Different businesses have different visual needs. While startups and small businesses are a good match for the standard Shutterstock services, bigger companies with larger creative teams and greater image needs may find it insufficient and not all that helpful for their workflow.
If this is you, you’ll be happy to learn about Shutterstock‘ Premier Platform, where they offer a tailored solution for stock media and visual content creation for enterprises and large companies.
Advanced licensing options, unlimited seat access, personalized collections, improved search, and a whole lot more features that simplify the creative process and reduce the cost for images for those with big visual needs.
That’s what you find in Shutterstock Premier service, and what we’ll break down for you, next!
What Image Plans Are Available?
The Shutterstock Premier Program is available on both month-to-month and annual subscription plans. The monthly plan gives you the financial flexibility to only pay for the service during the months you actually need it. Simply turn off the auto-renewal option in your account settings, and you’re good to go.
The annual plan, as the name implies, means that you are purchasing a year-long commitment to Shutterstock.com. This means that you are effectively paying for 12 months of the service, so it is perfect for you if you need stock imagery regularly. It might seem like a lot of money, but if you heavy requirement for images, then it will be more than worth it.
The annual image plan also offers two payment methods. You can either be billed on a monthly basis or choose to pay the entire amount upfront. The latter comes with a significant discount, however, so it’s worth looking at that option if you can fit it into your budget.
Premier is a tailored solution and as such the final cost per month or per year will depend on your content needs, team size, and other particulars of your business. However, being an enterprise-oriented program means that, expectably, its price points are higher than those of the standard Shutterstock image subscriptions and even the regular team subscriptions –which you can read all in our Shutterstock Pricing breakdown.
To know exactly what you'd get and how much it'd cost you, you can request a demo for Premier right on their website.
Don’t let this discourage you, though! The price of Premier service is certainly way below that of hiring photographers and researchers individually, and overall is a great value service for its cost.
But there is an alternative, Shutterstock Creative Flow, which is an online platform full of AI-driven tools for businesses and creatives, available to all users. Here we tell you how to get Creative Flow for free!
The Shutterstock Premier License
If your business requires a lot more firepower than the basic Shutterstock plan –which includes Shutterstock's Standard license–, you would be wise to consider the Shutterstock Premier License. The premier version of the license gives you many benefits that the standard license doesn’t include at all, and others that are only available on the enhanced (or extended) license for regular customers. The Premier license:
- Offers unlimited indemnification and unlimited distribution
- Sensitive use rights
- The ability to use the content in merchandise and templates (something you would otherwise have to buy an extended license for)
- The possibility of buying image copyright, which minimizes legal risk and effectively grants you the exclusive use of the piece.
Plus, Shutterstock’s Premier License grants you access to premium content that lower-tier licenses do not. You’ll literally have your pick of the best content Shutterstock has to offer.
Note: All Shutterstock images are licensed, which gives you a legal right to use them, even in commercial projects, under the detailed licensing terms. This is a huge advantage over free-to-use images you can find on some other websites, which usually come with less-than-clear licenses and whose rights haven't been properly cleared. We recommend royalty-free stock photos over “free” photos every day.
And if you need images to use in editorial publications, Shutterstock has you covered with their extensive collection of editorial content and now with their Shutterstock editorial subscription plans!
The Premier Platform Advantage
When you sign up for a Premier License, the Shutterstock Premier Platform, which literally gives you access to millions of the best content the Internet has to offer, comes along with it. And since Shutterstock’s image library grows by about 50,000 high-quality, high-resolution pictures on a daily basis, you’re guaranteed to help you bring your visions to life.
It’s not uncommon for large enterprise businesses to have multiple departments working with each other. Within the Premier Platform, you can add an unlimited number of users to accommodate all the people working on a particular project, as well as create subaccounts and manage the permissions for each account individually. This will allow you to control the permission of each account while still being able to share assets across your entire team.
Want to download multiple photos? No problem. The Premier Platform allows batch downloading of up to 50 licensed images at a time, so you don’t have to download each piece of content one at a time. And if you feel like adding custom metadata to this content, the premier platform will let you do that, too, all while staying under the legal protection of Shutterstock.
Personalized Service from Shutterstock Experts
Shutterstock’s Premier Platform also has a dedicated research team. These experienced on-hand curators can provide you with the guidance you need when it comes to finding the right Shutterstock images for your specific visions and creative projects. Don’t know exactly what you’re looking for just yet? They can also help inspire you by giving you ideas and options. With the Premier Platform, you’re not only getting access to Shutterstock’s pictures but also to the personal, dedicated service of its experienced curators.
Premier service doesn’t end with its curators, however. When you sign up with the Premier Plan, you also have a personal account manager, who can assist with any questions, problems, and issues you may have with the platform.
And the best part is that these account managers are region and language-specific. We all know the hassles of dealing with centralized customer service. They don’t speak your language and aren’t familiar with your needs. With your own account manager, you’re guaranteed to have a more seamless – and pleasant – exchange.
Shutterstock Premier FAQ
What is Shutterstock premium?
Premier is the name of Shutterstock's premium service, which comes with exclusive content and workflow solutions for enterprise clients.
What is the difference between Shutterstock and Shutterstock Premier?
Premier by Shutterstock is a tailored service geared towards big enterprises and creative teams. It offers personalized content under the Premier license that expands usage rights, and exclusive resources for creativity and efficiency such as custom search, to make designing marketing campaigns, branding efforts, and more, an easier and more efficient task.
To better know which option works best for you, check our Shutterstock review, and subscribe to our site to get notifications: we report on highlights events and product updates from Shutterstock constantly!
How much is a Shutterstock Premier license?
Shutterstock Premier licenses are only available for Premier subscribers. As a tailored service, the cost of your Premier membership (and thus, of your Premier licenses) will depend on your specific needs, and the size of your company, among other factors. We can tell you it'll likely be more expensive than a regular Standard license, though, because of all the added rights and benefits.
How much does Shutterstock enhanced license cost?
Royalty free images at Shutterstock have two licensing options, standard and enhanced. The enhanced license shares some usage rights with the Premier license, such as products for resale and unlimited prints and digital reproductions. Enhanced photos are available on demand only, with enhanced download packs, and cost between $69.95 and $99.50 per picture, depending on how many of them you buy upfront. The minimum payment is 2 for $199.
Perfect for Large Teams That Require Collaboration on Various Projects
While Shutterstock isn’t the only royalty-free image provider out there, the Premier License and Premier Platform place them a cut above the competition for large teams that need access to creative assets.
In an extremely visual world where imagery can make or break your marketing, Shutterstock Premier can help your team deliver on the vision you want for your brand and business in a way that no other service can match.
However, if you wish to learn about your options, have a look at our multi-user subscriptions breakdown with the 4 best offers out there! Do you still have some time? Let our trends for 2020 inspire you.
And tell us, what do you think of Premier now you know more about it?
