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TwitterStock Sites - Commission Rate Details
On this table you can view the commission rate 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 commission 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 commission is 50%. Sites which offer a higher than average commission are often newer sites which are trying to gain market share, and while commission 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 | Commission Level | Real US$ Cost of 1 Standard Image |
|---|---|---|
| Shutterstock.com | $0.25 per image downloaded, $0.30/33 after $500 worth of downloads | 9 |
| Dreamstime | 30-50% non exclusive, 60% for exclusive photographers | 4.2 |
| Fotolia | 25%, 28% after 100 downloads, 31% after 1000 downloads (total for the user not per image - so fairly easy to attain 28 or 31 percent) 17% more for exclusive photographers work and increased images prices | 5 |
| iStockphoto | 28% basic, more for exclusive members (35% up) and larger images | 9 |
| Bigstockphoto | 20%, each credit is $2.50, small image are one credit, hence 50c for a small image sale. | 5 |
| 123rf | 50% | 2 |
| Crestock.com | 30% after the first 100 downloads | 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 $22.00 per download | 1.5 |
| PantherMedia | 30%, 50% for images not sold on 'cheaper sites'; plus a loyalty bonus based on number of images uploaded upto 10% | 12 |
| YayMicro.com | 50%, 1 Euro on subscription downloads. | 7 |
| Cutcaster.com | 40%, 50% on exclusive images | 5 |
| MostPhotos.com | 50% (12.50 Euros per download - approx 19 US$) | 38 |
| 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 |
| Stockphotomedia.com | 35% to 55% depending on image size | 4.5 |
| Shutterpoint.com | 85% | 3 |
| Featurepics.com | 50% Since 30/Jun/2009 (Changed from 70%) | 5 |
| Pixmac.com | 50% | 3.72 |
| Clustershot.com | 88% | 10 |
| Vivozoom.com | 40% | 9 |
| moodboard.com | 5 | |
| Veer.com (Marketplace) | 35%, 20% on subscription downloads | 5 |
| Fotomind.com | 30% | 3 |
| Polylooks | 35% (50% for exclusives) | 8 |
| Snapixel.com | 60% | 8 |
| Depositphotos.com | tiered, 44-52% non exclusive and 50-60% for exclusive contributors. | 3 |
| Microstockphoto.com | 35% - poor | 4 |
Notes: * Image cost is in US Dollars, and is calculated from cost of 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.
