In this video we'll take look at
our top picks when it comes to the best
stock video sites for royalty free stock footage
no matter what style video you're producing.
Hey, it's Justin Brown here from Primal Video,
where we help you amplify
your business and brand with video.
If you're new here then make sure you
click that subscribe button
and all the links to everything we mention
in this video you can find
linked in the description box bellow.
So, let's jump into it.
Now, stock video footage is incredibly handy when producing
a huge range of video content.
From simple clips that you can use in a video intro or outro
to B-role or C-role that helps you communicate specific
actions and motions or messages in pretty much
any of your video content.
It's also a huge time saver as well.
But if you're here watching this video,
then you already know that there's a ton of stock video
sites out there to choose from
and that their definitely not all created equal.
So, in this video we're gonna run through my top picks,
which projects I use them for and why.
And while I'm running through my recommendations
if you've been using stock footage sites
then let us know your number one pick
and why down in the comments below.
Now, there are so many sites out there,
both free and paid.
You've got things like Videoblocks, Shutterstock,
Envato Elements, Pond5, Pixabay,
Videvo, Pexels,
Coverr and I'm sure that there's a heap there
that I've missed as well.
But there's a lot of them.
So after trialing and testing out a lot of these,
I do have a few favorites that we keep
coming back to for various projects.
So, were gonna start off with the free options
and work our way into the paid options.
Now, if you are here looking for the free options
then I would suggest at least hearing out
our recommendations for the paid options
because there is a difference.
And it can be well worth the dollars that you are spending.
Now, just before I get to my recommendations
I do want to stress here that you really need to
look at the licensing agreement or the licensing terms
whether your looking at free or paid stock video footage.
If you're gonna be using someone else's footage
you need to know what your obligations are.
In some cases there might be none and you might be free
to use the footage wherever you like
in other cases you might need to give an attribution
or credit to whoever created the footage.
In other cases you might be restricted on
what you can actually use footage.
So it could be solely for personal or private use.
Some license requirements,
one that you put things on YouTube,
and some other footage might need to have
a totally different license
if its going to be part of a product
that's going to be sold like a course
or some sort of training product.
So, you really need to look at whether
you're looking at free footage or paid footage
look at the licensing requirements before you use
the video footage.
It would be a pain to come back later
or to get flagged for copyrighting infringement later
after you've released the video.
So, then looking at the free sites
my top two recommendations right now
are Pexels and StockFootage4Free.com
now both of these have a decent size library
of stock footage and they both got pretty broad
license terms as well.
Meaning that in most cases again you'll need
to look on a clip by clip basis or look specifically
at your used case and where you're gonna be using these.
But these two seem to have pretty loose license terms,
meaning that you can use these in most places.
But, again you definitely need to check.
Now, with any of these sites they're really
only as good as their licensing options.
But also as good as their library or their catalog
of stock footage.
Obviously when you're looking at stock footage
you're gonna have something in mind that you're after
it might be a time lapse or a specific scene
or action or someone doing a particular thing
that you need to use or show in your videos.
So, generally what you'll find with the free sites
is while they have a decent library, there no where
near as full as comprehensive or as easy to search
and find the footage as the paid solutions.
You'll also typically be limited to lower quality
file formats on the free sites.
So some of them will only go up to HD
and not have any 4K footage,
some of them will only have
720p footage and not even 1080p.
So, it really comes down to what is you're used case,
obviously if you've got no budget then some of these free
sites are gonna help you.
But, if your after the best quality and the ease of use
to find these clips,
and in a lot of cases the broader license terms
to be able to use them in different places with
larger audiences as well, then that's where the paid
options are really gonna stand out.
So, my current number one recommendation of the first place
that I would say to go to would be Pexels
and have a look on there first, then as a really close
second I'd say to check out StockFootage4Free.com
this is based on the range of clips available
and the quality of the clips
but also the licensing terms as well.
I've just found that Pexel is for now, a better option.
So, now I'm moving into the paid options,
or the professional options.
This is where you're gonna see that the quality
of the video files are gonna be higher,
the library sizes are gonna be bigger,
there's gonna be a lot more options in there for you.
Its gonna be easier for you to find the clips
that you're looking for in these library's
cause the categorization of the clips and the tagging
on the clips is generally on a much, much
deeper level and you've generally also got a lot
more control around licensing or options
around licensing as well, to make sure
that you're getting the license that is right for you.
Now, each one of these paid platforms does
have a different offering.
So, whether you can buy the clips outright or not,
whether you've got to join up as part of a membership,
a monthly or annual fee and also how many clips
you're gonna be purchasing at a particular time.
Because some of them will also have bulk licensing
or bulk distribution options as well.
So, my top four are
Videoblocks, Envato Elements, Shutterstock and Pond5.
Now Videoblocks is a subscription based service.
Meaning that you can't just buy a one off clip,
you need to have an ongoing subscription with Videoblocks
to be able to access the footage and to download clips.
Now, with Videoblocks you've got two subscription options
you can pay for the basic plan
which will start at $8.25 per month or $99 annually,
or you've got the unlimited plan at $16.59 per month
or $199 annually.
And the difference between the two is the basic plan
is gonna give you five downloads of HD clips per month.
And the unlimited plan is gonna give you unlimited
downloads of HD and 4K clips per month.
But, so is it gonna give you access to some
After Effects templates and some
stocked motion graphics templates as well.
So really for that $199 per year
you get access to login anytime and download
as much footage or as many of the templates
as you like for your projects.
And that a huge selling feature here.
Now, Videoblocks itself is actually broken into
two parts, you've got the member library, which is
all the content that you get access to on those two plans.
The basic plan and the unlimited plan.
There's also the Videoblocks marketplace,
Which is a little bit different.
This is where user generated content or content creators
have uploaded their stock footage for you to buy.
Now, this isn't included in those fees,
this is an additional expense.
But, you do save 40% if you do have a subscription.
So you get 40% off those clips if you're already
a Videoblocks member.
Now.,In my experience I'm a huge fan of Videoblocks
and we do have an ongoing subscription, have had
an ongoing subscription with Videoblocks
for quite some time.
But when I'm searching for stock footage
the clips that I'm drawn to,
the clips that I like the most,
aren't the ones that are included in the plan,
aren't the ones that are included in their member library.
The better clips that I'm starting to find now,
are the ones in the marketplace.
So, its no big deal because they're still cheap,
but it is an added expense if they're the ones
you're going to be using.
So that Videoblocks.
The second recommendation I have is Envato Elements.
This is a really new thing that they've actually
got stock video footage on here.
Envato is the company that runs VideoHive
which we obviously recommend for a lot of video
templates, entitled templates and graphic elements
for your videos.
If you're interested in those I'll out a link up
in the cards now.
But the stock footage side of this is new.
And how there running it is very similar to
Videoblocks, so its a subscription based model.
So, there's a monthly plan for $19 per month.
There's also an annual plan for $16.50 per month.
Now both of these plans give you unlimited
downloads and they also give you
commercial licensing as well.
Meaning that these clips can be used in commercial projects.
Now while the stock video footage library in here isn't
as comprehensive as
Videoblocks or Pond5 or Shutterstock right now.
They are growing it fast.
What you do get in this subscription is access to
other things in the Envato marketplace as well.
You also get access to a heap of video templates,
word press themes and plugins, stock photos,
presentation graphic elements and a heap of design
assets and courses and things as well.
So, it is definitely a much more comprehensive
offering outside of just stock footage.
But if you are specifically looking for stock footage
the library is okay, but at this point its relatively
small compared to the others.
But at that price point its defiantly worth a look in.
Now the next two were gonna look at Shutterstock and Pond5.
Probably in a different league.
Meaning these ones you can buy the clips individually.
Some of them could be as low as $37 a clip
right up to thousands of dollars per clip depending
on the license and the clip itself.
But what you'll find with these two along with the higher
price tag, is that you've got access to so much more
stock footage, there is way more in there to choose from
and to really help you find what you're looking for.
And obviously with all of that extra footage the
search functionality, the tagging, and the coding
for each of those clips, they've made it so
much easier to find the specific things
that you're looking for.
Because they've gone to that extra level of detail
on tagging and describing all the clips for you.
So, on Shutterstock you can buy a single HD clip
for around $75.
But you can also buy a pack of clips as well.
So you can purchase five HD clips for $359.
Ten HD clips for
$699.
Or 25 HD clips for
$1579.
So you can see the more you buy, the cheaper each
clip actually becomes.
This is really tailored to more professional cooperate
productions where you might be buying
big chunks of B-role to fully documentary or your
cooperate presentation.
So that's the pricing for HD clips.
There are 4K video files available
as well at a higher price point.
So with Pond5 as I said you can buy the clips individually
starting at around the $35-$37 dollar mark up to
thousands of dollars per clip, depending on the
actual clip itself and the license that you require.
But they do also have a membership option available as well.
So that starts at $199 per month or you can jump on
the annual plan for $999.
So, that gives you access to download ten clips per month
out of their catalog of over five hundred thousand clips.
And if you you have any downloads remaining in a month
then those downloads will
roll over to the next month as well.
So you're not loosing them every month, you can actually
build them up over time.
If you're not using them.
And that subscription also gives you access to
HD and 4K video clips as well.
So you can see with those four, Videoblocks,
Envato Elements, with Shutterstock and Pond5 they are
totally different offerings.
While they are all stock footage archives and places
that you can buy stock footage, licensing for your
videos, that are totally different as well.
And there library are totally different, and I
can't say that enough.
You really gotta look at first, what clip do I want?
And then what license do I need?
Where is this video going?
And then how much am I prepared to spend to get it?
And that's where for us were gonna look at
Videoblocks first.
We already have Videoblocks subscription.
At $199 per year becomes the absolute no brainer to
look there first.
We'll then look at Envato Elements to see what's on there
and if there's a fit for what were after at that time
and then for any cooperate productions
or higher budget productions we'd be doing
then I would look at Shutterstock, and them Pond5.
But again it's not so much of go this one, then this one
then this one, then this one its find the footage first
that is the best fit for your video and then find
the license that works for you.
And then make sure you're getting the right license
for where you're video is going.
Alright , so those are our recommendations
for stock video sites.
Now if you're interested in leveling up your music game
inside your videos as well.
Then there are some awesome stock music options out there
so check out the video linked on screen
with our top picks and where we get our audio from.
And I'll see you soon.