Here are the 16 Best Websites for You
In today’s digital age, making money by selling photos has become a viable option for photographers of all skill levels. Whether you’re a hobbyist looking to earn some extra income or a professional seeking to monetize your talent, there are numerous avenues and strategies to explore. This comprehensive guide will walk you through the various methods, tips, and considerations to help you succeed in selling your photos.
Best websites to sell photos online
- Pixieset
- Foap
- 123RF
- EyeEm
- Dreamstime
- Depositphotos
- Envato Elements
- Adobe Stock
- Picfair
- Stocksy
- iStock Photo
- Getty Images
- Shutterstock
- SmugMug Pro
- 500px
- Alamy
Licensing is one of the most popular ways to sell photos online. Stock photo websites will license your photos to brands, agencies, and anyone who needs a high-quality image for commercial use. Then, they’ll give you a cut of the revenue.
If you’re building a portfolio of professional-quality images, become a contributor to a stock photo site to monetize your collection. Choose a website from this list, based on your level of photography experience and licensing exclusivity preferences.
Pixieset
Pixieset is a full-service, photo-selling website.
Pixieset offers photographers the ability to share, deliver, and sell photos online. With Pixieset, you can create an online store to sell photography prints, products, and more with automatic fulfillment. Pixieset takes a 15% commission for free plans, but none on paid plans, which start at $8 per month, when billed
Foap
Pitch big brands on Foap.
Foap is defined by its community of more than three million creatives. The site offers contributors different ways to sell photography, including per-image fees and Missions, where brands submit a brief and set a cash prize for winning pitches. Foap clients include KraftHeinz, Nivea, and Volvo.
123RF
123RF is a straightforward photo-selling site with non-exclusive rights.
All content on 123RF is non-exclusive, so you can sell your images on its platform as well as on other websites. 123RF markets your photos to more than 10 million registered users. Once you become a contributor, you can earn between 30% and 60% of each license sold.
EyeEm
Contributors to EyeEm can be booked for photoshoots.
EyeEm focuses on advertising stock photos, making it a relevant place to sell photos online if you work in commercial photography. Their clients include Apple and Spotify. You can also get booked for shoots through a dedicated site feature. Images uploaded to EyeEm also appear on Getty for greater visibility. Contributors can receive a license revenue share of up to 55%, depending on total annual revenue.
Dreamstime
Dreamstime is an established photo-selling website.
Dreamstime is a photo-selling website established in 2000, providing high-quality images to clients in the creative market—from independent customers in the private sector to Fortune 500 companies. The stock agency has more than 50 million registered members and more than a million contributing photographers.
Dreamstime offers up to 60% royalties to contributors. To earn top commissions, however, you must be an exclusive user. Non-exclusive contributors can earn 25% to 45%, depending on image popularity.
Depositphotos
Depositphotos connects photographers with well-known companies.
Depositphotos is a global marketplace for visual content with a library of more than 270 million files and 38 million worldwide clients. The platform is used by leading international companies,including Bosch, TripAdvisor, and Subaru. Depositphotos pays based on a contributor’s experience and status on the website, as well as the image resolution and license type. Commissions range between 25¢ and $33.82 per photo.
Envato Elements
Get a share of total subscriber revenue by joining Envato Elements.
Envato Elements is a robust stock photography site where you can sell photos online and connect with potential clients. With Envato Elements, you can sell photos on its app or upload photos to your own site on the brand’s domain. Either way, it’s a popular place to sell pictures and make money online doing what you love. Contributors are paid a 50% share of net subscription revenue.
Adobe Stock
Adobe Stock integrates with the company’s popular photography software.
If you use the Adobe suite for photography projects, you can add your images, videos, vectors, and illustrations to Adobe Stock, the company’s online stock photo platform. Assets can be uploaded directly from Lightroom and Bridge. Contributors who link their Adobe ID to Adobe Stock can earn 33% royalties.
Picfair
If you want a degree of control over your online photo portfolio, Picfair can be a solid option. You can set your own prices for photos—both prints and digital downloads—and Picfair handles payment processing. It also manages print production, shipping, and licenses for digital images. You can easily set up your custom store starting at $5 per month, billed annually.
Stocksy
Stocksy is an accessible platform for newer photographers looking to sell online.
Stocksy is a popular stock photography site. It is one of the best ways to sell photos online for many publishers and creatives, because Stocksy offers high payouts to contributors. Photographers can earn a 50% royalty on standard licenses and a 75% royalty on extended licenses. But all photos must be exclusive to the platform.
Stocksy is an artist-owned cooperative, which means contributors are part owners of the business and can help control its direction. Contributors can also receive profit-sharing in the form of patronage returns when the co-op has a surplus.
If you’re interested in selling photos on Stocksy, check out its contributor application FAQ.
iStock Photo
iStock Photo is a non-exclusive alternative to Getty Images.
iStock Photo is an offshoot of Getty Images. The major difference between the two stock photo platforms is that photos on iStock can be non-exclusive, which means you can sell your photography with other agencies.
Commissions range from 15% to 45%, depending on contributor agreements. To sell photos with iStock, you need to apply with a set of sample images.
Getty Images
Getty images has a large library of premium stock photos.
Getty Images attracts brands and online publishers looking for high-quality or hard-to-find exclusive images to license. The platform, along with its microstock site, iStock, reaches more than 1.5 million customers around the world.
The standards for how to sell your photography online with Getty are stricter than many other stock photo sites. However, rates for submissions of high-quality photos licensed through Getty Images start at 20% and can reach higher. You will also have to apply to be a contributor with a set of sample photos.
Shutterstock
Shutterstock is a well-known stock photography website for selling photos online and has paid out more than $1 billion to its community in the past 15 years. Shutterstock is considered a micro-stock site, where photos are cheaper and non-exclusive. The main way to increase downloads is by contributing a large quantity of images. You may not expect to earn as much with Shutterstock, but it’s a good place to start if you’re learning how to sell stock photos.
Payouts are based on earnings over time and range from 20% to 30%. There’s also an affiliate program where you can earn additional money if you refer new photographers or customers.
SmugMug Pro
SmugMug offers three different membership plans.
Whether you’re a new photographer or an established pro, SmugMug can help sell your stock photos online with a portfolio, sales platform, and other tools. SmugMug lets you keep 85% of the profit between the price you set and SmugMug’s default print prices.
To use SmugMug, you’ll need to sign up for one of three monthly membership plans.
500px
500px combines stock photo licensing with community features.
500px Licensing hosts millions of photographers selling photos online through its stock photography site, 500px. Its distribution partners serve more than a million customers around the world and are the go-to choice for creative content.
500px is also a community-based platform for amateur and professional photographers. You can follow other photographers, list photos in the online marketplace, and participate in photography competitions for prizes. Paid members can earn up to 100% royalties for exclusive photos.
Alamy
Alamy has several commission models for photographers to choose from.
Alamy has one of the internet’s most diverse stock photo collections, with more than 300 million stock images, vectors, videos, and 360-degree panoramic images. It also offers an app called Stockimo, where you can sell photos from your phone.
Alamy pays contributors monthly and has several commission models. Photographers receive between 17% and 50% of sales, depending on image popularity and license type. There are no long-term contracts with Alamy and you can be paid in multiple currencies.
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