How to Download Shutterstock Images for Free & Without Watermark – 5 Methods Explained
Shutterstock is one of the best stock photo sites around, famous for its massive library full of high-resolution images, ready to jump from their site onto your designs. But for that, you need to download them without their Shutterstock watermark.
Here, we show you the best ways to remove the Shutterstock watermark before downloading, so you can enjoy amazing free photos from Shutterstock.
Shutterstock Free Trial: 10 FREE Images in 5 Minutes (100% Legal)
Right now, Shutterstock has this awesome free trial offer available which gives you 10 free downloads of Shutterstock images of your choice, all without watermark, and without paying a dime for them! Downloading images with this method will remove the watermark from the files.
Here is how to download non-watermarked images at Shutterstock with the Free Trial:
- Click on the Shutterstock Free Trial link here or the banner right above. It’ll take you to Shutterstock’s Free Trial page
- Hit the “start your free trial” link here. You will be directed to the checkout screen
- Log in to your account or sign up for one (this is free)
- Complete the billing information with a valid payment method. – Don’t worry, you will not be charged for this. The payment information will only be used if you decide to upgrade to paid subscriber
- Hit the “complete checkout” button
- Done! The process might take a few seconds or minutes, but soon enough your trial will be activated, and you’ll be able to search and download any 10 free Shutterstock images (stock photos or vectors) of your choice, in high-resolution sans watermark, completely free!
Once the trial is activated, use the search bar or navigate categories to find the pictures you want, click to open the desired photo URL, and hit the download button, and you'll get your free image, with a Standard license, ready to use!
This is very important if you plan to use the images in commercial projects such as marketing and advertising: using unlicensed photos could cost you a lot in legal costs.
Shutterstock images free download: All free images you download with the Shutterstock free trial are royalty-free, with a valid license that is green-lighted for commercial purposes, and they are free. What more can you wish for? The Shutterstock free images have it all.
Read our full Shutterstock review for more insight.
If you do not wish to be charged this amount, you need to cancel your Shutterstock free trial before the initial month is due. If you cancel within 48 hours from the expiration date, you will not be charged a penny for the initial, 10 free images. And if you miss that window, you can still cancel it for free, by contacting Shutterstock's support agents directly, up to your trial's expiration date.
If you stay subscribed, you can still cancel your annual plan anytime you want, on a monthly basis. Do keep in mind that in this case, cancelation fees may apply.
For more details on how to download free Shutterstock images, make sure to check our dedicated guide to get 10 free images from Shutterstock!
By the way, do you know that Shutterstock has its own online platform for creative tools, named Creative Flow? Learn how to get free access to Shutterstock Creative Flow right here!
Shutterstock Image Pack: 5 Images for Only $49, One-Time Pay
Shutterstock stock images are watermarked and lower-resolution –reduced pixel count– in the preview feature, when you surf their catalog and when you select a stock image to see it in a larger size. But once you license it –this is, downloading images legally from Shutterstock via our free trial, or paying for them, always using the download button– you get the high-res, non-watermarked, high-quality images.
Note: Shutterstock doesn't modify prices based on image resolution, so you can get the highest quality pictures for the same price as the good resolution ones. We recommend always choosing the highest resolution available.
If you only need a few royalty-free images for creative projects, a good way to download Shutterstock images without a watermark is to buy an on-demand image pack. These are one-time purchases where you pay for a number of image downloads upfront, and then have a whole year to use those downloads and get your desired image.
Prices for image packs are very reasonable, and we have a special Shutterstock coupon discount that applies to on-demand packs! You can now buy them with 15% off and save some sweet bucks.
Here is how to use this coupon, in very simple steps:
- Click on the Shutterstock Coupon Code link or the banner above, it will take you to the Shutterstock pricing page, and also open a pop-up with a code: don’t close this pop-up! Leave it open in the new tab
- On the pricing page, select the pack of your choice, and hit the “buy” button. You’ll be taken to the checkout screen
- Log in to your account, or sign up for a new one for free
- Complete the form with your billing information
- On the right side of the checkout screen, you will see the detail of your purchase, and below, a question is highlighted: do you have a coupon code? Click on this question to reveal a text box
- Copy the code from the pop-up from step one, and paste it onto this text box. Hit “apply”
- Done! The discount will be automatically applied, and you will see it reflected in your purchase details. Just hit “complete checkout” to finalize the transaction and begin to enjoy your royalty free stock photos on the Shutterstock website.
Quick note: If you are looking for stock videos, the only way to get Shutterstock videos without a watermark, legally covered for personal and commercial use, is to buy and download videos from their website. They now have both Standard and Enhanced Video licenses available, so make sure to check which one is best for you!
Shutterstock Subscription: 10 Images for Only $29 each MONTH
Image packs aren't the only way to buy photos at Shutterstock. In fact, from all of its pricing options, a stock photo subscription is the best Shutterstock watermark remover, so to speak, because it lets you access all the Shutterstock images and download as many professional photos as you need, immediately and without worrying about watermarks, and has the lowest per-image prices. It makes for a very fluent and stress-free workflow.
What’s best, we have a cool Shutterstock coupon code with 15% off that applies to all plans, so you will be saving even more on your subscription plan.
The steps to buying a Shutterstock subscription using our coupon code are the same as with an image pack (detailed above) but you select the subscription plans of your choice instead.
For more info, read our Shutterstock pricing breakdown.
When you download using this plan, it will automatically remove the video watermark and audio watermark from your chosen files.
All files downloaded with the Flex 25 plan are Standard License, and there is no restriction in image size or video resolution.
You can get the Flex 25 plan for $69 a month, or $49 per month with a one-year contract. But you can get it even cheaper with our exclusive Shutterstock Coupon with 15% off!
Discover the Shutterstock Flex 25 plan here!
Shutterstock Newsletter: Weekly Freebies
Every week, Shutterstock sends out an email newsletter that includes, among other info, one free image (without a watermark) from their collection.
Occasionally, they also roll out special bundles of free images, graphics, and other resources:
You are free to use these free photo files under royalty-free license terms, for commercial purposes, just like you would the ones you purchased.
Here is how to subscribe to receive Shutterstock’s newsletter:
- Sign up for an account on Shutterstock (this is free)
- During the registration process, tick the box that enables you to receive promotional offers from the company
- Done! Every time Shutterstock sends out a newsletter for all its subscribers, you’ll be included. So you'll receive at least one free photo in your inbox weekly, including the download link to free download automatically.
Forbidden Methods (100% Illegal)
We know a number of internet users are after ways to “cheat the system” and intentionally want to remove Shutterstock watermark online without paying, but we also know a lot of people think that removing a watermark from an image to download free images is a harmless thing to do, and thus consider watermark remover tools and photo editing apps to get rid of a Shutterstock watermark without paying for the image.
There is a wide range of websites and online tools used, from Adobe Photoshop to Apowersoft watermark remover and even brush tools, and also multiple mobile apps. But these tools are not created nor intended for the purpose of removing watermarks from Shutterstock photos, and should not be used in this way.
For example, just last year a photographer sued none other than Microsoft for allegedly using several of her photos without a proper license, and she seeks $2.25 Million in statutory damages! Just to give you an idea.
Trust us, it’s not worth the risks. Not when you can avoid it with a free trial, or a $ 25-a-month subscription!
If you want to explore other paid and free options, check out our list of the best alternative offers to Shutterstock.
Shutterstock Watermark FAQ
Let's quickly address your most common questions regarding the Shutterstock watermark.
Can you remove Shutterstock watermark?
Yes. Above we listed the best ways to remove the Shutterstock watermark. They are easy, quick, free or affordable, and equally important: 100% legal methods to remove the Shutterstock watermark from images.
Can I use watermarked Shutterstock images?
Watermarked Shutterstock images are essentially image previews, in low resolution, of the actual high-res pictures available. You can only use these watermarked images to share them via a link with your colleagues when working on a project or to test-edit how they'd look in a finished design –like when you use the Shutterstock Create editor in the Shutterstock Creative Flow platform, for example–, but you cannot use Shutterstock watermarked content in your finished designs, nor publish them anywhere.
How do I use Shutterstock images without watermark?
To use Shutterstock images without watermark, simply download them from their official website, using any of the methods above listed –except for the illegal and NOT recommended ones!–.
By using those methods you'll have perfectly legal, licensed images that you can use in a wide array of projects, personal and commercial: digital marketing, social media, blog post illustration, and so much more.
How do you make a Shutterstock watermark?
If you are looking to create a watermark for your visual content, there are multiple online tools to do this for you, even free ones, where you upload the logo or text you want to use as a watermark and the tool automatically applies it to your desired image.
But if you are intending to replicate the Shutterstock watermark, you can't. The Shutterstock logo and brand are trademarks and can only be used by them.
Is there a free version of Shutterstock?
You can sign up for a free account on Shutterstock, and it will let you navigate the entirety of their image library (and stock footage and stock audio libraries), save images in personal collections, and download their weekly free stock images, among other perks.
But if you want free photos, Shutterstock's offer is limited. The vast majority of the content on their website is paid.
Are Shutterstock images free?
No. Not by definition. Shutterstock pictures are all royalty-free licensed and that means they're paid, albeit very affordable. You can buy them with a monthly plan, an annual plan, or on demand with image packs. All with very low prices.
There are ways to get Shutterstock free images legally, though.
How do I get Shutterstock for free?
The Shutterstock website is open for all: you can sign up for free, as well as navigate their libraries, save images in lightboxes and even access a limited version of Shutterstock Creative Flow, all without paying.
It's image downloading what you need to pay for. However, if you use the Shutterstock Free Trial, the weekly image files on the Shutterstock website, or the ones in the weekly newsletter, you can get Shutterstock images for free.
How do I remove the watermark from a picture on Shutterstock?
The watermark is automatically removed when you download the picture from Shutterstock legally, using the download button on the screen. Be it through a free download way or by paying for an image pack or subscription plan, this is the only legal method to remove the Shutterstock watermark.
How can I download Shutterstock videos without watermarking for free?
The weekly free files on the website usually include one free stock video. The weekly newsletter sometimes contains free video files as well. These are the only ways of downloading Shutterstock videos without a watermark for free and legally.
Where can I find images to use for free?
If you are after a free stock image without a watermark, you can opt for an alternative website that offers images for free. Such websites abound on the web, but most of them work with Creative Commons licenses for free use, which are not remotely as safe as Royalty Free. When you use images downloaded from a free website, you are at your own risk.
The Shutterstock free stock photos are the best alternative to this. Especially with the free trial, you can download the same image that you would otherwise pay, for free.
Shutterstock Images Without Watermark: Much Easier to Get than You Might Think
If one thing that can be concluded from this guide is that there are multiple effective, safe, and legal ways to download images from Shutterstock.com without a watermark, including Shutterstock's free download methods and paid but affordable ways to get the best images from this site.
Both free and paid, you have several methods to obtain the cool stock photos that you desire the legal way, easily, and be respectful of the agency, copyright rules, and the Shutterstock photographers.
The Shutterstock Free Trial is by far our favorite method. Which one will you try?
What is the images resolution ? I want print 40 inch *30 inch landscape.
Hi Andy. All Shutterstock images are high resolution, you usually get to pick between two or three available sizes (we recommend always selecting the largest size available since there is no added cost and it’s a lot more flexible for design). Said largest size is suitable for large format printing, at 300 DPI, so you shouldn’t have problems printing in your desired dimensions. However, we recommend you check with a Shutterstock representative directly before buying, to make sure. Hope this helps!