UPDATED October 2022: Very good news to our readers! We have a special, limited-time iStock Promo Code for you, that gives you 25% off on large credit packs at iStock! Plus, our long-standing coupon with 15% off EVERYTHING at iStock! All excellent options to download iStock photos without watermarks.
Seize this limited-time deal and buy an annual subscription or larger credit packs to maximize your savings! Plus, you can take advantage of the credit packs discount in the long run too: iStock Credits never expire! Credit packs from 18 credits and up are included for our exclusive 25% discount, but all credit pack options are reached by our 15% off promo code, and it is valid for all customers! Buy them now and download great royalty free photos whenever you want!
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Exclusive iStock Promo Code
Get 25% off on iStock large credit packs starting at 18 credits
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In 2014 iStock changed its pricing basis, modifying credit costs and rearranging the subscription plans in offer. The new prices are still in effect now.
The new iStock prices
With the new pricing (click here to open them in a new window), credits have become pricier but also more valuable. All royalty-free images in iStock are priced individually in credits for on-demand buying (both for standard license and extended licenses), but now they are no longer priced according to size and resolution. The new pricing differentiates images by collection, be it Essentials images (which are not exclusive to iStock) or the iStock exclusive and premium Signature collection. Those terms were introduced with the subscription offer in spring and are now being used across the board.
We have got our hands on some neat iStock promo codes for you. You can save up to 15% on iStock subscriptions and credit packs, which makes it easier to spend money on their new pricing. Just make sure to copy the codes and then click on the redeem link.
Update 2021: New Premium + Video Subscriptions
The latest pricing update from iStock came in 2021, and it's the introduction of a new, multimedia subscription! The Premium+Video plan lets you download stock images, stock videos, and stock music files, from both Essentials and Signature collections, indistinctly, using the same subscription for all. One file uses one download, regardless of what media type and resolution/size it is.
These new plans are highly convenient for those who work with all kinds of media formats because it simplifies your workflow and save you money.
Premium+Video subscriptions start at 10 monthly downloads for $149/mo or $99/mo with an annual plan. There is a middle tier of 25 downloads for $229 (monthly) or $165 a month (annual commitment). And finally, the largest allowance of 50 assets per month, priced at $349 month-to-month or $265/mo for one year.
This means you can get exclusive, HD, and 4K video clips for really low prices, as low as $5.30 per file. Insane!
New Credit Packs and Pricing
The base package contains 1 credit for $12 (the base price for individual credits), which buys you one Essentials image. Further, packages usually can be divided by 3 because that is the price in credits for Signature images at iStock. With 18 credits — priced at $170 — you could, therefore, download 18 Essentials images or 6 Signature images, or anything in between, with over 21% off compared to the base credit price.
Check all the prices on their page!
When you visit the pricing page at iStock, the credit packs list starts at 3 and finishes at 60 credits. But if you want to buy fewer or more credits, make sure to open the full list of packages available by clicking the “View all credit packs” button below the initial table, to find a comprehensive offer ranging from 1 to 300 credits. The higher the credit pack, the lowest prices for each individual credit (and thus, for each image you download) will be. The discounts start steep with 8.5% on the 3 credit package compared to the base pack, therefore you should carefully consider if buying more at once will be a better deal for you. The largest pack available reduces credit prices by around 35%.
It's also worth noticing that in a further update, iStock made their credits valid forever, as long as the customer logs in to their accounts once a year after the purchase date. This means you can buy credits now and use them whenever you want.
We certainly have an iStockphoto promo code coupon on large credit packs, with 25% off on packs from 18 credits and up!
How do the new prices compare to Shutterstock
Comparison |  |  Essentials-Images | Signature-Images |
Minimum Images | 5 Images | 1 Credit = 1 Image | 3 Credits = 1 Image |
Minimum Purchase | $49 | $12 | $33 |
Price per Image | $9,80 | $12 | $33 |
Price for 25 Images | $229 | $232 (25 Credits = 25 Images) | $668 (75 Credits = 25 Images) |
Price per Image | $9,16 | $9,28 | $26,72 |
More about prices |
The new iStock pricing is easy to compare with the main competitor, Shutterstock's offer: The minimum price is more affordable at iStock, as the 1 credit package comes for $12 while at Shutterstock the minimum purchase is $49 for five images, slightly less than $10 per image. To achieve that level of pricing (less than $10 per image), you would have to buy 18 credits at iStock for $170. Plus there is the question of how many of the Signature collection images you will end up downloading as those images come at 3 times the base price of your package.
The subscription packages offered at iStock are showing a similar difference: The Essentials' subscription comes at $166 in comparison to Shutterstock's $199 pricing (based on an annual subscription in both cases). In case you want to have access to iStock's Signature collection as well, you will have to choose the higher-priced Signature subscription (which includes access to Essentials as well) for $319 a month.
So in all cases, you are now having a choice to make: In some circumstances, iStock now definitely has a better price to offer in stock photography — but if you want to get all the iStock high-quality imagery, you will have to pay a certain surcharge compared to Shutterstock.
Changes at iStock (ANNOUNCEMENT — UPDATE ABOVE)
The changes were announced on the 1st of January 2019 and this is all the news about the changes before we posted the update.
As microstock inventor and Getty Images subsidiary iStock has just announced, they are planning a complete overhaul of their collection, pricing and payment system. The key elements are to simplify the search and purchase experience for the customers.
The system using “credits” which was introduced in 2002 and helped iStock succeed as a tock photo agency licensing images at small fees, will be renewed, existing balances will be changed to the new system around September 13, 2014.
Fewer credits, more value
The new credit system iStock is to raise the value of the credits. To reflect this, existing customer balances will be changed from the old credits to the new credits with an exchange rate of 5:1 — as an effect, you will see a reduction of your credit balance, but the new credits will have a higher value when it comes to purchasing royalty-free licenses for iStock images.
In the new system, one credit will serve as the base price to license images whereas today the license price can reach anywhere from 2 to 150 credits, depending on the collection and size of the image.
The base price for the new credits will be $15 for the smallest packages. Larger packages will get a discount, lowering the price per credit down to $8. Though package size has not been announced, there has been a hint that the minimum scale will be a “one credit” package, basically allowing buying single images without any leftovers in your account. Until now, the single image sale is only possible with direct payment, which also contains a premium of up to 50% on the image price.
Simplified collections and pricing per image, not by size
After the reduction from seven to four collections last year, iStock is taking another step in simplifying their offer by now offering only two collections: They will be called “Essentials” and “Signature”, in line with the two subscription offers introduced earlier this year.
The Essentials' collection will mainly contain the imagery of contributors who are also distributing the same content through other popular microstock agencies. Whereas, the new Signature collection will contain all the higher value content exclusive to iStock and the Getty Images family, including the former premium collections Signature+ and Vetta.
Prices will be one new credit for each image in the Essentials collection and three new credits for Signature imagery. The Signature+ and Vetta imagery was priced at 30 or up to 150 credits in the past, those images will become available at a much lower price point in the future.
Contrary to now, there will no longer be size-based pricing for royalty-free images, customers can easily choose any size they need for their projects at the same price. There will also be a possibility to “upgrade” from small sizes to larger resolutions after the change (only for images licensed after the change, older downloads can only be downloaded at the size that was originally licensed).
Those pricing levels will be the same for Vector illustrations and templates. Video files will be priced at 6 credits (Essentials) and 18 credits (Signature/Vetta) in the future.
It's worth noting these prices are for the default license agreement, i.e. the Standard License.
Simplification for more flexibility
As iStock co-founder and Senior Director Brad Ralph states in an open letter:
“With the changes you are about to see on iStock, we are disrupting our current business model to go back to our roots, back to the basics. Simplifying is what we did best when we started – affordable prices and great content. Content found only from iStock. We are adapting to the changing market the way we always have, so customers don’t need to settle for the same commodity content available on all those other stock sites.”
All the mentioned changes are supposed to be applied at or shortly after September 13, 2014. iStock has announced that they will take their servers offline during that weekend to apply all the necessary changes.
PS: If you are an iStock contributor — check out our coverage on MyStockPhoto.
Limited-Time Offer: 15% Off in EVERYTHING for ALL Customers
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