Posted on July 24, 2008 - by CDS, 8 Comments
Alternative to iStock
If you’re a designer, you’ve inevitably purchased stock photography or vector art from iStock. You’ve probably also noticed that they’ve raised their prices some 5 times in the last year. Getty Images needs to make back their 50 million dollar purchase of iStock somehow. In light of the constant increases, I’ve ventured into other stock offerings, including crestock, punchstock, vectorstock, etc. I am happy to say that I’ve finally found a contender to iStock, that offers stock imagery at a fraction of the cost of others: http://www.dreamstime.com. They’ve got a refreshingly unique and high quality collection, and did I mention it’s a fraction of the cost of any other stock website?
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8 Comments
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July 26, 2008
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Jan said:
Dreamstime will raise their prices soon. They already announced that for mid of July, but have not done yet.
However I agree Dreamstime is a good choice.
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July 26, 2008
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Jessica said:
Hopefully they’ll remain on the inexpensive side even after their price changes. I can’t imagine they’ll go as high as istock or other companies in one sitting. Since 2003 my stock imagery bills have more than quadrupled per month because of the cost increases. And unforunately, a lot of that is going to other companies. There’s no point in going with only istock since they’re not even close to the least expensive anymore. I don’t think I spend anymore at istock now than before the prices raises. If others are doing the same, then all they’re getting for raising their prices is peeved users who now include other stock companies in their design resources. Everybody has to raise their prices at some point, but istock constantly raises theirs. Since they were bought out, they’re just not the same once-prized design resouce. Okay, that’s enough ranting. It’s just sad when the corporate money-machine takes over a great company.
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April 15, 2009
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Pat said:
I don’t know what the prices were in July last year, but istock just went up again. They used to charge $12 for 10 credits. Now it’s $18. This is a 50% increase.
I checked out dreamstime.com and was pretty happy to see that they’re charging only $10 for 10 credits (and like all stock companies, credits are cheaper when purchased in larger quantities).
But then I went to actually purchase an image. The smallest size image (480px wide) costs 5 credits! The same image on istock is only 1 credit for the exact same image at the same size.
So I called dreamstime support and had my credit card refunded.
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April 17, 2009
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wp_SAVVY said:
Dreamstime prices are way more reasonable than istock. An XL photo at istock is $12, and only $8 at dreamstime. Large and medium photos are also lower at dreamstime. The smallest size photos are sometimes cheaper at istock, but I never buy those anyway. And a lot of the same photos and ills from istock are also on dreamstime. You can also checkout http://www.crestock.com, but selection is not as good imho.
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November 22, 2009
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CDS said:
Yeah that’s wierd. I’ve never seen Dreamstime charge more than a single credit for small images. You must have picked an image with special copyrights for it to cost $5…. or it wasn’t a photography, but a illustration or vector art. iStock charges $25 now for vector art! And they added their “Vetta” collection, where images are running between $20 and $60. It’s Getting ridiculous.
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November 22, 2009
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CDS said:
Anyother great source for graphics is http://www.graphicriver.net. This is run by FlashDen (or ActiveDen). The graphics are very inexpensive and mostly reflect what is trendy at the moment.
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December 14, 2011
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Jarred said:
2 years later,Istock is charging for the more premium photos $45 for the smallest size and up to $215+ for the xxlarge size.
what a joke, their prices have grown 40times – 120times larger over about 5 years, from 50 cents – 3 dollars an image when i first started with them.
Guess ill use shutter stock untill they get bought out.
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December 14, 2011
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CDS said:
I know, it’s ridiculous. I hardly every use iStock anymore. Dreamstime is my favorite, shutterstock is good too. Envato now has a stock photo site, although it’s not that great at the moment.