Founded in 2009 and headquartered in New York, USA, Depositphotos is a microstock agency that serves customers from over 192 countries, giving them support in 20 languages. Being a creative content marketplace, Depositphotos allows users to buy and sell stock photos, vectors, illustrations, music, and videos.
$19
per month unlimited downloads
Pixabay
Score 7.6 out of 10
N/A
Pixabay headquartered in Germany offers a digital content platform, which they present as a community for sharing copyright-free images and videos. All contents are released under Creative Commons.
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Pricing
Depositphotos
Pixabay
Editions & Modules
Music & SFX
$19
per month unlimited downloads
Photos & Vectors (for companies)
starting at $829
per year 50 images per month
Videos
starting at $89
per month 5 videos
Enterprise
Custom Quote
unlimited users
Photos & Vectors (for individuals)
starting at $36
per month 25 images
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Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Depositphotos
Pixabay
Free Trial
No
No
Free/Freemium Version
No
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
Discounts available for annual pricing (about 12%) for individuals, with volume pricing available across all plans.
I have access to a few image databases and I find myself using more of the Depositphotos images because their search function is very accurate so I can find the images I'm looking for fairly quickly. I also like how they show related images or searches because it helps spark creativity. The image selection works well for background designs and enhancing messaging. I'd say their free image selection is not as robust as other sites. If you are looking for free images you'll find high-quality and professional options here but you may be limited in the options. That said, I trust Depositphotos many times more than other sites. It seems they do a pretty good job at keeping their database clean from plagiarism.
Pixabay is excellent for those trying to create content on a budget, whether for yourself or for a client. It has a huge library of high-quality images and videos for use in creative applications. Beyond that, Pixabay also has a library of free music and sound effects, which is enormously helpful for people trying to create content on a budget without worrying about getting in copyright trouble. Also, due to the fact that you can sort images by "transparent," it's easy to find cut-out images to use in composites.
Pixabay License: Pixabay has its own license which allows the use of the content for commercial and personal use without any attribution. However, attribution supports the talented creators behind the content.
Pricing: Pixabay is completely free for everyone.
High-resolution: Photos and videos on Pixabay are of high resolution, especially several videos in 4K, which makes them perfect to use in bigger projects.
One thing that kind of sticks out is that with so much to choose from, you can feel overwhelmed.
Some of the photos I sometimes can find separately by googling. In the music business, it seems like many photos rotate on the web so there isn't as much to pick from.
I didn't see an option for more vertical videos for use in Instagram or TikTok.
Even though Shutterstock is currently the best place to buy creative stock assets and there is a lot of competition, I have used Depositphotos a lot because I think it has the best collection and selection of creative assets at a reasonable price. The site is also convenient to use because it's easy to find your way around and the licensing system is simple and works well. In the last few years, I've gotten some of the best stock photos, graphics, and illustrations for my business from Depositphotos. I hope that this great relationship with Depositphotos as a user will last for a long time.
Pexels is free and fully licensed for commercial use, as is Unsplash to a certain extent. I generally open all 3 to search for free stock images for budget-sensitive clients; that being said, I always find myself searching Pixabay first. They have the best user interface of the three and generally have the best image options. Adobe, Shutterstock, and iStock have better images, and I use those for clients who are less budget-sensitive.