iStock, from Getty Images vs. Pixabay

iStock, from Getty Images

iStock, from Getty Images

18 Reviews and Ratings

Pixabay

Pixabay

59 Reviews and Ratings

Overview
Product	Rating	Most Used By	Product Summary	Starting Price
iStock, from Getty Images	Score 9.3 out of 10	N/A	iStock by Getty Images headquartered in Seattle is presented as a complete creative resource for original content, with millions of photos, illustrations, videos & audio to choose from.	N/A
Pixabay	Score 7.6 out of 10	N/A	Pixabay headquartered in Germany offers a digital content platform, which they present as a community for sharing copyright-free images and videos. All contents are released under Creative Commons.	N/A

Pricing

iStock, from Getty Images

Pixabay

Editions & Modules

No answers on this topic

No answers on this topic

Offerings

Pricing Offerings
iStock, from Getty Images	Pixabay
Free Trial
No	No
Free/Freemium Version
No	No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No	No

Entry-level Setup Fee

No setup fee

No setup fee

Additional Details

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More Pricing Information

Community Pulse
	iStock, from Getty Images	Pixabay
Considered Both Products	iStock, from Getty Images Verified User Anonymous Chose iStock, from Getty Images With iStock you get what you pay for, it's high quality, huge range, and diverse images massively helps my business get exactly the assets we're looking for and a decent price. Pixabay does have a good range of stuff, though nowhere near iStock, and the free images do help to … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose iStock, from Getty Images Again, I think when I consider iStock, from Getty Images I think of their tool as one of the more 'traditional' styles of stock imagery, but also one of the more reliable. While other competitors can have what we need 'here and there' I don't know that I can say confidently … Incentivized Helpful? SH Scott Halewood Digital Exerperience Coordinator Chose iStock, from Getty Images iStock in my opinion is probably the leading stock image distribution service at the moment and has definitely become a trusted source for stock images, video, animations and audio. Unsplash has a better library of organic photography but can be a bit lacking as it replies on … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose iStock, from Getty Images Compared to these others I feel that iStock has better variety and selection, better ease of use/interface/search features, fresher selection, and better pricing options. I don't like that Adobe Stock only has subscription options (last I checked) and I do not use them for that … Incentivized Helpful?	Pixabay Verified User Anonymous Chose Pixabay We selected Pixabay due to its affordability, clear licensing, and vast range of imagery that fit our needs. Unsplash and Pexels were on par for affordability and licensing, but we felt Pixabay had a broader range of content. Shutterstock and Getty were coat prohibitive for our … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Pixabay In my opinion, stock photos are kind of all over the place, depending on how specific of an image you're looking for. I think Pixaby is on the higher / more positive side of the scale -- there are definitely sites that are not offering as polished of photos or the variety that … Incentivized Helpful? RL Rory Larkin Development chef Chose Pixabay Pixabay is a far more legit and easy-to-use free stock photo platform than the others I have listed above. Before using it I made sure that I was abreast of certain issues within the rules and systems that need to be followed by the letter. If you do not do this you will have … Incentivized Helpful? Jordan Marturano Marketing Director Chose Pixabay I think that Fotor is my favorite because of the way it allows the easy editing and collection of pictures. Pixabay is really not as well suited for photo editing but it is still like great resource for free pictures. Shutterstock has better images, but is more expensive. … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Pixabay I use Pixabay in 2 scenarios. The first is when I've done a bunch of searching on iStock already and can't find anything. You wouldn't think Pixabay could show up then, but sometimes it hits. The other time is when I'm in a rush and just doing general Google searches for … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Pixabay Canva has many more options for pictures available on their pro platform. For my business, it is easier to justify the cost of Canva as it includes other features like photo editing and graphic design. Pixabay does have pictures, and videos, and expanded into gifs but can be … Incentivized Helpful? GR Giovana Ramos Biologist Chose Pixabay I selected Pixaby because with it's easier to find free images with excellent quality. Also, in Pixaby the indications for free or paid images is more clear than in the other platforms. Incentivized Helpful? HL Hayden LeMaster Owner/Operator Chose Pixabay Pexels is free and fully licensed for commercial use, as is Unsplash to a certain extent. I generally open all 3 to search for free stock images for budget-sensitive clients; that being said, I always find myself searching Pixabay first. They have the best user interface of … Incentivized Helpful? Crismer La Pignola Senior Software Engineer Chose Pixabay Unsplash for Brands Incentivized Helpful? Samira Islam Resmi Assistant Professor Chose Pixabay Pixabay gets around the language barrier by being available in more than 20 different languages. The website doesn't have any ads. They do have "sponsored images" from Shutterstock, but I really like that there are no other ads. When I download an image, I can choose from a … Incentivized Helpful? Shelby Bass Creative Chose Pixabay Pixabay is free, easy to use, and has images, videos, vectors, illustrations, music, and sound effects—basically everything you need to make content on a budget. Getty only licenses images and videos, so I'd have to go elsewhere to find music and sound effects (and likely pay a … Incentivized Helpful? JB Josh Bender Managing Editor Chose Pixabay Pixabay has a few key features that stand out. The search results load fast, with an easy user interface and advanced filtering options. I often travel as I work, and at times my internet connection can be slow or unstable. Even on a slower connection, the search results are … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Pixabay Overall, I really like Pixabay as the quality of images has never let me down. On top of that, I really love the community/creators as they're very supportive. I would say that you will have not many problems or complaints when you use Pixabay and will definitely help in your … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Pixabay The filtering system is a little bit better on Pixabay and I use that lot. Some of Unsplash's photos can be a little higher quality Incentivized Helpful? Amar Shekhar Blogger Chose Pixabay I have not used the artist much yet but I have a heard lot about Artlist from other travel videos maker in the community about how good this website is. Based on my little experience of using Artlist, I would say Pixabay has a lot fewer sound effects and music selections … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Pixabay Pixabay is a very user-friendly site, and feels less 'business' orientated and approachable. The graphic designers that used it got to grips with it very quickly and found a decent range of stuff. However, there were occasions when we needed to go somewhere else to find the … Incentivized Helpful? James Miller Director of People Enablement Chose Pixabay Pexels is very high quality but has a less professional collection of images. Most of the images in Pexels feel like they would be more at home in a local coffee shop or Millennial hangout. While Pexels' image offering is stunning, the images do not fit in alongside data sets … Incentivized Helpful? Winona Harrod Graphic Designer Chose Pixabay Pixabay is adequate but needs to up its image game in order to compete with other free stock sites, which have more extensive and better quality imagery available. I personally moved from using Pixabay to other free image sites due to the quality and range of images not … Incentivized Helpful? Tara Brueske Vocal Workshops and Voice Development Chose Pixabay The thing I like about Pixabay over Canva is the music available and the photos are not the same ones that Canva has. Sometimes I feel like Canva is so much more well-known that everyone uses them and then their social media posts start looking the same. It doesn't help you … Incentivized Helpful? Nina Ritchie Planner, Consumer Chose Pixabay Being a user of this image bank is really useful since if we need different illustrations for a wide variety of contexts, we have images at hand. It is an indispensable tool for companies and individuals, every day at least five new high-quality photos appear. Its main function … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Pixabay We also looked at Adobe Stock and Freepik. Adobe Stock has a better breadth of images available on their site, but they can be expensive depending on your needs. Sometimes, if Pixabay doesn't have an image that matches what I need I may use Adobe Stock or Freepik. Freepik is … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Pixabay iStock doesn't offer free options. Hence we use Pixabay more often, especially with a tight budget. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Pixabay Pixabay is my starting point for any image search as it provides cross-over/reference to other sites but isn't so overwhelming with images. I feel with the other sites I could get lost in the endless pages of stock imagery, especially when they seem so similar. Incentivized Helpful? Philippa Schwarzkopf Digital Product Manager & Content Coordinator Chose Pixabay Pexels is the closest competitor to Pixabay and I did sometimes use both. However, I found that Pixabay overall had better moderation of its content and therefore I was able to find a better range of results with higher quality than what I would typically find on Pexels. And … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Pixabay Pixabay provides better images and a variety of search results. The filter options are really good. It's very easy to use and find what you are looking for. Incentivized Helpful?

Best Alternatives
	iStock, from Getty Images	Pixabay
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Medium-sized Companies	Pexels Score 10.0 out of 10	Pexels Score 10.0 out of 10
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User Ratings
	iStock, from Getty Images	Pixabay
Likelihood to Recommend	8.7 (0 ratings)	7.6 (0 ratings)

User Testimonials
	iStock, from Getty Images	Pixabay
Likelihood to Recommend	iStock has a huge variety of stuff that allows the graphic designers we work with to have a huge archive to choose from. This lets them have great creative freedom and piece together assets that cover the brief, however the huge amount of variety means they have to be specific when looking for assets, as the brief they're given doesn't always match up with the images chosen- however this is more user error and learning than the product itself Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	Pixabay is excellent for those trying to create content on a budget, whether for yourself or for a client. It has a huge library of high-quality images and videos for use in creative applications. Beyond that, Pixabay also has a library of free music and sound effects, which is enormously helpful for people trying to create content on a budget without worrying about getting in copyright trouble. Also, due to the fact that you can sort images by "transparent," it's easy to find cut-out images to use in composites. Shelby Bass Creative Read full review
Pros	search features similar image search features style fresh assortment - updated and on trend wide variety Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	Pixabay License: Pixabay has its own license which allows the use of the content for commercial and personal use without any attribution. However, attribution supports the talented creators behind the content. Pricing: Pixabay is completely free for everyone. High-resolution: Photos and videos on Pixabay are of high resolution, especially several videos in 4K, which makes them perfect to use in bigger projects. Jyotsna Tripathi Executive Director Read full review
Cons	Provide more niche photography areas Offer more natural or realistic photography Maybe offer a good discount on bundles of images Incentivized SH Scott Halewood Digital Exerperience Coordinator Read full review	One thing that kind of sticks out is that with so much to choose from, you can feel overwhelmed. Some of the photos I sometimes can find separately by googling. In the music business, it seems like many photos rotate on the web so there isn't as much to pick from. I didn't see an option for more vertical videos for use in Instagram or TikTok. Incentivized Tara Brueske Vocal Workshops and Voice Development Read full review
Alternatives Considered	iStock in my opinion is probably the leading stock image distribution service at the moment and has definitely become a trusted source for stock images, video, animations and audio. Unsplash has a better library of organic photography but can be a bit lacking as it replies on photographers having images of certain styles, though I like the concept and working closely to give exposure to artists. Adobe Stock is a newer service in comparison so it will take time to build the same level in my opinion but I am a avid Adobe user so will watch that space. Incentivized SH Scott Halewood Digital Exerperience Coordinator Read full review	Pexels is free and fully licensed for commercial use, as is Unsplash to a certain extent. I generally open all 3 to search for free stock images for budget-sensitive clients; that being said, I always find myself searching Pixabay first. They have the best user interface of the three and generally have the best image options. Adobe, Shutterstock, and iStock have better images, and I use those for clients who are less budget-sensitive. Incentivized HL Hayden LeMaster Owner/Operator Read full review
Return on Investment	visual interest client satisfaction Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	We don't lose any money trying to buy images Our videos get more views if we put the good quality images we find in Pixaby The posts we make with their images always get a professional aspect, and get more engagement from a diverse social media users. Incentivized GR Giovana Ramos Biologist Read full review
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