Alamy Stock Photo & Contributor Review in 2022
Do you know why Alamy is among the top choice for stock photos & why it is loved and by whom? Many of you might be concerned with lots of questions like: why should I choose Alamy, and a lot more. Thus, here will discuss a lot of real concerns and review Alamy for stock photos & contributors.
About Alamy
Have a look at key information about Alamy:
Website | Alamy.com |
Available Digital Assets | – Stock photos, vectors, videos (4K, HD), illustrations, and 360-degree panoramic view images – Over 260 Million Total digital assets – Over 6 Million Videos |
Available Size of images | Starts from Extra Small size Royalty-free images, which are available with less than an MB size. Size increases with various provided Licensing structures. |
Pricing Model | The price of images depends on the size of RF images |
Media accepted | |
Licenses | Rights managed license (RM), royalty-free license (RF), rights-managed- exclusive license, and Popular use license |
Minimum payout | $50 |
Payment methods | Skrill, PayPal, transfer to your bank account |
Method of uploading | Webform |
Alamy features & advantages
Given below are some features and advantages that you can get from Alamy:
Excellent search filters:
One of the best features of Alamy is its wide category of photos containing creative and editorial content. Not only this but also has an excellent collection of vintage photos. Which you will not find on any other website except GettyImages. Alamy has a robust search filter, which is very user-friendly. Moreover, it can search more granular facets like color, collections, locations, photographer, style, size, and a lot more.
Great Navigation
Notably, photos are categorized properly so that you won’t waste your precious time in finding the perfect one. All the photos are sorted properly as per the newest ones, best matches, most popular, and a lot more.
Pricing for all types of users:
The other best feature of Alamy is that it provides a variety of pricing plans that suits you most. Whether you are finding the photos and illustrations for any purpose, you will get the pricing that fits into your budget. We will discuss later the detailed pricing plans.
Customized on-brand content:
Alamy also has the feature of customized on-brand content which is one of the major benefits that you can get here. You can provide a creative brief stating lines or content that you require and the global network of professional artists and photographers of Alamy will generate the same content that you want. You will get qualitative customizable services that too in an affordable range. Isn’t it a great feature of Alamy? If you also think that it is a great feature, then visit the platform and give your own creative idea to get the best image that fits your brand guidelines.
The option of exclusive use:
One of the best features of Alamy is that it provides you an option for exclusive use. You might get confused about the term exclusive use. Exclusive use means that if you want to use your image on any platform and don’t want anyone else to ever download and use it. Then Alamy will provide you the option of exclusive use. In which it removes the asset from their search due to which no one else will be able to find it. This simply means that you will get the licensing of the image. And due to which no one will be able to use it without getting your permission.
Licensing used by Alamy
There are a number of licenses available at Alamy and you can choose anyone that suits you. We all know that every individual or business has its own budget. Thus at the time of buying any license always, you have to find the image that fits in the budget and justify the purpose.
The following types of Licensing are used by Alamy for selling the assets:
Royalty-Free (RF) License:
A royalty-free image is basically a special category, which comes with a distinct license. Moreover, with an increase or decrease in size/resolution, the price varies accordingly. Therefore you get the opportunity to use top-class & most suitable assets in pricing as low as under $10.
Rights Managed License:
When you search for the stock photo, then along with the royalty-free, you will also find a term named rights-managed. So, some of you might be concerned about this, let’s clear all your concerns about rights-managed digital assets.
These are some reasons why you might need an RM image license.
- The agreement of the license is very specific
- Price can be adjusted as per your usage
- Images are more unique as compared to others.
- It is very easy to secure exclusively.
When you are going to buy the RM license, then it will ask you for some details. Most of the time it allows to provide a few of these details. This is not a tough task, considering the fact that you also need to safeguard your business from any complexity.
Have a look at some of these details which are listed below:
- Details of use: You are required to give the details of using the photos. For instance, it is for a food item, then you have to provide for what type of consuming good you are using the photo.
- Usage details: You are required to give the detail, where you are going to use it. Like for advertising or for any other purpose.
- Size detail: Specify the size of the image whether you are using it for printing purposes or for digital use.
- Print run: In case if you are printing the licensed image that you purchased, then you have to inform the approx number or limit of printing copies that you need.
- Date, region, and duration: You are required to inform the beginning date of use, the time duration and the region where you are going to use it.
Additionally, there are a huge number of details that you are required to specify before getting the RM license.
Popular Image License:
Popular license is a kind of hybrid of RF & RM licenses, which is used by certain assets.
Pricing of the stock images at Alamy:
At Alamy, you will get an affordable range of images, illustrations, and vectors. Whether it is royalty-free or popular, Alamy delivers you all of them at market-leading prices. Let us prove you by providing an idea of the range as per the services. The given pricing is just only an idea of the price range, the actual price can be checked at the portal.
Thus, visit the Alamy website and get more knowledge about the services that they deliver.
Have a look at the enlisted glimpse of pricing below:
Popular image license Pricing
The best part about the popular image license is that they are very easy to avail and use. All you need is to choose the right one that you require. Further, complete the payment and you will get the license of the image. And after getting the license you can immediately be able to use it in your project.
Image and illustration:
- Personal use: ranges from £9 to £10
- Presentation or newsletters: ranges from £9 to £10
- Website: ranges from £29 to £30
- Magazines and books: ranges from £39 to £40
- Marketing package: small business: ranges from £39 to £40
- Marketing package: large business: ranges from £149 to £150.
Similarly, pricing for other assets varies for various types of uses & licensing.
Royalty-free image license Pricing
The images that are licensed royalty-free (RF) are flexible and user-friendly.
Do you want to know why?
Let me tell you that after having the RF licensed images you can use them at any time and anywhere without buying any extra license. You have no need to renew this license again and again. Because of this, the price of these assets is more as compared to the normal stock photo.
Let us give an idea of the price range as per the size.
- Images and illustration: ranges from £39 to £300
- Royalty-free – JPEG and vector: ranges from £9 to £10
- 360 images: Royalty-free license: ranges from £450 to £460
Custom License Pricing
In addition to both these, here comes one more license that you can buy from Alamy i.e. custom license.
In a custom license, you can provide your own idea of content and image. And our professional artist will create a bespoke solution that suits all your needs and desires. Whether you want few images or numerous ones, for a year or for a global powerhouse, you can get all kinds of licenses with us. Not only the image, but Alamy can build the right package for you which fulfills all your needs and desires.
Alamy for Contributors: Sell them to Earn
Have a look at key information for Contributors
Website | Alamy.com/contributor/ |
Process of applying | Create your account and start submitting your stock & microstock photos |
Global Presence | Offices in Canada, US, UK, Australia, Newzealand, India, and many more local distributors |
Size of image | At least 6.0 MP |
Media accepted | Photo, video, and illustrations |
Licenses | Rights managed license, royalty-free license, rights-managed- exclusive license, and novel use license |
Minimum payout | $50 |
Payment methods | Skrill, PayPal, transfer to your bank account |
Method of uploading | Webform |
Commission Structure | Up to 50% commission on each direct sale |
Payment to Contributors | Over $200 Million |
Support service | Yes |
It is a great platform for earning money. Alamy offers much better commission than the other major players.
The only issue for many contributors is the low volume of sales. However, there are many more contributors who are earning in Big numbers.
A low volume of sales is bound to happen for a number of contributors. As there is a huge library of over 270 million images and videos. That is quite understandable.
Commission Structure
- Normally you can get a commission upto 50% if you are a professional and if its a direct sale.
- There is special treatment for Student Photographers, who can earn 100% of sale amount for initial 2 years.
What Alamy does to boost sales?
In addition to normal sales happening by the visitors, there are many other ways Alamy does to increase the sales volume of its broad range of stock photos.
- Skilled Sales-force: One of the major boost for contributors is that Alamy has kept team of sales staff in many countries. Skilled sales professionals closes the deals with many large & medium size organizations, enterprises. Moreover, they have business partners in many other geographies for same purpose.
- Marketing campaigns and advertizes on regular intervals.
- Affiliate & Partnership program, which has been joined by influencers, bloggers, agencies around the globe.
Alternatives & Competitors of Alamy
Do you want to know the genuine alternatives and competitors to Alamy?
Well, then literally there are only 6 players that we found worthy enough to be listed here. All these players are the leading players for Premium Stock Photos, vectors, illustrations, videos
Adobe stock:
One of the biggest competitors of Alamy is Adobestock that releases millions of illustrations, photos, and vectors, audio, and videos. Adobe is the most complete platform for Premium digital assets.
Alamy is a good choice if you are looking for historical, entertainment, editorial, and sports images/video. Alamy is the preferred option over Adobe stock as it delivers quality images and a wide range. However, for the previous 2 years, Adobe is growing at a much better pace than Alamy.
GettyImages:
Gettyimage is one of the other competitors of Alamy that offers one of the biggest stock media databases. Especially for premium, high-resolution, conceptual, and editorial images.
Gettyimages is the oldest player and most sought-after for historical, sports, entertainment, and most Premium images.
But when we compare it with Alamy, then we find that the media of the Gettyimages is much expensive- probably cost-prohibitive for digital use except you need exclusive imagery. In comparison with Gettyimages, Alamy is very easy to navigate a website for many different countries providing top-class services.
Dreamstime:
The other competitor of Alamy is Dreamstime that has provided a vast selection of high-quality digital images, clip art, and vectors to connect image sellers with buyers. And the site of Dreamstime is overwhelming to navigate but the site of Alamy is very easy to navigate. Not only this, but the images on Dreamstime costs on the higher end due to which customers think many times before buying any license. But in the case of Alamy, you will get a variety of stock photos/ images, vectors, and illustrations at market-leading prices.
Shutterstock:
It is one of the top competitors of Alamy, which is a good resource for high-resolution images. But when we find the comparison between Alamy and Shutterstock, then we find that the price of Shutterstock is usually high as compared to Alamy. In addition to this, Shutterstock does not send auto-renewal notices for subscriptions, which is one of the major problems faced by the customers. But in Alamy, you will get a variety of pricing options as compared to Shutterstock.
Depositphotos:
Depositphotos is one of the other competitors of Alamy. Alamy is better than deposit photos on certain parameters. Do you want to know why? In Alamy, there is the presence of stock audio but in the Depositphotos there are no audio files. Not only this but also the search options for images in deposit photos are limited but in Alamy, you will find unlimited advanced search options for any image, vector, and illustration.
iStock photos:
iStock photo is the other competitor that tends to be a great resource due to their fair prices for the quality, image variety, affordable subscription plan, and versatility. But when we compare iStock photo with Alamy then we find that the website of iStock photo is buggy and difficult to use at times but the website of Alamy is very easy to navigate. Alamy has a better selection of high-quality print media as compared to iStock photos. Thus it is suggested to use Alamy images.
Comparison table:
Name | Images | Video | Audio | No. of stock items | Subscription plan starting price for images/photos |
Alamy | Yes | Yes | No | 250 million+ | N/A (individual item only) |
Adobe stock | Yes | Yes | Yes | 50 million+ | $29.99 (10/month) |
Dreamstime | Yes | Yes | Yes | 42 million+ | $39 (10/month) |
Shutterstock | Yes | Yes | Yes | 1Billion+ | $49 (10/month) |
GettyImages | Yes | Yes | No | 80 million+ | Must contact |
Depositphotos | Yes | Yes | Yes | 130 million+ | $29/month (30/month) |
iStockphotos | Yes | Yes | No | 88 million+ | $40/month (10/month) |
Is Alamy very expansive and not affordable for me & my Business?
This is a myth that Alamy is expansive!
Important to realize that you can get top-class photos from Alamy, that too in your budget. Point to remember that if you opt for low small-size photos, then you can get even under $10. Yes, this is true!
But, in case you are a media company or even a newspaper, then when views or print copy will be in millions. For a quality image or video, you will have to pay for such a high volume.
When you visit Alamy, usually it is top-end pricing of images that grabs the eyeballs. And mostly this is the reason for this misinformation.
Why is Alamy better than others?
There are lots of reasons that show Alamy is better than others.
One of the best things about Alamy is its customer support. While you want to buy images and got confused, just chat/contact the customer support experts. They will not only help you with ease but also make your buying experience better.
There are 270+ million Quality images, vectors, and illustrations, videos available to choose from.
Have a look at some other reasons which are mentioned below:
- The website is very easy to navigate.
- Alamy provides you an option of user submission which is very important for you.
- You will get a wide variety of stock photos, vectors, and illustrations with an amazing search filter.
- All the photos are categorized properly. Which helps you in choosing the relevant photo for you by consuming less time.
- Alamy caters to the specific needs and requirements of every business. Not to be surprised that, it covers almost all types of premium images.
- You can get images as per your budget.
- You will get a better idea of the quality by viewing the positive reviews and feedbacks of our clients.
Wrapping up…
Alamy delivers top-class services due to which a huge number of customers trust us and recommend us to their contacts. Due to their positive reviews and so much love and trust, Alamy has become the top service provider platform. Our team of artists and photographers is always ready to deliver you custom services by fulfilling all your requirements. Thus, do not waste your time searching for stock photos here and there. Just visit us and get the best images for each purpose at market-leading prices.