--- title: iStock Reviews meta_title: 'iStock Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 117 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how iStock works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 3.5 review_count: 117 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-08-04' parent_category: name: Stock Media url: https://www.g2.com/categories/stock-media --- # iStock Reviews **Vendor:** Getty Images **Category:** [Stock Photos Websites](https://www.g2.com/categories/stock-photos) **Average Rating:** 3.5/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 117 ## About iStock Founded in 2000, iStock created the crowd-sourced stock industry and became the original source for user-generated stock photos, vectors and illustrations, and video clips. For more than 15 years, we've given our artists a platform to make money with their passions by licensing their stock content to businesses and individuals around the world for use in a wide variety of projects. Today we remain an industry leader and key destination for creative business professionals who want to make a big impact without breaking the bank. We believe that imagery has the power to move the world. We also believe that our customers deserve the very best stock content - that's why we're proud to offer millions of bold, unique stock images you can only get from us. iStock is part of the Getty Images family of companies. ## iStock Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users appreciate the **vast library of high-quality stock images** on iStock, making it easy to find fitting content. (4 reviews) - Users appreciate the **exceptional quality** of iStock's vast library, finding it reliable for diverse use cases. (3 reviews) - Users value the **high-quality stock content** from iStock, finding it reliable and extensive for various needs. (2 reviews) - Users appreciate the **vast library of high-quality images** from iStock, making it easy to find the perfect fit. (2 reviews) - Users appreciate the **much higher quality images and videos** offered by iStock, enhancing their creative projects. (1 reviews) - Collection Quality (1 reviews) - Content Abundance (1 reviews) - Ease of Finding (1 reviews) - Ease of Use (1 reviews) - Easy Download (1 reviews) **What users dislike:** - Users find the **cost of iStock** to be high, with concerns over pricing and subscription models leading to dissatisfaction. (5 reviews) - Users find iStock to be **expensive** , often regretting the subscription costs and lack of valuable content. (5 reviews) - Users express frustration over **poor customer support** , particularly when seeking refunds and resolving subscription issues. (5 reviews) - Users report serious **payment issues** with iStock, including unexpected charges and poor cancellation policies. (4 reviews) - Users criticize the **high pricing and deceptive billing practices** of iStock, feeling misled by subscription terms. (3 reviews) - Users express frustration over **high subscription costs** and poor refund policies leading to unexpected charges. (3 reviews) - Users express frustration with **account setup issues** , including difficult subscriptions, charging practices, and language changes. (2 reviews) - Financial Constraints (2 reviews) - Limited Resources (2 reviews) - Not Free (2 reviews) ## iStock Reviews ### 1. Beautiful Photographs at Very Good Prices **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Donna N. | Public Relations Consultant, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 18, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** iStock provides high quality photographs at very good prices. You can download a single image for as little as $12 - compare that to most stock photo sites that charge around $50. Or you can subscribe and lower the price even more. On top of that, they have a huge selection of photos, videos, and vectors. **What do you dislike about iStock?** There's nothing to dislike really, unless you count having so many images to choose from that it takes a while to go through them and narrow down your choice. But that's hardly a negative. **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** If you need high quality photographs at a good price, you'll love iStock. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** I know I will find exactly the right images at iStock. Regardless of what I'm creating - websites or email blasts or anything else - the photos I get here greatly improve the look of my work. ### 2. Getty Images is a great resource for a graphic designer **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Marketing and Advertising | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 09, 2020 **What do you like best about iStock?** - Ease of use - Organized content - Low res download for comps **What do you dislike about iStock?** My company has an account. I think it would be too expensive for me if I was on-my-own to afford to purchase images **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** There are several stock photo companies out there, I recommend Getty for amazing content and ease of use. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use there content for a few reasons: one is for specific images and art, another is for ideation ### 3. If you need quality images this is the place **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Bryan A. | Sr. Content Writer/Team Lead/Social Media Lead, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 05, 2020 **What do you like best about iStock?** So many great hi rez images for anything you can think of or search for. **What do you dislike about iStock?** The price. Very expensive. There are cheaper options, but the selection will be very limited. **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** Consider what kind of images you want and their quality matched with what you are willing to pay. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** Great imagery for websites and blog articles. They really help both stand out. ### 4. iStock is one of the main stock resources we use **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jeff M. | Marketing Content Producer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 14, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** The gigantic collection of photos, graphics, video and music is what I like best about iStock. They also offer reasonable pricing when compared to many other top stock websites. Getty Images, for example, can charge around ten times more for similar images. Navigating through the iStock is also easy with a simple search field along with advanced search options, categories and filters. I think iStock is relatively selective when it comes to the media that they accept, which is good since I don't run into many bad photos that I have to scroll by. **What do you dislike about iStock?** Since the media collection in iStock is so enormous, it can take a long time to find just the right image. For songs we use a background music, that can take substantially longer since we have to listen to a few seconds of the songs to adequately preview it. **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** iStock can be a valuable resource for obtaining quality stock media. Rather than focusing too much time on making your own material that may be of lower quality than stock material, you can save time and money by starting with stock media and editing them down to suit your project needs. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** We download high resolution photos and other media from iStock that is used in many different marketing materials we have. iStock dramatically lessens our need to go out a take photos, videos and music on our own. We can get professional level content for a fraction of the cost we'd pay to create them or licensing them from other similar websites. ### 5. Getty Images **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Transportation/Trucking/Railroad | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 01, 2020 **What do you like best about iStock?** It's helpful to our team that we have graphics, photos and video content to use for our projects. **What do you dislike about iStock?** There could be more transportation-focused content and a more diverse collection of people in the photos/videos. **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** Master the art of using keywords to maximize your result options. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** No problems. I just wish there were more industry-focused content opportunities. ### 6. They have many outstanding images to license for typically steeps prices **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Justin B. | Marketing Director, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 21, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** Getty Images is probably one of the more professional stock image companies. So I feel when we licensed images from them, we are getting some of the absolutely best images available. When I do to search the Getty Images website, there are countless photos for us to select from. We can use images for many different purposes. For blog posts, when we want to use photos of certain recent events, Getty Images is the company that is most likely to have images available. **What do you dislike about iStock?** The prices are certainly an aspect of Getty Images that stands out as something negative. Compared to many newer stock media websites out there now, Getty Images is probably among the highest-priced services I've seen. There are also more conditions attached to the licenses. We can't just use them for an unlimited time for any purpose. **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** There are many stock image websites that have lower prices, so if you don't have a need for images in critical media or placements in your website, you should probably take a look at those websites, like iStock before going with Getty. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** When we want to find more unique images that are less likely to be found at multiple stock image websites, we can go to Getty Images to license our images. We use stock images from Getty Images for website design and to post in blog posts similar to news articles. The search features in Getty Images make it easy for us to find images based on keywords, so we can be more efficient about our time when considering new photos to use. ### 7. BEAUTIFUL high quality images for all your stock photo needs! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Cooper L. | Admin. Asst., Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 19, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** Getty images is the premier stock photo site. They have the most incredible and high quality images that you can find. The price reflects this, but well worth the money that you'll spend for the look. **What do you dislike about iStock?** I wish that they also offered a different pricing plans. They could offer fewer choices, but still quality stock photos for a lower priced plan. **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** High priced, but worth every penny. You'll be glad that you spent a little more when you see what your end project looks like if you use Getty Images as opposed to the lower priced stock photo sites. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** When I need to design a top quality website or promotional materials, this is my go to site. ### 8. A big library but not cheap **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Automotive | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 25, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** The tagging and search is good, and the similar images & series. There’s a lot of choice and always an image that works even though it can take time to find a relevant one. **What do you dislike about iStock?** It’s not cheap and there’s a lot of random images that some times take some shifting through to get what you want. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** Good and simple image library for our website and marketing collateral ### 9. Essential for Graphic Designers **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jesse H. | Graphic Design Consultant and Illustrator, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 20, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** There's an absolutely mind blowing amount of high quality images available in Getty Images stock portfolio. And all of the images are carefully categorized and sorted in a way that makes finding exactly what you are looking for so incredibly simple. I've used other stock image providers in my time as a graphic designer but always find myself returning to Getty Images. They are simply the best in the business. **What do you dislike about iStock?** There's really not much to dislike about Getty Images. They are priced competitively, sure there's cheaper options but only from shady stock sites where you have to worry about someone claiming the image later down the road. The small price difference is worth the peace of mind. Besides you will never see the quality and selection at other sites. **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** This is the leading name in the industry. Don't waste your time with other image providers. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** Working as a graphic designer Getty Images saves me so much time. I'm always happy to be able to quickly find what I'm looking for and finish the job on schedule. ### 10. Lovely Photos to enhance posts **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Katelyn M. | Co-Founder, Construction, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 14, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** The stock photos on iStock are professional and add a lovely touch to our posts. They have a lot to choose from and we always find the exact image we need. **What do you dislike about iStock?** I do not like subscription based platforms. I would much rather just pay for an image or two here and there. The last time we used iStock we have to pay $40 for a memebership. I think we only downloaded 1 photo during that 1 month since that was all that we needed. **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** Recommend getting together a list of photos that you will be needing in the next 3-6 months. Add the subscription and then choose all photos at once to get the most out of the subscription. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** We add them to posts and it saves us the time of creating and editing photos. ### 11. Costs a bit but very easy to ise **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Financial Services | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 05, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** The fact that the images are all tagged makes it really easy to find what you are looking for. Really easy to use and always find the right image we are looking for. **What do you dislike about iStock?** It’s not cheap and you can’t pay per image **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** Go for it if you have budget to spare - really quick and useful **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** Lack of an image library - thing allows us to find images to add to presentation easily ### 12. Buy/Sell Stock Images **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jason F. | Student, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 12, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** In general, the site works well and the selection is great. IStock has single handedly both improved the life of designers but also turned a generation of designers into professional creative montage makers rather than designers. Pay-as-you-go option is great, there are wide variety of stock images and over 8 million are exclusive to iStock. Images, video, audio, illustration and vector files available **What do you dislike about iStock?** The pricing of the subscriptions and images is not equivalent to the product you will get. Credits are overpriced as well, review times for submissions can be long. Low commission for contributors. Other stock image services have a better selection for use with high quality print media **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** Wide variety of stock images and over 8 million are exclusive to iStock. All file sizes for the same price **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** Been around since 2000 & One of the most used stock photo sites in the industry, selling a large number of images daily. ### 13. Getty Images is a stock photo beast! **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Caleb E. | Communications and Content Strategist, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 17, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** They have one of the largest libraries of stock images. They even offer a feature where you can tell them what kind image/footage you are needing and they will go and shoot it for you and give you exclusive image rights so that no one else can use it. They have everything from images and videos to audio and graphic illustrations all searchable and filterable through their easy to use website! The filters can be pretty specific and help you narrow down to exactly what you are needing! **What do you dislike about iStock?** It is a bit pricy especially for news or event related media. **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** If you need stock media, this is the place to go! **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use this for promotional pieces and for a lot of design pieces/work. ### 14. Great resource for small, indy publications **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mitch M. | Consultant, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 14, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** iStock offers an easy, cost-effective way for our small indy publication to access and utilize quality stock images. The images are not only a good value for the price, they are far better than we would be able to produce on our own at a much higher price point. **What do you dislike about iStock?** I have not found anything I dislike while using iStock. It's a quality product at an affordable price. **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** This is a great way to access high quality digital images at a very affordable price **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** We do not have the resources to produce high-quality original digital photography on our own. iStock allows us an easy, affordable way to overcome that challenge. ### 15. Super quick and simple **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Construction | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 18, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** It’s great - quick and easy and it’s really easy to find images via tags. There’s always something relevant **What do you dislike about iStock?** Not a lot - it’s great and works really well. **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** Go for it if you are looking for simple and easy to use software- way better than any others I’ve used! **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** Lack of images and videos internally for marketing content ### 16. Such a big library of images **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Telecommunications | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 23, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** So so so so much choice! Everything you can think of and more. It also has great tagging so you can find images quickly. **What do you dislike about iStock?** It costs a lot and you can very quickly run out of credit so you end up spending loads. **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** It’s great to have on hand when you can’t or don’t have the photos you need! **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** It allows us to find and use images quickly! ### 17. Great service to use images without copyright violation, but it's pretty expensive for nonprofits **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Brian S. | Business Administrator, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 18, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** I like that there are SO MANY images when I search for virtually any term. Images pop up in various price ranges and resolutions and such. I was actually able to print huge canvas photos to put on the walls of our church and large scale banners outdoors because the images were of such high quality that they could be scaled to that 8'x8' size without becoming too grainy. **What do you dislike about iStock?** It can sometimes pull up a lot of irrelevant images that I have to sift through. The images are expensive enough that I have stopped using this service as of last year. I have opted to use services that offer inexpensive subscription plans. **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** Look around, because often you can find what you need elsewhere for a better price. Or you can subscribe to an unlimited package much cheaper than using individual images you pay for. I have found that using a clearinghouse or something like that is more cost effective since we are a church and do not have a huge budget to work with. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** For our church videos, slideshows, backgrounds, etc., Getty Images is one source we use to get high quality images. ### 18. Largest Stock Photo Marketplace **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Nicole D. | Customer Service Specialist, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 16, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** I like that because they are the largest stock photo marketplace you are more than likely able to find that perfect image that you weren't able to find on other stock photo marketplaces.Because its the largest marketplace this is were most customers will be so selling photo's is also a plus for any photographer. **What do you dislike about iStock?** I would really like to see a higher percentage on photos, especially if you are selling a large amount and you know your images are popular with the site. I feel that doing all the work and providing the image to the company they should offer a higher percentage for photographers who bring in more customers or sales. **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** If your a new photographer and looking to share your photos to see how well your expertise are, this site is appropriate for you. By sharing your love for photographer and also sharing your beautiful photo's you will make a small commission. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** Since discovering and using Getty Images, I have been able to reach out to a lot more customers who are looking for the type of images that I have to offer. I have grown my portfolio and was able to land some wonderful opportunities just by sharing my images on Getty. ### 19. High Quality Images for Everyone and Every Use **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ryan L. | Graphic Artist and Product Photographer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 17, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** Selection is top notch! There seems to be an endless supply of images of all price ranges that can assist you with virtually any project you have. Whether it is straight photography, or vector graphics and icons, IstockPhoto has just about everything. **What do you dislike about iStock?** At times it seems some images are overpriced for the quality. Typically the selection overall is good enough, it is possible to finder cheaper "alternates". **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** This saves us time from having to search for stock photos, or create our own. As a result, we have more professional results having used IstockPhoto. Overall, we have been really able to improve our ad game. ### 20. Quality Stock Images for Your Business **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Publishing | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 14, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** iStockphoto has a huge selection of very High Quality Images at very affordable pricing. You get an incredible bang for your buck with this product, so it is worth the small investment. There is also a very Easy Process to choose and download the images. **What do you dislike about iStock?** There are few things that I disliked about using iStockphoto. The only thing that I would like to see improved is that there are very limited options for editing photos compared to traditional photo editing tools. I would like to make changes on the website like adjusting the brightness, contrast, or using filters. **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** Very professional service for stock images. Highly recommended. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** I was trying to get a high quality image for a publication. ### 21. A media company’s best friend **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Design | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 16, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** I liked the variety of photo and smart search options. Because the photos are tagged, it’s easy to grab context clues and find the right image for you. I used to work in the design department of a media company and I was constantly on the look out for the right photos to convey a message or emotion and istock had a ton to offer. I also like that they share similar photos or photos from the same series. **What do you dislike about iStock?** While there is a big selection, sometimes the photos can be cheesy or staged. I would say majority of photos are pretty good, but you have to dig to find the one just right for your project. I think there’s opportunity here! **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** As a former designer for a media company, I needed to find the right photos for articles, newsletters, components and social media. Visuals literally drive clicks and conversions, so for the business that’s really great. ### 22. Most cost effective stock photos **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Public Relations and Communications | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 14, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** I like that they have a flat rate for their photos. It makes quoting projects and making decisions a breeze. It is also great to be able to download large-sized comps for mocking up designs. The fact that we can roll over images from month to month makes our budgeting easier, and makes it feel like more of a value. Also the fact that you can redownload images allows us to use the site as our own database. **What do you dislike about iStock?** I dislike that you can't use multiple essential credits towards a signature credit, and that there is a such a jump in the subscription tiers. It is either buy barely any or buy a ton. Sometimes the image selection is so "stocky" it would be nice to have more diversity in the style of photography offered. **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** I would say this is your best options if you are using stock photos on a regular basis. If you need one offs, the pricing is still comparable, but you may want to look around a bit. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** Having quick and easy access to a huge library of stock photography for all my projects. It has simplified our design process. It allows us to focus on the design instead of the budget. ### 23. Very large image library **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Marketing and Advertising | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 28, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** There are a lot of images, covering any topico and they have good quality **What do you dislike about iStock?** It's a paid service, so if you're not using It consistently it's not worth it **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** Find images for websites or blog posts ### 24. Good collection of photos and illustrations **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Real Estate | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 08, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** Better quality of images, easy to use, clear pricing, extensive amount of preference images to choose from signature photo into regular photo and you can choose the option of vertical or horizontal photos, they have some good video too **What do you dislike about iStock?** slightly expensive about the price compare to other stock photos website. in my experience shutterstock have more illustration stocks than istockphotos.com but our company love to use istockphotos.com **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** You need to consider buying a subscriptions when you need it the most. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** Designing a flyer or booklet is easier when you have extensive of stock photo options to choose. When doing a project, you also can save images that you think will work for other project and create a different boards in istockphotos.com. It is also allow you to download multiple images at once. Other benefits, they have better pricing for subscription. As a designer you definitely need these stock photo for your project. ### 25. Good resource for image and vector graphics **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Architecture & Planning | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 04, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** the image search feature has improved a lot especially when they add search by image feature. the images are high quality to be printed large format and the prices are a tenth of getty images or veer. Artistically they're not exactly the same but it does the job when you need to modify the images through other software anyway. love the vast collection of rights free images. **What do you dislike about iStock?** the bad part is when downloading vectors, you never know what you're getting. sometimes all of the lines are outlined so you cant really adjust the line weight anymore. The worst part is when you finish downloading the file, the details are just horrid. the person uploading the file just simply use image trace on adobe illustrator. Also when you download files with drop shadow or gradient, the effects are already rasterize or flatten. making it impossible to modify whether the color or breaking apart the elements **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** reliable and easy to use resources for free rights images and vector **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** fast and easy solution to find specific image like, hand pointing, blank paper. basically eliminating the need of photoshoot, thus saving a lot of pre-design content. ### 26. High quality pictures for a low price **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Laura F. | Student House Manager, Performing Arts, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 14, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** I like the extreme range of pictures - you literally can't get a "no results" error. **What do you dislike about iStock?** I wish the prices were a little lower, $12 for a picture seems a bit much, but for the quality I am willing to pay. **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** If you buy the packages, it's less expensive than buying picture by picture! Also, the boards feature is really neat - it's an underdog selling point for this software. The boards let you make collages and vision boards of pictures. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** I get inspiration from certain pictures, such as a color scheme. The benefits are that it's a one stop shop for all pictures needed. ### 27. If budget allows, this is best option **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Katie T. | Owner, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 14, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** They have one of the best selections of stock photography for purchase that really helps with my advertising. There’s ample quantity and variety of quality photos that help convey whatever message I want to send. It’s also really easy to use and navigate. **What do you dislike about iStock?** While they do fill the need, they are a little steep in pricing for frequent use. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** They are very easy to use, and present ample choice and selection. I’m able to turn around several different ad options in a fraction of the time it would otherwise take me to go out and set up myself for a similar offering. ### 28. Great Option for Freelance Social Media Expert **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ann B. | Director, Public Relations and Communications, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 14, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** I can find great lifestyle photos that fit my client's needs. **What do you dislike about iStock?** Cost is prohibitive. There are more and more opportunities to get high quality and lower costs images online from other sources. I would like to see iStock offer more competitive pricing. **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** Offer more competitive pricing for entrepreneurs and smaller sized companies. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** I do not need to pay a professional photographer for images. ### 29. Review for iStockphoto **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Restaurants | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 14, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** I like that iStockphoto has a good range of high-quality photos that can be easily searched. They have flexible pricing plans and subscriptions. **What do you dislike about iStock?** iStockphoto allows you to choose from a subscription plan or buy credits to obtain the file on demand. The monthly plan for 25 images was very expensive and unfortunately, cannot be rolled over to the next month. Credits expire, so you need to keep track of that. **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** If you want to save money, there are a couple of sites that offer high-quality photos free for commercial use. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** iStockphoto gives you the rights to use an image or video for commercial use for your project as long as you like. You can choose from multiple image resolution options. Either way, image quality is excellent. ### 30. IStock **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Architecture & Planning | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 21, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** The quality of the images are very professional and they usually have exactly what I am looking for. **What do you dislike about iStock?** The price is extremely high for what you get **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** My website and graphics look amazing ### 31. Worth the investment **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Walter T. | Marketing Specialist, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 06, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** Group pricing with individual/admin logins. Can see corporate purchases as a whole, plus each seat's purchases. **What do you dislike about iStock?** Nothing really. Pricing is always an issue for small companies and this was a significant increase from our Thinkstock subscription. **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** Look into other sites if you only need one license as this could be very pricey for individuals. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** Quality stock imagery for our marketing material. Moving from Thinkstock to Gettyimages.com satisfied possible licensing issues for multipole designers. ### 32. All images you need in one place **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Vero N. | Project Manager, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 19, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** Definitely the most valuable thing are the filters feature, they are amazing and you can virtually find any picture you have in mind for your project **What do you dislike about iStock?** Most of the times The pricing is out of my budget. I work for small business and the customers set a tiny or zero budget for pictures. Probably they need to create version for small companies and startups **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** I don’t have to deal with agency models, photographers and all that kind of stuff to get beautiful pictures that enhance the messages we want to communicate to our customers ### 33. For when you need anything **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Design | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 20, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** The best thing about Getty Images is that you can be sure to find any type of stock photo you are looking for without it seeming like one of those cheesy free stock photos you find on all the sites. **What do you dislike about iStock?** The pricing is a bit expensive, especially if you don't tend to reuse any images and you are a freelance artist who doesn't have a large production budget behind you. **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** It is the industry standard for sure so if you want to up your A game and compete with the biggest and baddest in the industry, consider using Getty Images. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** The problems you can solve with Getty Images is that you don't have to go out and get the images yourself, so you are saving time and money that way. ### 34. Great quality stock images, but pricey **Rating:** 1.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Cody S. | Former Web Reporter, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 18, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** The images were good, and I could usually find whatever I was looking for (but not always). **What do you dislike about iStock?** It is ludicrously expensive, especially considering https://pixabay.com/en/ is free. **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** They should open their business up to individuals and freelancers who may not be able to afford exorbitant prices for.....pictures. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** I was a web reporter, and I used the images to make articles less-boring looking. For example, if I was writing a Veterans Day article, I would perhaps find a couple photos, maybe one of soldiers in combat gear, and maybe the other of the Vietnam Memorial. ### 35. Getty gets us the images we need at a decent price **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Medical Devices | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 18, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** We've been using Getty for stock images for quite a while now. We really enjoy that they have pretty much anything we can think of, and lots to choose from. **What do you dislike about iStock?** I think the main thing we dislike is that there is too much to sift through sometimes. We'll be looking for something super specific, and if you don't have the correct keywords, you'll be searching through pages of pictures trying to locate what you need. **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** I think if you're responsible for setting up a website and don't have the funds to find images within your own arsenal, Getty Images is perfect! **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** We don't have to hire photographers or purchase photos from multiple companies. Pretty much a one stop shop for those of us that are responsible for the website. ### 36. Highest Quality Images, many to choose from **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Kristy G. | Paralegal, Law Practice, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 18, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** I am responsible for keeping our firms website updated and I get all of our images from Getty Images. What I like best is that the search field finds what I am looking for quickly and easily. The images are high quality and up to date. **What do you dislike about iStock?** The only thing that I dislike is the cost is quite high for what we need the images for. We only uses them once. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** We are keeping our webpage updated with quality images and keeping it attractive which is important. ### 37. Vast Collection **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Medical Practice | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 16, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** There is a large collection of images, and most are VERY striking. They help attract many to our social media outlets that we use for marketing and hiring. **What do you dislike about iStock?** Some of the images almost look overly edited and don't have enough personal-feeling to them. **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** It's a great tool! They have a wide variety of images and videos and they are very striking. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** Grasping potential clients and employees with single images rather than relying on lengthy posts to gain their attention.. the images help engage folks initially. ### 38. Getty Images **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Photography | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 18, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** This is the perfect place to go for your stock media needs. Filters are super helpful if you need to narrow down your search as well as keywords. **What do you dislike about iStock?** It can be pricey. Also when searing for specific themes even with key wording it can pull irrelevant photos into your results. **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** Learn to really use keywords in your searches. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use this to help source photos for our website. ### 39. One of the best sites for worldwide images **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Lou C. | Managing director, university marketing and public relations, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 18, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** They have perhaps the best assortment of photos available. You can find current events, historical or anecdotal images. **What do you dislike about iStock?** It can sometimes be overwhelming to do searches that are more broad. **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** One of the best places you'll find for getting images necessary for your work. They quite literally cover the world, and offer images in virtually any area you could be seeking. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** The biggest and most important aspect is that they can give you visuals for stories that would otherwise not have them. ### 40. Amazing source for high quality images! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Art By L. | Owner, Designer, Artist, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 18, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** I love the variety available, and that the images are amazingly high quality! **What do you dislike about iStock?** Some of the pricing is a little high... it's worth it, but if you're on a budget, know that you'll get what you pay for. **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** It's definitely the place to go when looking for one of a kind images that you can't get anywhere else. Especially for publications, either in print or online. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** Any of our journalism pieces have greatly benefitted the addition of images from Getty ### 41. Great images **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Cosmetics | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 15, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** You can find relevant images for your ad campaign or website it’s easy to search for the images you want and they are organized by category making it easier to find specific themes **What do you dislike about iStock?** The pricing is bit much for images eberyone will be using **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** Be sure to have a set budget **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** It solves the problem of finding quality topic specific photos for my ad and website ### 42. Great photos for advertising **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** chris s. | CEO, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 14, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** I liked the fact that i could find high quality, authentic photos to advertise my clients products and services **What do you dislike about iStock?** I disliked the premium features of iStock. I wanted more for free! **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** I recommend others to use iStockphoto in conjunction with getting real photos from their clients in real life! **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** It has solved my problems of not being able to get content from my clients. ### 43. Walled garden image search **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Luis M. | Director of Strategic Planning, Marketing and Advertising, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 18, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** The interface is easy to use and there is generally much content generated with each search. **What do you dislike about iStock?** There is a walled garden approach to accessing content. It would be great for there to be more robust output for free use. It feels quite limited as it stands. Particularly with Google Images being so accessible. Secondly, the search algorithm could use some work. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** Whenever I need to craft a presentation, Getty Images allows for easy access to stock images ### 44. Getty Images **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Events Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 18, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** Getty images has a great collection of stock photos at a reasonable price. I've used them several times to purchase larger high quality images for clients. **What do you dislike about iStock?** I dislike that there isn't a free section but overall it's a good site. Not quite as good as shutterstock but they have alternative images you can't find elsewhere. **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** Definitely use this service if it has the images you require. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** We used Getty images several times to print high quality images on large walls for trade shows and exhibits. We realized it's better to pay for a higher quality image and keep everyone happy once the final product comes around. ### 45. Excellent Resource For Anyone To Use **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Darion R. | Co-Founder, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 05, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** Images are very high quality and the fact that the selection is very in-depth was a plus. They have just about everything you could search for. **What do you dislike about iStock?** When downloading vectors it's not always apparent what you are getting and some images are overpriced. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** It truly is a quick and easy solution to find an image that creates professional results. ### 46. Istock Review **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Marketing and Advertising | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 14, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** I like this product because of the pricing, it gives various options for pricing. There are options for 1 year, 1 month, or by individual credits that you pay for. **What do you dislike about iStock?** Sometimes the pictures, audio and videos are limited beyond what I am looking for. Granted there are many options to chose from, the product doesn’t always have exactly what I need. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** Make advertisements for my company that I am employed for, I am able to have various content to ensure I’m doing a good job. ### 47. Expensive Service **Rating:** 1.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Chloe G. | ESL Teacher, Marketing and Advertising, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 14, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** The variety and quality is the best part about iStockphoto. **What do you dislike about iStock?** I dislike how pricey it is to be able to have monthly access. There are many other resources out there that are not nearly as expensive. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** We were using this product to help with client accounts. ### 48. Getty Images **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Hospital & Health Care | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 18, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** great variety of images and video from a variety of topics; fair variety of cost options **What do you dislike about iStock?** As always, costs could be lower; also there's a misnomer about "free images," what is "royalty free" is not necessarily "free to use however you wish." As a result, have transitioned from Getty to PIXABAY. **Recommendations to others considering iStock:** Again, great variety; however, fear Getty and other similar services may lose market share as other services offer free images like Pixabay. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** Like other image services, these are helpful for me with our hospital media domain as we post stories about various health care issues. ### 49. Great solution for your visual needs **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** FREDERICO P. | Motion graphic artist , Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 15, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** I would say that from all the image banks that I have used, Getty Images is by far the most complete one. **What do you dislike about iStock?** It can be a little price if you buy just one image/video. So it is better to have a subscription. **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** We are solving all of our needs of images and video for video editing with Getty Images. ### 50. Great service **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Alternative Medicine | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 19, 2019 **What do you like best about iStock?** I’ve used Getty images for website work and for images used in advertisements/publicity notices **What do you dislike about iStock?** I can’t always find the types of images that I need that pertain to my specific niche work **What problems is iStock solving and how is that benefiting you?** I was solving the problem of not having graphic or illustration on my materials. Getty Images helped to solve that problem. ## iStock Discussions - [What is the best software for inventory management?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-the-best-software-for-inventory-management) - 1 comment - [View iStock pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/getty-images-istock/reviews?page=2§ion=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-08-06+04%3A16%3A23+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=34f77265-3f78-485e-80f5-9fefe05f22ab&secure%5Btoken%5D=3144f43822da1bd937b071e5079d99bfe060cca4332b0e8847d2918d46a0fc6c&format=llm_user) ## iStock Features **Pricing** - Free Footage - Pay Per Image - Subscription **Media** - Sounds Effects - Genre Tagging **Media** - 360/VR - Animation - 4K High Definition **Pricing** - Royalty Free - Pay Per Track - Subscription **Agentic AI - Stock Footage** - Cross-system Integration **Agentic AI - Stock Music** - Cross-system Integration ## Top iStock Alternatives - [Shutterstock](https://www.g2.com/products/shutterstock-shutterstock/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (643 reviews) - [Storyblocks](https://www.g2.com/products/storyblocks/reviews) - 4.6/5.0 (424 reviews) - [Adobe Stock](https://www.g2.com/products/adobe-adobe-stock/reviews) - 4.3/5.0 (191 reviews)