How to Download Shutterstock Images Without Watermark – 5 Methods Explained
Shutterstock is one of the best stock photo sites around, famous for its gigantic 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 Shutterstock’s amazing stock photos in all their glory.
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!
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
- Hit the “complete checkout” button
- Done! The process might take a few minutes, but soon enough your trial will be activated, and you’ll be able to download any 10 desired images (stock photos or vectors) of your choice, in high-resolution sans watermark, completely free!
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.
All 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?
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 up to 5 days before the month is due. If you cancel within this time frame, you will not be charged a penny for the initial, 10 free images.
If you stay subscribed, you can still cancel your annual plan anytime you want, on a monthly basis.
For more details, make sure to check our dedicated guide to get 10 free images from Shutterstock!
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 an image to see it in a larger size. But once you license it –this is, downloading them legally from Shutterstock via our free trial, or paying for them– you get the high-res, non-watermarked version of said image.
If you only need a few images, a good way to get Shutterstock photos 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.
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 Shutterstock pricing page, and also open a pop-up with a code: don’t close this pop-up!
- 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 downloads.
Quick note: If you are looking for video, the only way to get Shutterstock videos without a watermark, legally covered for personal and commercial use, is by buying and downloading them on 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 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.
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 plan of your choice instead.
For more info, read our Shutterstock pricing breakdown.
All files downloaded with the Flex 25 plan are Standard License, and there is no restriction in image size nor 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 watermark) from their collection.
Occasionally, they also roll out special bundles of free images, graphics, and other resources:
You are free to use these freebie files under royalty-free license terms, just like you would the ones you purchased.
Here is how to subscribe to receive Shutterstock’s newsletter:
- Sign up for an account in 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.
Forbidden Methods (100% Illegal)
We know a number of internet users are after ways to “cheat the system”, but we also know a lot of people think that removing a watermark from an image 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 online tools used, from Photoshop to Apowersoft watermark remover, and also multiple mobile apps. But these tools are not created nor intended for this purpose, 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!
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.
Both free and paid, you have several methods to obtain the cool stock photos that you desire easily and being respectful of the agency and the artists.
The Shutterstock Free Trial is by far our favorite method. Which one will you try?
