5 of the best cheap stock photos agencies 2024 + an exciting bonus

Everyone is looking for a deal, and the researchers at Stock Photo Secrets have completed a comparison of the best cheap stock photos you can buy from agencies we use and have come up with a list of 5 of the cheapest stock photo agencies at a per stock photo price.

Our list includes Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, iStock, and Stockphotos.com. These are all serious and reliable agencies included in our Guide to the Best Stock Photo Sites. If you are a regular stock photo or stock image buyer, see what the prices are per download and how you can save hundreds of dollars on stock photos – save by buying cheap stock photos, or if you are into footage video, you might find this list of cheap stock footage agencies helpful.

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Click here to download a list of 7 of the cheapest Stock Photo Subscriptions (PDF)

Prices per stock photo on the 5 stock photo agencies

This is a list that was researched this year and compared stock photo prices at each agency. Some agencies had credit buying programs, and some offered subscription buying options. Our focus was to find the cheapest per-stock photo price so that we could inform you of the buyer. This list is for royalty-free stock photos only and does not include special collections, exclusives, or vector images.

Royalty-free photos are the best option when you need images for commercial use, as they're affordable and legally safe. Much safer than free photos from the web, which are often not verified and can land you in potential legal problems.

#1 – Super cheap: Stockphotos.com Club Easy offer at just $0.49 per image

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Stockphotos.com has this cool Club Easy subscription especially created for smaller companies who use images less frequently and are working on a tighter budget!

stockphotos.com club easy > 5 of the best cheap stock photos agencies [wpsm_custom_meta type=date field=year] + an exciting bonus

Join today and get 200 XXL-High-Res Photos for just $99. With the Club plan, you will get 200 high-quality XXL royalty-free stock photos for the cheap price of $99. It is one of the best deals available in the stock photo industry. As a stock photo expert who has worked with all the industry leaders, I would know!

  • 200 XL royalty-free stock photos or vectors to use for any project or marketing material, costing you less than $0.50 for each image!
  • 100 Extra Downloads for free in your first year! Totaling 300 images for $99 – only $0.33 per image
  • EXCLUSIVE OFFER: 10 free downloads on top of your subscription with our special Stockphotos.com coupon code!
  • Ensure your project always looks unique and cutting edge with your access to 8 millions+ of professional high-quality images with up to 100,000 added each month
  • No limits. Download as many or as few of your 200 images in any size from small to XXL without any monthly download caps
  • Your price is locked in. For $99, you get 200 images for an entire year; you’ll still only pay $99 when the next year comes around. No tricks and no obligations, so cancel whenever you want

But you’ll have to hurry – this offer is only valid for a limited time.

#2 – Shutterstock

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The lowest price on Shutterstock is 28¢ for one royalty-free stock photo – that is cheap. When you sign up for Shutterstock, you will also have access to their weekly free photos and other bonuses. Check out the weekly Shutterstock free photos available at Stock Photo Secrets EXCLUSIVE OFFER:  15% Off with our exclusive Shutterstock Coupon Code

If you need editorial content, they now also have dedicated Editorial subscription plans worth exploring.

Bonus: Learn how to get Shutterstock Creative Flow for free and enjoy all of Shutterstock's useful tools for creatives!

And guess what? We have an amazing discount code for Shutterstock image packs! Our new and exclusive coupon gives you a 25% discount on the 25-image pack at Shutterstock, which will let you download 25 images for just $171.75. The offer applies to the 25 images pack only.

Unlock a cool exclusive 25% discount on image packs for 25 images on Shutterstock! Get 25 images of your choice on demand!

Shutterstock Generate: Legally-Backed AI Image Generator

FREE*
*Free to generate images. Downloading requires payment.
Shutterstock Generate is an AI image generator that lets you create new, custom images synthetically based on text descriptions you input.
The images are under a Shutterstock license and built on the base of authorized and legally cleared content from Shutterstock's library, which makes them safer to use.
Shutterstock Generate is a paid service; you can download AI-generated images with any regular subscription or image pack. And now you can get a cool 25% discount on the 25-image pack! Try it today!

 

#3 – Adobe Stock

4 cheap pig e1580918212792 > 5 of the best cheap stock photos agencies [wpsm_custom_meta type=date field=year] + an exciting bonus

The lowest price per photo on Adobe Stock is 26¢ per royalty-free stock photo. This cheap stock photos service is fully integrated into the Creative Cloud platform and can be launched directly from within its apps. They're currently running a free one-month trial with up to 10 free photos, all you have to do is sign up for free as a member. Get your Adobe Stock Free Trial here.

 

#4 – iStock

3 cheap pig e1580918195891 > 5 of the best cheap stock photos agencies [wpsm_custom_meta type=date field=year] + an exciting bonus

The lowest price per photo on iStock is of 21¢ per royalty free stock photo. It's one of the cheapest stock photo agency on a price per photo comparison. Upon free registration, you get access to weekly free files. The agency also has a large collection of exclusive images at a higher price point and many other great perks, such as having one of the most flexible image licenses around.

For a limited time, we have an amazing exclusive deal that will save you lots of money with iStock: our exclusive iStock Promo Code with 15% off in EVERYTHING. For a limited time, you can buy any credit packs and subscriptions at iStock with up to a 15% discount! And even better, with our unique iStock discount for large credit packs, you can buy packs from 18 credits and up with 25% off! Learn more about our special 25% discount for large credit packs here. Grab these offers today!

#5 – Stockphotos.com

1 cheap pig e1580918177722 > 5 of the best cheap stock photos agencies [wpsm_custom_meta type=date field=year] + an exciting bonus

The lowest price per photo on Stockphotos.com is 20¢ per royalty free stock photo, with the largest subscription plan, Club Ultimate, that gives you 1,000 downloads per year for just $299. Add to that, that during your first year of membership, you get a special bonus of 500 extra downloads at no added cost, rounding up to 1,500 images in one year for $299. That is crazy cheap and is the biggest savings possible. If you don't have a use for such a large amount of photos, there's also the popular Club Easy cheap stock photos offer: it's $99 per year for 200 downloads, equal to 49¢ per royalty free stock photo. There are various other plans and on-demand packages tailored for small and medium-sized businesses and great discounts on Extended licenses and premium content, plus exclusive video downloads, image upscales, and vehicle template freebies for members. Sign-up is free of charge.

And, using our unique Stockphotos.com coupon, you unlock 10 free downloads on top of any annual subscription!

BONUS #6 – Canva Pro

Canva e1588944252271 > 5 of the best cheap stock photos agencies [wpsm_custom_meta type=date field=year] + an exciting bonus

The lowest price per photo at Canva Pro depends entirely on how many images you download. Why? Because this service's subscription comes with unlimited downloads for a flat rate. So the more you download, the less each image will cost. And at just $4.60 per month (billed annually upfront), it's certainly very cheap, all the more considering it comes with not only stock photos but a user-friendly image editor and many features for non-designers to manage their visuals.

Even better, you can try it out for free with the Canva Pro Monthly Free Trial that lets you access the service, including unlimited downloads, getting the first month for free.

Test Canva Pro for free for 30 days. Full access to Canva Pro features! Cancel risk-free anytime within the 30-day free trial.
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If you want to learn more about Canva Pro and how much it costs, read our Canva Pro pricing guide.

Did we miss a good stock photo agency that has a better deal? Do you have a stock photo agency like this list that you use and want to let us know if their prices are as good if not better than what our researchers have found?  Sign up for each of the cheapest subscription stock photo agencies listed and start saving today!

Click here to download a list of 7 of the cheapest Stock Photo Subscriptions (PDF)

(VIDEO) How to choose between the best cheap stock photos

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Amos Struck
Amos Struck

Amos Struck, a renowned expert with over two decades in the stock photography industry, is known for his profound expertise in both stock imagery and artificial intelligence (AI). He is the founder of StockPhotoSecrets.com and a driving force behind the innovative AI-driven platform, Stockphotos.com. His pioneering work in visual AI is marked by co-founding Ximilar AI. Amos also established the Microstock Expo Conference, a key event in the stock photography sector. As a regular speaker at major industry conferences like DMLA and a prominent member of CEPIC, he consistently contributes to the industry's growth and evolution through a blend of technological innovation and market insight.

12 Comments
  1. It would be nice to see how you computed this bc I have recently done all these calculations and am very familiar with these claims/numbers by other sites. The amounts are only the cheapest if you buy 1000’s of dollars in credits or subscription packages. What you found appears to be the cheapest subscription model based on buying the largest subscription package an agency offers which very few buyers do. What about one single image download which is what most buyers do, either via credits or credit card?

    Also where do you get that photospin offers images for 1c? I see you took $329/18000 images a year maybe but that is not for the whole collection like you wrote. Just the 450k images in two of their collections and its just the smaller sizes.

    • Thank you for your comment! You are right that it’s not that easy to compare the image prices. We just want to give a short overview for regular stock photo buyers. We might do another article which will compare the “Pay-as-you-go” prices for non-regular stock photo buyers. You are welcome to supply your comparison for it.

  2. Nice breakdown. There are also many price comparison stock image search engines popping up around the web. Will they catch on with buyers? Who knows – only time will tell.

    What it comes down to, with image buyers, isn’t always just the price. Most buyers have budgets for their marketing projects. With microstock pricing models, no matter where they decide to buy is going to depend on things other that price. The prices are low, and a few dollar difference between agencies doesn’t always matter to them. Ease of use, selection, quality, convenience, customer support, brand familiarity, quality are just some of the key factors that come into play when someone is deciding where to buy.

  3. Photodune.net has images from 3.00 a piece. You wont have to spend 100’s per month if you only need a few photos. By the way, Photo spin has the worst pictures in the world.

    • Thanks! I hate, that every photo site, want’s me to commit to paid subscription.

    • Good tip. Not interested in buying 1,000,000 photos for $0.12 each. Just need a couple occasionally.

    • @Mathiaslan Thank you. Your Photodune comment is the most helpful and useful information on this page.

    • Thank You Mathias for your comment. We also like Photodune, as they have a lot of great stock photos for a quite cheap price. But this blog post is about the cheapest stock photo. I admit that some of the very cheap agencies might not have a huge collection but every customer can check the collection before he order. You might find this article interesting, in which we compare the big microstock agencies on credit base.

  4. Great article, I just signed up for INGImage and found the photos that I need!

  5. For anyone who need to buy a stock photo per piece, not regular basis, I highly recommend Istockphoto.

    The price cheapest among dozens, $25/10 photos for a month, turn off the auto renew so the next month they won’t charge your card. It’s just $2.5/photo, and the photo quality are superb.

    Annual membership is a waste for me, because I didn’t need it every month.

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