Best stock footage sites for 2022

Stock footage is a great way for video and film creators to save time and money in the edit, but you need to choose wisely. Here are some of the most popular options available.

Artgrid - Artlist MAX

Artgrid is a subscription-based service for video creators and filmmakers that was launched in 2019 by Artlist. According to Artgrid, it takes image quality seriously by providing footage taken with the best cameras like Arri, RED and Phantom in a range of formats up to 8K and RAW. Its catalogue features story-driven footage from today’s top cinematographers from around the world.

You can easily browse videos by video theme, shot type, people, or filmmaker. The library is clear and well organised, with individual video clips which makes finding specific footage fairly easy. As an added bonus, most of their footage is professionally color-graded for ultimate results

To get unlimited footage downloads, Artgrid offers three different annual subscriptions (no monthly subscriptions). Junior is its most affordable option and it offers the best for basic video projects, which are graded HD clips in H.264 format for $19.99/month. Creator subscription offers footage for social content and client work. It offers unlimited downloads in graded 4K/8K clips in both ProRes / DNxHR format for $29.99/month. For its ultimate subscription, it offers Pro features for commercial and broadcast users. This includes everything from the previous features with access to RAW / LOG clips for $49.99/month.

Filmsupply

Filmsupply is a full-service licensing agency with a roster of more than 1,000 award-winning filmmakers around the world. Providing authentic, cinematic footage that brings emotion and depth to projects for film, TV, and advertising, it's heavily curated and has everything organized by shoots and scenes. This means that whether you need the same talent across multiple locations or you need more than one angle of a particular subject, you can find footage to fit seamlessly in your edit.

It has dozens of easy to use filters (mood, framing, time of day, season, number of people, and more) and offers multiple formats up to 8k, 4k, RAW, and Log for most clips. Filmsupply also offers Footage Research; if you can’t find what you’re looking for, or you’re short on time, just shoot them an email and their team will track down the footage you need within one business day. 

Pricing starts at $109 per clip.

iStock

iStock offers photos, affordable HD and 4K video clips, editable vectors and illustrations. It works like Shutterstock regarding the basic subscriptions. Despite fewer images (148 million), iStock excels at licensing premium images and videos. iStock sells all stock images and videos with a royalty-free license. This means that every asset you buy and download can be used without additional fees. 

iStock has three different subscriptions: Basic (for Essential images), Premium (for Essential & Signature images), and Premium+Video (for all images, videos, and music). With Basic subscription, you can choose from Essential images only between 10, 25, 50, or 750 monthly downloads costing $29–$199/month. Premium gives you both Essential and Signature images. Signature images are generally more superior, technically and value-wise. With the same amount of monthly downloads, this will cost $70–$399/month. Premium + Video gives the same 10, 25, and 50 monthly downloads with an access to videos and music. This costs $99–$349/month. 

Pond5

Pond5 is a popular stock company that offers all kinds of media types for content production. It has an extensive collection of high-quality stock video shots, including HD and 4K resolutions. You can buy Royalty Free licenses for its videos on demand, or with a monthly subscription plan that gives you access to the library and other discounts.

Pond5 offers videos, music tracks, SFX, motion graphics, and images in different categories. The catalog is easy to navigate and it offers generally great content even in vertical formats.

Pond5 has three different subscription models for both monthly and yearly plans. It starts with a Music subscription that naturally includes the largest royalty-free stock music library which is safe for YouTube and its monetization. This gives you 10 downloads per month for $25/month. Expanding your access to royalty-free sound effects, you can choose Music & SFX subscription for $30/month. For its all-in-one subscription, Pond5 has Footage Plus that includes 10 downloads from everything: HD and 4K videos, music tracks, sound effects, and a selection of over 12M images, 3D models, and AE templates for $199/month. Pond5 offers other custom plans if none of the subscription models are quite suiting your needs.

Shutterstock

Shutterstock is one of the most popular and well-known stock footage companies worldwide. It has over 400 billion images on its site, not to mention videos, music, and other VFX elements. Shutterstock adds 85,000 new clips every week to its stock video collection of (currently) 25.2 million shots in up to 4K resolution and 60 FPS.

It offers two different membership plans: Annual subscriptions and packs for images, videos, music, and editorial content. The difference between subscriptions and on-demand is how you get the stock assets. Subscriptions give you a certain number of downloads every month, whereas packs give you a certain number of downloads that you can use whenever you want.

Shutterstock offers memberships and packs for images, videos, music, and editorial content. The difference between annual and monthly memberships varies massively. For video, it offers the following initial pricing:

Shutterstock

• All-in-one subscription: You can buy monthly credits to spend on a mix of assets. An image costs 1 credit, a video clip 10 credits, and a music track 4 credits. Shutterstock offers three different payment options for these credits: billed monthly with no contract, annual billed monthly, or annual paid upfront. 
• Package memberships: You can pay for 5, 10, or 25 downloads that are available for 12 months from the date of purchase. The pricing for these videos depend on the resolution (SD, HD, and 4K) and ranges from between $51.96–$119.80/video.
  
  

Videvo

Originally started as a free stock footage service, Videvo offers now royalty-free, premium-quality videos and a stock music selection. Videvo works with yearly subscriptions that give you unlimited downloads, but you can find monthly plans with a download cap.

Their content is sourced in 1080p HD minimum resolution, and most of our content is now provided in 4K. You can use these video clips free of charge, in both personal and commercial productions, but video clips that carry the Creative Commons 3.0 license must be attributed to the original author. In addition to the videos, Videvo offers motion graphics, Premiere Pro templates, After Effects templates, music and sound effects.

The subscription plans include two monthly plans that offer you access to the entire asset library: Videvo Plus offering you 25 Premium downloads per month at $14.99/m, and Videvo Pro, offering 50 Premium downloads per month at $24.99/m. If you are interested in unlimited Premium downloads at one of the most affordable prices out there, Videvo Pro Yearly has got you covered at a yearly price of $240/year (which comes down to $20/month).