Shutterstock is a leading provider of high-quality licensed photographs, vectors, illustrations, videos and music. Its over 100,000 contributors have contributed over 125 million images and 2 million video clips, with tens of thousands of new images being added each week. Originally subscription only, the site introduced individual pricing for content pieces in 2008. The company went public in 2012, and by 2013, Shutterstock's shares had reached a $2.5 billion market value. Shutterstock has attained an active customer base of over a million people in 150 countries.
Alternatives to Shutterstock
Wallbase
Company: Wallhaven | Founder: Yotoon
Wallbase was the go-to wallpaper site for wallpaper lovers. Unfortunately, when Wallbase admin Yotoon became MIA in 2014, the site also met its demise later on. The members who remained worked together to form Wallhaven.com. The images (photographs or illustrations)…
Unsplash
Company: Unsplash, Inc | Founder: Mikael Cho | CEO: Mikael Cho | Since: 2013
Unsplash is a website that provides free access to copyright-free photographs. It originated in 2013 as a Tumblr post and since then it has evolved into one of the industry’s top photography communities, having reached an impressive 1 billion photo…
Pexels
Company: Pexels GmbH | Founder: Bruno Joseph, Ingo Joseph | Since: 2014
Pexels is a website that provides high quality free stock photos. All published pictures are high quality and licensed under the Creative Commons Zero license. The site obtains photos from their community of photographers, as well as sources such as…
Pixabay
Company: Hans Braxmeier & Simon Steinberger GbR | Founder: Simon Steinberger, Hans Braxmeier | CEO: Simon Steinberger, Hans Braxmeier | Since: 2010
Pixabay is a free photo-sharing platform that enables its users to discover illustrations, high-quality photographs and vectors from a repository of more than 750,000 files. Additionally, users can contribute to the website with their own images. The company was launched…
Final edit: Jan Willem Beumer, editor-in-chief of Mindbogglingmedia