Whether you’re doing YouTube automation or creating professional videos for clients, picking the right stock footage can turn your video from a random mess of clips to a cinematic masterpiece.
This guide covers the best stock video website options based on the following:
- Price
- Features
- Stock library size
- User-friendliness
- And more.
Producing large amounts of content is no longer becoming the go-to way to succeed on platforms such as YouTube.
In today’s creator economy, you need to have high-quality content to be seen.
You can use stock video sites to stand out with your editing and turn up your video quality to the max.
That’s why in this guide I ranked the best stock video websites so that you can choose the best one for you to grow your YouTube channel or your online business.
What is the best stock video website?
Here are my top picks for the best stock video websites:
- Envato Elements – Best Overall
- Pexels – Best For Free Stock Footage
- Motion Elements – Best For YouTubers
- Epidemic Sound – Best For Sound Effects & Music
- Pond5 – Best For Businesses
1. Envato Elements
Best features:
- All necessary assets for video creation are within one platform.
- Unlimited downloads of 12+ million creative assets including:
- Royalty-free music
- SFX
- 3D graphics
- Video templates
- Stock photos
- Add-ons,
- Premiere Pro & Final Cut Pro LUTs
- DaVinci Resolve video templates
- Fonts
- Website templates
- Email templates
- Motion graphics
- & more.
- Friendly user interface
- All Envato Elements assets are covered by their lifetime commercial license
- You can cancel the subscription at any time
- Suited for designers, developers, video professionals, students & more.
Subscription price:
Unlimited Plan includes unlimited downloads of stock photos, videos, music, sound effects, graphics, template, and more – €14.50/month.
Students get 31% off the unlimited plan – €10/month.
Can you use Envato elements after subscription ends?
Yes. According to Envato Elements license terms if you unsubscribe, you can no longer use new items from Envato Elements but any existing uses that you registered are still covered
Get started with Envato Elements (7-day free trial).
2. Pexels
Best features:
- All the stock footage is free
- Attribution is not required
- Has a Photoshop plug-in allowing you to use free images from Pexels in your Photoshop designs
- Has a stock library of thousands of pictures and videos
- Stock videos are easy to download in full resolution with just one click.
Price: $0
What I like/dislike about it:
- Content is overused by YouTubers
- The choice of footage is quite limited compared to paid alternatives
- It’s easy to find and download and stock clips with one click
- There are a lot more images on the site compared to stock videos.
Can you use Pexels in YouTube videos?
Yes, you can use stock videos and photos from Pexels in your YouTube videos without having to pay or get a copyright strike.
Can you use Pexels for commercial work?
Yes, all photos and videos on Pexels are free for commercial use. You can use them on your commercial website, blog, product, or anywhere else.
Get started with Pexels.
3. Motion Elements
Best features:
- Motion Elements has over 14,000 professionally-designed intro titles, text transitions, slideshows, and motion graphics for Premiere Pro
- There is an additional royalty-free library that anyone can download from and use stock footage for free
- Over 4 million stock content with new videos, elements & styles added daily
- Motion Element’s royalty-free license is safe for use worldwide for all types of personal and commercial projects. Download once, use forever
- Essentially an all-in-one platform for YouTubers that offers music, SFX, stock video, titles, templates & more for every most popular video editing software.
Subscription price:
Motion Elements offer 3 pricing options:
- On-demand – you buy stock video as you need it
- Credit package – basically option one but you pay upfront for the stock footage you will download later
- Unlimited downloads subscription for €16 / month
What I like/dislike about it:
- You can join their free elements mailing list and receive notifications of their latest free elements weekly.
- Great for YouTubers who are starting out and want free premium stock footage.
- Simple to use interface.
- The pricing models are confusing because the unlimited downloads plan lets you only download footage that is marked with a blue bolt.
Get started with Motion Elements.
4. Epidemic Sound
Best features:
- Unlimited downloads
- Best library for sound effects and music
- Ability to find similar tracks
- Ability to download the music tracks in parts: melody, instruments, bass, and drums
- You can create favorites and playlists with the royalty-free music you like
- Best for YouTubers looking for unique music and SFX to add to their YouTube videos.
Subscription price:
- €9/month for personal use (YouTube, Facebook, TikTok included)
- €19/month for commercial use.
Can you monetize YouTube videos with music from Epidemic Sound?
Yes. If you use music from Epidemic Sound you can monetize content across YouTube and other social media platforms.
Will you get demonetized if you cancel Epidemic Sound subcription?
You will not lose monetization on the music you used before the subscription was canceled, but if you use the music in future videos, your videos will be claimed & demonetized.
Get started with Epidemic Sound.
5. Pond5
Best features:
- High-quality footage library: 1.5M music tracks, 1.7M sound effects, 12M images, 3D models, and AE templates & 4.2M HD & 4K videos
- Great for an all-in-one platform for creating videos
- Safe for YouTube, eligible for monetization
- License to use footage anywhere you want
- Amazing library of After Effects.
Subscription price:
- Buy what you want when you need it (Pond5 have a “best price guaranteed” policy which means that they match the lowest price from any source)
- €30/month for a music library subscription
- €35/month for music + sound effects library subscription
- €210/month for the all-in-one solution for projects subscription.
Does Pond5 have free stock footage?
Yes. Pond5 has a “Free Collection” with over 3,000 complimentary HD & 4K video clips, images, and music tracks. Their “Public Domain Project”, also gives you access to thousands of free historic media files.
Get started with Pond5.
FAQ:
What is the cheapest stock video site?
The cheapest stock video site is Pexels – it’s free.
You can use free stock videos from Pexels anywhere in your YouTube videos and not worry about copyright or monetization issues.
Pexels don’t have the widest variety of stock footage but it’s free.
Is it OK to use stock footage in YouTube videos?
It is OK to use stock footage in your YouTube videos as long as you have the proper license and follow the terms of use set by the stock footage provider.
What is the best free stock footage website?
The best free stock footage website is Pexels.com.
This website has free stock photos and free stock videos that you can download and use for free for YouTube videos.
Was this list of the best stock video sites useful?
There you have it – my list of the best stock photo websites to try this year.
My favorite one is definitely Envato Elements.
Ultimately, the critical factor is you.
How you use the stock footage when you edit your video is what makes a difference.
Don’t just slap a clip of stock footage in your timeline and call it a day. Use different effects, color grade it, and add a movie-style aspect ratio – make it look like it’s yours like the stock footage belongs in your video.
So pick the best option tailored just for you and happy filmmaking!
Speaking of videos, here are a few great resources to grow your YouTube channel:
How to make money from YouTube Shorts