Depositphotos vs Shutterstock

Depositphotos and Shutterstock both land on Depends.

Depositphotos

depositphotos.com

Analyzed September 26, 2026

Depends

Confidence: Medium

Buy if your team downloads many licensed images monthly and wants photos, video, and music from one library.

Read the full report

Shutterstock

shutterstock.com

Analyzed September 25, 2026

Depends

Confidence: Medium

Buy only if you need volume licensed stock media and will track auto-renewals closely . the library is real, but billing practices earned a $35M FTC settlement.

Read the full report

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Depositphotos versus Shutterstock
Compare	Depositphotos	Shutterstock
Verdict	Depends	Depends
Best for	Teams needing constant fresh imagery	Marketing teams buying licensed images at volume
Who it's not for	Occasional users needing one or two images	Anyone needing a few free images
Privacy	No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.¹⁴	No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.
Support quality	License-flag complaints; BBB disputes listed	Cancellation complaints dominate negative reviews
Public sentiment	Buyers like the library breadth and pricing, but Reddit threads flag copyright-claim headaches and contributors report low earnings.^¹	Public reviews skew sharply negative on billing and cancellations, while long-time contributors report steadily shrinking earnings.
Biggest gotcha	r/selfpublish users report infringement flags even after buying licensed images . keep purchase receipts.^³	Auto-renew traps: FTC fined $35M over cancellation hurdles. Calendar your renewal date and cancel in writing.¹⁶

Pick Depositphotos when

Teams needing constant fresh imagery
Self-publishers and bloggers at volume
Agencies needing photos plus video and music
Buyers via AppSumo lifetime deals

When Depositphotos is not a fit

Occasional users needing one or two images
Teams terrified of copyright flags on licensed files
Anyone avoiding subscription commitments
Contributors expecting meaningful payouts

Pick Shutterstock when

Marketing teams buying licensed images at volume
Content teams wanting photos, video, and music in one subscription
Enterprises needing indemnified AI-generated content

When Shutterstock is not a fit

Anyone needing a few free images
One-off buyers . subscriptions auto-renew and are hard to cancel
Contributors expecting meaningful income
Budget teams tired of confusing pricing tiers

Sources

Depositphotos Trustpilot reviewstrustpilot.com
review
Depositproducts on G2 . 216 reviewsg2.com
review
Be careful with Depositphotos . Reddit r/selfpublishreddit.com
review
Experte.com Depositphotos reviewexperte.com
review
Photutorial Depositphotos review: pricing, license, free trialphotutorial.com
review
Depositphotos BBB complaintsbbb.org
review
Microstockgroup: low earnings discussionmicrostockgroup.com
review
Microstockgroup: personal details requested by emailmicrostockgroup.com
review
Depositphotos on AppSumoappsumo.com
official
Depositphotos plans FAQdepositphotos.com
official
Depositphotos cancellation policydepositphotos.com
official
Standard and Extended License Agreementdepositphotos.com
official
Depositphotos security pagedepositphotos.com
security
Nudge Security profile: depositphotos.comnudgesecurity.com
security
Depositphotos completes $5M funding roundfinsmes.com
news
FTC: Shutterstock to Pay $35 Million to Settle Allegationsftc.gov
news