Depositphotos review

A stock photo site like Depositphotos is a place to get great photographs without spending a fortune on hiring a photographer or taking the photos yourself. As a stock media provider, Depositphotos focuses on imagery, but you can also download videos, music, and SFX.

Based on its affordable pricing on entry plans and a good royalty-free license, I believe Depositphotos is excellent for freelancers, bloggers, small business owners, and even for personal use. It can also work great for large companies, but if you have a larger budget for visual content, I recommend one of the high-end alternatives, such as Shutterstock or Adobe Stock.

Cost: Affordable compared to similar providers

Key takeaway: Depositphotos is 10 to 50% cheaper than competitors like Shutterstock, iStock, and Adobe Stock. Use promo code PHOTUTORIAL15 to get 15% off.

Depositphotos’ pricing structure is similar to Shutterstock’s—it’s asset-based, meaning you have separate plans for different media—but it’s cheaper.

Here’s a summary of all your options:

Like with most stock media platforms, the cheapest way to download media from Depositphotos is through subscriptions. These are available monthly, annually (paid monthly), and annually prepaid, with the latter also securing the lowest subscription fee. Subscriptions are available in several tiers that differ in the number of monthly downloads (higher tiers come with lower costs per download).

Depositphotos’ image subscriptions start at $29 per month (annual billed monthly) for 30 downloads and are even cheaper when billed upfront ($299/yr, equal to $24.91/mo). The monthly plan offers just 25 downloads and costs $36 per month. This is much cheaper than Depositphotos’ main competitors, Shutterstock, iStock, and Adobe Stock, which offer only 10 downloads for $29 per month.

Video subscriptions follow the same note. For as little as $67 per month, you can download 5 videos. In contrast, 5 videos would cost you at least $79 per month at Shutterstock, 10 videos $99/mo at iStock, and 6 videos $79.99 at Adobe Stock. If you want cheaper videos, however, you can pick one of the unlimited subscriptions, such as Envato Elements ($16.50/mo), Artlist ($29.99/mo), or Motion Array ($19.99/mo).

To download music, you have an unlimited subscription just like at Shutterstock, unsurprisingly. However, it’s cheaper than buying at Shutterstock, costing $12.99 per month (month-to-month) or $129 per year billed upfront. Slightly cheaper would be getting unlimited audio from PremiumBeat, Artlist, and Epidemic Sound, all of which cost $9.99 per month.

The plans discussed above are for individuals, meaning only you can use the downloaded photos. For teams of up to 10 members, Depositphotos has special plans with which users can share downloaded photos. These are, on average, twice as expensive as the plans for individuals, with a 25-image subscription plan starting at $49 per month, while there are no subscriptions for videos and audio.

Licensing: good royalty-free license with low indemnity

Key takeaway: Depositphotos’ licenses are almost identical to its competitors, but the indemnification is considerably lower for both the standard license ($5K vs. $10K) and the extended license ($5K vs. $250K). If indemnification is important to you, Depositphotos is not a good choice. Pick Shutterstock or iStock.

A summary of how it works: A stock photo site acts like an intermediary between you and the contributor. If you want to use a file (image, video, etc.) legally, you need to buy a license, which is granted to you by Depositphotos on behalf of the contributor.

At Depositphotos, you can get two licenses: Standard and Extended, both of which are royalty-free. Whenever you download media with subscriptions or standard packs, you get the Standard license. And if you want the Extended license, you need to buy an extended pack.

Here’s a summary of the similarities and differences between both licenses:

The difference between Standard and Extended licenses centers on the scale and commercial intent of your image use. A standard license is suitable for personal projects, smaller-scale commercial use (like website graphics or advertising materials), or when the image plays a supporting role in a final product. It usually limits print runs to 500,000 copies and restricts using the image in items like t-shirts or mugs for resale if the image is a core value-adding element.

Conversely, the Extended license grants unlimited print runs and allows you to incorporate the image into items for resale or distribution, even if the image plays a major role. This license is ideal for large-scale commercial projects where the image itself is a key selling point, like on stock templates, or if you’re planning to resell products that heavily feature the image, such as posters or book covers.

While you can use most Depositphotos files commercially, there’s a limit for those marked “Editorial Use Only.” These are the files that contain famous trademarks, people without model releases, or private property. Also, these require a credit line, such as: “[Name or Nickname of the Contributor (author)] /Depositphotos.com“.

The above licenses were for images and videos, but music has its own licensing terms. The standard license allows you to use files for video-sharing platforms (YouTube, Vimeo) and social media, as well as for some personal use. The files you download with the unlimited downloads subscription are valid only while your plan is active, which is pretty standard for this type of subscription. In contrast, the files you download with packs come with a perpetual license.

The standard license doesn’t allow you to use files for offline advertising, public broadcasting, resale, or distribution or to be part of a major part of audio-only content, aka. creating a YouTube playlist. The Extended license removes these restrictions except for the last one.

Before proceeding, I encourage you to read the full Depositphotos licensing terms.

Content library

Key takeaway: Good image quality and variety, but editorial photographs and footage could be better.

Depositphotos boasts a massive library of Spec not found images (photos, vectors, and illustrations), Spec not found, and Spec not found audio files. While impressive, it’s still only half the size of industry leader Shutterstock. I find it covers most of my needs but occasionally forces me to look elsewhere for very specific image requirements.

This underscores that no stock service, regardless of size, can be completely comprehensive. Curated well, the quality remains a bit inconsistent, an issue common to most stock photo sites.

Roughly 10% of Depositphotos’ images are editorial, carrying the restrictions you’d expect. This section includes some solid celebrity photos but isn’t designed for the newsroom or documentary use that editorial collections from Getty or Shutterstock cater to.

Their video library is growing rapidly (4 million additions in the past 6 months alone) but could still benefit from expansion. Currently, about 70% of the footage is 4K, with the remainder in 1080p or 720p. Serious videographers will probably find limitations here. Depositphotos lacks features like 8K, LOG footage, or anything over 30 FPS. For that, consider specialized services like Pond5 or Artlist.

User experience & interface: Modern, fast, & intuitive

Key takeaway: Depositphotos offers a modern, fast, and efficient user interface for finding stock media, with key features that make searching for media pleasant.

Many “modern” stock media providers are plagued with one issue regarding their UI—they lack modernity. Depositphotos is not one of them. Their website is fast and intuitive, arguably even better than Shutterstock’s or iStock’s. Everything you click opens instantly, and the loading times are short.

At first glance, Depositphotos resembles any other stock media provider: a search bar, large image thumbnails, and media category buttons.

I usually start by entering my search phrase into the search bar, such as “Scotland landscape at dusk.” The more specific you are, the faster you’ll find your desired media. Then I narrow down the search by choosing the media type, such as “Photos” or “Videos.”

Depositphotos provides a variety of filters to help you narrow down your search, which vary depending on the type of media. For photos, you can specify image orientation (horizontal, vertical, square, or panorama), the number of people in the image, location and season, the predominant color, editorial vs. non-editorial, and a few other options. Many of the filters for footage are the same, with the addition of resolution and length filters. Music and sound effects have their own filters, such as BPM, length, genre, and mood.

When you find a file you like, click on the thumbnail to view more details about how to download it. All files in the collection have a digital watermark, which is automatically removed when you acquire a license.

For images and videos, you can first select the resolution, and for images, you can also specify whether you require an extended license. If you do not yet have an active plan, clicking the download button will direct you to the pricing page; otherwise, the file will download. If you have multiple active plans, such as an image subscription and an image pack, the website will prompt you to choose which one to use to download the image. If you’re downloading an image and aren’t already a customer, you’ll see a button for a free trial.

If you’re not ready to buy, you can also find more similar content recommended by Depositphotos or save it for later. For images, there is also a built-in background remover and editing tools, such as removing backgrounds.

Interestingly, you can remove backgrounds from editorial photographs, which contradicts the general restriction of not being allowed to modify these files except for some light cropping. Upon digging into Depositphotos’ licensing terms, I found that there were indeed no restrictions against editing editorial images, which I find odd. Personally, I wouldn’t edit them out of respect for the person in the image.

Customer support: One of the best

Key takeaway: Arguably the best customer support you can get.

Depositphotos has the best customer support I’ve experienced among stock photo sites. It’s even better than Shutterstock’s, which was my previous favorite but has declined in quality recently. They provide multiple support channels, including email, 24/7 live chat, and phone support, available in numerous countries; many even have toll-free options.

My go-to support method is their live chat. Agents are consistently knowledgeable, efficient, and friendly—the perfect combination for getting the help you need. Wait times are minimal, usually just a minute or two, and only rarely stretch to five minutes. Only in situations with very complex questions might you need to be transferred to a higher-level specialist. Overall, Depositphotos’ customer support is simple and superb.

Should you subscribe to Depositphotos?

Subscribe to Depositphotos if…

You’re a blogger, small business, or freelancer on a budget.
Depositphotos is significantly cheaper than major competitors like Shutterstock, iStock, and Adobe Stock. Starting at $25 per month for 30 image downloads (when billed annually), it offers a cost-effective way to acquire high-quality stock photos, vectors, and illustrations.

You need a large number of stock images regularly.
With image subscription plans offering up to 750 downloads per month, Depositphotos is well-suited for users with high-volume image needs. The cost per image decreases significantly with higher-tier subscriptions.

Your primary need is for a vast library of high-quality stock photos, vectors, and illustrations.
Depositphotos boasts a large collection of over 277 million images, providing a wide variety of options for most creative projects. While the quality can be slightly inconsistent, the sheer volume ensures you’ll likely find what you need.

You value a modern and user-friendly interface that makes searching and downloading assets quick and easy.
Depositphotos offers a modern and intuitive website with fast loading times and efficient search filters, making the process of finding and downloading the right assets enjoyable.

You prefer the flexibility of purchasing individual assets or small packs without a recurring subscription.
In addition to subscriptions, Depositphotos offers image, video, and audio packs, allowing you to purchase assets on an as-needed basis. This can be beneficial if your needs are infrequent or specific.

You prioritize excellent and readily available customer support through various channels like live chat, email, and phone.
Depositphotos is praised for its exceptional customer support, offering 24/7 assistance through multiple channels with knowledgeable and helpful agents.

Don’t subscribe to Depositphotos if…

You require high indemnification coverage for legal protection in your projects.
Depositphotos offers a lower indemnification limit ($5,000 for both standard and extended licenses) compared to competitors like Shutterstock and iStock ($10,000 for standard and $250,000 for extended). If this is a critical factor for your work or clients, Depositphotos might not be the best choice.

Your primary need is for a comprehensive and high-quality video library with advanced features.
While Depositphotos’ video library is growing, it is smaller than competitors and lacks features like 8K resolution, LOG footage, or frame rates above 30 FPS. Serious videographers might find it limiting.

You frequently need a wide selection of high-quality editorial images for news or documentary purposes.
Although Depositphotos offers editorial content, its selection is less extensive and geared towards newsrooms and documentary use compared to specialized platforms like Getty Images or Shutterstock’s editorial collection.

You prefer the flexibility of monthly payments without committing to an annual plan.
While Depositphotos offers monthly subscription options, the most affordable rates require annual billing. If you prefer a month-to-month commitment for cost reasons, other platforms might be more suitable.

You need access to audio and video alongside images and prefer a bundled service.
While Depositphotos offers audio and video, its subscription plans are separate. If you need a comprehensive creative platform that offers a wider range of assets (such as music, sound effects, and video editing tools) within a single subscription, services like Artlist or Envato Elements might be more appealing.

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Matic Broz

Matic Broz is a stock media licensing expert with over 10 years of experience using and testing creative platforms for his own creative work. He has personally licensed over 5,000 stock assets and helped 20,000+ creators choose the right subscription services through his work at Photutorial.

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• Images
• Video & audio