- This is our 2022 review of the best stock video sites
for royalty-free stock footage.
I'm gonna run through the leading options,
the free and the paid premium stock video sites.
And then I'm gonna share my number one pick
for the overall best stock video website,
what we're using right now at Primal Video.
So there's a lot of different options out there,
all with different levels of quality,
different licensing restrictions, different pricing models.
So we're gonna start off with the free sites first
so that you can see what's out there,
and then we're gonna work our way up to the paid options.
Now, if you are looking specifically for free stock footage
I'd still recommend hanging around
to hear out the paid options as well, because you might find
that they're gonna be a much better fit for you.
With a lot of the options and the free sites,
typically they're not gonna have as big of a selection
of stock footage.
Also the search functionality isn't typically as good.
And you've also got a much higher chance
of having issues around licensing and copyright claims
or copyright strikes in the future as well.
But in saying that, my top two recommendations right now
for best free stock footage sites go to Pexels and Pixabay.
Both of these are standouts
in terms of the size of the footage library that they have,
but also how easy that they make the licensing.
So typically it's a difficult thing,
and you've gotta go through different process,
sometimes on a different clip by clip basis,
on what your requirement is
for you to be able to use that clip
on YouTube or in a TV commercial,
or wherever you're gonna use it.
So I really like that both Pexels and Pixabay
make the licensing far more straightforward,
you can pretty much use these clips wherever you would like.
But I would still recommend
that before you download each clip,
still just make sure what your requirements are,
and if you do need to give attribution
even though these sites make it easy.
The last thing you wanna have happen is
that you finish your video.
It goes off, it blows up, it goes viral.
And then you find
that you've got some sort of copyright claim
or copyright infringement
from some stock footage that you used in there.
For me, it's not something that I ever wanna risk
or ever wanna have that hassle,
which is why I only use the paid sites
where the licensing is really, really straightforward.
And that's a big part
of why we pay to have that peace of mind.
But if you're just after the free stuff,
knowing that there is a potential risk
at some point in the future,
Pexels and Pixabay are my top two picks.
So now moving on to the paid options,
I've got three top picks here for you
with one honorable mention that I'm gonna throw in as well.
So option number one is Storyblocks.
This is one that we've talked about a lot on this channel,
I've been flying the flag high for Storyblocks
for a long time, I'm a big fan of what they're doing.
And what I like about Storyblocks
is that it's not just stock video footage
that you're getting access to.
They have an all you can eat subscription-based model,
meaning that with your monthly fee or annual fee,
you're able to access their library
of one million plus HD and 4K video clips,
so there's your stock footage bit.
But you'll also get access
to their Adobe Premier and After Effects templates,
motion backgrounds, music tracks, sound effects,
and stock photos and illustrations as well.
The licensing is really straightforward,
you can sign up as an individual or as a business.
And they outline where you can and can't use everything,
based on those two models.
But I really just like how fast and easy it is
to find the stock footage clips that you're after.
You can literally spend days
going through all the different sites
to try and find the different clip,
and just like finding the right music track,
it can be an absolute nightmare.
But this is definitely an area that Storyblocks makes easy,
given the large range of content in their library.
Now fairly recently,
they made a change to their pricing model.
Previously, you used to be able to,
if you just wanted the stock footage,
just pay a subscription for stock footage,
or likewise for the Storyblocks music,
if you just wanted the music,
you could just pay an ongoing subscription
for access to that.
Now you're only option
is the all you can eat subscription covering everything.
So it's one fee to access pretty much everything
on their platform.
Now obviously this does make it
a little bit more expensive than it was previously,
but still I think it's an absolute no-brainer
given what you're getting access to.
And in order to make a video and make a good video,
there's a lot of other resources and things in there,
like your templates, like the music,
that is gonna help you as well.
So for pricing as an individual or a content creator,
you've got a starter plan for $15 a month.
But that plan does limit you
to five total monthly downloads.
So the one I really recommend here
is the unlimited all access plan for $30 a month.
Or $360 billed annual.
And that's gonna give you access to everything
without any restriction on how many clips or files
you can download per month.
Option number two is Motion Array,
now this is one that's been on our radar for quite a while,
and we've seen how far this has come,
it's now a really solid solution, and a really great offer.
It's a very similar setup to Storyblocks,
where you're not just getting access to their stock footage,
you also get access to their video templates,
their photos, their royalty-free music, and sound effects.
But you also get access to video editing plugins
for software like Adobe Premiere.
And there's even a built-in video feedback
and collaboration tool as well,
so if you're working with teams, or working with clients
and you wanna upload video and get feedback on them,
then this is an amazing way to do it.
Now for any of you that have used a service like Frame.io,
it's pretty much the equivalent of that,
built into this subscription.
Now while the stock footage in here
is pretty much on par
with what you'd find with something like Storyblocks,
the motion graphics, templates, and effects, in my opinion,
are next level.
So if that's something that you're after as well,
then Motion Array could be the best pick for you.
Now, in terms of pricing, you've got three options.
You can jump on their monthly month-to-month plan
for $29.99 per month.
You can pay annually for $249.99,
which works out as $20.83 per month.
Or if you're gonna be using this in a team environment,
then it's $18.75 per user per month.
But overall, I think Motion Array is a really solid option,
and it comes with a heap of extras as well,
including that video collaboration tool, which is awesome.
And option number three is ArtGrid.
This was another one that was one of our top picks
last time we made this video.
And it's one of our top picks again now.
The quality of the footage here really is second to none.
It's using professional video formats,
resolutions up to 8K and raw.
So if you really are looking
for the most professional footage,
then ArtGrid is your pick.
Now in terms of the overall library size,
it's definitely not as big as the previous two options.
So if you are looking
for something really specific or really niche,
you might find that it's not in here.
But again, if you're after the most cinematic,
the most professional stuff, then that's what this is.
Now in terms of pricing, you've got three options.
There is a Junior HD plan starting at $24.92 per month.
And that'll give you access to HD clips
in an H.264 format.
Up from that got your Creator 4K plan,
for $32 and 92 cents per month.
And that's gonna unlock the 4K to 8K resolutions,
and the ProRes video format.
And the third plan is the Pro RAW or LOG plan.
And that's $49 and 92 cents per month.
And that plan pretty much unlocks everything,
that's gonna give you access
to their RAW and LOG clips as well.
So obviously this one is a fair bit more expensive
than the previous options.
But it really is for that specific use case
of someone that's looking for the pro stuff.
So those are my top three picks for paid options,
but I said I'd also have an honorable mention,
and that goes to Shutterstock.
This one is kind of a different offering
in that they don't have
an all you can eat subscription-based model
like the previous ones.
This one you'll be purchasing your clips
on a clip-by-clip basis.
But probably the biggest thing
that Shutterstock has going for it
is how awesome and how big
the library of stock footage actually is.
If you are looking for something super niche,
something so random,
you're probably gonna find it on Shutterstock
versus any of the other options.
But you'll likely be paying a premium for that clip.
The other thing that's really great with Shutterstock
is how powerful and how well
their search functionality works.
But given how broad and how big their library is,
it makes sense
that they've got an awesome search to go through
to actually help you find those specific niche clips
that you're looking for on there, easily and fast.
Now, in terms of pricing,
it normally doesn't work out too well
just to buy an individual video clip,
unless that's all you need.
So for example, five SD clips here, $299
and five HD clips, 359, or five 4K clips, 599.
Or if you do look at one of their subscription packs,
you can get five clips for $99 a month, billed annually.
10 clips for 159 per month, billed annually.
Or 20 clips for 199 per month, billed annually.
So yeah, it's a completely different offering
to some of the other ones we've looked at.
So rounding all of this out, what are my recommendations?
What do we use at Primal Video?
Well first off, I want you to remember,
as with most things in tech and video
and cameras and everything,
there really is no perfect option here,
there is no one solution
that's going to be the right solution for everyone.
So depending on the types of videos you're making,
you might find that Motion Array
has the types of clips that you wanna use
all the time in your videos,
or Storyblocks could be the best fit for you.
So the most important thing
is to find whichever service is going to have the clips
that you wanna use in your video.
So I'd strongly recommend that you're going to the websites,
go to each of the websites,
and just browse through their catalog,
have a look through the library
at the type of clips that they have.
That should really be the biggest dictator for you,
as for which way you're gonna end up going.
There's no point paying for something,
if it doesn't have the clips that you want.
And it's also likely that you'll find that one of them
doesn't have everything that you want.
And that you might end up down the track
needing to go and buy a random clip
from something like Shutterstock,
or you might end up with two subscriptions down the track,
I'm not saying you need two subscriptions.
But this is something that can grow and evolve
as your videos do as well.
So my top picks and the clear standouts, to me,
really are Motion Array and Storyblocks.
I like how much value you're getting
for the monthly or for the annual fee,
how much extra stuff you're getting
outside of the stock footage as well,
with access to music tracks, and stock templates.
But in terms of the overall package
and which one I think is the best value for money right now,
it goes to Motion Array, I really think for that price
and all the extra stuff that they throw in,
it is an amazing deal.
But a very close second to that is Storyblocks,
and that's what we've been using
for the bulk of the stock footage
that we use in all of our videos.
Now we do also have an Artgrid subscription as well,
which we do use from time to time for some random, specific,
really nice shots that we're after.
But the bulk of the stuff
that we're using for our YouTube videos
is really just grabbed from Storyblocks.
So now that you have your stock footage sorted,
if you're looking for stock music to use in your videos,
then check out the video linked on screen,
and the other video, I take you through
the ultimate video editing process to help you edit faster,
with minimal wasted time and rework.
So check out those videos and I'll see you in the next one.
Cheers.