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FacebookStock Sites - Royalty Rate Comparison
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 | $0.25 per image downloaded, $0.30/33 after $500 worth of downloads | 9 |
| Dreamstime | 20-45% non exclusive, 60% for exclusive photographers | 8.4 |
| iStockphoto | 15% for non exclusive up to 20% depending on previous years sales. Exclusive members (25% to 45%) and double image sale price. | 9 |
| Fotolia | 20%, 23% after 100 downloads, 25% after 1000 downloads (total for the user not per image - so fairly easy to attain 23 or 25 percent) 15-17% more for exclusive photographers work and increased images prices | 5 |
| Canstockphoto.com | 50% of images sales (20% via fotosearch), subscription downloads $0.25 (fotosearch tiered starting at $0.30 per download. Nothing extra for exclusive images. Enhanced Licenses $22.00 per download | 1.8 |
| Bigstockphoto | 20%, each credit is $2.50, small image are one credit, hence 50c for a small image sale. | 5 |
| 123rf | 50% [as of Jan 2013 Tiered, Starting at 30% increasing to 60% based download value (credits used) in past 12 months] | 4.8 |
| PantherMedia | 30%, 50% for images not sold on 'cheaper sites'; plus a loyalty bonus based on number of images uploaded upto 10% | 12 |
| Photodune.net | 33% (50%-70% tiered for 'exclusive image portfolios' see review) | 3 |
| Depositphotos.com | tiered, 44-52% non exclusive and 50-60% for exclusive contributors. | 2 |
| Veer.com (Marketplace) | 35%, 20% on subscription downloads | 5 |
| YayMicro.com | 50% | 6.5 |
| Pixmac.com | 30% revenue for first $200 of earnings then 40%, guarantee of $0.25 per image downloaded. Replaced previous offer of 50% of revenue 3rd Jan 2011. | 3.72 |
| MostPhotos.com | 50% (12.50 Euros per download - approx 19 US$) | 13.8 |
| StockFresh | 50% to 62.5% | 3 |
| Zoonar | base of 50% of revenue up to 80% of revenue either ranked by uploads or overall sales value. Partner site revenue varies. | 4.1 |
| Cutcaster.com | 40%, 50% on exclusive images | 2 |
| Crestock.com | 20%, 25% after the first 250 downloads, up to 40% at 10,000 | 6 |
| Featurepics.com | 50% Since 30/Jun/2009 (Changed from 70%) | 5 |
| Albumo | "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 | 20 |
| Shutterpoint.com | 85% | 3 |
| Vivozoom.com | 40% | 9 |
| Photocase | 40% increasing to 60% based on portfolio size and sales | 13.98 |
| Photokore | Tiered, Non-Exclusive 20%-30%, Exclusive 30%-40% Based on a combination of accepted images and combined downloads | 10 |
| Photaki.com | Varies by number of downloads of each image, 50% to 80% for 15 downloads or more. | 5.32 |
| Microstockphoto.com | 35% - poor | 4 |
| PhotoXpress.com | NA |
Notes: * Image cost is in US Dollars, and is calculated from the cost of a minimum purchase of credits (if required) and the cost is based on a 1600x1200 or larger image. Sites like shutterstock offer better value via subscription options, hence their cost per images is unfairly skewed as the cost is calculated from their lowest-priced and lowest-volume image cost.
Also compare microstock site referral / affiliate rates
