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If you’re looking for the best stock video sites, then you’ve come to the right place. Whilst working on your projects, you’ll no doubt come across situations where stock video footage will be just the ticket.
If you don’t know where to find stock video, then this can be really frustrating.
As the world of stock videos is vast and quite complicated, we’ve broken this list into 2 separate lists:
- Free stock video sites.
- Paid stock video sites.
We’ve listed the paid stock video sites first, then the free sites. If you’re looking for free footage, use the second list.
But if paid stock footage is what you’re looking for, then the sites in the first list will cater to your needs substantially.
Without getting into a lengthy discussion about the pros and cons of each, there’s certainly a place for both free stock video footage and paid for stock video footage.
You need to decide whether you’re going to go for free stock or paid stock and this will depend largely on the type of project and the budget you have.
Best Stock Video Sites
What Are Stock Video Sites?
Stock video sites are websites where you can buy royalty-free videos that you can use in your projects.
These sites offer a wide variety of videos for all types of purposes, such as documentaries, commercials, and more.
There are many different stock video sites out there to choose from so it’s important to do some research before buying anything.
There are many websites, such as Shutterstock or Pond5, that offer a library of videos you can download at an affordable price.
They allow you to use the video in any project without worrying about copyright infringement and they have everything from simple animated clips to complex documentaries with interesting topics.
So, without further ado, let’s jump right into the list of the best stock video sites on the web.
Best Paid Stock Video Sites
The following are the top paid stock video sites. The charges vary and some of these have free categories included in their catalogs.
1. Shutterstock
At first glance, Shutterstock appears to be a stock photography website. And it is, but it’s so much more than that. ShutterStock has over 261 million images, videos, music tracks and vectors on offer, with 20,000 new photos uploaded every day.
Even better, they’re all royalty-free. That means you can use them as many times as you like without paying additional fees.
So, whether you’re an individual or a business, if you need stunning visuals of any sort — including images, animations and illustrations — then Shutterstock is the place to go.
Shutterstock Pros
There are many benefits of using Shutterstock videos on your website. Using stock videos can be beneficial because they’re:
- Pre-made, so there’s no need to spend time making a new video
- High quality and professionally edited, which will improve the look of your site
- Cost-effective, compared to producing a custom video
2. Adobe Stock
Adobe Stock is an online marketplace for royalty-free images, videos, and graphics. You can buy Adobe Stock directly from the Creative Cloud apps or via stock.adobe.com.
Adobe Stock offers a range of plans and pricing options to suit every budget, including monthly and annual plans with single and multiple seat options.
You can use Adobe Stock images, video, and graphics in your creative projects for print, web, video, and social media with the option of purchasing a Standard or Enhanced license to meet your needs, whether you’re working on a personal or commercial project.
Adobe Stock Pros
With Adobe Stock, you get:
- Access to more than 50 million high-quality images, graphics, videos, 3D assets, and their Premium collection inside your favorite Creative Cloud apps.
- Simple search with quick results so you can spend less time looking for the right image and more time creating.
- Flexible pricing options that fit any budget and are billed directly through Adobe.
- Easy-to-use tools like Visual Search that help you quickly find similar content based on visuals.
3. Istock
iStock is a stock photography website that has been around for a good number of years. Getty Images, one of the biggest stock photography websites out there, later acquired it.
iStock makes it quite easy for people to find images that they need for their work. The images are high quality, and there are plenty to choose from.
This means that even if you have quite specific requirements, you can still find something that works.
The reason that iStock became so popular was that it offered an alternative to the traditional stock photography websites.
Rather than having to pay hundreds of dollars for each image that you want to use, iStock allows you to download them for a lot less money.
This is great news if you’re on a budget or if you simply don’t need such high-quality photos – perhaps they aren’t going to be blown up or used in print, and instead will just go on your website.
Istock Pros
With iStock, you get:
– Creative excellence (their images are hand-picked by their talented editors to ensure they have the best material on the market).
– Exclusive content from some of the world’s top talent and brands (because they’re all about quality, not quantity).
– Inspiration from a community of creative experts (they’ve got a huge range of searchable categories and collections for you to explore).
– Affordable prices (they offer a wide range of pricing options to suit your needs).
4. Pond5
Pond5 is a stock media marketplace that sells royalty-free photos, illustrations, music, sound effects, video footage, and After Effects projects.
The company was founded in 2006 by Tom Bennett and Lukas Bischoff. The founders of the company started out as photographers, filmmakers, and musicians who wanted to create an online marketplace where artists could sell their work at prices they set themselves.
Since 2006, Pond5 has built a large contributor network, including professional photographers and filmmakers whose work can be found on news organizations such as CNN and on television shows like ESPN’s SportsCenter.
Pond5 Pros
Pond5 is one of the best royalty free stock video sites:
-No licensing fees!
-Royalty free license for everything you download.
-4K and HD resolution options.
-You can use the content in any video project, whether it’s for personal or commercial use.
Less cold outreach, more inbound interest
If chasing DMs isn’t your thing, this guide maps lighter-touch ways to stay visible to buyers who already hire video — without feeling salesy.
5. Storyblocks
StoryBlocks is an online subscription service for royalty-free videos, images, and audio for creatives. Downloads require an active subscription. Current plans include unlimited downloads, not per-clip purchases.
Plans are no longer split into separate Video, Image, and Audio subscriptions. Essentials covers unlimited video, templates, photos, vectors, and illustrations. Unlimited All Access adds the music and sound effects library, including royalty-free music. Small-business and enterprise plans add broader licensing.
Storyblocks Pros
– Access to unlimited downloads of royalty-free stock media*
– Hundreds of thousands of high-quality clips, photos, and illustrations at your fingertips.
– Downloadable media for every project from the Web to TV and print — if you can dream it, they’ve got the perfect image to make it happen!
– A completely personal experience—all the content is made for you by people who have real jobs and families too.
– No matter what your budget is, there’s something here for every project, every time.
6. Videvo
Videvo’s free and premium clips, motion graphics, and audio now live in Freepik’s video library (the Magnific brand). videvo.net redirects there, so there is no separate Videvo subscription to buy.
Free clips generally still require attribution. A paid Freepik plan is what removes that requirement. Check the license on the clip page, including any Creative Commons terms, before you use it.
Founded by Tom Limb in 2012, Videvo grew as a large free HD stock footage and motion graphics library before Freepik folded it into that catalog.
Videvo Pros
- HD and 4K clips available.
- Tons of categories to choose from.
- High-quality stock footage.
- Updated regularly.
7. Depositphotos
Depositphotos is a stock photography website and agency based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It offers over 100 million royalty-free images, vector illustrations, videos, and audio files.
The company is operated by Depositphotos Inc., a privately held company registered in the US. It was founded in 2009 by Dmitry Sergeev.
Depositphotos began as a stock photo marketplace. Over time, it has added other content types to its collection: vector images from Bigstock, video from Shutterstock, and audio from Pond5.
Depositphotos Pros
– Hundreds of millions of high-quality stock photos and vector images.
– Tons of options to make your website or app stand out.
– An impressive 9 new photos are added every minute.
– You can use the same image more than once.
8. Motionelements
MotionElements is the leading online marketplace to buy royalty-free stock video, motion graphics, and AE templates.
As one of the top stock footage companies in Asia, they are proud to provide their customers with a wide range of high-quality royalty-free video footage, motion graphics, and AE templates.
They offer both subscription plans and individual clips for purchase so you can find a plan that’s right for your budget.
Their ever-growing catalog of video assets is segmented into categories for easy browsing, including business, education, people, technology, and travel. There are millions of clips and templates to choose from!
Motionelements Pros
Here’s why you want to use MotionElements:
– You get access to a marketplace of royalty-free motion graphics and stock footage.
– You can download content for free and use it in your projects.
– You can upload content to the marketplace for other people to download and use.
– The site is extremely easy to navigate.
9. Bigstock
BigStock is the world’s best value stock photo site with over 5 million photos, illustrations, and vectors.
BigStock makes it easy to find the right image for your blog or website.
You can search by color, category, or keyword and BigStock also has editors’ picks to help you find just the right image.
BigStock is an affordable choice for small business owners and bloggers who need beautiful images on a budget.
They offer a credit-based system with prices as low as $0.50 per image.
Bigstock Pros
– BigStock is a platform with millions of footage elements available at the click of a button.
– It provides access to photos, illustrations, and vectors.
– It can be used on your desktop or on the go.
– You only pay for what you use.
– It’s easy to upload your own images and add them to your collection.
10. 123RF
123RF is a royalty-free digital media library that features over 100 million high-quality stock videos, photos and vectors contributed by talented creatives from around the world.
With 123RF, you can add a touch of creativity to your projects with their vast selection of stock images, editorial photos, vector illustrations, and video footage.
From corporate promotional campaigns, bloggers, and social media marketers to graphic designers and creative professionals, they cater to all types of creative needs with their affordable subscription plans, on-demand image packs, and flexible licensing options.
123RF Pros
– Their staff has years of experience in the stock photo business.
– The library runs to over 100 million stock videos, photos, and vectors, and they’re adding more every day.
– They offer a personal touch that you won’t find with other companies — they care about what you need, and they’ll treat you like a person, not a number.
11. Fotosearch
Publitek, Inc., dba Fotosearch is a provider of royalty free and rights-managed stock photography, illustrations, maps, video, and audio.
They bring together many different stock agencies to provide The World’s Stock Photography at One Web Site.
The products on Fotosearch can be licensed and easily downloaded for use in your advertisements, promotional materials, websites, etc.
When you purchase a license to use an image, video clip, or audio clip, you do so based on the license agreement of the publisher of that particular content. The license agreement will be presented to you before purchase confirmation.
12. Filmsupply
Filmsupply is the premium stop for licensing quality footage.
As a full-service licensing agency, they’ve partnered with leading filmmakers to bring footage from their passion projects to you through their highly curated catalog.
Find the perfect footage for your next project with intuitive search filters and helpful staff.
13. Artgrid
Artgrid is a stock video marketplace where you can search for and license high-quality stock footage clips from their library of over 700,000 videos.
They offer a wide range of royalty-free videos, from 4K to 360 content, from real people to nature footage.
14. Rocketstock
RocketStock no longer sells from its own shop. Shutterstock owns the brand, and the After Effects templates, motion graphics, and stock elements are licensed through Shutterstock.
15. Story & Heart
Story & Heart is a stock footage company committed to creating the best cinematic quality stock video and sound effects that take the pain out of your production process.
They help you provide a more professional look and feel to your projects with their high-quality, royalty-free stock footage.
They offer subscription plans that give you access to their entire library of HD & 4K video clips, plus unlimited downloads at one fixed price.
It’s simple. Their subscription plans are designed for both individuals and companies that need access to thousands of HD and 4K clips without breaking your budget.
16. BBC Motion Gallery
BBC Motion Gallery is BBC Studios’ clip-sales collection, and Getty Images is the exclusive global distributor. You license that BBC archive and creative video through Getty, not from a separate BBC storefront. Some clips need extra clearance before use on social platforms or when a project leans heavily on BBC material.
17. Videohive
Envato is the leading marketplace for creative assets and creative people. Millions of people around the world choose their marketplace, studio, and courses to buy files, hire freelancers, or learn the skills needed to build websites, videos, apps, graphics, and more.
18. Getty Stock Images
From premium stock footage to classic archival film, daily entertainment video, and campaign reels, here are some powerful clips to keep on your radar.
19. Footage.net
Footage.net is the world’s largest online aggregator of stock footage databases, providing serious footage researchers with free access to the most comprehensive roster of stock, archival, and news footage indexes online.
At Footage.net, you can search 30 of the world’s top stock footage archives with one search, find better content and save time.
Footage.net also offers powerful tools for locating hard-to-find stock footage and simplifying the footage search process.
20. Artbeats
Search their vast library of high quality, royalty-free 4K and HD footage today including aerials, nature, and much more.
21. Video Copilot Stock Pack
Video Copilot is better known for its After Effects plugins and tutorials, but it also sells pre-keyed stock footage and motion elements — muzzle flashes, explosions, fire, smoke and organic textures — built to drop straight into compositing and VFX work. These packs are paid products, not free downloads.
Best Free Stock Video Sites
Now let’s cover the top free stock video resources out there.
1. Pexels
Pexels Videos makes it easy to find free stock footage for your website, promo video or anything else. All videos are free for personal and commercial use.
2. Dareful
Dareful is a stock video site whose clips are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY), not CC0.
You can download and use the videos commercially, including in edited work, but you must credit Dareful.
How do I use the videos? Download a video, then use it anywhere you’d like. You can edit it, re-market it, and more.
Use your imagination!
3. Pixabay
Download stunning free images about Video. Free for commercial use. No attribution required.
4. Clipchamp
With Clipchamp’s online video editor, you can use stock videos, GIFs, and audio tracks. Microsoft says that stock library is supplied primarily by Storyblocks.
From sunrises to weddings to sales and marketing footage, explore Clipchamp’s stock library and just drag and drop to create professional-looking videos.
They’ve also got stock videos perfect to add to a green screen video, which is especially useful for small businesses and agencies.
The free plan includes a free stock collection and watermark-free exports up to 1080p. Premium stock and 4K export come with Microsoft 365 Personal or Family, or with Clipchamp Premium.
5. Clipstill
Mesmerizing free cinemagraphs for your marketing & website. Clipstill provide free and reasonably priced royalty free stock Cinemagraphs for use in advertising, marketing and web sites.
6. Videezy
Videezy is the place to share your Free HD Stock Videos, b-roll, backgrounds, and other cool free video footage.
Here you can explore and discuss the footage of other videographers from around the world, or just find that perfect little cutaway for your next big project.
Videezy makes it easy to explore thousands of clips created by people from all over the globe. All the videos are free to download and, depending on the license, free to use in your projects.
7. Vimeo Free HD Stock Footage
All clips you find in this group I give away for free use in your productions! I hope you find useful stuff in here.
8. Life Of Vids
Free videos for personal & commercial uses. New videos added weekly! High-resolution videos for free for U on their Vimeo. For Designers, Web Creatives & more.
Sound sharp on your next discovery call
A printable checklist built for video company owners: what to ask, what to listen for, and how to qualify leads without sounding robotic.
9. Splitshire
In the name SplitShire is hidden the philosophy which gave birth to this whole project.
The idea behind the concept is the symbiosis of two words where “shire” represents the county, a closed environment, for a few, in this case related to copyright and “split” which represents sharing a piece of this county with everyone.
10. Vidsplay
Vidsplay is currently adding new video footage on a weekly basis. Completely FREE Stock Footage.
You are granted non-exclusive rights to use and download their video material without the need to pay royalties for each use.
11. Coverr
Download royalty-free (even for commercial use), unique and beautiful video footage for your website. 7 new videos every week!
12. Mazwai
Mazwai used to be a curated free stock-video site. mazwai.com now redirects to Freepik (Magnific), so that old free catalogue is no longer a separate library.
13. Cute Stock Footage
Cutestockfootage.com main idea is to deliver video/sound/photo material for any video/sound/photo enthusiast, professional and amateur filmmaker, video editor, 3d artist, musician, mixer, sampler for free or for a small fee.
Here you can find a lot of material for your video/sound projects, just explore the website and download as much as you want.
14. Pond 5 Public Domain
Pond5’s Public Domain Project is a free collection of historic footage, audio, photos, and 3D models, cleared for unlimited use. It is separate from the paid Pond5 library and from the smaller free HD and 4K clips Pond5 also gives away, which ask for artist credit. A free Pond5 account is enough to download the public-domain files.
15. Mitchmartinez
Free 4K UltraHD Stock footage shot on RED Epic – Brought to you by Mitch Martinez.
16. Freestock
Freestock offers creative assets to the creative community.
Freestock’s free photos, videos, vectors, icons, and editorial assets are curated by creative-industry leaders — design and photography experts with years of professional experience.
Their team operates with the everyday creator’s needs in mind, and they strive to ensure the ongoing relevance of their growing collection. Take a look around. You’ll find what you need.
17. Ignite Motion
Download free motion backgrounds, free for commercial or personal use! all videos are High Definition, motion backgrounds to use in your video editing projects.
18. Archive.org
A collection of stock footage clips submitted by Internet Archive users. These clips are designed to be used in other videos.
All clips in this collection must have one of the following Creative Commons Licenses.
19. X Stock Video
All their footage in web resolution 960×540 is free to download and free to use in a ‘Free to view video project’ (promotional, event, educational, client, youtube without ads).
If you want to use the footage for commercial purposes (a film or television production, commercial app, game, youtube with ads, or other software) you can buy an extended License for a small fee.
20. Media College
Welcome to their brand new library of free stock video clips.
At the moment they only have a handful of files (about 40) but they’re adding a few new files each week.
21. Free Animal Video
High-quality video of animals can be hard to acquire, especially when the subject is animal exploitation. FreeAnimalVideo.org was built to supply that footage free to animal activists and mainstream outlets. Its published license covers productions that help animals or expose cruelty, not general commercial stock.
22. Wikimedia Videos
Wikimedia Commons is a media file repository making available public domain and freely-licensed educational media content (images, sound and video clips) to everyone, in their own language.
It acts as a common repository for the various projects of the Wikimedia Foundation, but you do not need to belong to one of those projects to use media hosted here.
The repository is created and maintained not by paid archivists, but by volunteers. The scope of Commons is set out on the project scope pages.
23. Hollywood Camerawork Greenscreen
It has always irritated us that there are no green screen and VFX plates around the internet you can just download and play with — everything is owned by some production.
So they decided to donate some of the interesting plates from Visual Effects For Directors to the community, so you can download them and practice keying, matchmoving, compositing, tracking, and much more!
24. Imovies Archive
Free public domain movies, films and cartoons for downloading and streaming.
25. Bottled Video
Welcome to BottledVideo.com home of the largest free stock footage and lowest priced royalty free HD stock footage library on the internet.
At BottledVideo.com ALL their stock footage has been cleared for commercial use.
Big changes are coming to BottledVideo.com such as the expansion of their 4K offerings.
Further, to help reduce fraud and downtime of their free service, all new accounts will require approval prior to activation.
26. Orangehd
OrangeHD offers a lot of full HD footage and video material for non-commercial purposes.
There are no hidden costs or need to sign-up. Download is completely free.
Advantages of Using Stock Video Sites
• Enrich your brand with good-quality, high-resolution video footage.
• Choose from a diverse range of subject matter: landscapes, people, animals, and more.
• Curate custom shots for a specific purpose.
• Affordable, royalty-free videos that can be used in your productions.
• Thousands of hours of free content for designers and artists.
• Video footage you need is only a click away.
• Get the clips you want without having to film the footage yourself.
• Unique and attractive videos for your website, social media pages, blogs & more.
• The perfect solution to convey a message in an engaging way.
Best Stock Video Sites: How To Use Stock Video Effectively
Stock video footage is a great way to add some visual flair to your videos, but it can be tough to find just the right shots.
If you’re shooting your own, you can capture exactly what you need, but that may not always be possible or practical.
Videos have become the most popular form of content. The numbers are staggering. YouTube is the number two search engine in the world, second only to Google.
Social media users share millions of videos every day. With that in mind, you might want to create a video for your business or marketing campaign. But it can be expensive and time-consuming to create a video from scratch.
This is where stock video come in handy. Stock videos can help you create videos without extensive planning and without spending a ton of money on production, talent, and equipment.
There are so many ways you can use stock video for your business. In this post, we’ll show you some of the ways people use stock video and give you tips on finding the right one for your project.
Here are 4 steps on How To Use Stock Video:
Step 1: Brainstorming And Research
Before going on a hunt through the stock footage websites, take some time to brainstorm and research the style of video you want to make.
Write down any ideas that come to mind and once you think you have enough, narrow down your choices.
What kind of video would be perfect for your project? Think about the message and emotions you want to convey with this video.
Be as specific as possible. This will help when it comes time to look at the stock footage.
Step 2: Find Stock Footage Websites
There are many stock footage websites online, but I would recommend finding 3-4 that best fit your needs and stick with those ones.
Costs can vary between each site, but so does the content and quality.
Of course, you have all the best stock video site options in this very guide!
Step 3: Edit The Clips
The next step is to edit the clips to fit with the message of your brand. This step is not too difficult and can be done in any basic video editor like Clipchamp on Windows or iMovie on Mac. (Windows Movie Maker, previously mentioned here, was discontinued by Microsoft in 2017.)
Or something more advanced like Final Cut Pro or Premiere Pro.
Step 4: Consider Motion Graphics
Consider adding motion graphics or titles over top of the clips.
You might want to add motion graphics or lower thirds to improve the look of your finished videos.
Best Stock Video Sites
We really hope this list of the best stock video sites has been helpful to you. As ever, when it comes to free stock videos vs. paid stock videos, the choice is yours and really depends on your budget and the type of project you’re engaged in.
One thing to remember is that it’s a common misconception that ‘royalty free’ means actually free.
Royalty free actually just means the right to use copyright material or intellectual property without the need to pay royalties or license fees for each use, per each video used.
So when a stock video site is talking about ‘royalty free,’ understand that they’re referring to that and not saying that their entire collection is free. If you’re looking for actually physically free stock videos, then consult the free stock video sites list above.
And please remember to always check the licenses on these sites. Sometimes you will need to give attribution for using the video footage.
Also, check out our list of the best stock photo sites.
What did we miss? If we missed out your favorite stock video resource, let us know in the comments below.
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