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Get the right images to promote your business now.
Get the right images to promote your business now. Image by Monoar Rahman Rony from Pixabay

Stock photos are ready-to-use content which includes commercial and editorial photos whose licensing rights you must purchase. It’s a cost-efficient way of getting the right visual content for your projects instead of having numerous photoshoots. It’s a mutually beneficial process for the content creators and the buyer.

Stock photos have become an important part of content creation, publishing and marketing. When it comes to stock photos, Getty Images has been the popular choice. However, a Getty Images subscription can be a bit pricey especially for smaller publications and start-ups. To give you more options, here are some of the best stock photo sites that make for great Getty Images alternatives.

1. PICHA

PICHA
PICHA pichastock.com

PICHA provides Afrocentric visual content to businesses so they can bring the stories of modern Africa to life using photography. PICHA's contributing photographers get 40% of all commissions. It offers free XS images for your social media needs with the proper crediting and even helps you research and reach out to their contributors for your custom needs for free. They also offer image and video licensing depending on what you’re looking for.

But most importantly, their membership packages are relatively cheaper than most sites like Getty Images.

  • Bronze Membership at $70/month with 10 images
  • Gold Membership at $350/month with 50 images and three downloads
  • Custom Membership with pricing based on your needs

2. 123RF

123RF
123RF 123rf.com

123RF uses data and AI technology to search for the image you're looking for. To ensure that your photos are localized and more convincing, 123RF utilizes its geolocation feature. Through the latest algorithms and the most up-to-date data, 123RF finds photos that are the most relevant to your keywords. Other advanced tools include download tags to notify you if the image has been downloaded already, advanced search by keywords, image or color and an instant background remover.

123RF Pricing
123RF Pricing 123rf.com

You can get a subscription or just buy specific images with credits. Subscription plans start at $30 per month for 10 images while purchasing credits start at $47 for 40 credits. Try their 1-month free trial and get 10 images for free today.

3. iStock

iStock
iStock istock.com

Powered by Getty Images, iStock offers unique and affordable images and videos that connect with your specific audience. Through an AI-powered search, you can search and discover exclusive videos and images from artists all around the world. It also offers a more affordable solution to Getty Images with worry-free licensing both for editorial and commercial use. Apart from a subscription plan, iStock offers credits that you can purchase then use to acquire photos.

iStock Pricing
iStock Pricing istock.com

Their credits start at $33 for three credits. Each photo is priced according to credits with the minimum being one credit for a photo. You also have the option to purchase a photo without credits and just pay for it straight.

4. Shutterstock

Shutterstock
Shutterstock shutterstock.com

Shutterstock offers royalty-free images, videos and audio for your content creation and marketing projects at an affordable price. Enjoy a plethora of images that are curated based on what’s trending in real-time or choose among numerous photos from a variety of categories for your perfect image. It even has its own mobile app so you can search, download and share anytime and anywhere.

Shutterstock Pricing
Shutterstock Pricing shutterstock.com

Their subscription plans start at $29 per month for 10 images or if you can’t commit, get their on-demand packs that start at $49 for five images. Try their 1-month free trial and get 10 images for free.

5. StockUnlimited

StockUnlimited
StockUnlimited appsumo.com

StockUnlimited offers beautiful photos and superb graphics for your creative and marketing needs. It offers over one million royalty-free assets that include graphics, photos, fonts, icons and audio files. You'll easily accomplish your projects with the help of the most fitting content. Once purchased, it comes with a StockUnlimited Editor that lets you customize and edit images for social media.

Originally priced at $684, get it on AppSumo on sale for just $49 here.

6. Yay Images Startups

Yay Images
Yay Images appsumo.com

Yay Images Startups offers over two million photos, videos and graphics for all types of creative and marketing projects for free. Yes, it’s FREE! Apart from beautiful images, you can also access its tools like the similar image search or advanced filters to adjust the spacing between text, color and even orientation.

Originally priced at $1000, get it from AppSumo as a FREEBIE here.

7. JumpStory

JumpStory
JumpStory appsumo.com

JumpStory offers millions of photos, videos, graphics and audio clips that are authentic and close to reality so they truly stand out as content in your websites, printed material and more. An in-house photo editor allows you to easily crop and resize images, insert your desired text, adjust contrast or insert a logo. The AI TextMatch saves you time in your image search, matching relevant content to your searches. It also includes a converting tool that downloads any image in PDF, TIFF, EPS or PSD format. Using AI technology, JumpStory is sure to provide search results only with images that are performing well to ensure that your content gets the results you want.

Originally priced at $300, get it on AppSumo on sale for just $135.