Create more for less, with affordable plans from iStock

The word "free" in royalty-free doesn't mean that images and videos are free to use, but rather that after you pay for a license once, you can use the content as often as you want, without paying the copyright holder a royalty each time you use it.

You get the right to use the file—with a legal guarantee that protects you for up to $10,000—and our contributors get paid for the great work they do. It's a win-win, and it's why everything on iStock is only available royalty-free.

If you have one-off or hard-to-predict image needs, credits are a great option. Buy just enough for the images and video clips you need or stock up and save on future downloads. The more you buy, the less they cost.

If you download as few as four images (photos, illustrations, and vectors) or two videos in a month, you'll get the best value with an iStock subscription. With monthly and annual plans available and download limits ranging from 10 to 750 assets a month, you can enjoy huge savings without making a huge commitment.

Every file on iStock falls into one of two collections. Our Essentials collection gives you the everyday content you need, while the Signature collection features millions of premium handpicked stock files that you can only get from us. All content can be purchased with credits, or with a subscription.

The credit cost to download a file with our standard license depends on the file type and collection it belongs to:

• Essentials photo, vector or illustration – 1 credit (view sample images)
• Signature photo, vector or illustration – 3 credits (view sample images)
• Essentials video clip – 6 credits (view sample clips)
• Signature video clip – 18 credits (view sample clips)

Credits never expire as long as you sign into your account at least once a year.

Every file downloaded on iStock comes with a standard license that lets you use it in a wide variety of ways. From social media ads to billboards, PowerPoint presentations to feature films, you're free to modify, resize and customize every asset on iStock to fit your projects. With the exception of "Editorial use only" photos (which can only be used in editorial projects and can't be modified), the possibilities are limitless. Just make sure your modifications don't violate the content license agreement.

If, however, you require over 500,000 prints, create products for resale, or share files with multiple users, you'll need to add an extended license to your credit purchase. The cost of an extended license is 18 credits for images and 21 credits for videos, in addition to your standard license.

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Your subscription gives you access to a set number of downloads each month. You can rollover up to 250 unused downloads month to month if you've got an annual subscription or a subscription with auto-renew enabled. If auto-renew is disabled when your subscription term ends, you will lose all rollover downloads that you've accrued.

If you need a file that isn't available for download with your subscription, you can always download it with credits.

This is a great way to supplement a Basic subscription with premium Signature collection content or video clips.

You can also contact us at any time to upgrade your plan — we'd be happy to help you!

There is no expiration date on your rights to use files downloaded during your subscription period.

Files licensed with credits can also be used in as many projects you like for as long as you want. Credits never expire as long as you sign into your account at least once a year.

If you have an existing Basic or Premium annual plan, you can upgrade to our Premium + Video subscription online. Sign in to your account and go to your profile page, then simply click or tap the "Upgrade to Premium + Video" button. Pricing will be determined by how much time is remaining on your current subscription.

To switch to any other plan, you can contact us anytime—we'd be happy to help you!

At checkout, you'll be able to choose between three billing schedule options:

• Monthly (12 payments)
• Quarterly (4 payments)
• Single payment

The total amount will be the same, regardless of the billing schedule you choose.

If you're upgrading to a Premium + Video subscription from an existing plan, your payment method and billing schedule will reflect the choices you made when you first subscribed:

• If you're currently billed monthly or quarterly, your payments will continue on that schedule.
• If you made a single payment, you'll be charged upfront for the total cost of the upgrade.

Pricing will be determined by how much time is remaining on your current subscription.

Our standard subscriptions are built for a single user, which means the same person has to sign in, download and use the files licensed with their subscription. If you're interested in adding more than one user to your subscription, contact us. We can help customize a plan that's right for you.

Credit pack refunds

We'll gladly refund credit pack purchases made within 14 days of your invoice date, provided you haven't used any credits from the credit pack.

Subscription refunds

You can request a refund for a subscription within 14 days from your initial purchase, as long as you haven't downloaded more than five files and haven't made use of any downloaded content. Submit a request in writing using our contact us email form.