iStock review

iStock is the royalty-free arm of Getty Images, and its pitch is a mix of budget and exclusive imagery. Assets sit in two collections: Basic covers everyday photos, illustrations and vectors, while Premium holds handpicked images that iStock says you can only get there. Subscriptions come in 10, 25, 50 or 750 downloads a month, on annual or month-to-month terms, and the Premium + Video plan adds 4K footage and music and sound effects from Triple Scoop Music. Every download carries a single user standard license with legal protection up to $10,000, and extended licenses add multi-user rights or raise protection to $250,000. Premium plans also include tools to add, swap and remove image elements and to generate images with automatic legal protection. Boards help teams organize and share files, and plugins connect iStock to Dropbox and Sketch. The pricing page showed euros from our location, so we could not verify a USD price for this list.

Who it is for

Marketing teams that want exclusive, handpicked images at subscription prices with optional extended protection.

Price

See vendor pricing (USD check pending).

US price check pending. See the vendor pricing page.

Key features

• Basic and Premium collections, with Premium images exclusive to iStock
• Subscriptions of 10, 25, 50 or 750 downloads per month
• Standard single user license with legal protection up to $10,000
• Extended licenses add multi-user rights and protection up to $250,000
• Premium + Video plan adds 4K footage and music from Triple Scoop Music

Strengths and weaknesses

• Strength: Exclusive Premium images you will not find on rival sites
• Strength: Up to 250 unused downloads roll over when you upgrade
• Strength: Image generation and customization tools include legal protection
• Weakness: Pricing page showed EUR from our location, so the USD price is pending
• Weakness: Premium subscriptions cost much more per download than Basic
• Weakness: The standard license covers a single user

Key facts

• Monthly download tiers: 10, 25, 50 or 750
• Standard legal protection: Up to $10,000
• Extended legal protection: Up to $250,000

Where it ranks

iStock is No. 4 in our Best Stock Photo Sites verdict.