If you’ve run out of ideas to boost your business, you should try using illustrations. They are excellent at depicting your message while connecting you with your audience on a deeper emotional level. They are also versatile and would make for amazing website designs, flyers, online ads, and much more. Here are ten of the best stock illustration sites you need to check out today.
1. Depositphotos
Unsurprisingly, Depositphotos is one of the go-to sites for downloading professional and relevant stock illustrations. Depositphotos contains over 234 million files in its library, with every illustration style and theme imaginable. Discover Depositphotos’s large thematic collection of illustrations, stock videos, photography, and music library.
Depositphotos is trusted by leading international companies that rely on stock illustrations for their branding and marketing assets. Depositphotos’s working spaces are located worldwide, namely in Italy, Ukraine, Cyprus, Poland, and the USA.
Pricing:
- Pay $9.99 for ten images and a dollar for every additional image. You may also get up to 750 images for only $199. Talk to their customer service representative and get a custom subscription.
2. Pond5
Entrepreneurs, filmmakers, and marketers prefer Pond5 regarding their illustration and video clip needs. It has an extensive library of beautiful, high-quality images that brands can use for their promotional materials. Pond5 is a platform where creatives who love contributing their works of art can find sustainable living.
Since launching in 2006, Pond5 has become one of the most reliable best stock illustration sites. This company is funded by Accel Partners and Stripes Group, garnering an initial investment of $61 million in 2014.
Pricing:
- Get a credit pack starting at $250 or pay per item.
3. Shutterstock
Shutterstock is a favorite for many users due to its user-friendly interface. This platform offers users stock footage, music, photography, and illustrations since 2003, and has over 200 million royalty-free vector graphics, stock photos, and illustrations. Jon Oringer, the founder of Shutterstock, is a computer programmer and entrepreneur.
He initially uploaded over 30,000 of his works of art and had users pay a subscription for unlimited downloads. Shutterstock expanded to over 570,000 images in its vast collection library in 2006. And in 2007, the platform had 1.8 million photos, and the number seems to grow daily.
Pricing:
- Avail of the one-month trial and pay $29 per month for ten images. Cancel anytime within the first month and pay nothing.
4. Getty Images
Getty Images has been offering users the best videos and images for over 25 years. The platform’s mission is to create content for your everyday material with a straightforward license. This will make it easier for users to incorporate illustrations into their work. With a library of 477 million, it’s now one of the largest and best stock illustration sites.
Getty Images believes that storytelling is a vital part of branding and marketing. With the world’s foremost visual experts, Getty Images aims to create, capture, and preserve content. The company’s target audiences are corporate companies, creative professionals, and the media.
Pricing:
- The pricing tiers are classified into three categories. For large images, pay $499 per download or $4,250 for its 10-pack plan.
- You may also opt for medium images at $2,400 for ten packs and small images at $1,100 for the 10-pack bundle.
5. iStock
Founded by Bruce Livingstone in 2000, iStock was the first of its kind. It pioneered the stock images industry and user-generated stock photos, illustrations, and vectors. The company took off and started charging money in 2001, making the platform a lucrative business.
iStock is the cheaper version of its sister company, Getty Images, where you can get cheap stock illustrations. When Getty Images acquired iStock, the founder promised it would be a separate entity with full features and benefits. One of the most prominent benefits of iStock is the Controlled vocabulary keyword taxonomy, a system borrowed from Getty Images.
Pricing:
- Pay $33 for three credits, $60 for six credits, $115 for 12 credits, $220 for 24 credits, $325 for 36 credits, and $520 for 60 credits.
6. Adobe Stock
With its headquarters in San Jose, California, Adobe Stock’s footprint in the crowd-sourced stock photo industry is unrivaled. Adobe’s history goes back to 1982, when Charles Geschke and John Warnock established Adobe after their stint in Xerox PARC. The name Adobe was also coined from Los Altos, California’s Adobe Creek. Like Apple’s inception, Adobe was also developed in John Warnock’s garage.
And while the company was taking off, Steve Jobs attempted to buy it for five million dollars. However, both founders refused and worked out something with Jobs. Adobe investors agreed to sell Jobs company shares worth 19 percent. Adobe is the first-ever company to become profitable during its first year.
Pricing:
- You can buy credit packs that start at $149.99 up to $1,200 for five and 150 credits, respectively.
- You may also pay $29.99 per month for ten standard assets, $49.99 per month for 25 standard assets, and $199.99 per month for 750 standard assets.
7. Vecteezy
Creative professionals, marketers, and entrepreneurs have probably heard of Vecteezy. Grab some stunning vector illustrations and fresh photography from the platform’s impressive creative community.
Vecteezy’s purpose is to inspire and simplify the creative process. The mission is also to provide designers and creatives with the resources they need to produce stellar work outcomes. You’ll enjoy simple licensing, fresh content, affordable pricing tiers, and millions of free illustrations and images.
Pricing:
- The yearly subscription is $54, saving you 36 percent. You can also subscribe on a monthly plan, which is $7, with an unlimited subscription.
8. Freepik
Freepik is another of the best stock illustration websites that offer high-quality illustrations, icons, mockups, presentation templates, and photos. It comprises three other engaging projects, such as Wepik, Flaticon, and SlidesGo. Founded in 2010, Freepik has become a trusted illustration site for FedEx, Microsoft, Amazon, Spotify, and Nasa.
Freepik offers 4.5 million graphic resources and gets 100 million monthly downloads. You can check out Freepik’s unique design guide that explains the company’s creative style, purpose, and core values. Freepik lets you use free resources for personal and commercial designs. Free users may need to credit the author with the line “Designed by Freepik.”
Pricing:
- The best value is subscribing for 12 months for only nine euros (about $9.42) per month. Otherwise, you pay 15 euros (about $15.70) per month.
9. Creative Market
Creative Market’s clean interface and straightforward search design make it favorable for people looking to buy illustrations online. The platform offers around 1.2 million high-resolution illustrations from the world’s most talented photographers. On top of that, Creative Market also has icons, themes, 3D images, fonts, videos, and more.
To search for illustrations, click on the Illustrations menu at the top. Then, you can filter your search by choosing a category or by popularity, staff picks, software type, file type, price, etc.
Pricing:
- Pricing varies depending on the type of illustration, which is priced differently. One illustration can cost as low as $15 and as high as $60 to 80 dollars.
- Buying a membership gives you discounted rates.
10. Dreamstime
You must sign up for an account on Dreamstime to download illustrations. You’ll see beautiful and quality illustrations online once you land on Dreamstime’s homepage.
The filter options on this platform are also why this best stock illustration site is a favorite among many. You can filter by people, pricing, license, media properties, etc. You can also choose the file size before downloading the chosen illustration.
Pricing:
- The subscription for images starts from $25 with only five monthly downloads. It can go up to $219 per month for 750 image downloads.
- You may also subscribe for a year and download 9,000 images for $2,028.
Are Stock Illustrations Free?
You can get free illustrations from the top illustration websites without signing up for an account. However, your illustration design options might be limited. You can subscribe to a premium plan that allows you to download a certain number of illustrations monthly. You may also buy the illustration per piece, which might be more expensive.
Advantages of Using Stock Illustrations
Stock illustrations offer a variety of advantages, making it a favorite among many business owners and marketers. Here are a few:
- Cost-effectiveness: more affordable than hiring an illustrator
- Time-saving: you get your illustrations in an instant, with no need for long turnaround times
- Convenience: all you need to do is browse through a stock illustration website’s collection, and you’re good to go
Disadvantages of Using Stock Illustrations
On the other hand, stock illustrations also come with its disadvantages. Below are some:
- No originality: the illustrations may be used by hundreds, even thousands of other users
- No customization: no options to customize the illustration to fit your needs
- Licensing restrictions: there can be restrictions on how you can use the illustrations
Need a Better and Cheaper Solution? That’s Us!
Penji is a platform that offers unlimited graphic design services for a flat monthly fee. There are only so many design options on stock illustration sites, but with Penji, you can have anything designed – yes, anything.
Here are some of Penji’s illustration designs:
With Penji, you can have custom illustrations created to meet your specific needs and brand identity. You get a dedicated team of professional graphic designers who get to know your brand and create illustrations that are consistent with your brand guidelines.
While stock illustration sites may seem inexpensive at first, the costs add up fast when you need to purchase multiple images. With Penji, you pay a flat monthly fee and can request as many illustrations as you need (plus revisions).
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