- In this video, we're gonna run
through my top recommendations
for royalty free stock footage right now,
including both our picks for free stock video sites,
as well as the premium paid options
and the key differences that you need to know.
Hi, it's Justin Brown here from Primal Video,
where we help you amplify your business
and brand with video.
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make sure you click that subscribe button.
And all the links to everything we mentioned in this video,
you can find the linked in the description box below.
So let's jump into it.
Now, I'm a big fan of stock video
for almost any video creator
because it can easily take your videos
to a whole new level in a fraction of the time
that it takes to shoot your own B-roll.
It's an amazing tool to really help you tell your story,
to communicate in visuals what you're saying,
or even use it just to cover up any mistakes
or any glitches in your videos,
or anything you don't want your viewers to see.
(sighs) Oh! Still going.
(beep)
And right now times are great for video creators.
There's an absolute ton of stock video sites out there
to choose from.
But that also means that it can be hard
to know where to start.
So that's why we're creating an updated review
of the options that are out there
to help you cut through all the noise
and skip straight to the best stock video sites.
So we're gonna start off first with the free options
so that you can see what's out there
and then we'll work our way into the paid ones.
Now, if you are just looking at free,
I would strongly suggest hearing out why we also recommend
the paid options because there is a big difference
and it can be well worth the dollars for a lot of people.
So as for the free options, as you know,
if you've ever Google searched this,
there is way too many out there to choose from.
But my top ones come down to these three;
Stock Footage 4 Free, Pexels and Pixabay.
So out of all the options out there,
those are my top three picks
because they actually do a decent job
at offering stock video footage for free.
They don't over complicate things when it gets to licensing,
or restrictions and what you can
and can't do with the footage,
or where you can and can't upload it.
They make it pretty straightforward
and for the most part, there really are no restrictions
on what you can and can't do
or where those footage clips going.
And in most cases, you don't even need
to worry about offering some sort of credit
or attribution to the content creator for those clips.
So while those three are good options,
if you're looking for a free solution here,
they definitely fall short of
the paid options for a few reasons.
The first one is that the actual size of the catalog
or the library is usually a lot smaller
on those versus the paid options.
The paid options, they invest in buying and licensing
a whole heap of stock footage
so that when you search for something,
you're more likely to have a lot
to choose from for that specific search,
than maybe one or two clips, or maybe none.
So the size of the library
or size of the catalog is the first one.
The next one is the searching capabilities.
The paid services are going to give you so much more control
to really dial in the search
to be able to find specifically what you are after.
You could really dive deep on this stuff
and even go as far as how many people are in the shot.
How many men?
How many women?
You get so much more control
and so much more power behind the searching
to help you find the footage faster.
Because if you've ever actually looked for stock footage,
and it's the same as stock music,
as there is so much out there,
the hardest part is actually finding
the clips that match what you're after.
So even just having access
to those more powerful search features
is an absolute game changer when it comes
to finding this stuff fast
and alone is definitely worth the money.
But the other main reason
that you would really wanna consider
the paid options over the free options
is the quality of the video content
that you're getting access to.
They are far superior, in most cases
they're shot by professionals.
So your footage is gonna look
so much better on the paid sites,
but also the licensing.
For the most part, the licensing
is far more straightforward and simpler.
I know I said that those
three free ones had decent licensing,
but most of them out there don't
and there are strong restrictions
around what you can and can't do with the footage
and where you end product can end up because of it.
So the licensing is something that you really want
to look at before you start
using these clips in your videos.
But on the paid side of things,
this is so much more straightforward.
And if you're someone
who's going to be monetizing your videos,
or you're creating videos for clients,
or you're creating videos for broadcast,
you really need to make sure that your licensing is 100%
so that you don't have any issues
with your content later on.
And also, because these are paid services,
what you usually find is that you're not just seeing
these same clips in everyone's video clips.
With the free stuff, that is something you can see,
because there's a lot of people out there
just looking for the free option,
you tend to see a lot of those same stock clips
used over and over in people's videos.
So if you wanna stand out
and not use the same stuff that everyone else is,
it's another good reason to look at the paid options.
Now, I also wanna say here at this point that no matter
if you're looking at the free sites,
or you're looking at the paid options,
there really is no perfect solution.
It's really gonna come down to which one
of these sites has the clips that you're after
to help tell the story in your video.
So for us, there really is no one perfect solution,
one size fits all, just go here
and they're going to have everything solution.
You really wanna be looking at multiple of these
until you find the clips that you are after.
Alright, so now on to the paid stuff.
And as I said, this is where your libraries of footage
the catalogs are going to be generally much,
much bigger, much more in depth.
So for as shortlist then for top paid stock video sites,
that includes Storyblocks, which was Videoblocks,
Artgrid which is kind of a new kid on the block,
Envato Elements and Shutterstock.
Now, the first three of those; Storyblocks,
Artgrid and Envato Elements
are all subscription based,
meaning that you pay a monthly fee
or an annual fee and then you get access
to their entire library.
So in my opinion, this is a far better model
because you pay once and then you can just use their content
as much as you want in your videos without needing
to worry about purchasing each individual clip
as you use it, which you'll probably find then
is that you end up using more stock footage
if you don't have to pay for each individual clip manually.
But also the cost savings with these plans
is just ridiculous compared
to some of the sites out there,
and what they're charging per clip.
Now with each one of these sites,
obviously the pricing plans
and things are a little bit different.
So we're gonna jump into that now.
So Storyblocks is really broken down into three areas,
they have video, which was Videoblocks,
they have an audio section which was Audioblocks
and then they have an images
or stock images section as well.
So if you just after stock video footage,
there are two plans that you can look at.
The first is their Basic plan
which starts around $8.25 per month or 99 annually,
and that will give you five downloads per month.
The next one up from there is their Unlimited plan
this starts around $16.58 per month or 199 billed annually
and this gives you unlimited access or unlimited downloads
not just from their primary library
but also from their member library as well
and it also includes access
to their after effects templates too.
Now if you're looking for stock audio
and stock images as well then that's where their
Unlimited All Access plan is actually really good.
So for around $29 per month or 349 for an annual fee,
that's where you get the unlimited access to the video,
but also unlimited access
to audio and their stock images too.
Now, Storyblocks has really come
a long way in what they're offering here.
This is now a really great deal considering you get access
to their normal library
and also the members library as well.
Previously, when we did a video like this,
that was one of the downsides in that you were paying them
but you didn't get access to all
the user generated content as well,
which in most cases, actually had some of the better stuff
that you would then have to purchase
as an additional expense.
So they've fixed that now it's one fee,
and it gives you access to all of it, so it's good.
So the next one then is Artgrid.
And this one, as I said, is the new kid on the block.
But where do this one stands out?
This one is really designed for, I'd say filmmakers
or for content creators that are looking
for really high quality,
high polished, filtered content.
This really isn't just average handy cam stuff
this is really nice slow motions,
really nice drone shots, really nice time lapses,
really the stuff that you would wanna put in a film
or in a high quality piece of content.
Now, as for amount of content
and how big their library is, it's growing.
It's growing fast,
but it's definitely not as big as the other options
that we are covering here.
But they do have that filtering in place where
they're not just letting anyone upload to their platform.
There's actually really only high quality stuff on there.
Now they've currently got three different pricing plans
to get access to their footage.
They have a junior plan, which starts at around $25 a month
that will give you access to all of the HD footage.
So if you're after things like 4K
or you want some more professional codecs,
then that's when you need
to look at some of their higher plans.
So the next one up from that is the Creator 4k.
Obviously, that's where you get access to the 4k footage
and that starts at $40 per month.
And also on that plan, you get access
to ProRes and DNxHR videos as well.
So their more professional codecs or video formats.
And the next one, then they're Professional Plan
is obviously aimed at professionals.
And that will give you access to all
of the video files on their platform,
including video files that were shot in Raw or Log.
So that Professional Plan starts at $50 per month.
The next site then is Envato Elements.
Now, this one in the scheme of things
really hasn't been around too long either
and it's something that they're still actively building out.
But once again, you're paying either a monthly fee
or an annual fee to get access
to an absolute ton of footage.
But in this case, here with Envato Elements,
you're also getting so much more than just
stock video clips, just like Storyblocks where
they had the video section,
their images section and their audio section,
Envato actually has something very similar.
So in your subscription for Envato Elements
you actually get unlimited downloads of everything
from graphics and PowerPoint presentation templates,
WordPress themes and plugins, stock photos, video templates
from their stock video template library,
VideoHive, which is one that we strongly recommend you use
if you're looking for motion graphics and intros
and those sorts of things for your videos.
Plus, they also give you access to music tracks,
sound effects, and they've got courses and eBooks
and those sorts of things in there as well.
And in regards to pricing,
it works at around $16.50 per month
if you're paying annually.
So while this is a great resource for stock video clips,
it's also an amazing deal given that you get access
to all of that extra stuff as well.
So that brings us down to the last stock video website
on our short list which is Shutterstock.
Now, Shutterstock is the only one here on our short list
that isn't some sort of unlimited plan
or unlimited subscription
to download as many clips as you would like
for the length of your subscription.
But it has the biggest library out of all
of the ones that we have mentioned here.
And that's really why it's made the shortlist.
There have been times where I haven't found
what I'm looking for on any of those other sites
and I've jumped across to Shutterstock
and found a ton of options for the specific clip,
what type of clip that I've been looking for.
So they actually haven't been too many cases
where I haven't been able
to find anything close to what I want on Shutterstock.
But obviously, the pricing is a little bit different
instead of being a monthly subscription
for an unlimited access,
you actually have the option to pay per clip,
which the starting price for a single clip is $79,
or you can purchase the clips
in packs of either 5, 10 or 25.
Five clips at around $359,
10 clips at 699,
or 25 clips at 1,579.
So you can see totally different to the other options
that we have mentioned here.
But it does have the biggest library.
So those are our top picks for best stock video sites.
Now, as for which ones we use and what our priority order is
for visiting those sites to find the clips
that we're after for our videos.
First and foremost, we will go to Storyblocks or Videoblocks
and search for the types of clips that we want on there.
And for the most part,
we find exactly what we're looking for.
I'd say the majority B-roll that is used in our
YouTube videos is from Storyblocks.
Onwards from that we would take a look at Artgrid
if we either can't find
what we're looking for on Storyblocks,
or if we know that we are looking for something
that was professionally shot,
we're looking for a nice slo-mo a nice drone shot,
then we know that that's the stuff that is on Artgrid
so we jump in and take a look there.
If we still can't find that specific shot
that we are looking for,
then that's when we would go to Envato Elements,
or even as a last resort,
I would go and check out Shutterstock as well
if it was worth us spending that money
just for that single clip.
Now, for any client work,
or corporate work, or documentaries,
it was really a no brainer for us
to go and jump into Shutterstock
and to buy the clips individually for those projects
because of the amount of time we were saving
knowing that when we perform the search,
we were going to get so many more search results
that were so specific for what it was we're after.
So it was more the convenience
of having access to a good library,
a good sized library,
but also a good search functionality as well.
And obviously with those corporate projects,
more so on the documentary side of things,
we really had to make sure that our licensing was good
to be able to get documentaries on places like Netflix
and that we were using the right license
for those sorts of things.
So Storyblocks though right now
is our number one go to for stock video.
I really like that it's gotta decent library,
it does have a good search functionality there as well.
And for the most part, that one fee that we're paying
for an annual subscription is gonna cover
most of the stock video footage
that we will use for the entire year.
So now that you've got your stock video sites sorted
if you're also interested
in finding the best stock music sites,
then check out the video linked on screen
where we take you through the best options.
And I'll see you in the next one.