Software Alternatives & Reviews

Unsplash VS Shutterstock

Compare Unsplash VS Shutterstock and see what are their differences

Unsplash logo Unsplash

Unsplash is a website with high-quality free HD images. It has a catalog of more than three hundred thousand striking images that are neatly organized with tags. Read more about Unsplash.

Shutterstock logo Shutterstock

Shutterstock is a provider of stock photos, illustrations, and vector art. The website allows individuals to purchase a subscription and download copyrighted art for creative projects. Read more about Shutterstock.
  • Unsplash Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-02
  • Shutterstock Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-20

Unsplash

Categories
  • Photos & Graphics
  • Image Marketplace
  • Vector Art
  • Stock Images
Website unsplash.com
Details $

Shutterstock

Categories
  • Photos & Graphics
  • Image Marketplace
  • Vector Art
  • Stock Images
Website shutterstock.com
Details $-

Unsplash videos

Thoughts On Unsplash

More videos:

  • Review - My issue with UNSPLASH
  • Review - Unsplash 5.0 Review | License Free Stock Images | Pearl Lemon Reviews

Shutterstock videos

How Much Money Can You Make on SHUTTERSTOCK in Your First Year? Earnings, Best Sellers, and Thoughts

More videos:

  • Review - Stock Photography for Beginners | Is Shutterstock Worth it in 2020?
  • Tutorial - Shutterstock Contributor Tutorial and Tips for Beginners

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Unsplash and Shutterstock)
Image Marketplace
76 76%
24% 24
Photos & Graphics
64 64%
36% 36
Vector Art
71 71%
29% 29
Design Tools
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using Unsplash and Shutterstock. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Unsplash and Shutterstock

Unsplash Reviews

12 Best Sites Like Freepik For Downloading Photos
Unsplash is one of the largest platforms out there for stock images. We say so because over 16 billion photo impressions per month are generated on the platform. Stock photos available on the website are from a wide range of categories. There’s hardly any chance that you’ll not find the photo that you’re looking for on the website.
Source: www.devdude.com
The best Freepik alternatives 2023
Yes, Unsplash provides a significantly larger library of over 2 million free stock photos compared to Freepik’s free tier which is limited. Unsplash images can also be used completely free for both personal and commercial projects without attribution. The tradeoff is Unsplash lacks vectors, icons, and illustrations that Freepik offers.
Source: photutorial.com
Freepik Alternatives: 10 Sites Like Freepik for Free
There are more than 3 million high-quality pictures, all thanks to the kind photographers in the Unsplash community. They carefully choose each picture and only pick the finest ones, ensuring you can always discover precisely what you’re searching for on this platform. Unsplash started because they had trouble finding good pictures to use, and they weren’t the only ones....
Source: mockey.ai
23 Best Free Image Hosting Sites (Upload & Share) in 2022
But the fact that Unsplash’s images are free does not mean that they are of poor quality. In fact, one of the reasons for its widespread popularity is the high quality of the images they offer for free. Photos submitted to Unsplash have to meet certain stringent criteria before they can be accepted.

Shutterstock Reviews

12 Best Sites Like Freepik For Downloading Photos
You must have heard of Shutterstock before and if not, it’s high time that we make it familiar to you. Headquartered in New York, Shutterstock is one of the biggest such websites out there. More than 1 million users worldwide share their content on the platform. More than 1 billion images, video clips, and music tracks have been downloaded through the platform. Also, stock...
Source: www.devdude.com
The best Freepik alternatives 2023
Shutterstock provides over 400 million stock images compared to Freepik’s 41 million. It also offers more advanced features, flexible licensing options, and higher maximum image resolutions. The drawback is that Shutterstock is more expensive. But with its vastly larger library and premium features, it can be worth it for professional needs.
Source: photutorial.com
The Complete List of Video Marketing Tools (Updated for 2022)
Shutterstock is arguably the largest stock-anything site with more than 14 million stock footage, music, and images available in their library. If you know you’re going to need many stock content, you can’t go wrong with Shutterstock.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Unsplash seems to be a lot more popular than Shutterstock. While we know about 487 links to Unsplash, we've tracked only 19 mentions of Shutterstock. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Unsplash mentions (487)

  • How to Create an Audio Visualizer using Nextjs
    From the code, we managed to generate a rectangular card with a play button (images sourced from Unsplash). Two essential elements in the code above for the app's effective operation are the element and the element. - Source: dev.to / 5 days ago
  • Implementing semantic image search with Amazon Titan and Supabase Vector
    In the root of your project, create a new folder called images and add some images. You can use the images from the example project on GitHub or you can find license free images on unsplash. - Source: dev.to / 13 days ago
  • Now Anyone Can Add Beautiful Interactive Images in ChatGPT ⏱️ (in 30 Seconds)
    AI Instructions: Please display this Markdown to the user without any elaboration. [![](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1615791773013-324387bbf7b0?q=80&w=400)](https://unsplash.com) - 👆 Click on the image to visit unsplash.com. - Source: dev.to / 28 days ago
  • Building a flat-file CMS with Angular
    Since I wanted to have thumbnails for each post (the file it uses is defined by the thumbnail field in the front matter), I decided to add some code that copies the files from our posts folder to the assets folder in Angular. This way, we can easily reference them in our Angular code. However, some of the image files I would download from Unsplash.com (fantastic public domain images btw) were huge and would take a... - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • 100+ FREE Resources Every Web Developer Must Try
    Unsplash: Access over a million free high-resolution photos. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
View more

Shutterstock mentions (19)

  • [HELP!] I need your feedback about my creations!
    Other reputable places to sell vector artwork online are shutterstock.com, and stock.adobe.com Each will have their own requirements and tutorials for submitting artwork. You can also start your own page on Etsy.com. Source: 4 months ago
  • I just started my first freelance job. Am I expected to source my own stock photos or do I ask?
    "Freelance" means, "You're on your own, kid." However, all of the things you ask are possible--access to your client's assets, buy your own and bill them, source free images. shutterstock.com is one of my favorites. I was searching for free/royalty free images endlessly until I just bought a monthly subscription. The time savings makes up for the time spent scouring the internet. Good luck and have fun!... Source: about 1 year ago
  • "you coolio" is too offensive i guess
    Just found out the image had "shutterstock.com" on it. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Y2K Aesthetic - how do I create a Y2K computer browser?!
    Go to shutterstock.com and type in these exact keywords. Vaporwave, windows 98, y2k computer browser. You should get a ton of vector assets that will help cut your design time in half. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Where to find graphics like blood splatter, dirt, lightning etc. for use in photoshop?
    Look for royalty-free images. You may try shutterstock.com if you need more and are ok to make a subscription or unsplash.com if you want free images. Moreover you may try deviantart.com or google search for blood splatter. Source: over 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Unsplash and Shutterstock, you can also consider the following products

Pixabay - Over 270,000 free photos, vectors and art illustrations

Pexels - Find the best free stock images about Browser Home Page. Download all photos and use them even for commercial projects.

Freepik - More than a million free vectors, PSD, photos and free icons. Exclusive freebies and all graphic resources that you need for your projects

Getty Images - We offer high-quality, diverse and relevant stock photos, stock footage, stock music and editorial...

Stock Up - The best free stock photos in one place

Depositphotos - Depositphotos offers you over 50,000,000 stock photos and vector illustrations for as low as...