterstock Advantages
– By far the most popular paid stock photography site so if your work is good, the chances are some people will find it.
– Getting started isn’t very complicated.
– Trusted & used by professionals.
Shutterstock Disadvantages
– You don’t own your brand and the way your photos are distributed so nobody will “discover” you as a photographer.
4. 500px
Whether your equipment consists of a top of the line DSLR camera or the latest smartphone, 500px is worth checking out.
Even if you only sign up for the free subscription, you will be able to license and monetize your photos in their community with over 13 million members and growing.
The paid membership plans include such perks as advertising your services so you can find more opportunities to make money and an Adobe CC plan.
For smartphone users, 500px has an Android and iPhone app so you can snap pictures and upload them on the go.
You’ll be pleased to hear that getting started with 500px is as easy as logging into Gmail. Once you’ve created an account with them you’ll immediately be able to start uploading and sharing your work to make some money!
500px Advantages
– 500px is also very popular & has a great reputation in the media industry.
– You can build up a profile with your work.
– Getting started is very easy.
– Trusted & used by professionals.
500px Disadvantages
– The free account is limited to 20 photos per week which might not be sufficient for some heavy users of the platform.
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5. Foap
Foap has been featured in ABC News as being a profitable app for photo selling. Users make 50% of the profits from it even when big brands, such as Sony and MasterCard buy their photos.
The way that it works is particularly interesting when compared to the other regular stock photography websites in the rest of this post. This website defines itself as a customized visual-content platform powered by creatives for creative professionals. But what does that actually mean?
As mentioned above, it really isn’t a regular stock photography website. The process looks like outlined below:
A brand looking for the perfect photo would turn to Foap and send them their brief which details the tone, aesthetics and target audience.
Photographers can then compete in what Foap interestingly calls Missions.
Submitting a photo or video to one of Foap’s missions is the easiest way to make the most money out of selling your creative work. All you need to do is produce a photo that matches that of the described Mission brief to satisfy the requirements and the kind of imagery that the brand is looking for. With Missions, just one photo has the potential to make hundreds of dollars.
Whether you’re a photographer or a company looking for photo or video content, Foap customer service representatives are available 24 hours a day, all year round.
Advantages
– The way the platform works is unique and tends to give photographers more opportunities to participate than other platforms.
– Allegedly used and trusted by some major brands such as Nivea, Volvo, and Heineken just to name a few.
Disadvantages
– The Foap platform isn’t as popular or as well-known as other stock photography websites which can make it more difficult to succeed.
6. Alamy
Alamy is another great place to start selling your stock photos online right away without subjecting yourself to any complicated rules. Although the Alamy network may not be as popular as Shutterstock and Adobe Stock which means it won’t have as many customers – it is certainly still worth considering.
At the time of writing, Alamy has made up to $180 million in payouts to their contributing photographers. One of the most well-known places for selling images because you make a surprising 40% on each sale…
Alamy provides a direct purchase option without using credits or subscriptions. They think users can buy Alamy stock images, not credits, so any photo purchases is done in US dollars, Euros and British pounds. With this direct purchasing rates are straightforward, licensing costs are easy to comprehend and consumers can buy whenever they need them.
Alamy Advantages
– Takes a lower cut so photographers can actually earn up to a suprising 50% on every sale.
– While Alamy may not be as popular as some other stock photography sites it has paid out over $100 million to their contributing photographers.
Alamy Disadvantages
– There isn’t much of a community aspect to the Alamy platform.
– Building up a profile that you can share isn’t really something that can be done.
– Photographers on Alamy don’t get much exposure.
7. iStock Photo (by Getty Images)
iStock Photo is another great place. They have resources that are geared towards helping photographers understand how to get started selling.
The service is owned and operated by Getty Images.
The commission you receive when someone downloads your photo starts at a mere 15% but can actually increase all the way to 45%.
This is, however, entirely dependent on the popularity of your profile and work on the website, and if a customer purchases one of your images as a part of their monthly (or yearly) subscription you can only receive 15% of the sale.
iStock Photo Advantages
– iStock Photo also has a great reputation and is a popular destination used by businesses and inndividuals looking for profesisional stock photography.
– Owned by Getty Images, you know that you’re in good hands and will get the support that you need as a photographer if your work stands out on their platform.
iStock Photo Disadvantages
– The process of joininng isn’t as easy as it is for some of the other stock photography websites that are listed in this post because the service is owned and controlled by Getty Images.
– iStock Photo’s regulations surrounding model releases, capturing photographs in certain places without permission are strict – and rightly so.
8. Stocksy
Although Stocksy was founded back in 2013, they aren’t that well-known when compared to popular alternatives such as Shutterstock and 500px – but we think you should consider them.
In my opinion, yes – you definitely should. They have a serious vetting process in place for their photographers which means that your chances of being accepted aren’t that high, but if you do this puts you at an advantage.
Wouldn’t you rather be a part of a stock photography network that prides itself on quality rather than just accepting every application they get?
Stocksy is thrilled to announce the reopening of Call to Artists for the first time in 2 years. At Stocksy, we are renowned for our co-op model, making artists co-owners in a business that pays the highest royalties in the industry (50-75%) and is dedicated to creative integrity.
Applications are open to anyone. We commonly look for artists with an eye for storytelling or who have complete bodies of work.
We’re currently seeking new international talent, with a focus on Southeast and East Asia, the Middle East, Australasia and Western Europe; as we look to represent and challenge traditional beauty ideals and stereotypes for a more inclusive world.
Here’s a snippet from their page for applications. In short, at the moment they’re looking for new international talent, and they’ve reopened the application process which they refer to as a “Call to Artists” for the first time in 2 years. Now’s the time to join!
Stocksy Advantages
– Premium network of photographers that they truly partner with to ensure quality.
– pays the highest royalties in the entire industry by far (50-75%) so they’re not taking a huge cut of your profits.
– is dedicated to creative integrity.
– easy to sell pictures online with them
Stocksy Disadvantages
– Joining isn’t easy especially if you miss the period where the “Call to Artists” is open.
9. Getty Images
Getty Images is one of the most popular names in the stock photo industry. With over 1.5 million customers in over 200 countries, your photos will be seen and used by a large audience around the world.
To join Getty Images, you’ll first need to download their mobile app and fill out the application. You’ll also need to submit 3-6 samples of your photos. Your application will then be reviewed and you’ll be notified if it’s been accepted. Getty Images offers between 15% and 20% commission for royalty-free photos.
You must be over 18 and can only submit original images, videos, diagrams or vectors to be a contributor. When your content has been accepted, you can opt to donate or license out your content. Exclusive images earn you money and you can track your earnings when a customer buys the rights to use your content. Getty images release a payout on every occasion when customers pick your content.
On average, your content is worth between $300 and $500 when Getty approves your submission. Getty charges you 20-30$ per month of the real value of the sales. There is no indication of how often photographs are sold. The prices adjust depending on how much consumers use their content and the type of license for which they apply.
Getty Images Advantages
– Very popular and known name in the industry
– Large audience
Getty Images Disadvantages
– Lower payout rates than some other sites on this list.
10. Can Stock Photo
Can Stock Photo has a simple and straightforward process for selling your photos. You’ll have to create an account, submit 3 photos and your application, and wait for their team to get back to you.
Once approved, you can start uploading images using their SpeedSubmit™ system. They offer a generous commission payout for single image purchases — you can get 50% commission for each image.
After some improvements were made to the submission process, it became easier, as you can now upload images via FTP. Approval waiting times are very fast. If you are lucky, you could get your content live within only a few hours.
The current contributor rates are 20% to 50% for Custom or Print Licenses, starting at $0.50 for credit download and starting at $0.25 per subscription download.
Can Stock Advantages
– Easy application process
– Generous commissions
Can Stock Disadvantages
– The site doesn’t seem to have features for creating robust user profiles
11. FreeDigitalPhotos.net
FreeDigitalPhotos.net offers a range of free and premium stock photos. Users on this platform can download a smaller version of your photo for free. However, they will need to provide attribution which does bring you credit and exposure. If they choose to download a large version of the photo, you can earn a 70% commission.
You are free to enter FreeDigitalPhotos.net, and you earn 70 percent of every transaction as a contributor. You will have a portfolio page of your own and the ability to monitor pricing at which your pictures are displayed in high resolution. Visit your FDP Registration page and follow your Free Account on the computer. Send 3 sample photos for analysis. If you have more than 500 photos ready to upload, you can request FTP access once you have accepted.
FreeDigitalPhotos.net Advantages
– You get a portfolio page
– Very high commissions for paid-for images – Easy application process
FreeDigitalPhotos.net Disadvantages
– Doesn’t have a very large audience yet
12. PhotoDune
PhotoDune is a fantastic website with many apps. The most important part is their ability to offer stock photographers a great financial incentive.
PhotoDune is a part of Envato Market. Once you join this marketplace, you’ll get in front of a large audience and be able to set your own prices for your photos. The commissions vary depending on whether you’ve decided to sell photos exclusively through PhotoDune or not.
Once you get your content approved and sold to potential customers, the minimum payout is $50 (or $500 for SWIFT Transfer). PhotoDune also offers a generous variety of options for releasing payouts, such as PayPal, Skrill, SWIFT and Payoneer.
In order to have your portfolio of images approved for a review, you need to upload at least 5 photographs either via the web interface or FTP.
PhotoDune Advantages
– Very popular and known website
– Large audience
PhotoDune Disadvantages
– Lower payout rates than some other sites on this list
13. Twenty20
Twenty20 started out as a website for Instagram photographers to sell their photos to brands and influencers. Since then, it has morphed into a stock photo site with more than 50 million crowd-sourced photos and 300,000 photographers all over the world.
Twenty20 uses a SubscriberShare commission model where you earn a share of the net revenue of each subscriber that buys your photo. In terms of payout, Twenty20 has one of the simplest models and pay off immediately instead of reaching a threshold. They also perform regular and free tasks to encourage you to upload your best images on topics. More sites should do that.
Twenty20 Advantages
– Potential for 100% of the earnings if a subscriber buys only your photos
– Easiest sign up process
Twenty20 Disadvantages
– Can take time to build up a profile if you’re just getting started
14. Depositphotos
Depositphotos is a well-known stock photographer and one of the market’s leading companies. With over a decade of excellent customer service, they offer a wide library of free photos from royalty and a wide range of prices for all budgets.
Depositphotos boasts over 149 million photos in their library and they pay based on your experience and status on the platform. Generally speaking, commissions range between 34–42%.
You’ll have to go through the application process and upload your b for examination. They will be reviewed within 7-10 business days and once approved, you’ll be able to start selling on the platform.
Depositphotos Advantages
– Generous commission
– Large audience – Portfolio page
Depositphotos Disadvantages
– Long application review process
15. Dreamstime
The stock photo agency Dreamstime has been active in the industry for almost 15 years. They have built a big reputation and are among the top companies in the space as one of the early players in the microstock business. They have an affordable price and quality of service and have a library of over 85 million free royalty pictures.
Dreamstime has a large audience of 29 million users worldwide. You can get your photos into the hands of an international audience. They offer a 60% commission for exclusive photos and between 25% and 60% for non-exclusive photos.
Dreamstime has some of the largest licensing options from any stock photo agency. This includes buying copyright for an image. The options of licensing include free, extended, published, and complete copyright.
What they did is divide the extended license into classes, unlimited seats, unlimited copies, print usage and web use and develop own code for each of the extended licenses. It is confusing but it clarifies exactly how they can use the images for the buyer (after their segments are studied).
Dreamstime Advantages
– Well-known stock photo website with global audience
– Community oriented – Generous commissions
Dreamstime Disadvantages
– They do require more commitment than other sites: you need to have at least 70% of your portfolio on their website for at least 6 months
16. GL Stock Images
GL Stock Images is a small library that includes photos and vectors only. It was launched in 2008 under the name Graphic Leftovers. The brand and website was upgraded in 2012 to GL Stock Images.
GL Stock Images allows you to choose your own license as well as set your own price. This agency operates on a “fair trade” policy. This web platform has been developed by design experts who contribute credit to their success. This is reflected in their payments to donors. The team wants to share the success of companies and to ensure fair payment for contributors. All GL contributors receive 40%, including extended permits, of each sale.
GL Stock Advantages
– Has generous commissions
– You can upload multiple files at once
GL Stock Disadvantages
– Photo upload limits are determined by your approval rating and GL reviewer rating
17. EyeEm
EyeEm stands out among other stock photo websites on this list because they seem to be more focused on advertising and promoting stock photos. They boast 50% commission and the signup process is easy and straightforward.
In order to get started with EyeEm, you only need to upload images, send/add templates, or property releases to the marketplace from the dashboard if appropriate, and your pictures will be available on EyeEm after a short review period.
Their premium pages, which are much higher volumes and more attractive prices, can be used for showcasing your work, depending on the style of the picture.
You will be informed every month once your images sell, and will be able to cash out your earnings via PayPal.
Advantages
– Partnership with Getty Images which puts your work in front of more people
– Generous commissions – Easy sign up process
Disadvantages
– Review process can take from a few days up to a couple of weeks
18. Image Vortex
Image Vortex is not as popular as other sites on this list but they do allow you to set your own prices and offer 70% commissions.
Advantages
– One of the sites with highest commissions on this list
Disadvantages
– Their website has a somewhat outdated design
19. 123RF
123RF is another popular stock photo platform. You’ll have to create an account and submit your photos for review. Once accepted, you can earn between 30-60% commissions and you don’t have to sign an exclusive agreement.
It has expanded its offer since its launch to include stock footage and inventory audio, adding more than 65 million photos and vectors to its collection. They also have a mobile application that allows you to search and create lightboxes and their website contains many advanced technological tools such as reverse image search and a free online photo editor.
With regard to this provider, we were pleased with an excellent FTP upload program, relatively short review hours, acceptable approval rates and the simplicity of the upload process that does not require picking image categories. For any sale and about $0.25 per subscription download, you get 30 percent royalty.
It provides not only stock photographers but also vector makers and video and audio developers a great opportunity. Great features include photo interviews, forums, and helpful tutorials for stock contributors. 123RF On-The-Go Mobile App was also released to allow you to upload and take your images straight from your smartphone.
123RF Advantages
– Global audience
– Generous commissions – Non-exclusive
123RF Disadvantage
– Review time dependant on the number of submissions in queue
🏆 Our winner in a nutshell: How to sell photos online and make money
If you want to sell photos online and make money, you have two options.
1. The winner solution: use a combination of Modula and WooCommerce
In our opinion, Modula paired with WooCommerce is the best option for selling photos online and making money. For starters, you don’t have to wait for the approval process. Secondly, you get 100% of the earnings which means you are in complete control over how much money you can make.
Getting started with selling your photos on your website is not difficult. All you have to do is follow the steps we’ve shared in the first section of this article.
2. Sell Your Photos On Stock Photography Site of Choice
Choose a stock photo site from our list and start selling your photos there. Hopefully, the first part of this post has made easier for you to decide which stock photo website to go with but in case you’re still struggling to make your choice, here’s my recommendation:
Just start with the one that sounds most suitable.
If you start with Adobe Stock or Shutterstock, that doesn’t mean that you’re going to be bound to using them to sell your photos for life. You’ll always be able to transition to another platform or even transition to selling your photos on your own website.
The key to successfully start selling your photos online is not to overcomplicate the process.
If you’ve decided to go this route, there are a few steps to follow:
1. Create An Account
This step is very straightforward. Just create your account and fill out your profile with all of the necessary (and accurate) information. To complete your profile and, in some cases, also the application, you need to submit to join the stock photography network.
If the site that you’ve decided to join has a review system in place, this can take a while so you may need to take a break between steps 2 and 3.
2. Start Producing and Sharing Work That Has The Potential To Be Used by People
This might be obvious but often comes up when people say that they are struggling to sell their photos. Not every photo will sell equally well.
Obviously, it’s important to keep an eye out on stock photography websites to see what it is that is more popular. One such example could be city photography, and this is something that shouldn’t be particularly difficult for you to capture if you already live in a city and are able to take unique photos of buildings, etc.
Summary: Best Places to Sell Your Photos Online
Selling photos online and making money from it is not that difficult. The easiest and most cost-effective option is to sell photos from your website as it allows you to be in full control over your profits.
But if you’re looking for more exposure, you can start selling your photos on places like Adobe Stock, Alamy, ShutterStock, and other websites listed in this article.
If you’re just getting started with your photography business, the articles below will help you launch your website and more:
- The best hosting for photographers
- The definitive guide to creating an online photography portfolio
- The best photo editing software for photographers
- How to start a drone photography business
We hope that this guide has made it easier for you to decide how to sell your photos and make money out of it.
Thanks a lot…now how can I join?
Which stock photography website are you trying to join? 🙂
Shutterstock would be my target if I was doing this. Don’t have a specific reason, but yeah, maybe the most famous for me…
I see why that may be the case – Shutterstock is definitely one of the most popular options available. Thanks for taking the time to read the article and leave a comment! 🙂
Nice work guys, this was a really helpful post.
Foap’s concept is really cool and unique I wonder if there are a lot of photogs that really profit from it regularly
I have photos on few places but personaly Big stock shows like very good 🙂 , for short time sold a lot of photos and i am just amater ..
About half way through the article I was wondering which company had paid out the most money. Then, there was the answer in your Alamy feature. That speaks volumes, and Alamy will most likely be my choice.
Hi Jana, that’s awesome – I’m glad to hear that you liked the article! All the best from the team at Modula, good luck with Alamy! 🙂
Helpful information for who want to sell photographs online, this another example of photo selling site: imageburg.com
Hi Prashil, thanks for sharing – I hadn’t heard of ImageBurg yet but it looks quite good. 🙂
This post is really so helpful for us photographers, thank you!
Thanks, this was really helpful. Keep it up! Cheers
Option foap
Will l really make money out of my pics?
Hi Tshuma, yes it really is possible to profit off of your creative work and there are tons of photographers that make money like this. Unfortunately, there aren’t many that make a living off of selling stock photography but it certainly is a viable secondary income stream if you’re willing to dedicate a lot of time and effort.
Hi how can sell my gallery
Great info , good thanks .
Hi. That was great, but does any of those websites work with Web Money or Perfect Money?
I think this is a question better suited for the support staff of the site you want to work with. If these two solutions don’t work, you might have better luck with opening up an account with either TransferWise or Revolut.
That way, you can get access to an international platform.
All the best,
Cristian.
Great list. Thank you so much.
How about the types of most commonly purchased vector illustrations?
That’s a good question. You can sell those on Adobe Stock too. We’ll look into compiling an article on this exact topic, shortly.
Keep an eye out for it!
Who sets the pricing for the images? What is the general percentage to the photographer? Are there stock payments?
When is it NOT necessary to get a release?
Hey Joan,
great questions! The pricing totally depends on the platform you decide to use. For example, consulting ShutterStock’s royalty details for contributors table you can see that on their last tier you can earn up to $120 per image. More details, here: https://submit.shutterstock.com/payouts
Obviously, this won’t happen overnight as you’re going to have to build-up a profile first and get the ball rolling so to speak. But once you reach that level, assuming your photos are of great quality, money should start rolling in.
The percetange that goes to the photographer also depends on each platform. For example, both Adobe Stock and ShutterStock only offer 30% (and that’s on their highest tiers). But, 500px has been known to offer even 70% as long as you’re selling exclusively through them. I guess it all boils down to the platform you decide to use and where you believe your images will have the highest impact.
Hope this helps!
/Cristian.
Thank you for such a useful comparison of stock photo markets.
I know the following are too many questions so perhaps you can use them if you ever want to write a follow up! Otherwise, I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts and experiences, too.
Besides the higher royalties for exclusivity some sites offer, what is the biggest down side or important consideration to selling your work through several stock photography sites? Can photographers do well on sites that sell art printed on various products like Society 6 and Fine Art America or are stock photos where it’s easiest to make money? Are there any downsides to doing both?
Great list of Stock Photo sites! I have tried several of these already. I would also like to suggest Dreamstime, which is where I have made the most money with my photos to date. However it is hard to get the increased exposure on Dreamstime unless your really good and have a huge profile, or perhaps use your own website (like WordPress) to link to your photos on Dreamstime.
Another amazing stock photography site I would like to suggest, is very different from the rest, as it allows you to set your own price for each image and control your own photography Store, which is really amazing and has great potential for all photographers – from amateur to pro.
It is called Picfair. This site is an absolute must for all photographers – it is definitely not as well known as the other sites – but it is definitely growing and worth it. This site alone has literally everything you need to make money with your photos – you can also sell photo prints with this site or enable advertisers to use your work as well. Picfair is free to join but also has a very inexpensive premium plan (although not necessary, it can help with more sales and exposure) if you want to take your photography store to a greater level.
Really appreciate your effort but i can’t agree with your suggestion about Selling photos on your own website, because if no one know about your website , if you want to sell something you have to advertise your product by paying digital marketing or you have to increase your organic traffic by doing Search engine optimization, so for a newbie both of the way is difficult from my prospective,
i vote for Shutterstock, they have large amount of clients so if you register there so your earning chance will increase double or triple, and after getting some regular client you can sold our images directly by photo shearing platform.
Hello to all new comers in stock, going to share with you an experiment of mine started about spring of 2018!
i’m in stock photo market from its earliest times and yes did make good money and still making but not doing so good as the old days.
So reading all over the net again and again how much profitable is this “business” decide with the help of my brother to execute an experiment and really sea what are the potentials of a new comer on the stock market.
Here what we did : 1) created accounts on Al…y, Sh..s..ck and Ad..s.ck for me are the 3 best selling “agencies” , from them is the majority of my stock income is was common sense.
2)my brother is a pro photographer (better than me thought : ) ) and surprise! he has more or less big part of his portfolio similar to mine but he never bothered with stock so we pick up 10.000 images the ones that were more similar to mine, 30% picked editorials the rest commercials, since we always add tags and captions when we are working the keywording wasn’t an issue for us.
3)uploading to all 3 above agencies as rf took us about 4 months due to our other activities.
here is what happened (the quality of the images is out of question all are first class and also we are very well aware about what sells and what is not).
about 20% of the images rejected from Al…my …..
about 45% rejected from sh..s…ck
about 50% rejected from ad…s..ck
so the grand total to all 3 agencies was over 18.000 and decided to make it round for easier calculations so uploaded until 20.000 with fresh images.
All the reasons provided for the rejections were complete nonsense and i mean that agencies make use of software to pic up the images, humans involved the less possible.(so new comers when you see your image to be sharp and you get an out of focus rejection do not bother just move one they just don’t want the image).
4)Now can you guess after 14 months online how much these images made in profits? well here it is the really hard truth that nobody tells you : all together and i mean all from all agencies made
84.65 yeap that’s it sh..s..ck the best ad..s.ck second Al..y last.
in that same period my original portfolios with the similar look and subjects made almost 3500$ and a year before the amount was near 5000$ for the same portfolios.
Do you understand what is the game and what is going on?if you don’t you should!!!!!
Year after year artists make less and less but for the agencies is the other way around got it?
All these years made over 100.000$ from the stocks so is clear that this is not going to happen for anyone that starts now, never! period.
The old guys will sell little more because we still have our “clients” but we all end in the same hole at last.
Hope you understood and think twice before you literally give away for free your work.
Some useful stats for nobs
i)average time for keywording and curating is approximately 3 x the time took you to shoot (5min shooting requires 15 minutes at least to get ready for uploading), this will give an idea for the amount of work required.
ii)average time for uploading and get involved with a single web site’s categories and settings is about 2hours per 100 files….. (1 hour uploading 1 hour the rest)
iii)average time for reviewing Al…y 24 hours, Sh..s.ck 12 hours, Ad..s..ck 4 days
well hope this was helpful if there is time i’ll answer questions if there are any,
good luck and yes this was a really brutal honest opinion about stock photography these days probably the only one online.
Hi.thanks for your help but what is the way to they pay money.i have limited to receive money from other countries and I wish to get with Bitcoin or perfect money.
Are they pay that way?
Thanks.
Great post and great comments but its time for a 2020 reality check!
They are all overstaturated markets with everyone trying to achieve the same end goal.
Your hard work buying your gear, learning your skills are no where close to what little they pay you! If you sell that is.
Foto galleri ke kirim ke shuter stok ya
This article is not accurate and actually is misleading. For instance, 123RF i the worst microstock agency with around 15-18% of actual commission. Gettyimages and shutterstock are the top of the list.
Source: I have been a stock photography contributor for 10 years.
Great set of information on selling your photos now I know where to go and what to do!….great insight into this topic!…answered more questions than one!….
I’m starting up and try to sell my photos. I’ve decided to try out 500px and adobe. I just saw your post right now! Just a pinpoint; how long does it take adobe stock to approve the photos etc….?
On 27 May 2020, Shutterstock announced to all of their contributing photographers and artists they were cutting payouts per image by a massive 60% from a min of 25c per image to 10c per image. In addition, previously if a contributor worked hard they could increase their “level” and then earn more money per image. Under the new scheme this still happens, however, on 1 January each year, every contributor has their level dropped to level one. Large earners who work their way up to 35% and more are suddenly dropped to 15% each 1 January. Happy New Year. Shutterstock are shafting the people who put them up on the pedestal. Meanwhile, the CEO earned $16m in 2019, according to publicly available records. A large number of contributors have selected to disable sales on their portfolio page in protest.
Alamy cut the photographer share from 50% to 40% last year so you might want to fix that in your list.
Howdy folks,
@Alex – 123RF still lists the same commissions we’ve got listed here. Do you have any insider info regarding this? I’ve just visited their homepage and nothing seems to have changed. You can see this, here: https://www.123rf.com/guidebook/c02s06.htm
@Scootros – seems like Shutterstock’s not a crowd favourite anymore. A good time to take a look at Modula + WooCommerce, where you can keep 100% of the profits IMHO. See this: https://wp-modula.com/best-places-to-sell-photos-online-and-make-money/#how-to-sell-photos-online
@Adam – there’s no way to exactly answer this question. It can take up to 1 week, depending on the work load they’re experiencing.
50% on Eyeem – are you sure?
@mori – yes, it says so on their homepage. “Make 50% Every time you sell”.
/Cristian.
i can advise you guys to use platforms for selling photos. for example i am personally using one of this platform and making around 500 bucks. yes it depends on monthes i am just telling you roughly per month. but if you work hard you can make even more. photographing is my second job.