ProStockMaster Software

By Steve Gibson
Written 11 April 2008
Revised 28 December 2013

Visit the Official Site - Prostockmaster.com

Prostockmaster is a free software tool to streamline the process of keywording and uploading images (via a subscription to the lightburner syndication service) to microstock sites. It currently supports several microstock agencies including:

prostockmaster screen capture

Review

The software is free (there was previously a charge if you wanted to upload more than 5 images per day, but since 2013 you need a subscription to the lighburner syndication service). It allows the automatic upload of entire folders of images to multiple agencies with a single click.

There is a built in keyword, title and description editor to modify the IPTC / EXIF details ready for upload so that you don't have to add keywords etc manually to each image. There is also a keyword suggestion tool which automatically suggests related keywords for an image once you have entered one or two keywords yourself (this is good for suggesting keywords you might have overlooked or not thought of)

metadata editor

Statistics and search functionality is built in so you can check how each image is selling on all the sites you submit to in one place, and search though images you have catalogued previously.

microstock statistics

prostockmaster is available for the PC, owing to it being written in Java it can also be run on the Mac and Linux but setup is more involved.

Conclusion

With only a brief trial of an older version of prostockmaster it's hard for me to pass too much comment. I've not tried the latest version which needs a lightburner subscription to distribute images. With all that in mind it's a reasonable tool. I do wish there were a way to upload to additional sites by specifying your own FTP addresses manually or to upload direct from your own computer.

Tip:
You MUST activate ftp uploads on several of the microstock sites in order for this to software work (many sites do not have ftp upload switched on by default, some sites have a link with 'apply for ftp access' which is activated instantly).

Download Prostockmaster (via prostockmaster.com)

Alternatives:

Photo Keyword embedding software

FTP image upload to microstock sites

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9 Comments

Prostockmaster

DreamPhoto (not verified) on Tue, 2008-05-20 09:29

I think you are being kind about the interface, to be blunt its horrible. but it does work like you say. I also had problems with 2 of the sites until i realised that I make a mistake with the user name on one and I guess my password on the other. now it's all sweet. there is no way I would use it to organise my images! i use use it as an upload tool and sanity check on the keywords I have ready edited with photoshop, i just copy the images to a new directory and use prostock to upload from there.

Cushy Stock

Paula Cobleigh (not verified) on Thu, 2009-01-22 22:38

I see you have ProStockMaster listed, but not Cushy Stock. I would like to have you review this software or give you input about it. I actually purchased it and like it so far, but I'm kind of new to the microstock world and don't have enough experience to be an expert on the topic.

Cushy Stock Review

Steve Gibson on Fri, 2009-01-23 03:19

I have been planning a cushy stock review for some time. I know a lot of photographers rate it over prostockmaster and indeed a plan to switch to it myself at some point soon (at which point there will be a full review). I can see it has several significant advantages over prostockmaster. thanks for your feedback, steve

Prostockmaster and Cushy

stuart atton (not verified) on Fri, 2009-05-22 22:35

Having downloaded Prostockmaster and started setup, it tells me I can only upload 5 images per day ! That could be limiting !! I also looked at Cushy Stock, what a horribly messy interface ! The mention of Russian and Ukrainian language options didn't instill me with confidence either ! ;-) Stu

Did you read the review?

Steve Gibson on Sat, 2009-05-23 00:14

Start of Paragraph 2 "The software is free for up to 5 uploads per day (so fine if you just starting out...."

I actually think it's quite a liberal offering for a demo version - the full version if $49 dollars which is the same cost as the pro version of the FTP software I use to do multi-uploads (to pretty much the same effect as prostockmaster and cushy but without the stats and iptc editing)

I've been trying to do a cushy review for a while, but not getting much of a response from their site - if they don't bother replying to me then I'm not going to do much about reviewing the software - it looks a little better than PSM in that you can add ftp sites manually (I think)

I don't really like either of them, but they do offer some great advantages to many microstock contributors. They both have user interfaces that seem to have been developed by someone tripping on acid - making them hard to use efficiently to say the least BUT, they are better than uploading on the web.

If there was a security problem with either then we would have heard about it by now - it is a big issue tho, all your password credentials to all/many microstock sites in one place.

Got it ! missed that bit

Stu (not verified) on Fri, 2009-05-29 09:13

Got it ! missed that bit about 5 uploads NOT 5 files first time round, trying to take in so much info at the moment as a newbie :-) Was about to buy but no need now, for the moment. I rather like PSM, not exactly polished but very useable (ver. 1.6.3). Stu

I am currently trying this

Waz (not verified) on Sat, 2009-08-15 14:22

I am currently trying this product out... in it's present form I wouldn't pay for it. It's too slow (keywording takes ages to suggest) and now with version 1.6.4 they've now restricted keyword to 5 images in a 4 hour period! So now I'm defintely not going to use it!

Free Version

Steve Gibson on Sat, 2009-08-15 21:44

Only the free version has those limitations, but these days I would tend to point people at isyndica if they wanted something to submit to multiple agencies

Wow thanks for this amazing

TimM (not verified) on Thu, 2009-10-29 19:42

Wow thanks for this amazing software. I was searching for some application which would help me to make the photo uploading process automatic. It will definitely be useful for my job. Thanks one more time and I will be waiting for other great articles and tips from you. Sincerely, Tim Morton from telecom software development