Searching to know which one is better? Envato Elements vs Adobe Stock vs Shutterstock, which one is the winner? I tell you the differences between them.
While working on Digital Marketing and creating content, one thing that it is needed for websites and social media advertising is image stock.
There are many websites that offer free stock images, but the thing is that sometimes the licenses of those images might not be for commercial purposes, or they are already been used a lot by many other websites.
So I have worked with Adobe Stock, and used images from Getty Images.
I have to say that for Adobe Stock, I got to know their credit system for images. You have to use one credit for one image.
The thing is that it might get expensive if you are going to use a lot of images.
One issue that I saw, was that sometimes high quality images are not a must in some projects. So why spend too much money on an image that will be in a webpage that might not receive high traffic.
Does the investment worth it? Certainly, for me not, and I don’t think that as well for the company.
When you are trying to build a brand, there might exist brand images or core images, that I think having a high quality image will worth the use.
So what solutions are there for the websites that are not willing to spend or have a high budget to fill out their websites with images?
Well, Envato Elements is one example.
I have used Envato Elements, and I do think is a really useful digital asset subscription for nearly $190 per year.
I consider it a low cost investment in comparison with the costs of Adobe Stock or Shutter Stock. 5 Credits in Adobe Stock cost $50 or their cheapest monthly plan costs $30. Shutterstock 10 images monthly subscription costs $50.
Well, as I said, does it really worth for you high quality images on the webpages that are not visited?
If I do talk merely about the quality, I have found better images in Shutterstock than in Adobe Stock or Envato Elements.
The subscription of Envato Elements aslo includes videos, wordpress themes, music, sound effects and more. So you are actually getting access to more digital assets.
I have also found about MonsterOne, which is a service that I haven’t tried yet, but it seems they offer to just have the image and video stock for $82 per year.
Envato Elements is a digital media subscription where a huge amount of graphic resources are available.
When we talk about resources, we are referring to images, videos, audios, and so on. In addition, this platform also has tools for the creation of logos, posts, and so on, as well as their editing.
Just as Envato Elements has offered the world a great deal of visual material, there are other pages that have also done so, and today we will write about one of the most outstanding ones, this is Adobe Stock.
Adobe Stock is a tool that offers services to allow both companies and designers access to 90 million high quality royalty free graphic content to be used in projects depending on their needs.
Here you can find visual resources to be used in projects that require the incorporation of some image or video.
The function of Adobe Stock is to facilitate access to quality photographs, images, videos, and audios.
These images have a strong demand, since they help to increase the visibility of some projects and with this, there is the possibility that these projects fulfill their established function.
Several years ago, it was extremely complicated to obtain high quality images, because it was necessary to hire a photographer and have him locate a set, obtain quality equipment, and an endless number of processes that were extremely expensive.
Now, the images can be sold through the Internet, each one at a considerable price, in order to increase your traffic.
Although they can also be paid for by plans or by monthly payments, thanks to this people can avoid expenses.
Adobe Stock is hosted on a website but people can also access it through various editing programs.
Adobe Stock is part of a family of programs that for years have helped to create, design, edit and modify all kinds of material, but this platform (Adobe Stock) is especially aimed at providing resources to make the actions of creation, editing and modification possible.
As mentioned above, there are programs that have direct access to Adobe Stock. This access is online, so you must have an internet connection to connect to the resources offered by this platform, in addition, these programs are part of the Adobe family.
When we talk about this platform, we refer to one of the pioneers of this type of tools.
It is recommended by many graphic design professionals, not to mention that there are already several professional photographers who collaborate in Adobe Stock.
The fact is that Adobe Stock is part of the list of digital resource tools with the highest prices, this due to its efficient quality, and that it is part of a group of tools that are just as good.
To use Adobe Stock, you must enter the Adobe Stock page, and then go to the registration part.
Once you confirm your email, you must access your credit card, and choose which of the plans you want to buy, depending on the cost of plans, is where you will see how many resources are allowed to download.
With Adobe Stock you have a guaranteed quality, and in a considerable time.
Besides that, it is estimated that the amount of resources it offers are close to 40 million, each one classified by its themes, by its time in the platform, and by its author.
Belongs to a family of quality software.
It can be accessed directly from the programs belonging to Adobe.
It is recommended by professionals.
Diversity of plans.
The client has one year to pay for their packages.
Free trial.
High prices.
You download only one file per credit.
The resources hosted in Adobe Stock are higher quality than those of Envato Elements.
Envato Elements offers unlimited downloads and thousands of files, while Adobe Stock offers unlimited downloads for just one file, this will depend on the plan requested.
The licenses offered by Envato Elements are generally unlimited, while those offered by Adobe Stock have different conditions.
As we can see, everything will depend on the buyer’s conditions, as well as their aspirations, since both are tools that bring a diversity of benefits, but even so, they have great differences.
Among several tools that have been created for the design of visual projects, much has been said about in the Envato Elements Review. Which is an online platform that helps create all kinds of material whose intention is to express or transmit digital content.
From images, to web pages, ways to promote brands such as flyers and logos, even creating and editing videos, where the manipulation of audios is also part of it.
It is also used to download content that can be used for projects that are made in other tools.
Taking this into account, there are many other tools that also have this modality, but you have to consider all the factors, from what they offer, to their price, and their quality.
One of the platforms that is also in high demand is Shutterstock, in this section, we will write about this Envato Elements alternative, in order to know about their proposal, and see if it favors your project.
Shutterstock is a website that allows you to download images, vectors, GIFs, videos and other resources that can facilitate the creation and editing of visual content.
Its goal is to help professionals and non-professionals alike obtain resources to create quality material.
As for the material it offers, it has a wide quality and a huge number in stock available. Its images stand out for being in HD, without watermark or copyright, also avoiding problems in the future, regarding the material to be created.
If by any chance you are wondering “Why is it necessary to have images without watermarks” you don’t have to worry, as it will be explained to you here.
First of all, the creation of advertising posts is fundamental when promoting a product or a service, and for this, every company must invest in this material.
Images are ideal when you want to convey a message, especially if you want to do it in a direct and focused way. It is said that an image speaks more than a thousand words, so you have to be careful when you choose an image, taking into account its content, the feeling it conveys, and its origin.
If an image is subject to copyright, and the company or brand to be promoted does not acquire it, huge legal problems can be generated, all depending on the intellectual protection laws in each country.
For this reason, companies have to acquire the copyrights of the images to be used, since problems are avoided, where one of them would be the discredit of the brand. And for this, fortunately, it is no longer necessary to hire someone to take pictures, but nowadays you can buy the rights through the Internet, all this through comfortable processes that benefit both the seller and the buyer, avoiding busy processes and complications that were necessary to go through before.
This is why this type of platform, Shutterstock, was created, which establishes a price for people to use this material in a way that benefits the company, promoting its image without having any problem.
Once the requirements established by the platform are met, the buyer can use the material he has acquired according to his preference.
Then, already with this, posters, flyers, and advertisements can be created for the promotion of all kinds of products.
Before buying the material, you have to consider many aspects, such as the theme for which it is intended, taking into account that it is not the same to use an image where there are sad people to promote a family product, and we can not use an image that has adult content, if we want this is aimed not proper audience.
Once we have this clear, it is where we can safely choose the material of our preference, and so we have to go choosing, the quality of these images, so that the image looks clear, and does not distort the message.
Precisely, the quality of the material we are going to promote will reflect the quality of our product.
That is why we must consider a platform that suits us, that gives us good quality at a reasonable price, and here we must emphasize the budget we have, and calculate the amount of material we will need, since there are many platforms, but with different quality, prices and licenses.
If our budget is not enough, we must look for one that offers us quality stock, at a convenient price.
Investing in bad quality is never good.
Now returning to the topic, already knowing the importance of image acquisition, we see that Shutterstock, can be considered a useful tool, and like this one, there are several, but not all, with the quality that offers this platform.
But it should be noted that not only do we have a library of images, but we also have access to videos that can also be used for our downloads. That is, it gives us the material, and the opportunity to use it.
If you have the necessary capital, then there will be nothing to prevent you from using the services of Shutterstock.
In this section, we will let you know in a specific way the advantages and disadvantages of Shutterstock.
Guaranteed quality.
Access to an extensive library of music, images and videos, classified according to their themes, and adapted to different times to define their uses.
It gives you several plans to consider how much money you have, and how much material you need.
Free trial.
Trustpilot bad reviews, but those reviews look like paid reviews.
High prices.
Envato Elements’ quality is semi-professional while Shutterstock’s is more advanced.
Envato Elements offers unlimited files, while Shutterstock has different plans, for a certain amount of images.
Once the subscription has been paid for, both offer secure licensing in the amount of files you can download.
In short, we see that both Envato Elements and Shuttertock have their advantages and disadvantages, but everything depends on the preferences and needs of each person, the ideal is to know your resources, and thus know if you aim the high quality at high prices of Shutterstock, or the benefits at a good price offered by Envato Elements.
As Adobe Stock and Shutterstock are digital asset platforms focused on content creation with its royalty-free stock photos, stock footage and video templates for Premiere Pro and After Effects, Envato Elements also has some material that is specially designed for WordPress users.
Envato Elements can be mixed up with the popular plugin Elementor to incorporate WordPress templates and create websites faster.
Unless you are using the Adobe Creative Cloud software for web design, then this might not be an option, but generally as there are thousands of WordPress users, the use of templates makes the work even better, that is why we recommend Envato Elements over other digital platforms.
Envato Elements has a 7-day free trial so users can also check out all the WordPress themes and plugins that are available, plus start checking out eventually all the material for content creation.
Adobe Stock might have a direct integration with tools like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Premiere Pro, but in the case for WordPress users, the Envato Elements plugin helps to directly import images from their photo collection.
Envato Elements annual subscription is a great option to have, since as a website creator, basically you don’t have to worry that much about commercial licenses, or any limitation in terms of website creation, since Envato Elements has covered you up.
The Internet is undoubtedly a huge source of information, here are infinite results, and obviously if we look for an image with specific characteristics the chances of finding them are high.
However, these images do not usually have the high quality expected. This is because they are available for free, and those that show a high quality or at least considerable, may be subject to copyright.
It will require contacting the author, to later reach an agreement that may or may not be accessible to anyone who requests it, all this, after a long process.
Or the Free Stock Image that you find available, you will see it repeatedly in other websites.
The best option to access photographs is, of course, to have a professional in this area, but the problem is that a photo session takes time, and at the same time, can be expensive or out of a budget.
Of course, whoever has the budget to launch this idea has nothing wrong with it, but we must consider that there are cheaper options that take less time, although the truth will depend on the wishes of the applicant.
A photo session requires ambience, followed by a good team and also an indefinite editing process. If it’s a video projection, the shooting and editing time will be later, and the budget will be higher, the same as with an audio.
The advantage of a photo session is that it will be under your demands, so that is a huge advantage.
But for smaller projects or lower budgets, it might not be an option.
The digital asset subscriptions model have thousands of files and can be used for different project purposes.
Its payment process does not take long compared to others, and once paid you can access the material allowed.
Envato Elements and MonsterOne offers plans, at different prices and with different numbers of accesses and licenses. This is in order to go hand in hand with the budget of each of the conditions presented by customers.
