Stock Sites - Royalty Rate Comparison

 

comission rates On this table you can view the royalty rates for each microstock site (percentage of each sale that a photographer earns). As you can probably guess there is more to it than just a simple comparison on which site pays the highest rate we also need to factor in which sites generate the most sales and the value of those sales.

Many sites offer varying incentives to images which are popular, exclusive images or photographer and photographs that have received a large amount of downloads etc. This table only lists the basic commission percentage per download and some additional guidance notes.

Typical microstock royalty rate is less than 50%. Sites which offer 50% or higher are often newer sites which are trying to gain market share, and while royalty might be higher, sales quantity is likely to be significantly lower. Read the full site reviews for details - SEVERAL SITES ARE NOT WORTH THE TIME SUBMITTING IMAGES.

Click the site name on the left to view full details of the site and our rating...





Site Royalty Rate Real US$ Cost of 1 Standard Image
Shutterstock.com From Jun 2020: Tiered in 6 Levels from 15% to 40% dependent on downloads Prior rates were $0.25 per image downloaded, $0.30/33 after $500 worth of downloads 9
iStockphoto 15% for non exclusive images (video 20%). Exclusive members (25% to 45%) and double image sale price. Subscription downloads for non-exclusive images earn a disgraceful 10c. 10
Adobe Stock 33% Photo and Vector, 35% Video 8
Dreamstime 20-45% non exclusive, 60% for exclusive photographers 14
Depositphotos.com tiered, 34-42% non exclusive (exclusive enrollment no longer offered) 4.9
Bigstockphoto 20%, each credit is $3.50, small image are one credit, hence 50c for a small image sale. 7
Photodune.net 36% (50%-70% tiered for 'exclusive image portfolios' see review) 7
123rf 50% [as of Jan 2013 Tiered, Starting at 30% increasing to 60% based download value (credits used) in past 12 months] 6.8
PantherMedia 30%, 50% for images not sold on 'cheaper sites'; plus a loyalty bonus based on number of images uploaded upto 10% 12
MostPhotos.com 50% (12.50 Euros per download - approx 19 US$) 20
Photocase 20% increasing to 50% based on portfolio size and sales (reduced from 40% min Apr 2019) 22
Yay Images 50% 4.99
Zoonar base of 50% of revenue up to 80% of revenue either ranked by uploads or overall sales value. Partner site revenue varies. 5
Albumo (Fantero) "at least 50% of sales proceeds" 1
ImageVortex 70%, and 70% for images which they sub-license, but less for images which are sub license and sold at a lower resolution 15

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