Adobe is a multinational computer software company that has a whole slew of creativity and multimedia software products. You might be familiar with some like Photoshop, Acrobat Reader, and Adobe Creative Cloud. Adobe launched a stock photo platform not too long ago to add even more value to its product offering, and consumers are flocking to it like birds. With more than 100 million images and assets to choose from, handy app integration, and easy pricing plans, Adobe Stock is one of the best options for stock photos today.
Being an industry leader in computer software, fans are already going into this relationship expecting a lot from Adobe Stock. Luckily, Adobe knows what it’s doing, and definitely doesn’t disappoint. Along with the standard features like millions of images in the content library, convenient royalty-free licensing, and discounts for subscription plans, here are a few perks that make Adobe Stock better than the rest:
Not surprisingly, Adobe Stock has a ton of design options and tools to help you create beautiful and impressive content. There are tutorials and templates on the site to guide you through useful motions like designing a book cover, inserting motion graphics into an ad, customizing a flyer, and more.
You can also use incredible features like video backgrounds on your landing page, motion marquees, or an interactive photo website. As a design software, Adobe Stock really doubles down on the design features. So, customers can create some incredibly professional content without any design know-how.
What’s more, Adobe Stock works directly within your other Adobe Creative Cloud apps. This is an incredibly convenient feature that lets you build projects seamlessly and efficiently without having to switch apps, save files, and make transfers constantly. For example, you can upload and preview an image directly in Photoshop, InDesign Illustrator, or other design apps easily.
Adobe Stock offers a feature called libraries. This is like collections on other sites such as Pond5, and it basically lets you store your various liked assets in a single place. This is convenient if you are trying to build a portfolio, want to get feedback on an image choice from other team members, or aren’t sure which asset to go with right now.
Adobe Stock has over 100 million items in its catalog. That number itself is enough to make your eyes pop out of your head. The library is populated by professional photographers and designers and includes things like:
There is a library of standard images and a premium content catalog that you can access when you pay for it.
If you're looking for royalty-free content that won't break the bank, Adobe Stock is a good place to turn to. It's got possibly the biggest library of photos, illustrations, videos, and more that are fully licensed and available at reasonable rates.
Adobe Stock breaks up the catalog of content into smart categories like The Environment, Hobbies and Leisure, and Sports. This is helpful if you know what general direction you want to take your project in, but don't have a very specific image in mind.
Adobe Stock also has great search functionality, including the revolutionary image search capability. For those not in the know, this search box allows you to drag-and-drop an image into the space and browse for similar images. Adobe Stock is surprisingly accurate with its reverse image search results. We were very impressed with how on the ball the search results were.
What’s more, Adobe Stock has aesthetic filters. You’ll start out typing in your desired keyword. Once results are returned, you can adjust your search results depending on your desired filters. For example, Adobe Stock lets you choose the depth of field (how blurred the image is), how vivid the color is, whether or not there are people in your image, and what color spectrum you want to focus on. With search filters like that, you can get precisely what you are envisioning in your mind.
Adobe Stock has several pricing options available, offering flexibility for almost any budget. Plus, there’s a 30-day free trial. You can choose from the 10 or 40 image plan to try it for free for a full month. Here is a closer look at the plans available from Adobe Stock:
| Plan | 3 standard assets/month | 10 standard assets/month | 40 standard assets/month |
| Price for one month | $29.99 | N/A | $99.99 |
| Price per unit for monthly plan | $9.99 | N/A | $2.49 |
| Annual pricing (per month) | N/A | $29.99 | $79.99 |
| Price per unit for annual plan | N/A | $2.99 | $1.99 |
| Additional asset pricing | $9.99 per asset | $2.99 per asset | $1.99 per asset |
As mentioned, the first two plans come with a free one-month trial, and you can cancel anytime within the first month without paying anything. Units can roll over to the next year as long as you renew your plan with Adobe. If you want to purchase additional standard assets above the amounts included in your plans, you can do so for a lower price as per the table above.
Adobe also has plans for teams and enterprise-level customers that come with their own pricing tiers. Check out the website or contact a rep directly for all of the details about these advanced plans.
And then there are the credit packs. Here’s how those work:
| Plan | 5 credits | 16 credits | 40 credits | 80 credits | 150 credits |
| Price | $49.95 | $149.99 | $359.99 | $669.99 | $1200 |
| What you can buy | 5 standard images 0 HD videos | 16 standard images or 2 HD videos | 40 standard images or 5 HD videos | 80 standard images or 10 HD videos | 150 standard images or 18 HD videos |
What’s interesting about Adobe Stock plans is that they work the opposite way most sites do. Normally, you’d get exclusive content when you sign up for a membership plan. Meanwhile, the credit packs offer you the standard content library.
On Adobe Stock, it's the exact opposite. The membership plans give you the typical images library and are meant for the best overall value. Buying credit packs from Adobe Stock gives you access to the really exclusive content, and you can get all kinds of content using these credits, as well.
Adobe Stock has an extensive customer support center. You can reach someone by phone or email. But where Adobe Stock’s customer service really shines is its knowledge base. It has a huge library of resources, including FAQs, guides, and detailed tutorials to help you navigate every aspect of the Adobe Stock experience. There’s also a community forum that lets you ask questions and get useful answers from other users and experts in design. This is a really big advantage, especially if you prefer DIY troubleshooting rather than waiting for a customer service response.
Adobe Stock really puts the professionalism into stock photo purchasing. It has millions of options to choose from, and the assets are beautiful. What’s more, Adobe Stock provides loads of cool tools to help make your designs come out awesome. Plans are reasonably priced, and the online community is a great addition to an already good customer support team.