Selling Photos Online and Make Money can be a fun and rewarding effort.
It takes a little bit of creativity and determination to build a solid reputation, and then you’ll need to start pushing the envelope to generate some sales.
What is the best website for making money from stock photography?
Well, the short answer to that question is that hundreds of websites sell stock photographs, and they can be very different from one another.
For example, suppose you are someone who owns a small business. In that case, you probably do not need to sell your photos on a platform such as eBay or Getty images, so you might want to look into sites that specialize in offering low-cost stock photography and offer stock photography for sale on their platform like Shutterstock.
As a photography enthusiast, you already know how valuable owning your stock photography website can be.
You can post whatever images you want and have them potentially earn Money for years to come.
But what if you don’t have your stock photography website?
You can still earn money by posting images to online stock photography sites.
Here are the top 10 best websites for selling photos online
Create Your Website
One way to sell your photos online and make money is to create your website and sell your photography services.
One of the best ways to do this is by using a stock photography website as your platform.
This is a great way to get started making some easy money online, and you may find yourself making a full time living from it!
The best part is, these sites often provide marketing and promotional support after you’ve sold some photos, and with a good place, you can expect to make money month after month with very little maintenance.
Alamy
If you’re interested in selling stock photos or simply researching current trends in photography, Alamy is a helpful resource for both photographers and buyers.
As a student, you’ll get 100% of any image sales made within two years after signing up. It doesn’t matter whether you finish your course or leave Uni – you still get the full two years.
If you are not registered as a student, you can earn up to 50% on exclusive images, which is better than many other agencies.
You can also sell phone picks through the stockimo app, which earns you 20% off.
Alamy is easy to work alongside, non-exclusive, and don’t tie clients into long-term contracts.
500px
500px is a community for photographers where you can instantly get exposure with your first upload.
You can also connect with other photographers and share your images with the world. This allows you to grow as a photographer anywhere in the world.
Exclusive photos can bring you up to 60% in royalties, while non-exclusive photos earn you a 30% commission.
It is easy to get started.
You only need to
- Create an account
- Upload your photos
- Authorize the store
- Fill out the forms for each photo
- Including liability releases
- You can start selling!
Foap
Foap help brands scale visual content with a global community of 3 million photographers and videographers worldwide.
Foap was built around smartphone photographers. Everything is handled through the app (free in Android and App Store).
Foap Missions offer you the chance to sell photos to some of the world’s most prestigious brands. You could win money or an item reward.
Getty Images
Getty Images has over 3 million high-quality digital photos from over 100 million registered users.
Contributors are expected to have higher standards than other stock photo sites. Getty Images rates 20% for photos but can go up to 45% for licensed images..
Shutterstock
Shutterstock is one of the most popular stock imaging sites on the internet, with over 150 million images being offered to members.
If you want to sell your photography on any significant stock imagery sites like Shutterstock, you need to make sure that your images are in top condition.
The payouts are determined by your earnings over time and can range from 20% to 30%.
The higher the percentage of images you sell in a given year, the more you will receive. This resets at the start of each calendar year, and you’ll earn 15% per image until your images sell again.
Adobe Stock
Adobe Stock, formerly Fotolia, is a stock photography marketplace from the maker of popular photo editing software such as Lightroom and Photoshop. This online marketplace has been in existence for more than ten years. It is well-known as the first to allow you to sell photos.
Adobe Stock allows you to sell photos and reach millions of buyers. You also get exposure to the most significant creative community in the world through their favourite apps. You can also earn a 33% commission for photos that you sell through Adobe Stock.
iStock
Suppose you own an online business and have a gallery featuring your photography and other images. In that case, it is best to register your images with iStock, the world’s largest stock photo hosting site.
Photos on iStock can be sold with other agencies, so they are not exclusive. This means that you will earn a lower commission than exclusive photos. Whether the photos were exclusive or not, your commission ranges between 15% and 45%.
Stocksy
Stocksy is an online stock photography sharing community that was launched in August of 2021.
It was created by the owner of iStock, Bruce Livingstone, who had the vision to put the profits and ownership of this popular digital stock photography site back into the hands of true artists.
Photographers can get a 50% royalty for standard licenses and a 75% on extended licenses. However, all photos are exclusive. This means that you cannot reuse them on any other stock photo sites.
Twenty20
Twenty20 is an online stock photo company that offers a fresh, contemporary approach to traditional photo sourcing services using cutting-edge technology.
Offering an extensive selection of high-quality images via digital agencies, online marketers can showcase their talents and work for clients worldwide while expanding their professional networks.
There are three ways to make money:
- Earning $2 per photo licensed
- Photo challenges offer cash prizes
- Receive 100% commission from any brands that hire you for scheduled shoots
By taking advantage of this fantastic opportunity, photography professionals can engagingly display their portfolio and images and benefit from higher royalty rates and long term benefits through the Twentieth license agreement.
Below is a list of places where you can sell your photos online. Along with their relevant commission payouts!
| Website | Commission Payout % |
| Your Own Website | 100% |
| Adobe Stock | 33% |
| Shutterstock | 15-40% |
| 500PX | 60% |
| Foap | 50% |
| Alamy | 40-50% |
| iStock Photo | 15-45% |
| Stocksy | 50-75% |
| Getty Images | 15-20% |
| Twenty20 | 2% Licensed and 100% scheduled shoots |
Summary
Before you go out and start trying to sell your photos to as many stock photography websites as possible, you will want to research each stock photography website you are interested in using.
You should look at the photos that they offer and the prices that they are charging for each photo.
Researching each website is very important and will make it easy for you to sell your photos to one of the top sites on the internet.
